The Great Sages of India - Brahmins Vs Kshatriyas - Part 10

Throughout the history we can notice that the Brahmins and Kshatriyas have always shared a Love / Hate relationship with each other. 

• Brahmins have always been under the protective cover of the rulers and even Lord Krishna says (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.16.10), “The brahmanas, the cows, are defenseless creatures and they are my own body.”

• Kshatriyas have largely been patronizing the Brahmins for their wisdom, knowledge and austerity. But there are many instances where Brahmins and Kshatriyas have been at loggerheads like cats and dogs and when you read few stories filled with vengeance and violence it would send shivers through your spine.

• Barring the story of Parasurama who belongs to the same Bhargava Clan, Brahmins have always been at the receiving end.

• We read many instances of inter-caste marriages between Brahmins and Kshatriyas that were very prevalent those days and it should be noted that Brahmin men were allowed to marry ladies from the 3 castes (lowest class excluded) but Kshatirya men were not allowed to marry Brahmin ladies but can marry ladies from other 3 castes. I don't know the logic for this but this was the rule.

• When Ravana's sister Soorpanaka asks Rama to marry her, Lord Rama rejects her saying, she is the daughter of grand son of Brahma who is a Brahmin and hence he cannot marry her. Poet Kambar uses a fantastic term to describe her "பூவிலோன் புதல்வன் மைந்தன் புதல்வன் புதல்வி..."

• Sage Chavanar married Sukanya who is the daughter of King Saryathi. The kings were also very much happy in most of the instances to marry their daughter off to Sages like Chyavanar.

• In Ramayana Seeta tells Lord Rama "Sukanya Chyavanam Yatha" meaning i shall be as dedicated Sukanya who was a loyal and dedicated wife to Sage Chyavana.

• As i said in my introduction we need to recollect the sage and his wife together since the tapas, austerity and spiritual powers were shared by both and it was not a male dominated society. There are multiple stories about Sage Chyavanar and Sukanya which highlights Sukanya's loyalty and dedication to her husband.

Sage Chyavanar could foresee that this inter-caste marriage arrangement would lead to extreme hostilities between Brahmins and Kshatriyas and he tried his level best to avert this but he could not.

We will see this story in the next part.

Happy reading!

The Great Sages of India - Value of ONE Cow - part 9

Sage Chyavanar was once meditating under Ganges for many years continuously and one day he got caught in the fishing net of the local fishermen. The fishermen were shocked to see a Sage in meditation midst the catch and the Sage came out of his meditation.

The fishermen pleaded for the Sage's mercy and they told him that it was a mistake that he was fished out his meditation from deep waters. The Sage understood that it is not their mistake and he submitted himself to them and said,"I am your catch and you can sell me just like you would sell the fish". The fishermen did not know how to react and they ran to their king and told them the story.

The local king then was Nahusha, who was known for his governance and dharma. He came running to the Sage offering apologies for the inadvertent mistake of his people. Then a discussion starts between Sage Chayvanar and King Nahusha which is called as "Chayvana- Nahusha Samvadam".

King: Oh! Sage, please accept my apologies for the mistake of my men. Please tell me how can i be of help to you.

Sage: Never mind Nahusha. It is not their mistake and I belong to them now and they should see me like any other catch of theirs. You can buy me from them and set me free for me to continue my meditation.

Nahusha realized the embarrassing position he was put in. He was also scared to put a value for the Sage, so he requested the Sage to tell him what the value is so that he can pay that to the fishermen. The king thought that he would offer few thousand gold coins and buy out the sage from the fishermen. Just as he was thinking the Sage said:

Sage: Use your Buddhi (intelligence) and decide for yourself as to what my value is.

King: Can i value you and offer 100000 gold coins?

Sage: Please talk to your ministers and decide what my value is.

King: The king summoned most intelligent of his ministers and finally came to the Sage and said, Can i value you and offer 10,000,000 gold coins?

Sage: The sage neither agreed or disagreed but said, please talk to learned Brahmins  and decide what my value is.

King: By that time the word had spread and the crowd has started swelling around the place. After consulting the learned Brahmins, the king said, i can offer my entire kingdom for you Sage. Please accept my offer.

Sage: The sage neither agreed or disagreed but said, please talk to wise Sages in your country and decide what my value is.

The king for the first time realized that there is something of more value than his kingdom which he thought is the highest value that he can offer. Probably he understood the difference between his perception of value and the Sage's perception of value. As he was about to set off to his forest to meet wise Rishis, one Rishi was walking through the country at that time.

The King prostrated to the Rishi and explained him the problem and requested for a solution. The Rishi quipped just once sentence and walked away. What was the one liner that provided instant solution for this problematic question?

The Rishi's answer was "Gaurmoolyam Parikalpatam", meaning that just offer one Cow as the value for that Sage and free him from the fishermen. Sage Chyavanar accepted this happily and the issue was resolved.

This is captured in Mahabharatha (13.51.27,28) as:

कीर्तनं श्रवणं दानं दर्शनं चापि पार्थिव।
गवां प्रशस्यते वीर सर्वपापहरं शिवम्।। 
गावो लक्ष्म्याः सदा मूलं गोषु पाप्मा न विद्यते।
अन्नमेव सदा गावो देवानां परमं हविः।।

"King, Cows are the most sacred among the universal creatures.

Even seeing them, talking about them, donating them can reduce your sins

Goddess Lakshmi is permanently residing in the cows

All the Devas are kept happy through the offerings from Cows"

Not just protection of the cow but praying Cows as mother goddess is deeply embedded in our culture. Should i say WAS part of our culture.

Today I can't express my emotions after i saw this film in you tube. I want you to watch this movie in the You tube and spare 30 minutes:

Tamil version of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eGHfPQGbUlc#!

English Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8-Hi2N8FcE&feature=relmfu

From being country which respected every living being and killing a cow was thought to be one of the worst crime you can commit, we are today among the top 5 exporters of meat / meat products. The government of the day encourages slaughter houses and gives concessions with tax payers money.

I shall write a separate article on the importance of Cow protection and how our future is inextricably linked to the welfare of cattle. But for now, let me stop this blog with a quote from MAHATMA GANDHI:

"If there is an option to choose between Independence and prevention of Cow Slaughter, I would choose the latter, for its protection shall open all means to achieve true independence."

And we did not know that Gandhi placed cow protection above India's independence.

Happy reading!

The Great Sages of India - Chyavana Prasava Lehyam - Part 8

The brilliant boy with so much radiance who protected his mother and burnt the demon  at the time of his birth is Sage Chyavanar. He is one of the most respected sages in the Bhrigu clan and his name in the pravara is mentioned as Chyaavana. 

It is told that he does Tapas for years together, which includes 12 years of Tapas under water at Prayag (at the junction of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati) and also some instances where termites build castles around him since he meditates unmoved in one place. He is also described as extremely skinny and looks very old, impatient, obstinate, quick to anger.

In one instance in a Yagna he invited "Ashwini Devas" for the Soma bana drink. Each Yagna is done with specific invitees and the offering in Yagna is given to only those invitees. Typically only Devas are invited and though technically being devas, "Ashwini Devas" are the lord of medicine to the mankind. Since Devas are immortal they do not require any medicine so they considered "Ashwini Devas" as inferior to them. The other reason why devas were against Ashwini brothers is interesting, "They kill plants and herbs to make medicines, though medicines save human life, they still kill the plants and hence they are not qualified in this divine gathering". Now this highlights that killing even a plant despite it saving lives are considered bad in certain section of the universe. Compare the type of crime we commit when we kill animals to satisfy our taste buds.

The devas objected to Sage Chyavanar that he cannot call Ashwini Devas for the yagna and offer them Soma Bana as it the right of "qualified" devas only. But the sage was obstinate and told them that it is his Yagna and he shall decide whom to invite and what to offer. Considering the spiritual powers of the Sage, the devas grudgingly agreed.

Ashwini Devas were treated well in the yagna by Chyavanar and were offered Soma bana drink. In return Ashwini Devas gave Sage Chyavanar a special medicine which shall remove his old age and bring back youth and virility to him.

This potion / medicine which was given to Sage Chyavanar by Ashwini Devas is called as Chyavana Prasava Lehyam now popularly called as "Chyavanprash" today.

The above story is documented part of our Vedas which are actually undated, yet it is dated at least 5000 years back even by skeptics. Now if that is so, we have a medical product in Ayurveda, to this date which delivers the same benefits.

I leave it to you whether to dismiss this as some story or mythology or accept that it could have been part of our remote past. Lets see more about Sage Chyavanar in the next post.

Happy reading!