Parikshat Maharajah - The tale of a great King

There are nine ways in which one can exhibit bhakti towards almighty. The first of them is by listening to the glory of God.

Read the story of Parikshat Maharajah who chose this way to attain the creator!

Parikshat was born to Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna and Uttara. After the Mahabharata war he was the lone survivor and hence the successor to the Pandavas. While in his mother’s womb, Parikshat was saved by Lord Krishna from a certain death, by Ashwatamaa’s  Brahma Astra. 

Parikshat ascended the throne after the Pandavas retired from their kingdom. The Mahabharata war ended with the Pandavas losing all their kith and kin. The burden of losing their near and dear ones weighed heavily on them and they chose to retire early.

Parikshat was a very pious man and his devotion towards God was very pure. He was an able King and his subjects lived happily. One day, while on a hunting expedition, King Parikshat went alone deep into the forest.  He reached the lonely depths of the forests in trying to kill a deer. He shot at the deer, but the wounded animal escaped. The king set off after the wounded animal, but as thirst steadily overtook an already tired king, he swapped the search for an animal with water!

 He saw a rishi who was deep in meditation. Parikshat asked the rishi to help him with some water. But the holy man, Shamik, did not reply as he was under an oath of silence. Tired, thirsty, the King felt angered and in a moment of lack of self-control, he picked up a dead snake and placed it on the rishi’s shoulder before walking away. 

He shot at a deer but the wounded animal escaped!

Meanwhile the Rishi’s son, Shringi, returned to find a dead snake on his father’s shoulder. Enraged, he sprinkled some water on the ground, cursing the man who was responsible for insulting his father thus! Shringi cursed the man to die, bitten by the snake Takshaka, within seven days. Rishi Shamik was however not pleased with his son’s actions and sent one of his disciples, Gaurmukh to warn the King of the curse. Parikshat, being a true Bhakt, knew his fate and accepted it without a protest.

He decided to spend the next seven days listening to the glories of the Supreme Being from a Guru by the name Shri Sukadev Goswami. On the seventh day, Takshaka was on his way to Parikshat’s palace, when he met a Brahmin by name Kashyap hurrying towards Parikshat’s palace. Takshaka asked the Brahmin why he was hurrying thus. Kashyap told the snake that he was going to save the King from an impending danger. Takshaka told the Brahmin he was the snake and asked the Brahmin how he planned to save the King. The Brahmin told Takshaka that his mantras can give life to the person bitten by Takshaka. 

Hearing this Takshaka asked the Brahmin to prove his claim and went ahead and bit a tree nearby. In a few minutes the tree was reduced to ashes. The Brahmin then chanted the mantra that brought the tree back to life! Takshaka was not the one to give up. He realised that the Brahmin was interested in the wealth that Parikshat would give him and promised to give the Brahmin more riches than what he would get from the King. Satisfied with what Takshaka gave him the Brahmin went back. 

Takshaka reached the palace and found it difficult to enter it. He transformed himself into a caterpillar and entered into a fruit that was waiting outside the palace, to be served to the King! When Parikshat cut the fruit open, the snake bit him. His body turning into ashes, Parikshat attained Moksha. 

When Janamejayan heard of his father’s death, he was curious to know how the ministers who narrated the story knew about Kashyap. The ministers then told Janamejayan that, on the tree that was bitten by the snake was a man who heard the whole conversation and he too turned into ashes when the snake bit the tree, only to be revived by the Brahmin!

Even today it is believed that if a person utters God's name or listens to the greatness of the creator before his death or during his lifetime, he attains Moksha and does not go through any more birth. 

During his lifespan of about 60 years, Parikshat ruled Hastinapur for almost 25 years. He was a courageous ruler. He changed things that he could and accepted what he couldn't with grace and wisdom!

Vibhandaka’s Anger

Vibhandaka was the son of the great sage Kashyap and undertook penance to the highest level. The God of thunder and rain, Lord Indra felt uncomfortable and in his fear that his supremacy could be challenged, sent Urvashi a celestial danseuse, to disrupt the penance of Vibhandaka.

Urvashi, in the pretext of wanting a child approaches the rishi. The Rishi gives her a life giving potion that will help her bear a child and went back to his penance. Urvashi, not knowing what to do with the potion gives it to a deer. Rishyashringa is born that very night itself from the deer’s womb and hence his name and appearance. 

Vibhandaka felt cheated and tricked and decided to bring up his son in the forest without exposing him to any woman. One day when Vibhandaka had to leave the ashram to help some rishi, Romapada the King of Angadesha sent a few devadasis to bring Rishyashringa to his kingdom. But as Rishyashringa was given the responsibility of performing the Yagna in the absence of his father, Rishyashringa refused to accompany the devadasis. One of them then offered to continue the Yagna and not suspecting any foul play, the young Rishyashringa went with the Devadasis.On his return from his mission, Vibhandaka felt enraged. He saw the devadasis performing the Yagna, in place of his son!

Vibhandaka was not going to be duped by a woman for the second time in his life. Anger turned to wrath as he was about to curse the King and the people of Angadesha. A worried devadasi then advised Vibhandaka to control his anger till he reached Angadesha. She told him any curse on a place from somewhere else can prove to be a mistake. She took him to the kingdom hitherto ruled by Romapada.

On reaching the kingdom, Vibhandaka was informed that upon Rishyashringa’s arrival in the kingdom, there were rains in Angadesha after many years. The curse on Romapada by a Brahmin was annulled and the King had offered his daughter, Shanta in marriage to the young rishi. Romapada further informed Vibhandaka that his son Rishyashringa was the new King of Angadesha.

Anger instantly left Vibhandaka as he realised what damage he would have caused his son, had he not listened to the devadasi.

Two important aspects that are worth a mention from this episode are the humility of the truly learned Vibhandaka and the advice he received from the devadasi.

Vibhandaka controlled his anger and listened to a devadasi who by any standard was no match in intelligence to the highly knowledgeable Rishi. 

Wisdom lies in judging the advice rather than judging the person giving it. 

The brand crazy crazy brand

I had just delivered a girl baby and overheard the doctors say that they had to check to see if she was perfect. I prayed silently that the result of the examination called the 'neonatalbranding' should be positive and my daughter should be accepted by the branding committee.

The check to brand the newborn goes thus:

The length of the fingers and toes, the sharpness of the nose and the position of the cheek bones will be analysed through DNA tests. Based on these the child will be branded as A, B,C or D. It is every mother's hope and dream that her child gets the A brand by the neonatal branding institute. While people from the yesteryear may wonder why this is so important, the branding status will determine the playgroup that the child can go to and then the nursery, the primary school, up to graduation.

Recently I heard that now-a-days some of the top brand companies ask for the neonatal branding certificate and top-notch companies like  Zeepro, WINTEL,UBM, etc. recruit only A branders.

I want my daughter to go to VeeKids, so silently I prayed, "God let her be A brand or at least B, but nothing below it". With a B brand she could go to TITS college or LXRI if not EET. I could send her to the IKSE or the VBSE board schools. The nearest branded school near my house is the BPS. With little more luck, I could even think of KIS.

My heart was racing when the doctor came back into the labor ward to announce the result of the neonatal branding. The doctor had a glum look on his face as he said, "I leave the decision of keeping the baby with you, to you. We will all respect your decision. May God give you the strength to accept the result and the courage to take a bold decision. Your daughter has a D grade."

My heart sank as the world came crashing down on me. I felt the earth giving way under my feet as I slipped from the bed. I gathered myself before I could fall and woke up with a jerk. I sat up and gently felt my stomach. I was due to deliver in about a week's time. The panic slowly vanished as I realised that the only positive I could take away from the nightmare was that I might have a girl baby. As I looked down I promised to myself that I will keep my child as healthy and happy as possible and never to buy something because it is branded and not to deny anything good just because it is not branded. Let the brand craze end here, I told myself!

P.S. This article is written only to draw attention to the fact that over emphasis on branding everything can harm spontaneity and may prove unnecessary and any other meaning derived is completely baseless and unintended by the writer.

How many brands, how many promises...