In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dushyanta finally accepting Shakuntala and Bharata and eventually Bharata was crowned as the successor of King Dushyanta. It is because Bharata ruled the country with all the “Dharma” in place, this entire country came to be known as “Bhaarata Desha” or “Bhaarata-Varsha” or “Bharata-Kanda”. Of course, we had also witnessed two other Bharatas in the past as well. We’ve witnessed that there was someone called “Jada-Bharata” during the Krita Yuga and there is a huge detailing about Jada-Bharata in the Shrimad Bhaagwatha Puraana. Subsequently in the Tretha Yuga, we’ve witnessed Bharata being Bhagawan Rama’s brother. When Bhagawan Rama was away in the forest for fourteen years, it was this Bharata who ruled Ayodhya with all the “Dharma” in place and in such a way that Bhagawan Rama wanted Bharata to continue ruling Ayodhya even after He was back from the forest. Such is our rich history of Bharatas and this is the reason why we refer to India even today as “Bhaarat” or “Bhaarata Desha”.
Moving on further thus, as Bharata was crowned the king, King Dushyanta and Shakuntala left for their “Vaanaprastha-Ashrama” and subsequently attained the “Svarga Lokha”. After this accord, Sage Vaishampayana explains that Daksha-Prajaapati had twenty seven daughters in total, all of whom we refer to as the twenty seven different “Nakshatras” or “Stars” in astrological science. All these twenty seven “Nakshatras” were married off by Daksha-Prajapati to Chandra Bhagawan. It is to Chandra Bhagawan that Pururava took birth. Pururava in turn gave birth to Nahusha. Nahusha’s son was Yayaati. Now we’re going to witness the “Charitra” of Yayaati. Yayaati gets married after he grows up and there is an interesting accord that happened post Yayaati’s marriage, which we’re going to witness now. I shall narrate it in a brief as we move on from here.
All of us might now be knowing about Sage Angiras. He was born along with Sage Pulastya, Sage Mareechi, etc. and we’ve witnessed this story earlier in detail. This Sage Angiras had a son by name Brihaspathi. Brihaspathi in turn had a son by name “Kacha”. All these people are part of the “Devas’ group”. As time progressed, due to some reason or the other, the Devas were losing all their strength and the Raakshasas were getting powerful. At some point, the Raakshasas started to win over Devas over many issues and with this, the Devas were thinking what can be done so that they would regain their supremacy over the Raakshasas. We might also know by now that Sage Shukraachaarya was the “Guru” for the Raakshasas. Sage Shukraachaarya was a very powerful sage and he had an important “Mantra” with him called “Sanjeevani”. If one chants this “Mantra”, he / she would become completely immortal. Even if someone dies, they could be woken up again with the help of this “Sanjeevani” Mantra. The Devas somehow came to know about this and somehow wanted to get hold of this “Sanjeevani” Mantra. Their strategy was very simple here – Obtain the “Sanjeevani” Mantra and become immortal, which would prevent them from facing defeat in the hands of the Raakshasas.
With this in mind, the Devas approached Brihaspathi, who is their “Guru”. They wanted Brihaspathi’s intervention to somehow obtain the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukraachaarya. Brihaspathi too understood the intent and the seriousness of the Devas, and thought of an idea. Brihaspathi replies to the Devas thus, “Oh Devas! If we’ve to obtain the “Sanjeevani Mantra”, there is only one way to do it – Send Kacha to Sage Shukraachaarya and ask him to join his Gurukula as one of his best students ever. As Sage Shukraachaarya’s trust towards Kacha increases, he would automatically teach the “Sanjeevani” Mantra to Kacha and from him, you can learn it. This seems the only way out in this pursuit!” Even though the Devas were a bit perplexed with this idea of sending the little boy amidst the Raakshasas, they did not have another option. Hence, they trusted Brihaspathi and sent Kacha to Sage Shukraachaarya.
As Kacha reaches Sage Shukraachaarya’s ashram, he introduces himself thus, “Oh great Sage! I’m Kacha, son of Brihaspathi and the grandson of Sage Angiras. I’m here in front of you to learn all the Shaastras and their meanings thoroughly. Will you teach me everything?” As Kacha introduces himself thus, he was very careful not to reveal to him that his main agenda was to learn the “Sanjeevani” Mantra. Impressed by Kacha’s “Guru Bhakti” and humility, Sage Shukraachaarya accepted Kacha as his student. Eventually, Kacha starts learning everything under Sage Shukraachaarya’s able guidance. Kacha is performing all whatever Sage Shukraachaarya is instructing him to do and with this, around 500 years pass by! Now what happens next? Is Kacha going to be successful in obtaining the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukraachaarya? Let us wait and witness in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 