The Indian Dharma

The previous episode marked a very important event in the entire Mahabharata story, which signifies the birth of Bhishmaachaarya. As we’ve witnessed, King Shantanu and Ganga Devi marry each other upon the condition that Shantanu should not question Ganga Devi on anything that she does. Initially, King Shantanu did not realize the seriousness of what Ganga Devi was telling, but eventually when they started having children, Ganga Devi was mercilessly killing one after the other by strangling the babies to death! It is at this point in time that King Shantanu realized the seriousness of what Ganga Devi had asked him earlier. Since it was the rule behind their marriage, King Shantanu had no other option but to keep quiet and be a mute spectator to what Ganga Devi was doing. However, when the eighth child was about to meet the same fate, King Shantanu couldn’t resist this anymore and he immediately confronted Ganga Devi on what she was doing. As Ganga Devi reminded King Shantanu of the rule, she left him immediately and with this, the eighth baby was saved from the clutches of death. This baby was none other than Bhishmaachaarya, who was named as “Devavrata” by his mother, Ganga Devi when he was born. However, as Ganga Devi leaves behind both of them, she assures that this baby would grow into an invincible person and none can stand in front of him in terms of warfare and other “Kshatrya” qualities. 

However saying thus, Mother Ganga Devi took the baby along with her after a thought, and she assured King Shantanu that she would leave the baby back to him after he grew up a bit. With this, Ganga Devi took away Devavrata with her, and King Shantanu was ruling the kingdom. He was a great king and ensured all aspects of “Dharma” were followed. After a few years, one fine day when King Shantanu was standing nearby the river Ganges, Mother Ganga once again appeared in person in front of him. She came to King Shantanu and explained thus, “Oh King! Please see that boy who is standing at a distance, playing with his small bow and arrow. This is none other than Devavrata, who is your son! From today onwards, you can take him along with you and henceforth he will be your son.” As Ganga Devi says thus, tears rolled from King Shantanu’s eyes. Initially he thought that Ganga Devi had come back to lead a life with him. However, after she introduced the little boy to him, she left both of them and again disappeared into the river! Devavrata was thus united to his father and thus, King Shantanu brought up Devavrata under his parenting. 

As days and months rolled by, one day King Shantanu was gazing across the river Ganges and eventually his eyes fall on Satyavati, who was coming along that way. It should be remembered that Satyavati is the mother of Sage Veda-Vyaasa as she got together with Sage Paraashara to give birth to Sage Vyaasa. After this, with the divine “Anugraha” of Sage Paraashara, she once attained her virginity and was ready for marriage. It was at this time, Satyavati was spotted by King Shantanu and the moment he saw her, he fell in love with her. However, he had Devavrata as his son already. Will Satyavati accept someone who is already a father of a son? Also, when he had asked Satyavati’s father, who was a fisherman, he was very clear in seeing this as an opportunity – He demanded that King Shantanu can marry his daughter only under the condition that the son born to this couple would only ascend the throne and not the existing Devavrata! Thinking about these things deeply, King Shantanu was sitting amidst the river banks with a worry on his face written all over. However, when Devavrata asked his father multiple times as to why was he feeling sad, King Shantanu never disclosed that he was in love with a woman by name Satyavati, but he was in a dilemma as to whether she would accept him or not. 

Unable to get an answer from his father, Devavrata went straight to the charioteer of King Shantanu and enquired. The charioteer had somehow overheard the conversations that had happened between King Shantanu and Satyavati’s father, and hence, briefed Devavrata as to what had happened. The charioteer clearly explained that if King Shantanu marries Satyavati, Devavrata would not be able to be his successor. Only the child that Satyavati obtains with him would be able to rule the Hastinapura kingdom. It is only for this reason that King Shantanu keeps quiet. He doesn’t want to disclose this to his son, Devavrata and somehow is in a dilemma as to how to proceed further. He did not know how Devavrata would react when he heard this from King Shantanu. 

As Devavrata heard this accord from the charioteer, he rushes back to the kingdom and straightaway goes to meet his father in a great hurry. Now what is Devavrata going to reply? Is Devavrata going to accept the fact that he is not going to be eligible to rule the kingdom? Or, is he going to launch a protest on this? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed an important accord on Bhishmaachaarya’s birth background. We might know that Bhishmaachaarya was Mother Ganga’s son, and is also referred to as “Gaangeya”. However, Mother Ganga and King Shantanu were born in this world owing to a curse from Bhagawan Brahma. Also, Bhishmaachaarya was not the only son to Mother Ganga and Shantanu. He was the eighth son for the couple. These eight sons were none other than the “Ashta-Vasus” from the Deva Lokha, who had been cursed by Sage Vasishtaachaarya for trying to steal away the “Nandini” cow (“Kaamdenu”). One among these eight was someone called Dhyo, and it was Dhyo’s wife who wanted to possess the Nandini cow. Since Dhyo was the main conspirator, he was born as the last amongst the eight sons, and he was none other than Bhishmaachaarya. It is to be noted that the other seven “Ashta Vasus” were killed by Mother Ganga and King Shantanu immediately after they were born. The only son to survive this serial killing was Dhyo (Alias Bhishmaachaarya), because he had to live a long life for conspiring the entire theft operation! 

Now that we’ve witnessed the background story, we shall now witness what conspired in the “Manushya Lokha” at the same time when all this was being decided in the Deva Lokha. As per the curse and as per the decisions made, Mother Ganga incarnates as a woman in the “Manushya Lokha”, and as she grows older, she goes to King Pradeepa and eventually spots Shantanu. As both of them see each other, they fall in love. However, as King Shantanu proposed to marry Ganga Devi, she asked for one rule – “If she marries Shantanu, he should not question her on anything that she does. If he happens to question her, she would leave him at that very moment!” In those days, this was explicitly asked as a “rule” but in today’s Kali Yuga, this has become the order of the day in many places! 🙂 Now how many of us listen to what our parents and elders advice? We do whatever pleases us, and we turn deaf ears to people who give some valuable advice, isn’t it? Perhaps in those days, it was an exception that we should not be questioned by anyone for anything, but in today’s scenario, this has become the norm of life! 

Coming back to this event now, King Shantanu accepts the rule that he would not question Ganga Devi on whatever she does, and hence, both of them get married to each other. After the marriage was over, the first child was born for the couple. Immediately after the child was born, Ganga Devi took the child to the banks of the River Ganges, strangled the child to death and threw it into the river! This happens right in front of King Shantanu’s eyes! He was boiling within himself that his child is being strangled this way, but there is this rule, isn’t it? He shouldn’t ask anything whatever Ganga Devi does! Hence, he kept quiet within himself and thus remained a mute spectator to what was happening! This same fate continued for the next child also! The third child also met with the same fate, and King Shantanu was brimming with frustration and anger! However, he was not in a position to ask Ganga Devi anything, because she would leave him immediately if he does so! This saga continued unabated till the seventh child. 

However, when the eighth child was born to them, and when Ganga Devi took the child to the river bank, King Shantanu had enough of this! As Ganga Devi was on her way to the river bank, along with the baby in her hand, King Shantanu couldn’t resist himself any further! He opened his mouth finally and confronted her as to why she was doing this inhumane act of killing every child that was born to them! This was it! Perhaps Mother Ganga was waiting for this moment to come true, and immediately when King Shantanu questioned her, she replied thus, “Oh King Shantanu! As per the rule of our marriage, you’re not supposed to ask me any questions about what I do! Now that you’ve asked me, have this baby with you and bring him up! I’m leaving you this very moment, and henceforth, I wouldn’t be able to live with you even for a minute! This baby would be a great man in the future in terms of invincible warfare techniques. Nobody would be able to defeat him so easily!” 

Saying thus to King Shantanu, Ganga Devi also names him before she disappears. She names him as “Devavrata”. This was Bhishmaachaarya’s original name during birth. So for today, let us understand how the great Bhishmaachaarya was born, and with this, we shall wait till the next episode to witness how this Devavrata grew up henceforth! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the “Puru-Vamsa”, and we’ve seen who all were born after King Puru. We’ve also seen that King Puru was the successor of King Yayaati and from this onwards, we’ve witnessed the lineage till King Shantanu. But before that, we’ve also witnessed that King Shantanu was the son of King Pradeepa. Many of us might already know that King Shantanu married Ganga Devi and with this, he obtained a son by name Bhishmachaarya, who is also referred to as “Gaangeya”. Also, King Shantanu had another wife by name Satyavati. Readers should remember that thai Satyavati was the one who gave birth to Sage Veda-Vyaasa and after that, she got back her virginity. Eventually she married King Shantanu and had children with him later. In the previous episode thus, we had also witnessed why Ganga Devi incarnates in the “Manushya Lokha”. We’ve witnessed how she and King Maha-Bisha got cursed by Bhagawan Brahma for some wrongdoing of theirs in the “Satya Lokha”. It is with this curse, did Ganga Devi take birth in this world and eventually gets married to King Shantanu. 

Meanwhile, many of us might have heard of the “Ashta-Vasus”. They are eight in number and are somewhere equivalent to the celestial beings. One amongst the eight Vasus was “Dhyo”. Once upon a time, this Dhyo and his wife were roaming around in the forest, wherein they spot a beautiful cow by name “Nandini”. This cow was owned by Sage Vasishtaachaarya. Upon seeing this Nandini cow, Dhyo’s wife was very interested in having it with her for sometime. Upon hearing this extravagant desire of his wife, Dhyo tried convincing her not to go near it, as Sage Vasishtaachaarya is extremely powerful with his penance, and he might curse them very badly. However, she stuck to her stand that she somehow wanted that Nandini cow. Unable to convince his wife beyond a point, Dhyo goes to his seven other Vasu companions and convinces them to help him in getting this Nandini cow from Sage Vasishtaachaarya. As the eight Vasus try to pull off the Nandini cow, Sage Vasishtaachaarya realized that someone is trying to steal it! Immediately came the curse from Sage Vasishtaachaarya’s mouth thus – “Oh Ashta-Vasus! Since you’ve committed a capital crime of trying to steal my Nandini cow without my permission, I’m cursing all of you to go and take human births like ordinary people in this world. However, as you take births in this world, you would be killed immediately by none other than your own father!” 

Now we’ve witnessed why Ganga Devi had taken birth as a normal woman and we would remember that along with Bhishmaachaarya, eight children were born, whom Ganga Devi wanted to kill! These eight children who were put to death by King Shantanu and Ganga Devi were none other than the “Ashta-Vasus”. We’re now left with who was King Shantanu. This King Maha-Bisha who had committed the mistake of looking at Ganga Devi in the wrong way was re-born as King Shantanu as part of the Chandra-Vamsa, along with Kuru and Pradeepa. Thus, to summarize the entire accord for the convenience of readers – Ganga Devi and King Maha-Bisha were born in this world because of Bhagawan Brahma’s curse. King Maha-Bisha was none other than King Shantanu. The “Ashta-Vasus” that were cursed by Sage Vasishtaachaarya were born as eight children to King Shantanu and Ganga Devi. The eighth child was none other than Bhishmaachaarya. 

As this is conspired in the Deva Lokha and Satya Lokha thus, Ganga Devi comes out of the Satya Lokha with the curse, and with sadness written all over her face! Upon seeing Ganga Devi like this, the “Ashta-Vasus” ask her, “Oh Mother! Why are you so sad? Till today we’ve never seen you this sad! What happened?” Upon this, Ganga Devi narrates whatever happened in the Satya Lokha and how Bhagawan Brahma cursed her and King Maha-Bisha. As the “Ashta Vasus” hear this, the “Ashta-Vasus”  request Mother Ganga thus, “Oh Mother! If that’s the case, let us do one thing – As you might know that we’ve been cursed by Sage Vasishtaachaarya that we would be born as children in the “Manushya Lokha”. We know that you’re going to incarnate in this world along with King Maha-Bisha. Hence, let us be born to you as your sons, and as per the curse that we have, you and King Shantanu kill us immediately after we take birth, so that we would be able to attain the Deva Lokha very quickly!” 

Hearing this from Ganga Devi, she also accepted this plan, and thus, it was decided that the “Ashta-Vasus” would be born one after the other to King Shantanu and Ganga Devi in the “Manushya Lokha”. However, the deal doesn’t end here – There was this “Dhyo” who was the masterplanner in the Nandini cow episode, isn’t it? Dhyo’s wife wanted the cow badly and because of her, Dhyo was forced to involve all the other seven “Vasus” isn’t it? According to the deal, the seven others who were only the executors of this theft were to be killed immediately, and this Dhyo who was the masterplanner would live for a long time in the “Manushya Lokha”! This Dhyo was none other than Bhishmaachaarya! 

Thus, according to this plan, King Pradeepa gave birth to King Shantanu, and let us understand until this point for today! We shall wait till the next episode to witness the continuation of this accord further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed an extended discussion on how “Kaama” (Desire) and “Krodha” (Anger) go hand in hand with each other to destroy us completely, if they’re not put under control. If we’ve to control the desire, it is better to put a fullstop to it then and there, rather than experiencing it more and more to seek satisfaction. This is exactly where King Yayaati went wrong and thus wasted his lifetime completely! Eventually we had witnessed King Yayaati realizing his folly after a thousand years and with this, he returned back the youthfulness to his son Puru. With this, King Yayaati expressed gratitude to Puru by nominating him as the successor of the kingdom, although he was the youngest of his sons. This ideally should have been given to Yadhu, but since he denied to satisfy King Yayaati’s wish, he was denied the kingdom! Just like how Yadhu had denied, the other sons of King Yayaati also had denied to give their youthfulness to him. Hence, King Yayaati cursed all his sons, except for Puru, who was an exception. Thus with this, Puru was nominated the official successor of King Yayaati and he is crowned as the king as years passed by. 

It is this Puru’s family lineage Sage Vaishampayana is talking about right now. Thus, Puru was the son of King Yayaati, who in turn had a son by name “Praveera”. Praveera had a son by name “Manasyu”. King Manasyu gave birth to King Dushyanta. King Dushyanta’s son was Bharata. We’ve witnessed King Dushyanta’s story in detail, along with how Bharata became King Dushyanta’s successor. Readers are once again requested to take notes of all of these, as it might be a bit confusing as we move on. Hence, it is important that we remember all of these details intact. I’m saying this because, ideally we should have started with King Yayaati’s accord. However, we’ve witnessed Dushyanta’s accord earlier. It is only because King Janame-Jaya wanted to listen about King Yayaati and the past with complete detailing, Sage Vaishampayana had to divulge into the story of King Yayaati and King Puru, so as to give a complete accord on the “Chandra-Vamsa”. 

Now that we’ve witnessed the accords till King Dushyanta and Bharata, Sage Vaishampayana is going to continue the accord from this point onwards. Now that we’re discussing these accords that happened in the “Dvaapara Yuga”, both “Adharma” and “Dharma” were growing together in equal pace. As King Bharata was ruling the kingdom effectively, he had a son by name “Kuru”. King Kuru in turn had a son by name “Pradeepa”. It is to this King Pradeepa did King Shantanu take birth as his son. Now we’re going to witness how King Shantanu was born to King Pradeepa. This is a very important and a very interesting story about King Pradeepa. Here is where we’re going to witness why Ganga Devi (River Ganges) had to incarnate in this world as a normal human woman. This is a sub-story that comes along with the main one, and we’re eventually going to witness how Ganga Devi is going to marry King Shantanu. 

There was a king by name “Maha-Bisha” who came as part of the “Ikshvaaku” Dynasty. All of us know the background story of the “Ikshvaaku” dynasty and how Bhagawan Rama incarnated as part of it during the previous “Tretha Yuga”, isn’t it? This King Maha-Bisha was part of this great Ikshvaaku Dynasty after several successors of Bhagawan Rama. Once upon a time, this King Maha-Bisha was sitting amidst the courtroom at Bhagawan Brahma’s “Satya Lokha”. In the same courtroom, Ganga Devi was also sitting in one corner. As she was sitting there, her dress slightly came off her body and with this, some private parts of her body were exposed in public. Upon knowing this, all the Devas turned their heads away with the good intention that they should not gaze at Ganga Devi in the wrong way. However, King Maha-Bisha was very interested in gazing at Ganga Devi. In turn, Ganga Devi was also enjoying King Maha-Bisha looking at her like that. Noticing both of them thus, Bhagawan Brahma got angry that such illicit things are happening in his courtroom. Thus, Bhagawan Brahma cursed both of them together that they would have to take a human birth in the “Manushya Lokha”, experience all the trials and tribulations of it and then come back. It is for this reason that Mother Ganga had to take a human form and she in turn gave birth to Bhishmachaarya. It is for this reason that Bhishmachaarya is often referred to as “Gaangeya”! 

So for today, let us understand until this point and let us witness the continuation of this accord in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how King Yayaati got into such a mess in his life – Thanks to his uncontrollable amounts of worldly desires! This even led King Yayaati to forget Sage Shukraachaarya’s advice not to mingle with Sharmishta although she might be very tempting in nature. However, King Yayaati gave into the desire of having Sharmishta with him, and this resulted in Sage Shukraachaarya’s extreme anger, that came along with a curse. Even after receiving the curse, King Yayaati’s desires did not come to an end. Instead, it only aggravated further, which led him to shamelessly ask his sons to give him their youthfulness for him to enjoy life for the next thousand years! As all his sons refused, only one son came forward to offer King Yayaati for what he had asked. Puru was gracious enough to transfer his youthfulness to his father, which again brought King Yayaati to his handsome young looks. With this, King Yayaati enjoyed his youthfulness for the next thousand years unabated. But at the end of the thousandth year, was he happy and satisfied? The answer is a big “No”! He wanted more and more! 

This is the biggest lesson that all of us can learn from King Yayaati’s accord. If we think that we can obtain a control over our desires by experiencing them upto our satisfaction, it is never going to happen. The more we experience and go behind the desire, the more it would make us committed to it. We’re going to witness in the coming episodes as to how even King Yudishtra was carried away with the desire of winning the gambling game against Duryodhana and Co., even though he knew that Shahuni was playing spoilsport. Although King Yudhistra being an epitome of “Dharma”, he too was carried away with the proceedings of the gambling game. Even though he knew that every time he was at the losing end, he was not ready to stop it. King Yudishtra’s ego was very badly hurt every time he lost the plot. This only made him go for it again and again, rather than accepting defeat and stop playing. Even though Vidura and the other Paandava brothers advised him to stop, he failed to pay heed to any of them. Ultimately, all of us know what happened to King Yudishtra at the end, isn’t it? Draupati was dragged to the courtroom and was publicly insulted by Ducchaasana. This is the grave outcome of King Yudishtra’s desire. 

In similar lines, we’ve witnessed in our Ramayana project as to how Ravana ended up the same way for his excessive desire on Mother Sita. Although many people including the likes of his own brothers, Vibhishana, Kumbakarna, advised him to give back Mother Sita to Bhagawan Rama, Ravana did not pay heed. Even after Hanuman left a trail of destruction at Lanka and then advised Ravana to stop this “Adharma” that he’s doing, Ravana failed to pay heed. Finally, even when Angadha came to Ravana’s courtroom and gave one final chance for Ravana to relent from his desire, he did not pay heed. Finally with all these chances going down the drain, Bhagawan Rama had no other option but to kill Ravana in the war. We can witness many such instances in various contexts of our “Sanaatana Dharma” that if we do not control our desires, we’re only searching for our downfall with them! Thus, we should understand here that it is very difficult to overcome desires by experiencing them more and more. Instead, if we understand that we’re getting carried away by the desire, it is always better to put a fullstop to it then and there. 

In the Bhagawad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna details the nature of “Kaama” (Desire). He explains thus, “Oh Arjuna! This “Kaama” and “Krodha” are the results of something called “Rajo Guna”! If you’re giving room for “Kaama” to rise, “Krodha” (Anger) would also accompany it. Ultimately, both of them would make sure that you would be destroyed once and for all!” Thus, we need to understand this point very clearly as we move forward. As King Yayaati realized this after the thousandth year, he once again gives back the youthfulness to his son Puru and with this, Sage Shukraachaarya’s curse of making King Yayaati old, again takes shape. However, even with this realization, King Yayaati did not come to terms fully. Since Puru was the only son who sacrificed his youthfulness to his father, King Yayaati decided that Puru would be his next successor. With this, even though Yadu was the eldest son and even though Yadu was the rightful successor, King Yayaati denied him of the right, since he did not oblige his father’s words of giving him youthfulness. 

So now, it is clear that Puru is going to take the lead in ruling the kingdom after King Yayaati! For today, let us understand upto this point and let us wait till the next episode to move forward from here on! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed how King Yayaati married Sage Shukraachaarya’s daughter, Devayani and how he later got interested in Sharmishta, who had come along with Devayani to be of service to her. We’ve seen that King Yayaati had two children with Devayani, namely, Yadhu and Durvasu. Eventually as time passed by, inspite of Sage Shukraachaarya’s advice of not getting together with Sharmishta, King Yayaati was driven towards her by fate, and had three children with her, namely “Drudhyu”, “Anu” and “Puru”. This entire episode was kept secret from Devayani and she did not even know that her husband had an affair with Sharmishta, who was all along with her at all times. However, when the children grew up and when people around them started commenting that the kids of Sharmishta looked exactly like King Yayaati, Devayani had her own doubts. When she confronted King Yayaati on this, she came to know that he has had an illicit relationship with none other than Sharmishta and these three children were a resultant of that relationship. Angered extremely by this, Devayani ran to her father, Sage Shukraachaarya and with this, Sage Shukraachaarya cursed King Yayaati that he would immediately lose all his youthfulness for cheating his daughter! 

As per the curse, King Yayaati became old overnight! His physical body became very retarded and worn out and with this, he lost all his youthfulness and handsome looks. Now what does poor King Yayaati do? He still had the desire to somehow get back his youthful nature through some way and to experience the pleasures of youthfulness. With this, he goes to all his sons one after the other. He first goes to Drudhyu and asks him thus, “Oh Drudhyu! As you know, my youthfulness has been eradicated overnight because of a curse. However, I have so many things to accomplish in my youthfulness, and I feel that I’ve to finish all of them. Hence, I require my youthfulness back. Can you transfer your youthfulness to me and take my elderliness in return for some time?” Surprised by his father’s request thus, Drudhyu asks back thus, “Oh father! Your request seems to be fine – But for how long should I be old like this?” For this, King Yayaati replies, “You should give me your youthfulness for around a thousand years!” Shocked by this, Drudhyu refused straightaway! He replied to his father thus, “Oh father! I never knew that you are a man of enormous desires. Just like how you would like to enjoy your youth, I would also like to enjoy my youthfulness, isn’t it? So why should I give my youthfulness to you and sacrifice my legitimate desires, and that too for a thousand years? This is not going to happen! I’m sorry! You may approach the other brothers of mine and check if any of them are ready to cooperate with you on this!” 

Refusing thus, Drudhyu walks away and this leaves King Yayaati in a lot of despair. However, he emboldens himself and now goes and asks each of the other sons. He now approached Anu, and the result was the same! Anu wasn’t ready as well. Finally he approached Puru, and surprisingly Puru was ready for the deal! Puru replies to his father thus, “Oh father! It is you who gave me this physical body of mine. If you weren’t there, I wouldn’t even have taken birth isn’t it? If I’m not going to give you whatever you’re asking for, to whom am I going to give in this world? Hence, I’m ready to transfer my youthfulness to you, as per your request!” With this, Puru transfers his youthfulness to King Yayaati and with this, King Yayaati becomes young once again for the next thousand years! During this time period, King Yayaati tried to satisfy all his desires of being a young man, but even at the end of the thousand years, he wasn’t satisfied fully! His desires were only growing more and more and he did not have the heart to give up his youthfulness even after a thousand years! 

It is only then he understood that these desires cannot be satisfied by repeated experiences! The only way to take control over the desires is to drastically keep ourselves away from them! This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is going to explain later as part of the Bhagawad Gita that “Kaama” (Desire) is one of man’s biggest enemies and thus act as a stumbling block from attaining “Moksha”. Of course, Arjuna was fortunate enough to listen directly from Bhagawan and understand this fact at an early age, but King Yayaati was perhaps not that fortunate, and he had to wait for a thousand years to experience it and then realize! 

This is an important lesson for all of us as well – If we’ve to exert control over our desires, we should try to avoid those actions that lead us to the satisfaction of the desirees, isn’t it? For instance, if I have a desire to smoke and drink alcohol  – How will I be able to come out of it? Will I be able to come out of that desire by drinking more and more? It would only aggravate the issue more isn’t it? If I’ve to put an end to this desire of drinking, I should immediately stop drinking alcohol! Only then it would work. Similarly, if I have a craze for a particular food dish, and I realize that I’m gaining unwanted body weight because of consuming that – What should I do? Should I eat that more, or should I stop eating that dish? I’ve to stop it completely, isn’t it? This is where all of us are getting misled very badly! In today’s media, we’re only encouraged to do many wrong things via movies, advertisements, etc., rather than creating awareness that we shouldn’t do certain things. Hence, it is we who should understand the reality and act accordingly. 

Hence for today, let us learn this important lesson from King Yayaati’s life, and let us realize that desires can never be eradicated by experiencing more of it. Desires can only be eradicated by completely avoiding the activities that lead to their satisfaction. We shall wait till the next episode to continue with what happened to King Yayaati after this! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Shukraachaarya’s daughter, Devayani getting into a verbal tussle with King Vrishaparva’s daughter, Sharmishta. Eventually, Sharmishta insults Devayani about her origins as a daughter of a Brahmana Rishi, and that, she is literally leading her life through begging. This irks Devayani beyond words and takes a pledge as to not enter into King Vrishaparva’s kingdom again. However, Sage Shukraachaarya and King Vrishaparva come to an agreement on this and with this, Sage Shukraachaarya convinces Devayani to relent from her stance. Ultimately, with Sharmishta too seeking forgiveness, Devayani relents and comes back to the kingdom. With this, Devayani and Sharmishta become friends again and their relationship continues on without any further hiccups. 

As this was going on, one fine day, King Yayaati happens to pass by that way, and as King Yayaati sees Devayani, he falls in love with her immediately! He proposes to marry Devayani but she isn’t ready yet. She had a feeling that if she gets married to King Yayaati , it would become a problem in the future as she was a Brahmana Rishi’s daughter and he was a Kshatrya prince. However, King Yayaati was smart enough to approach Sage Shukraachaarya directly and convinced him straightaway. Sage Shukraachaarya too knew that King Yayaati was a very righteous person by nature and he accepted the marriage proposal. The marriage happens thus in a grand fashion and Sage Shukraachaarya gives Devayani in marriage to King Yayaati. As this happens, Devayani takes Sharmishta and some other women along with her to her husband’s place. Sharmishta too comes along as she was also very interested to stay along with Devayani. As Sharmishta leaves along with Devayani, Sage Shukraachaarya advices King Yayaati thus, “Oh King Yayaati! This Sharmishta is coming along with your wife just because Sharmishta has been enslaved by her. Also, Sharmishta and Devayani are good friends. But you should remember one thing always in life – Sharmishta is a daughter of King Vrishaparva and she is extremely royal by birth. You might have children with Devayani, but please be very careful not to have children with Sharmishta by any chance. Even if she approaches you, please be careful! Take care of both the women!” 

Paying heed to Sage Shukraachaarya’s advice thus, King Yayaati returns back along with the two women. The first child that was born between King Yayaati and Devayani was none other than “Yadhu”. They subsequently had their second child by name “Durvasu”. However, as fate had its say, King Yayaati started losing interest on Devayani as time progressed. Instead, his interest was now starting to be focused on Sharmishta. Sharmishta too on her part started getting interested in King Yayaati. Thus, eventually King Yayaati ended up marrying Sharmishta also! We should remember here that this was against the advice of Sage Shukraachaarya! As this marriage happens, King Yayaati and Sharmishta had three children – “Drudhyu”, “Anu” and “Puru”. As all these happened, Devayani was not even aware that King Yayaati and Sharmishta got married and got together with each other! 

However, after a few years when these three children were playing along, people started passing comments that these children were exactly looking like King Yayaati. Upon hearing this, Devayani was extremely angry with her husband! How can he get together with another woman outside of marriage, and that too, her own slave Sharmishta? With this anger as she confronts King Yayaati, he too did not have another option but to accept the fact. Angered thus, Devayani straightaway runs to Sage Shukraachaarya and confronts! With this, Sage Shukraachaarya becomes extremely angry that King Yayaati has cheated on his daughter. He rushes to King Yayaati’s place and inflicts a heavy curse on him thus, “Oh Yayaati! Since you’ve cheated my daughter for no fault of hers, from today, you would lose all your youth and would become old! Your body would start having all the features of an old man and with this, you would not be able to enjoy your youth with Sharmishta!” 

Thus with this, King Yayaati became old overnight! He lost all his youthfulness and with this, he realizes his mistake! But it was too late! Now what is King Yayaati’s strategy going to be? Is he going to come out of this curse of Sage Shukraachaarya? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed Kacha successfully obtaining the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukracchaarya, but not without an ordeal. Eventually as the Raakshasas realized Kacha’s secret agenda, they tried killing him many times, but thanks to the “Sanjeevani” Mantra, Kacha woke up alive again each and every time. However, when the Raakshasas were fed up with this process every passing day, they decided to kill Kacha and make his body part of Sage Shukraachaarya’s food and water. Even then, when Kacha was being searched for, he let out a sound of existence from Sage Shukraachaarya’s own stomach! This is where Kacha and Sage Shukraachaarya made an agreement to save each other – Sage Shukraachaarya chanted the “Sanjeevani” Mantra” with which, Kacha came out of his stomach alive, and Sage Shukraachaarya fell to the ground dead. In return, Kacha chanted the “Sanjeevani” Mantra, which brought Sage Shukraachaarya back to life. With this, Kacha achieved his agenda of learning the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukraachaarya and with this he went back to the Devas and taught it to them. Thus, the Devas again re-obtained their powers and immortality with the help of this “Sanjeevani Mantra”. 

Thus, this is one part of the story. Meanwhile, we’ve to witness what happened to Devayani, who was Sage Shukraachaarya’s daughter. We had witnessed earlier that when Kacha was with Sage Shukraachaarya, Devayani fell in love with him, only to be rejected by Kacha. At the same time, there was a famous Raakshasa king by name “Vrishaparva”. He had a daughter by name “Sharmishta”. This Sharmishta and Devayani were good friends. Once upon a time, both Sharimishta and Devayani were spending some time in the lawn of their palace, wherein suddenly there was a fight between the two. As the war of words intensified beyond a threshold point, Sharmishta exclaims to Devayani thus, “Oh Devayani! Afterall you’re a Brahamana Rishi’s daughter and you’re begging your fortune to all of us and surviving isn’t it? Why don’t you have even an iota of shame in you that you are afterall a beggar here? It is me who is having the patience and compassion to feed you and your father!” 

As Sharmishta thunders aloud thus, Devayani was hurt beyond words. She immediately declared to Sharmishta thus, “Oh Sharmishta! Today I’ve understood your true colours! You’ve just been acting like my good friend and a sister but your real intention is to enslave me to you. From today onwards I would not enter into your kingdom. I shall stay here, look after my own needs all by myself and lead a life on my own!” Saying thus, Devayani cried and vented all her frustration out and sat below a tree. Unable to trace his daughter, Sage Shukraachaarya learnt what happened to Devayani and rushed to the place where she was sitting. As Sage Shukraachaarya tried convincing her, she stood by her stance – “Sharmishta should seek forgiveness for whatever she had spoken. Just because I’m a daughter of a Brahmana Rishi, in what way am I inferior to her? Sharmishta shouldn’t take me for granted like this! If she doesn’t relent from her stance, I’m never going to enter into Vrishaparva’s kingdom again. This is my ultimate stance!” Saying thus, Devayani stood by her words and made things complicated for Sage Shukraachaarya to handle! 

After this accord, Sage Shukraachaarya straightaway went to King Vrishaparva and explained the situation. King Vrishaparva too understood the seriousness and the dilemma behind this – On one hand, if he accedes with his daughter, Sage Shukraachaarya is extremely powerful and is going to curse him very badly. On the other hand, the Devas have become powerful with the “Sanjeevani Mantra” now. He has to thread the path carefully and balance it out. King Vrishaparva replies thus, “Oh great Sage! I understand what your daughter is going through. Whatever Sharmishta said to Devayani was totally wrong and I apologize to you on behalf of my daughter. I shall order my daughter to immediately seek forgiveness from Devayani and sort this out! So please ask Devayani to come back to the kingdom and I assure her that she would live happily here henceforth without any hiccups!” 

As King Vrishaparva says thus, Sage Shukraachaarya goes to Devayani to pass on the king’s message to her, and in the meanwhile, King Vrishaparva explains the situation to Sharmishta, which she also understands. Thus, Sharmishta goes straight to Devayani and seeks her forgiveness and henceforth both of them become good friends again. As days progress this way, King Yayati comes in contact with Devayani from somewhere! So what is going to happen next? Let us wait for this interesting phase till the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed Kacha being killed by the Raakshasas because of the fact that they had come to know Kacha’s true agenda of rallying behind Sage Shukraachaarya. Eventually as time progressed, the Raakshasas understood that Kacha was sent by the Devas’ camp to learn the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukraachaarya, which would in turn make them invincible and immortal. The Raakshasas had no other option but to act immediately, which made them go for the extreme step of killing Kacha. As they killed him, they cut his body into bits and pieces and threw these pieces as prey for the nearby dogs. Meanwhile, since Kacha hadn’t returned home for the evening, Sage Shukraachaarya and his daughter, Devayani go in search of him, only to find him nowhere. However, with the help of the “Sanjeevani” Mantra, Kacha was brought back to life from inside the dogs’ stomachs. With this, Kacha came back to the ashram along with Sage Shukraachaarya and Devayani. 

Upon seeing Kacha back alive, the Raakshasas couldn’t believe what was going on. They changed their strategy immediately – Kacha came back alive only because his body was cut into pieces, isn’t it? Now what if Kacha was killed and his body being reduced to a powder form and dissolved into the ocean waters? With this, he wouldn’t be able to come back alive, isn’t it? This was the Raakshasas’ “Plan B”, and with this in mind, they went ahead with their execution. Next time when Kacha had gone out for something, the Raakshasas followed him closely, killed him, made his body into a powder and dissolved it into the ocean. However, the “Sanjeevani” Mantra isn’t an ordinary one! Sage Shukraachaarya again uses it and brings Kacha back to life! This infuriates the Raakshasas even more! They implemented this “Plan B” once more and threw Kacha into a different ocean from the other end! Still the Raakshasas ended up in a huge failure and embarrassment! 

Finally the Raakshasas decided that these kinds of techniques aren’t going to work anymore! They now strategized a “Plan C” – Now this is very interesting! The Raakshasas once again killed Kacha and now they made his body into a powder, mixed the powder with Sage Shukraachaarya’s food and water, and made him eat / drink it. With this, Kacha went inside Sage Shukraachaarya’s body itself! Now the Raakshasas were eagerly waiting to see whether Kacha comes back alive this time or not! Unknowing thus, Sage Shukraachaarya and Devayani search for Kacha everywhere but they were unable to find him! Devayani was getting tensed every passing minute. Sage Shukraachaarya tried to convince Devayani thus, “Oh Devayani! Just let it go! Kacha is afterall a “Jeevatma” and every “Jeevatma” in this world is bound to die some day. Let us leave it at that and forget Kacha once and forever!” However, Devayani is not going to let Kacha go away so easily. She once again requests her father to chant the “Sanjeevani” Mantra to check where Kacha is. Sage Shukraachaarya too accepted it for one last time, and with the “Sanjeevani” Mantra being chanted, Kacha’s voice was heard from within Sage Shukraachaarya’s stomach! 

Upon hearing Kacha’s voice from within, Sage Shukraachaarya was taken aback. Now the question is, how does he save Kacha’s life now? If Kacha has to be saved, Sage Shukraachaarya has to die. Only when Shukraachaarya sacrifices his life, will Kacha be saved. For this, Kacha gives a brilliant idea to Sage Shukraachaarya. He says thus, “Oh great Sage! You somehow chant the Mantra and bring me out. With this, I know you would die. However, before I come out, please do the “Upadesha” (Teaching) of the “Sanjeevani” Mantra to me. When I come outside, I shall chant the same “Sanjeevani” Mantra and bring you back to life! It is to be remembered here by readers that Kacha’s sole purpose of coming to Sage Shukraachaarya was to learn the “Sanjeevani Mantra”. Now Kacha has got the best ever opportunity to learn the “Sanjeevani” Mantra. Sage Shukraachaarya too did not have an option but to pay heed to Kacha’s idea. He thus teaches the “Sanjeevani” Mantra to Kacha, and with that, Kacha comes outside of Sage Shukraachaarya’s stomach. However with this, Sage Shukraachaarya falls to the ground dead! Now, Kacha chants the “Sanjeevani” Mantra as taught by Sage Shukraachaarya and with this, Sage Shukraachaarya wakes up again from the deathbed. 

With this, Kacha has achieved his mission! Hence, why should Kacha stay there even for a single minute? He immediately requests permission from Sage Shukraachaarya to go back to the “Deva Lokha”. However, Devayani was adamant that Kacha should marry her. Even with an enormous amount of persuasion, Kacha wasn’t ready. He expressed his stance clearly that this marriage is not possible because he was from the Deva Lokha and she was a Brahmana Rishi’s daughter. With this, Kacha goes back, and teaches the “Sanjeevani” Mantra to the Devas, and with this, the Devas regain all their strength and power! 

This is one part of the story! Now the other part begins with what is going to happen to Devayani. We’ve just now seen that she had been rejected by Kacha. Now what is going to happen next to her? Let us wait till the next episode to witness it further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed how the Devas were trying to strategize their plot against the Raakshasas in terms of resisting their wrath. Over time, the Raakshasas were slowly emerging powerful, which was a grave threat to Indra and Co. Hence, they approached their “Guru”, Brihaspathi for a solution. Guru Brihaspathi thought for a while and explained to them that the only way to gain an upper hand over the Raakshasas is to somehow obtain the “Sanjeevani” Mantra from Sage Shukraachaarya, who was the “Guru” for the Raakshasas. For this, Kacha was assigned the task of obtaining the “Sanjeevani” Mantra, since he was a small boy by that time. The Devas’ strategy was that, Kacha should learn all the lessons of Vedas and other Shaastras from Sage Shukraachaarya and with that, he should also learn the “Sanjeevani” Mantra. Accordingly, Kacha approaches Sage Shukraachaarya and earns his trust as an excellent, obedient and a serious student. Eventually, Sage Shukraachaarya starts teaching Kacha all the lessons. Now how is this going to proceed further? Let’s discuss today. 

This process takes around 500 years! In the meanwhile, the Raakshasas come to know that Kacha was like a secret spy who was sent by the Devas to learn the “Sanjeevani” Mantra. The Raakshasas were fuming at one point and wanted to finish of this Kacha once and forever. Once upon a time when Kacha goes to the forest in search of something, the Raakshasas see this as an opportunity. As Kacha walks deeper into the forest, they catch him red-handed, surround him and kill him! As Kacha is killed, the Raakshasas cut his body into pieces and threw them as prey for dogs and other animals. As Kacha did not return back from the forest for a long time, Devayani started getting tense. As time flew by, Devayani fell in love with Kacha, but she never disclosed her love for him. Sage Shukraachaarya also knew this but he too did not talk about it to his daughter. As Kacha never came back after that, Devayani ran to her father to understand what happened to Kacha and why he did not come back home from the forest. As Devayani was tensed thus, Sage Shukraachaarya consoles her – “Oh Devayani! Please do not worry. Let us immediately go to the forest where I had sent Kacha, and let us search. He would definitely be there somewhere. Let us find out!” 

Saying thus, Sage Shukraachaarya and Devayani set out to the forest in search of Kacha. They go deeper and deeper into the forest calling out his name aloud, but in vein! Kacha was not to be traced anywhere! As time goes by and as they walk deeper and deeper into the forest, Devayani was getting restless. Sage Shukraachaarya again consoles her thus, “Oh Devayani! Please do not worry! I shall now use my “Yoga-Nishta” to find out where Kacha is. Even if Kacha had died, I have the “Sanjeevani Mantra” that can wake up Kacha!” As Sage Shukraachaarya goes into his deep penance, he finds out that Kacha was inside a dog’s stomach! Immediately he chants the “Sanjeevani” Mantra and with this, Kacha comes back alive! With this, all three of them go back to the ashram and Kacha’s lessons continue further! 

This irks the Raakshasas big time! They now realized that cutting Kacha into bits and pieces was a wrong strategy. Instead, they now planned in such a way that Kacha should be reduced to mere powder and should be dissolved into the ocean waters, so that he would never be able to come back alive. So what are the Raakshasas going to do now? Is Kacha going to resist the Raakshasas’ wrath again? How is Sage Shukraachaarya going to protect Kacha once again from the Raakshasas? Let us wait till the next episode for all the answers! Stay tuned! 🙂