Monday 14 March 2016

Aurva

Vashistha started telling Parasara :

There was a king called Kritavirya. A sage from the dynasty of Brighu was his priest. The king performed many sacrifices and gave away all his wealth to the priest.
After the king, his descendants discovered that they had no wealth left. So they asked the priest's descendants to return the wealth that the priest had got from the king.

The priests said they give all they had. When they went home, some of them gave all that they had and others dug holes in the ground and hid their wealth there.

The kings were not pleased with what they got from the priests. They sent out spies and learnt that a lot of the wealth had been hidden. They sent people to dig out  wealth and fetch it.

A lot of wealth was found. Angry at that, they decided to kill the brahmanas. Brandishing their swords, they started cutting off the heads of the brahamans. They did not distinguish between young and old, and killed all. They would cut off the heads of pregnant women and then tear the wombs open to kill the unborn babies.

Women started fleeing from the land. One of the brahmana women, knowing that she was pregnant transferred her foetus from her belly into her thigh. She started running but soon the kings caught up with her. Tired, she gave birth there and a son was born to her. The son when born, shone brighter than the sun. So bright was the light coming from his body, that the kings chasing him were blinded. Some were even burnt to death.

The kings remaining appealed to the woman and the boy for mercy. The boy said the kings were responsible for the near annihilation of the brahmanas. He decided that he would destroy the world.

The boy whose name was Aurva, then started meditating. For years he sat, fasting, meditating, trying to find a way to destroy the three worlds. So fierce was his penance that the worlds became heated up. Everywhere, people were scared.

His departed ancestors then appeared before him and said : Your anger saddens us. What has happened was written as part of the destiny and killing off and destroying the worlds will not help achieve anything. Discard your anger. Learn to forgive.

Aurva said : I agree with what you said. The evil still need to be punished. When I was to be born, my mother had to hide me in her womb, to save me. She was fortunate; the others were not, whose wombs were torn open. Thinking of this, I feel the evil should not go unpunished.  If you do not fight for your rights, you will be regarded as a coward. My anger will stay and will not go away.

The ancestors said : Calm your mind. Throw the anger away. Your meditation will not bear fruit if you cultivate anger in your mind. Do not discard our words, we are your ancestors. Listen to us. If you do not know how to get rid of your anger, we will help you. It is said that all worlds' life reside in the waters. Throw your anger in the water.

Aurva agreeing, discarded his anger and for years it burnt as a flame in the ocean.


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Hearing all this, Parasara controlled his anger. He said My father was killed by a Rakshasha. Not listening to Vashishtha, he started a sacrifice, to get rid of the rakshashas.



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