With this, Vasishta returned to the story of Sikhidwaja. “ Being without Atma-Jnana, the King began to reel under illusion and gave way to grief, regarding the enormous wealth he had so easily acquired as destructive as a great forest-fire. He therefore gave various rare gifts, underwent many religi ous observances, and bathed in the holy water ; but yet he was not free from the load of grief in his mind. Sorely afflicted at heart, he drew to him his wife Chudalai, and poured forth his heart to her thus :
I have now abandoned all love of sovereignty and wealth, and 1 desire to enter the forest life. Neither pleasure nor pain, danger nor wealth, will there haunt those who live noble lives. Let me no longer associate with the delusions of this earth. A forest life is, in all respects, preferable to the regal one, wherein the long ing after life and property do not die. Even the cool moon or the God Brahma, or Indra, the Lord of the Devas rolling in great wealth, cannot enjoy that bliss which comes to a self- centred mind free from desires. Therefore, do not blame me for leaving you thus, and going to the forest Married women, O well-beloved ! will not oppose the desires of their husbands.
To this Chudalai replied : Flowers begin to blossom in the spring season, while autumn sees them yielding fruit. Thus do our Karmas begin to fructify in their due time. If the body should begin to droop with old age, when bodily desires sub side, then is the forest a fitting abode. But, at this period of your life, it is not meet that you should retire ; wherefore it behoves you not to go now. To this the King made answer ; * Do not impede me in my plans. I will go to the forest for solitude ; but as thou art young, it is not proper that yon should accompany me. Thou shalt reign over the earth unfailingly in my stead. When a husband goes from home, it is the wife s duty to protect those around him, and not to languish at his absence.
Thus saying he retired to his bath. The day beng over, he performed his Sandhyavandhana* rites, and, having quietly slept by his wife upon the floor, he stole out in the dead of night, unperceived by her. Having given out to the people outside that he was going on a city patrol, he desired them to stay where they were, and departed from the town. Then, bidding adieu to his great, but enslaving posses sions, he entered into the forest, crossing, in the course of twelve days, many rivers and hills. At last he reached the in accessible forest on the slopes of the Mandara Hills, and took up his abode there, in a spot surrounded by tanks replete with lotuses, and by delicious flowers.
There he erected a parna- .i!a (raised shed), and furnished himself with a bamboo- rod, a rosary for recitation of Mantras, a cloth, vessels to hold fruits, &c , and deer skins. Then, in order to perform Tapas, in the first Yama^three hours), he performed the San- dhyavandhana rites ; in the second, he gathered flowers ; in the third he performed worship to Devas ; and in the fourth he fed upon fruits fit for food. All night through he was en gaged in the chanting of Mantras. Thus did the King per form Tapas.
Chudalai who was sleeping in the palace, awoke; and not finding her lord who had lain by her, was greatly afflicted ; and then she melted with compassion at the condition of the King, who she inferred must have abandoned all his wealth and gone to the forest. Then she resolved to find out the where abouts of her husband, for the husband is a wife s only goal. She sprang forth (in her double), and passing through the win dow, went up into the sky, journeying through the air with so bright a face that the Siddhas in the skies exclaimed, “ Lo ! another moon has arisen here !” Then seeing her husband travelling in the forest with a bright scimitar in his hand, she meditated as to what course she should pursue in regard to him.
Having done so, this sweet-tongued one came to the following conclusion : “ It is right that I should see him only after his desires and hatred have ceased.” With that she returned to her palace.
This divine lady gave out to her subjects that her hus band had gone to a certain place on matters of a private nature. So she wielded the sceptre alone for eighteen years with true regal justice and an equal eye to all, thus passing her time in her palatial mansion ; while at the same time the King eked out his life of suffering in the forest.
Finding that the time was ripe for her to see her husband, she went forth one night and walked the skies.
Having mounted on the shoulders of Vdyu (airj, invisible to all, she alighted on the Mandara Hills, and saw there a decrepit and melancholy body, which, at first, she did not know for her husband ; but having, by her powers of great Yoga, discover ed it to be none other than he, she yielded to her grief and gave vent to these words : Lo ! dire is Ajn&na 1 Through it the King is groaning 1 in pain.
I have undoubtedly the power to confer Atma-Jnana on him at this instant ; yet, lest he should spurn me if I, his young wife, should appear in my present form, I will assume another form suitable to accom plish my end. Moreover, the King is in a state of mind which permits of his Ajnana (ignorance) being dissipated. At a single word from me, JnAna will reflect itself in his now ripened mind.
Therefore, availing herself of this most opportune hour, she changed her bodily form by her incomparable Dhyana, and descended from the Akasa before her husband under the form of the son of a great Brahmin. The King at once arose, and paid him all due respect. This young Brahmin had a beauteous form, and, upon his breast, was a garland of pearls ; he wore a white cloth and a sacred thread ; and stood in the air at some distance from the ground. The King showed the newly. arrived guest to a seat beside him.
The young Brahmin returned the salutations of this royal Rishi of true Tapas, and took a seat by his side ; when the King, with a full heart, thus spoke : It is only now with your advent, son of a Deva, that I have reaped the fruits of Atma. So saying, he showered on the youngBrahmin more devotions, regarding him as his holy tutelary god. The Brahmin, advocating the King, said : 4 Who in the world has the graceful qualities and modesty which you evince ? May you live long ! Did you, with a ste.-xdfast mind and with all worldly delusions extinct in you, perform Tapas only for the sake of obtaining salvation ?
Your abode in this forest, after abandoning the state of a King like unto Indra, may well be likened to Tapas performed on the point of a sword ! At these words of the Brahmin, the King said : Being a god, thou hast well understood my condition. This thy know ledge surprizes me ; whose son art thou, and what is thy name? What occasion has brought thee here ? Be pleased to tell me all this. To this the Brahmin, consenting to answer him fully, thus began : There was a Brahmin of the name ofNdrada, like unto the true Jnana-light, and he sat in a delightful spot on the banks of the Ganges of holy waters, absorbed in Nishta (meditation). In the transition stage from that highest Samadhi down to the normal state, a sportive sound fell upon his ears, and he directed his gaze in the direc tion whence it came.
There he saw some Deva-girls, like unto Arambha and Tilothama*, of matchless beauty. Seeing them thus alone, and not ashamed of their nudity, his Prana began to fluctuate, and he experienced the effects of sensual desire in himself. When the Brahmin had said this, the King remarked : I have attained perfect equilibrium of mind through the sweet nectar of your words. It is difficult for me to follow their meaning as they are mystical like those per taining to Paramarta (the reality of the Higher Self). Therefore please inform me plainly of your origin/ To which Chudalai, the Brahmin s son, continued to reply: Then, having fastened the must-elephant of the ever-fluctuating mind to the great pillar of true discrimination with the strong rope of love by the aid of the goad of true intelligence, the Muni Narada (caused that to be done, which produced the embryo). Then the embryo began to grow like the luxuri ant moon in the Milky Ocean.
Having been endowed by Narada with a never-failing wealth of knowledge and other gifts, I, who issued out of the Pot, as the son of N&rada, was taken over to the presence of Brahma, who, as in duty bound to me, his own grandson, paved my way to the attainment of the goal of Brahma-Jnana. Immediately my grandfather called me by the title of Kumbha-Muni, as I was born in a Kumbhaf (pot). The noble Saraswati is my mother; Gaya- tri I my junior mother. I was always engaged in sporting with my friends, the four stainless Vedas. At these words of Kumbha-Muni, the King said that he had reaped great benefit from the Muni s present visit to him, and felt assured that all he said was true. Kumbha-Muni said that he had truly related his own life, and desired the King to inform him of his identity and origin. The King made reply: Being afraid of the worries of existence, I sought freedom from actions in this f This probably refers to the advent of all egos which are so only through their limitation, just as things are deposited in a limited recep tacle as that of a pot.
Hence, Chudalai does not make a false report of herself, as in describing- the origin of all egoes she describes that of herself too. Kumbha-Muni is the name of Agastya Rishi. I go by the name of Ikhidwaja, and am here, after having relinquished my regal duties. My mind stands aghast at this ever-recurring cycle of re-births. Though I made Tapas here after obtaining all things necessary for that pur pose, I have but enhanced beyond description my pains in the endeavour to do away with them. Oh incomparable Muni, milk has indeed been converted into poison !
