{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/db/bk06ch13.htm","path":"hin/db/bk06ch13.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/db/bk06ch13.htm","text":"THE SIXTH BOOK\nChapter XIII\nOn the description of the battle between \u00c2di and Baka after the discourse on S\u2019unahs\u2019epha\n1-6. Indra said :-- \u201cO Prince! The King Haris\u2019chandra promised before to Varuna that he would celebrate for his propitiation the great Naramedha sacrifice when he would offer his own son as a victim to be immolated. O Prince! You are very intelligent; can\u2019t you grasp this idea that your father has become merciless due to his suffering in this illness and no sooner you go there than he will make you the victim and tie you\nto the sacrificial post when you will be slaughtered.\u201d The indomitable Indra thus prohibiting the son, he began to stay there deluded by the M\u00e2y\u00e2 of the great Mah\u00e2 M\u00e2y\u00e2. O King! Thus whenever the prince heard of his father\u2019s severe illness, he wanted to go to his father, Indra repeatedly used to go to him and prevent him from doing so. On the other hand, the King Haris\u2019chandra became very much afflicted, and, seeing his family Guru all-knowing well-wisher Vas\u2019istha close by, asked him, \u201cO Bhagav\u00e2n! what am I to do now? I am now very impatient with the agonies of this disease and am very weak; besides I am very much afraid of it. Kindly give me a good advice and save me.\u201d\n7-9. Vas\u2019istha said :-- \u201cO King! There is a good remedy for the cure of your disease. It is stated in the S\u2019\u00e2stras that the sons are of thirteen kinds; Aurasa, Ksattraja, Datrima, Kr\u00eetrima; etc. Therefore pay the reasonable price and buy one good Br\u00e2hmin boy and perform your sacrifice with that boy. O King! Thus Varuna will be pleased and you will be cured of your disease.\u201d\n10-24. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! Hearing thus the words of Vas\u2019istha, the King Haris\u2019chandra addressed to his minister :-- \u201cO Minister-in-Chief! You are very sharp and intelligent, therefore you better try your best and seek in my kingdom a Br\u00e2hmin boy. In case a poor Br\u00e2hmin be willing, out of his love for money, to give over his son, then give him any amount he wants and bring his son. O Minister! By all means, bring a Br\u00e2hmin boy for this sacrifice; in other words, do not be miserly or act lazily to perform my business. You should pray to any Br\u00e2hmin thus :-- Take this money and give your son, who will be sacrificed in a sacrificial ceremony as a victim.\u201d Thus ordered, the minister sought for a Br\u00e2hmin boy in towns after towns, villages after villages, and houses after houses. Till, at last, he came to know that in his kingdom there was a poor distressed Br\u00e2hmin named Aj\u00eegarta, who had three sons. Then the minister gave to the Br\u00e2hmin that he wanted and purchased his second son named S\u2019unahs\u2019epha and brought him before the King. And handed him over to the King, saying that this Br\u00e2hmin boy is fit for the sacrificial victim. The King then gladly brought the best Br\u00e2hmins versed in the Vedas for the performance of the sacrifice, and collected all the articles requisite for the purpose. When the sacrifice was commenced, the great Muni Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, seeing S\u2019unahs\u2019epha tied, prohibited the King and said :-- \u201cO King! Do not be so bold as to sacrifice this boy; let this boy be free. O long-lived One! I am asking this thing from you today and if you obey it, certainly it will do good to you. O King! This boy S\u2019unahs\u2019epha is crying; his cries are paining my heart and I am feeling pity for him. Hear my word and free this\nboy out of mercy. See! The purehearted Ksattriyas, in ancient days, used to sacrifice their own bodies and thus preserve others\u2019 bodies, so that they might attain the Heavens. And now you are killing this Br\u00e2hmin boy forcibly so that you may preserve your own body; judge how vicious is this your act! Be merciful to this boy. O King! Everyone likes his own body to the same extent; you are feeling this yourself; therefore if you take my word, then quit this boy.\u201d\n25-36. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! The King Haris\u2019chandra was ailing very much; hence be did not pay any heed to the Muni\u2019s words and did not quit the boy. Thereupon the very fiery spirited Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra became very angry with the King. Then Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, the son of Kus\u2019ika, the foremost of the knowers of the Vedas, shewed mercy on S\u2019unahs\u2019epha and gave him the \u201cVaruna Mantram.\u201d S\u2019unahs\u2019epha, very much afraid to lose his life, earnestly repeatedly remembered Varuna and uttered that mantram in pluta tone (lengthened or prolonged). Varuna, too, the ocean of mercy, knowing that the Br\u00e2hmin boy was praising him with hymns came up to that spot and freed S\u2019unahs\u2019epha from his bondage and freed the King also from his disease and went back to his own abode. Thus the Maharsi Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra became very glad to rescue the Muni\u2019s son from the jaws of death. The King Haris\u2019chandra did not observe the words of Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra; hence the son of G\u00e2dhi harboured within his heart anger towards the King. One day while the King Haris\u2019chandra was riding in a forest and there, at midday, on the banks of the river Kaus\u2019ik, when he desired to kill a boar, Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra in the garb of an old Br\u00e2hmin asked from him everything that he had, including his dominion and thus cunningly took away everything from the King. The Maharsi Vas\u2019istha, seeing his Yajam\u00e2na Haris\u2019chandra suffering much, became wounded and felt pain in his mind. One day when he met casually with Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra in a forest, he said :-- \u201cO wicked Ksattriya! A disgrace to your family! You have in vain put on the garb of a Br\u00e2hmin; your religion is like a crane; you ate full of vanity; you boast for nothing. The best of kings, Haris\u2019chandra is my client; be is faultless; still, O Fool! Why are you giving him so much trouble. As you are religious as a crane is religious, so take your birth as a crane.\u201d Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, thus cursed by Vas\u2019istha, cursed Vas\u2019istha in return, and said :-- \u201cO Vas\u2019istha! As long as I will remain a crane, so long you also remain as S\u2019ar\u00e2li or \u00c2di bird.\u201d\n37-42. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- O King! The two angry Munis thus cursed each other and the two were born as Crane and S\u2019ar\u00e2li or \u00c2di bird. The crane Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra built its nest on the top of a tree on the M\u00e2nasarovara lake and began to live there. Vas\u2019istha, too, assumed the form of an \u00c2di bird,\nand built his nest on the top of another tree and lived there. Thus the two Risis spent their days in full enmity towards each other. These two birds used to shriek so terribly loud that they became a nuisance to all; they fought daily with each other. They used to strike each other with beaks and wings and nails and thus they were covered all over their bodies with cuts and wounds and they were smeared with blood. They began to look like Kims\u2019uka trees. Thus the two Risis, in the shape of birds, in their states of bondage, due to each other\u2019s curse, passed many years there.\n43. Janamejaya said :-- \u201cO Br\u00e2hmana! Kindly tell me how Vas\u2019istha and Kaus\u2019ika, the two Risis, became free from their curses; I am very curious to hear this.\u201d\n44-54. Vy\u00e2sa said :-- Brahm\u00e2, the Grandsire of his subjects, came there with all the Devas, filled with mercy, on seeing those two Risis at war against each other. Brahm\u00e2, the Lotus-seated, made them desist from such a fight, consoled them and freed both of them from each other\u2019s curses. Then the Devas went back to their own abodes and the illustrious lotus-seated Brahm\u00e2 went to the Satyaloka, seated on his Swan. Maharsi Vas\u2019istha and Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra became then friends and were tied with bonds of affection at the advice of Brahm\u00e2; they went back to their own \u00c2s\u2019ramas. O King! Now see, that the Maharsi Vas\u2019istha, the son of Mitr\u00e2-Varuna, fought for nothing with Vis\u2019v\u00e2mitra, so painful to both the parties. Who, then, amongst the human beings, the D\u00e2navas or the Devas can conquer his Ahamk\u00e2ra (egoism) and be always happy? Therefore the Chitta-S\u2019uddhi, the purity of the heart (that purity which imparts to man the blessedness of God-vision) is very difficult even for the high-souled persons; with the greatest caution and utmost effort one has to practise for that. To those persons, that are void of this Chitta S\u2019uddhi, it is all vain to go to places of pilgrimage, to make charities, to practise tapasy\u00e2, to be truthful; in fact, anything, which is the means to attain Dharma, becomes useless. O King! S\u2019raddh\u00e2 (Faith) is of three kinds :-- (1) S\u00e2ttvik\u00ee, (2) R\u00e2jasik\u00ee and (3) T\u00e2masik\u00ee to all persons in all their religious matters. The S\u00e2ttvik faith is the only one of the three that yields entire results; and it is very rare in this world. The R\u00e2jasik faith, done according to due rules, yields half the results thereof and the T\u00e2masik faith is fruitless and inglorious; the T\u00e2masik faith arises with those persons that are overwhelmed with lust, anger, greed, etc. Therefore, O King! Keep to the company of the good and hear the S\u2019\u00e2stras, Ved\u00e2nta, etc., and free the heart of worldly desires and then concentrate it to the worship of the Dev\u00ee and live in a sacred place of pilgrimage. Men afraid and troubled with the defects of the K\u00e2l\u00eeyuga, should always\ntake the name of the Dev\u00ee, sing praises, and meditate on Her lotus feet. Thus the J\u00eevas will not have any fear of K\u00e2l\u00ee and the fallen vicious persons will easily be able to cross this ocean of the world and be free. There is no doubt in this.\nHere ends the Thirteenth Chapter of the Sixth Book on the description of the battle between \u00c2di and Baka after the discourse on S\u2019unahs\u2019epha in S\u2019r\u00ee Mad Dev\u00ee Bh\u00e2gavatam, the Mah\u00e2pur\u00e2nam of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vy\u00e2sa.","title":"The Devi Bhagavatam: The Sixth Book: Chapter 13","type":"page"}