Episode 43

Lord Siva’s blessings – Arjuna attaining Pāśupatāstra [i]

The ballad of Kirātārjunīyaṃ is very famous and popular in all parts of India. Poets like Bhāravi further popularized this story. The theme revolves around Arjuna propitiating the Lord Siva and obtaining Pāśupatāstra. The story talks of the importance of yoga and tapas for a determined human being in attaining the heights of success.

The story demonstrates that Arjuna has reached his pinnacle of perfection in yoga which made him receptable to the powerful manta PRATISMRUTI and later the invincible Pāśupatāstra. We also see in this story the description of various powerful astras and the four prominent things– mantra, dhyāna, japam and homam which are required for a warrior to make use of them with dexterity.

The story has a passing reference for the preservation of ecological balance, environmental sensitivity and the need of sustainable development.

The Story

In the last episode we have seen the clash of ideas among Dharmaraja, Bhima and Draupadi over the issue of immediate aggression against Kauravas. We have also seen how Dharmaraja convinced both with his arguments.

Dharmaraja had a nagging fear to face great warriors like Bhishma, Drona, Aswarthama, Karna and other warriors who were all in the camp of Duryodhana and arrayed against Pandavas. Veda Vyasa understood the worries of Yudhishtira and reached Pandavas in Dwaita vanam. He took Yudhishtira aside and told, ‘My dear Yudhishtir! I can understand your genuine worries. To obviate your worries, I propose to bless with you a powerful mantra – ‘PRATISMRUTI’ which is imbedded with supernatural powers’.

‘Your brother Arjuna is none other than Nara Maharshi in his previous birth and did penance with Narayana for thousands of years. The power of the penance has made him an invincible warrior in this birth. By attaining PRATISMRUTI, he will have the blessings of all gods and he can subdue the Kauravas in the battlefield’. Saying thus, Vyasa initiated the mantra in the ears of Yudhishtira. Then he advised Yudhishtira to leave Dwaita vanam immediately to any other place. ‘If you stay in this forest for too long, you may be unknowingly disturbing the rishis dwelling in this forest and disturbing the eco system of the forest’. Then Vyasa disappeared.

Pandavas took the advice of Vyasa and left for Kamyaka vanam once again. One day he called Arjuna to a secluded place and told, ‘My dear Arjun! As you know the entire Dhanurveda is in the hands of Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Karna and Aswarthama. Without the blessings of gods, it may be difficult for us to face them in the battlefield. Veda Vyasa was kind enough to bless a secret mantra and I propose to initiate it to you. By imbibing it with steadfastness and by chanting it with devotion, you can able to reach the gods with ease’.

Then Yudhishtir initiated the mantra with full command on the mind, senses and talk to Arjuna who was already prepared for consecration’ (दीक्षितं विधिनानेन धृतवाक्कायमानसम्)[ii]. ‘Let all good happen to you. Let your desires be fulfilled’ proclaimed all siddhas and the invisible celestial beings in one voice. Draupadi saw her husband with all affection and told, ‘let all gods be with you. I always remember the humiliation meted out to us after the game of dice. Now everyone of us are reposing faith in your steadfastness and strength. I wish you attain all divine weapons and save all of us from adversities. I pray for your safe return’. 

Arjuna’s journey towards Himalayas

Arjuna took leave from his brothers, saluted the purohit, Dhaumya and set out to reach the Himalayas.

तस्य मार्गादपाक्रामन् सर्व भूतानि गच्छतः |

युक्तस्त्यैन्द्रेण योगेन पराक्रान्तस्य शुष्मिणः ||[iii] –- meaning- since the yogic PRATISMUTI was guiding his destiny, he was in yogic mode and all living and non-living beings were giving him the way.

Due to the supernatural powers, he reached Himalayas in a single day and moved towards Indrakeeladri mountain. There he saw a Brahmin with resplendent aura sitting in a cave. The Brahmin called aloud, ‘Dear son, why are you roaming here with all arms and armory? This is a place for sages. You drop down your weapons’. But Arjuna did not relent and did not throw the arrows aside. The Brahmin disappeared and Indra was standing before him. Arjuna was very happy and prostrated before Indra and asked him to bless weapons. Indra smiled and told, ‘Having reached this place, why do you require weapons? I can bless you the heaven and higher abodes. But Arjuna insisted of new astra (missiles) in his armory’. Then Indra suggested that Arjuna should do penance for Siva to attain his desire.

Arjuna’s penance – Siva’s appearance

With the blessings of Lord Indra, Arjuna entered a dense forest and started a great tapas. Initially he was taking only fruits and slowly he started discarding fruits, switched to the dry leaves and after third month lived on air (vāyu bhakṣaṇa). All rishis of the place were amazed at the firm determination of Arjuna and approached Lord Siva. They requested him to bless Arjuna.

Lord Siva wanted to test the determination and the might of Arjuna. He adorned the attire of a kirāta (a hunter) and accompanied by his wife in the same attire reached the spot where Arjuna was doing penance.

There Arjuna saw a demon (asura) by name Muka fast approaching towards him in the guise of a pig. His intention was to kill Arjuna. Arjuna immediately took out a sharp arrow and shot at the pig. Surprisingly at the same time the kirāta also shot at the pig. The demon instantaneously died. With a smiling face Arjuna asked the kirāta why he was wandering in the dense forest without any fear with a lady. He further asked, ‘I aimed this demon first then why did you shot at it? Do you want to insult me? In that case I will not leave you. You have not followed the dharma ordained for hunting’.

Then there was a war of words between Arjuna and kirāta that the demon died by the respective individual arrows. The war of words escalated to war of arrows. Both fought and fought and Arjuna was surprised why his arrows could not do any harm to kirāta. In no time he found his armory become empty. He jumped at Siva and started beading with the bow. Then he started beating Siva with huge stones and plucked trees. But the kirāta stood to the ground and Arjuna swooned for a while. Soon he recovered, looked at the kirāta and started thinking who this kirāta was.

Then Arjuna sat on the ground and molded a Siva Linga with the mud around and performed puja with a flower garland. Soon the garland disappeared and adorned the neck of kirāta. Arjuna realized that he was none other than Siva and immediately fell on the feet of Siva.

‘‘समं तेजश्च वीर्यञ्च ममाद्य तव चानघ [iv]- (In strength and resplendence both of us are equal). ‘I bless the divine vision by which you can now see the gods and see the glory of your previous birth. I am pleased to present a divine astra – पाशुपतास्त्र (pāśupatāstra) and with this anyone upon earth can be killed. It can be shot with mind, looks, talk or by the bow. This cannot be used for killing inferior warriors’ Then Siva initiated the mantra for shooting as well as withdrawing the astra and embraced Arjuna. Arjuna was delighted by the divine touch and felt that he was an accomplished person.

Once Siva left, all other gods including Indra, Varuna, Kubera and Yama appeared before Arjuna and blessed him with divine weapons. They advised him to lighten the burden of the earth by destroying adharmic and cruel persons. Arjuna accepted all the celestial astras with utmost humility and bowed to the gods.

Understanding the story

PRATISMRUTI mantra was initiated to Arjuna by Dharmaraja. How was it given? With full command over manasā vācā karmaṇā (धृतवाक्कायमानसम्) – what you think, what you preach and what you practice should be on same wavelength.  It is also called ‘samatvam’. In this story Veda Vyasa is seen imparting the mantra to Dharmaraja and it means that Dharmaraja was always on the samatva mode. He, in turn, prepared Arjuna to yogic mode to become eligible to receive the mantra.

Yoga has different meanings. In common parlance it means coming together of two things. Dhana yogam signifies attaining wealth. Vidyā yogam signifies becoming intelligent with education. It is attaining something by someone. In his magnum opus Aṣṭāṃga yoga, Patanjali defines yoga as yogaḥ citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ (योगः चित्त वृत्ति निरोधः) which means controlling the wavering thoughts of the mind is yoga. It can mean ekāgrata (एकाग्रता)- steadfastness on single object. Gita defines yoga in two ways- samatvam yoga mucyate (समत्वं योगमुच्यते) – samatvam is yoga; and yogaḥ karmasu kauśalaṃ (योगः कर्मसु कौशलं) – dexterity in action is yoga.  

Taking all the definitions, yoga is something represented as triangle with three sides represented by control over the mind, equanimity of thoughts, and dexterity in action. When the initiator and the initiated are in this yoga mode, the imparting of mantra is possible. The story demonstrates that Arjuna has reached his pinnacle of perfection in yoga which made him receptable to the powerful manta PRATISMRUTI. The story also demonstrates the unwavering determination of Arjuna when he refused higher abodes of heavens and persuaded the gods including Indra and Siva to bestow powerful weapons only. When Indra, in the guise of Brahmin, asked him to drop down the weapons, Arjuna just smiled and did not drop the bow and arrows.

The message of the story is that if we want to achieve something great in life, what is required is yoga in terms of control over the mind, equanimity of thoughts, and dexterity in action.

The second important aspect of the story is the importance of tapas (penance) with control over the mind. Indra advises Arjuna to get the blessings of Siva with tapas and yoga. In Ramayana we come across the episode of Parvati’s marriage with Siva. There we see Siva just ignoring the beauty of Parvati. Parvati realized her lapse and resorted to tapas and Siva was won over by her. Valmiki describes this as तपो द्रव्येण क्रीतः (tapo dravyeṇa krītaḥ) which means Siva was purchased by the wealth of tapas. The current story emphatically says that one can attain god by yoga and tapas. Here we need to understand the eight limbs of yoga described by Patanjali

a. Yama – five self-restraints like non-violence, truth, honesty, continence and non-possession.

b. Niyama – five things that should be done like cleanliness, contentment, study of vedas, tapas and ultimate surrender to Supreme Reality

c. āsana – means performing yogic postures

c. Prāṇāyāma – Prāṇā denotes vital force and Yama denotes restraint or control. Control of vital force through breathing is Prāṇāyāma

d. Pratyāhāra – withdrawal of senses from external environment.

e. Dhyāna – meditation

f. Dhāraṇa - extreme concentration on a single object and

g. Samādhi - It is a state wherein the subject, object and the process become one.

Arjuna in this story is expected to be on this kind of yogic mode and perform tapas and that is what he did. It is no wonder that he was blessed by Siva with pāśupatāstra.

The third aspect of the story is about astras. Siva blesses pāśupatāstra; Varuna blesses Vāruṇāstra and Kubera blesses kuberāstra and different other gods bless different other weapons. It is written in many places of Maha Bharata that hurling any of these arrows will produce lot of energy accompanied by heat, light, innumerable arrows and fire. These are akin to modern nuclear and biological weapons. Modern rationalists may dismiss these weapons as figment of imagination but there is no doubt that the imagination is worth understanding. For hurling these astras four things are prominent – mantra, dhyāna, japam and homam. The hurling also involves saṃdhānaṃ (aiming with perfection), mokṣaṇaṃ (dexterity) and upa saṃhāraṃ (withdrawing the weapon when required). Again, for all this mind should be in yogic mode (control of mind, senses etc).

In summary, we can see the importance given to yoga and tapas in Maha Bharata for attaining greater objectives.

Lastly, we see Ved Vyasa advising Pandavas not to stay in one place continuously so as not to disturb the rishis and the eco system. This is worth taken note by the readers since our ancestors gave prominence to ecology and environment and always supported sustainable development.

Points to ponder

1. What is yoga and what is tapas? How are they important in attaining spiritual and temporal glory?
2. Discuss the eight limbs of Astanga Yoga discussed by Patanjali.
3. When can a mantra can be initiated? When can a disciple becomes receptible for mantra?
4. Do you think that our ancient rishis were concerned with ecological balance and sustainability? Justify.

Footnotes

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[i] This story is taken from Vana Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Ved Vyasa.

[ii] dīkṣitaṃ vidhinānena dhṛtavākkāyamānasam  - Vana Parva 37.17

[iii] tasya mārgādapākrāman sarva bhūtāni gacchataḥ |

yuktastyaindreṇa yogena parākrāntasya śuṣmiṇaḥ ||  -Vana Parva 37.38

[iv] samaṃ tejaśca vīryañca mamādya tava cānagha - Vana Parva 39.69

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