Episode 61
The story of Indradyumna is highly
interesting from the perspective of understanding the concept of heaven and its
limitations. It is very popular story and we find this story both in Maha Bharata
and Srimad Bhagavatam. The story is also an illustration or a good case study for
one of the most often quoted sloka of Bhagavad Gita.
What should be the ideal for a
human being? – Swarga or moksha? Is the place in heaven permanent? What is the importance
of performing meritorious deeds upon the earth? Why sinful actions need to be
shunned? The episode answers all these questions by way of narrating a story.
I dedicate this episode to my
mother who breathed her last on 4th April 2020.
The Story
In the last episode, we have seen Mārkaṃḍeya
narrating the story of king Sibi and we have also seen the way a charity has to
be done. After listening the story, Yudhishitira was
inquisitive to know if there was anybody in the world who was born before Mārkaṃḍeya. Mārkaṃḍeya was a
Maharshi who survived the pralaya (the great deluge) and had seen thousands of
kings and rishis and yet remained youthful.
Mārkaṃḍeya smiled at Yudhishtira and
told, ‘Yes! I have seen and heard of a king who was my predecessor’.
‘Oh! That is interesting. Please narrate
his story’, Yudhishtira begged the Maharshi. Mārkaṃḍeya began narrating his story.
Once upon a time, there was a
Dravidian king, Indradyumna who was ruling the Pandyan kingdom. He was firm in
his devotion towards Lord Vishnu. He had performed innumerable number of yagnas
and gave out everything as charity. Upon his death he
spent thousands of years in heaven since his punyam (merit) was enormous.
One day, Lord Indra came up to
Indradyumna and told, ‘Oh, Rajarshi! Your merits have come to an end. No one on
earth remembers your charities or even your name. Once
the punyam (merit) gets exhausted, one has to go back to earth and born again’,
saying thus, Lord Indra threw out Indradyumna from heaven.
Indradyumna was sure that his
merit was not yet exhausted. He pleaded with Indra that someone on earth must
be remembering his noble deeds and asked Indra to give some time to prove
himself. Indra obliged.
Indradyumna started talking the
oldest people upon earth and initially approached Mārkaṃḍeya as he
had lived thousands of years and had survived the great deluge (pralaya). He
asked, ‘Oh, Mārkaṃḍeya maharshi! I am Indradyumna,
the king of Pandya kingdom of southern part of Bharat. Have you heard my name?’.
Mārkaṃḍeya told, ‘Oh king! I always remain
firm in meditation and devotion and keep wandering from one village to other
village for food. I have no house, and I sleep below the shades of trees. So, I
cannot recognise you and I do not know your name’.
‘Well, Oh Marshi, is there anybody
who is elder to you upon this earth?’
Mārkaṃḍeya thought for a while and told, ‘Yes!
There is an owl by name, Prāvāra karṇa who
lives in Himalayan mountains. It may be knowing your name’.
Immediately Indradyumna assumed
the form of a horse and took Mārkaṃḍeya to Himalayas. He asked the owl,
‘I am Indradyumna, the king of Pandya kingdom of southern part of Bharat. Have
you heard my name?’. The owl was not remembering his name. But it told, ‘I
remember a crane by name, Nāḍījaṃgha who lives near a huge Indradyumna lake and
it is elder to me’.
Immediately Indradyumna took both Mārkaṃḍeya and Prāvāra karṇa and reached the place of Nāḍījaṃgha. He
asked him, ‘I am Indradyumna, the king of Pandya kingdom of southern part of
Bharat. Have you heard my name?’. But alas, the crane could not recollect the
name. But it told, ‘There is one old tortoise, Akūpāraṃ in this
very lake and I believe he is the oldest living being on earth and he may be
knowing your name’.
Then the crane called aloud, ‘Oh my
dear tortoise, one king by name Indradyumna wants to see you and he is very
much here. Can you please come out of your hole?
On hearing the name of
Indradyumna, the tortoise rushed out of the hole with tears in its ears. It
prostrated before Indradyumna and offered a place to sit. Then Mārkaṃḍeya asked,
‘Do you remember his name?
With tears in the eyes, the
tortoise told, ‘How can I forget a king like Indradyumna? He was living upon
this earth thousands and thousands of years back and he was giving out charity
to whoever that approached him. The yagnas performed by him were countless. He gave out millions of cows as charity in this place and this
lake was made by the rubbing of hoofs of those cows on this very floor. From
that day we named it Indradyumna lake and I have been living in this auspicious
lake from that time’.
Sooner the tortoise finished
telling, a chariot sent by Lord Indra appeared on the scene. The
charioteer came up to Indradyumna and invited him to heaven. ‘Oh, Rajarshi!
Your fame is eternal, and you deserve a seat in heaven’.
Indradyumna politely requested
him, ‘I shall drop Mārkaṃḍeya, Prāvāra karṇa and Nāḍījaṃgha at their respective places before coming
to heaven’. Then he dropped them at their place and left for heaven.
Mārkaṃḍeya concluded the story and all Pāṃḍavās
including Yudhishtira felt very happy.
Understanding the story
The story of Indradyumna is highly
interesting from the perspective of understanding the concept of heaven and its
limitations. The story is so popular that it appears both in Maha Bharata and
Srimad Bhagavata.
According to Hindu philosophical
thought heaven is a higher abode with lot of pleasures and it is full of
happiness. Heaven is ruled over by Lord Indra and all the persons who reach
heaven are his guests. Persons who perform Yagnas,
yagas and indulge in rich charities are believed to reach this place upon their
death. They stay there as long as their fame (not our celebrity fame
like film actors, or pure politicians, dancers etc) is remembered by the donees
upon the earth.
दिवं स्पृशति भूमिं च
शब्दः पुण्यस्य कर्मणः।
(meaning- the
sound of meritorious deeds of a person touch up to heaven. As long the sound touches
and reverberates in heaven, the person stay secured in heaven).
Simply it means that if
some one remembers you upon earth for your meritorious deeds, you can stay in
the higher abodes of heaven.
To make it clearer, Maha Bharata also
says:
अकीर्तिः कीर्त्यते लोके
यस्य भूतस्य कस्यचित्।
(meaning – As long as a person’s sins come up for discussion upon earth, and they are
felt, the person has to stay in hell).
The message of the story and the idea
behind Veda Vyasa is that one should always perform
meritorious deeds and shun the sinful deeds.
We have also need to understand
that heaven has its limitations. It is not a permanent place for any person. Once the merits (punyam) get exhausted, the person has to
come back to earth and assume another body (humans or animals or plants)
depending upon his merits or demerits of the past.
Then what is the ideal one should
aspire? Our philosophy emphasizes four puruṣārthās (dharma, artha, kāma and moksha) and moksha should be the ideal.
Moksha is personal realization (not intellectual understanding) that ātma and paramātma are one
and the same and moksha gives out liberation from the cycle of births and
deaths. As against moksha, heaven is just a higher abode and it is akin to a
poor person suddenly getting sumptuous rich food or a poor person winning a big
lottery.
The second important aspect of
this story is that it is just a case study for a famous
Gita sloka which runs like this:
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं
विशालं
क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं
विशन्ति।
एव त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना
(meaning: When
they have enjoyed the vast pleasures of heaven, the stock of their merits being
exhausted, they return to the earthly plane. Thus, those who follow the Vedic
rituals, desiring objects of enjoyment, repeatedly come and go in this world –
translation by Swami Mukundananda).
The third important aspect of the
story is dharmic consciousness of Indradyumna even when Lord Indra’s envoy come
down to invite him to heaven. He drops all the persons- Mārkaṃḍeya, Prāvāra karṇa and Nāḍījaṃgha at their respective places and leaves
towards heaven.
The fourth aspect of the story is
that owl, crane, and tortoise have high longevity. This is something which the zoologists
have to research and explain.
The final aspect of the
story is about Indradyumna’s next birth which is found in the 8th
canto of Maha Bhagavatam. Indradyumna, as we know, was a famous devotee
of Vishnu. One day, when he was in deep meditation, he failed to see and
respect sage Agastya who was going through the same place. Agastya cursed him
to born as an elephant and thus Indradyumna, after exhausting his Swarga loka,
born upon the earth as an elephant. He had forgotten the memories of his
previous birth. Only when got exhausted fighting with the crocodile (please see
the story of Gajendra Moksham), he remembered Lord Vishnu and surrendered his
ego at the feet of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu immediately appeared before him and
rescued the elephant by cutting off the crocodile with his sudarsana chakra. The
Hindus, and more particularly the Vaishnavas have a strong belief that only his
steadfast devotion in his previous birth helped him in remembering Lord Vishnu
at the final battle with the crocodile (For detailed story, one should read the
story of Gajendra Moksham in Srimad Bhagavad Gita). Readers
may note that the Gajendra (elephant of Gandra Moksham fame) could be the same
Indradyumna or any other king by same name as no where in Maha Bharata or Maha
Bhagavatam it is confirmed.
Sidelines of the story
Incidentally we have the
Indradyumna lake even by today and it is one of the tīrtha yātra spots. It is very
near to the famous Jagannatha temple of Puri and it is believed that the temple
was constructed by Indradyumna. Incidentally, Akūpāraṃ’s progeny can still be
visited at Gahirmatha Beach which is very nearer to Puri and it is the
world's greatest nesting habitat for olive riley sea turtles.
It is also believed that Lord Vishnu incarnated as turtle (kūrma avatāra) near present day
Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh (India) and this place (Srikurmam
temple) is less than some 370 kms distance from Puri.
Points to ponder
1.
What is heaven? What is the difference between Swarga
and moksha?
2.
What is the importance of remaining steadfast in
meritorious deeds and shunning sinful deeds?
3.
How can a person attain ātma jñāna and
there by Liberation?
Footnotes
[i] This Story
is taken from Vana Parva of Maha Bharata and also from Srimad Bhagavatam
written by sage Veda Vyasa.
yāvatsa śabdo bhavati tāvat puruṣa ucyate ॥ - Vana
Parva 199.13.
sa patatyadhamām̐llokānyāvacchabdaḥ prakīrtyate ॥
kṣīṇe puṇye
martyalokaṃ
viśanti।
eva trayīdharmamanuprapannā
gatāgataṃ
kāmakāmā labhante।।
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please share your feedback