Chapter 5: The lifting of the bow

After Rama's fight with the demons Marica and Dusana, Visvamitradidn't come back to Ayodhya, instead he told them, "There is going tobe a big fire sacrifice in Mithila." King Janaka was ruling. SoVisvamitra said, "A great sacrifice and all the rishis and panditswill be there. I will take you there so you can see it." On the wayso many other pastimes happened, these are already famous pastimes.Ahalya, the wife of Gautama Rishi had been cursed to become stone,and she would not be released until Ramacandra touched her with Hislotus feet. Then she would come alive again. So those pastimeshappened within the travel from Visvamitra's ashrama to the presentLucknow, and from there up to Mithila. Mithila, the country ofJanaka is known as Mithila because long before Janaka there was oneking in the Iksvaku dynasty. Vasistha was the guru for a manygenerations, and the king at that time wanted to perform a yajna.Vasistha had agreed to perform a yajna for Indra in the heavenlyplanets, so he told him, "I will finish this yajna, then I will comeback and perform yours." The king did not say anything. He didn'twant to displease Vasistha, he was a great devotee. Vasistha went tothe heavenly planets, and before he came back the king called someother rishis, Gautama and his brother, and he engaged them as priestsand completed his yajna. He did not tell them that Vasistha was onlyin the heavenly planets. Vasistha came back. Very quickly hecompleted his yajna, he didn't even wait for receiving payment forit. He told Indra, "Just keep it in credit and I will collect itlater." Very quickly he returned, but when he got back he saw thatBrahmins were coming out of the palace with cows. "What's happeninghere?" he asked. "Oh, big yajna. It's all over now, though. Wejust received dakshina and now we are going." So Vasistha was veryupset. He called the king and said, "What is this? First you tellme that I should do the yajna, so I finished my job in the heavenlyplanet very quickly and even displeased Indra and his party, and Ihave come here because I am your Kula-guru, your family spiritualmaster. So how is this proper that you have taken some other personand performed the yajna?" The king was still keeping quiet, notsaying anything. Actually Vasistha should not have gone to theheavenly planets to perform yajna because he is the family guru ofthe Iksvaku dynasty. So if Iksvakus are having a yajna he issupposed to do that first, and then if it is necessary he can go tothe heavenly planets. So it was actually a mistake on the part ofVasistha, because he was a little greedy from the great remunerationhe would get from the heavenly planets. A Brahmin should not begreedy. By doing that, a great trouble happens. What was thetrouble? Vasistha became so angry that he said to the king, "Youbecome nirdeha." Deha means "this body" and nir means "without.""So you will be without body." All this time the king wastolerating, but now he said, "What is this? I must perform my yajnaon time, and you went there because you are greedy. Now you arecursing me." So the king got angry with Vasistha and said, "You alsobecome nirdeha." So at the same time, both bodies were lost, andthey both became nirdeha. When Vasistha became nirdeha he was goinghere and there and then one group of rishis who were meditating tookhim and put him inside a pot and kept him inside the pot for a longtime until he could take another body. In the same pot anotherrishi's soul was kept. They became brothers. Vasistha is thereforeknown as kumbha-muni, the rishi coming from a pot, and anotherkumbha-muni was Agastya. He was thumb sized. Not thumb sized of ourthumb, but the thumb of the demigods, so he was much taller than us.In Dvapara-yuga people were ten times taller, eating was ten timesbigger, lifetime was also ten times longer, and in Treta-yuga it wasa hundred times. So now we are living a hundred years, in Dvaparayuga they lived 1000 years, in Treta-yuga it was rs was the lifetimein Satya-yuga. So that is why in Satya-yuga the process ismeditation, because if you are living 100,000 years, what it theproblem with spending 30,000 years meditation? Agastya livedthrough all the yugas. He is even living now in the southern partof India. There is a mountain in South India called Kozwallamountain, and on Kozwalla mountain there are caves, and thescriptures say that Agastya is still there. These rishis arechiran-jivas, meaning that up to Brahma's life-span they will alsolive. So Agastya and Vasistha came from the same pot. In this wayVasistha got his body, and this person who became nirdeha couldn'tget a body because of the rishi's curse, no-one tried to give him anartificial room like Vasistha got. These test tubes are nothingnew. The rishis have been doing it for ages. They take the spermand put it in a pot, create some artificial climate and it wouldgrow in there and become a saintly person. These two rishis becametest tube babies, but the other person just remained nirdeha and heremained for a long time, and then he went to the heavenly planetsand from there to the spiritual world. His dead body was there, soall the saintly people in the country churned the body as there wasno dynasty, just like in the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is the story ofhow Vena's body was churned and Prthu Maharaja came. So thischurning was done, and this churning is called Mithi. When churningthe body you have to keep the foot from the body of that person andtake the leg and then churn it. So this is why it was calledMithila, and the man who came out of that body was called MithiJanaka. Ja means "birth" and Janaka means "one who has taken birthby churning." So Mithi Janaka means "one who has taken his birth bychurning of someone's body." And this Mithi Janaka, he didn't wantto be in Ayodhya because of all the prestige the family had. So heleft Ayodhya and created a separate kingdom, and that kingdom wasknown as Mithila, because the Mithi Janaka created that kingdom so itwas called Mithila. And all his sons were known by the name Janaka.He was Janaka, and then Janaka I, Janaka II, Janaka III and so on.Janaka had a great property in his palace. This property was thebow which was used by Mahadeva, Lord Siva, in a battle between himand Visnu. Once there was a battle between Visnu and Siva. Therewas no cause for this, it was just Narada Muni's jubilation. He wasonce in the assembly of Indra, and Indra was praising Mahadeva. Hewas saying, "Lord Siva has three eyes, and fire comes out of histhird eye and all that." So Narada Muni said, "There are so manySivas. In every universe there are eleven Sivas. My Lord isdifferent. He has no third eye but He knows everything." ThenIndra said, "No no no, you don't know. Visnu is alright, he's theavatar, but Siva is the great powerful person." "If it is so,"Narada said, "Why don't you go and ask Siva to have a fight withVisnu? Then we will see who is more powerful." Then Indra thought,"That would be a nice thing to do," so he went to Kailash. Siva'sbull, Nandi, was asking, "What are you doing on Kailash? This ismeant for people who meditate." Nandi is a great yogi, and anastrologer too. He saw Indra and knew there would be trouble, so hesaid, "Get out of Kailash. You are an enjoyer, so what are youdoing here?" Indra said, "No no, I have only come here for Siva'sdarshana without any motive." Nandi said, "I am an astrologer, andI can see on your face that you have come here to create trouble.Don't give any trouble to my Lord, he is peacefully meditating."Then Indra said, "Let me in Nandi." So he was allowed. When hecame in, Siva was in deep meditation. Indra came in there andprayed to Mahadeva so much, and finally Siva opened his eyes."Indra! Why are you here? There is no trouble happening. I don'tthink you have come here to ask me to fight with someone." Indrasaid, "I must say that I only visit Kailash to ask you to fight withsomeone, but this time it's not a demon." "Who is it then?" Mahadevaasked. "Well we had a little argument," Indra said. "Myself andNarada. I said that you are the most powerful, but Narada said thatVisnu is the most powerful." Siva said, "You see this japa-mala I amholding? Do you know what I am doing with this? Do you know what Iam chanting?" "I heard that you chant Rama's name," Indra replied.Siva said, "So I am chanting Rama's name. And then you are askingwho is more powerful. If I am more powerful than Him, then He mustbe chanting my name. But it would never happen, I am chanting Hisname." Indra said, "That is right, that is Purana, but I want to seeit." Siva said, Why do you want to see it? I am telling you, He isthe most powerful and all power comes from Him. I only destroy thisuniverse, that is all the power I have." So Indra said, "Even thoughyou say these things, I don't believe it." "Why don't you believeit?" "Because you are so powerful that you burnt the fort which wasflying in the sky." Then Siva said, "I know what you are up to. Youwant to have some entertainment. So you go to Visvakarma and ask himto make a bow for me. I am a babaji, but you want me to fight. Soat least give me some weapons." So Visvakarma used his mystic powerand made a bow. This bow was so big that 300 people had to carry it.Actually it was in a cart. The cart had so many wheels, and 300people had to push it to move it an inch, and then they had to restfor half an hour. So this was the size of the bow. It was unstrungalso, the thread was separate. So that was brought in front of LordSiva. "This is a good bow," the said, and took it up. When he tookit up all the demigods fainted. It was such a huge bow and Siva wasjust lifting it so easily. Then Indra was saying, "See? I told you,he's very strong. Don't think that he's just a babaji meditating.He's got so much strength." Siva then strung the bow and he said,"All right, I am ready." Then they went to Brahma and as ked,"Please bring Lord Visnu for a fight." So Brahma went to the milkocean and meditated. Visnu was sitting there in the Svetadvipa, andhe said to Laksmi, "I wonder what Brahma is calling for now?" Laksmisaid, "Maybe some demon is there." "How can a demon have comewithout My knowledge? There is no demon," the Lord said. "Then Youmust also know why he is calling You," Laksmi said. "Yes I do. Hewants Me to have a fight with Lord Siva." "Oh," Laksmi said. "Iwould like to see that." "Then I'll have to do it," the Lord said.So then He got up from His seat and He came to the other side of themilk ocean. He said, "All right Brahma, I am ready." And then Indrasaid, "But there is one condition - You don't bring any bow oranything from Your spiritual world. We will give You something fromthis world. Otherwise You will overpower him easily, we know that.We want a straightforward fight." So Visvakarma made another bow.Siva's bow was called Mahesh-chapa, and Visnu's bow was calledVisnu-chapa. Both were made by Visvakarma and were equal instrength. They were exactly the same. They were copies. So Visnucame and said, "No problem, I will take it." So he took the bow, andhe came and lifted it. When he lifted the bow, because He has got aneternal associate called Sarnga, who is His bow, and when Visnutouches any bow Sarnga will come in there and it will becomeSarnga-dhanu. He took the bow and Sarnga entered. Nobody could seethis happen. So He came and Siva was there, and as soon as Visnu wasin vision of Mahesh, Siva offered his obeisances and clapped hishands, rolling on the floor in ecstasy. Indra said, "What's goingon?" He turned to Narada Muni and said, "Go and tell him to give uphis devotion and fight!" Narada Muni went to Siva and said, "Youhave forgotten that there is supposed to be a fight. You havesurrendered." So then Mahesa said, "Please, bless me so that I canfight with You." Visnu blessed him, "All right. You can fight withMe." So they were fighting, fighti ng, fighting, and it was going onfor a long time. Finally Siva put the bow down and started runningaway from the battlefield, and all sorts of astras were coming out ofSarnga, and Siva ran away. He ran, and he was shouting to Indra, "Itold you! I told you! Now I am in trouble!" Of course, Visnu wasnot angry, he was only smiling. But then all the demigods prayed toVisnu, "Please stop the war. We need Lord Siva." So then the warwas over, and Siva was saved. Visnu took His bow and gave it to onerishi called Rcika. Rcika gave that bow to Jamadagni, another greatrishi. Jamadagni was the father of Parasurama, so that bow of Visnueventually came to Parasurama. Parasurama was holding this bow. Ofcourse, he didn't need this, as he had his axe with which he killedthen ksatriyas twenty-one times. And the bow of Lord Siva was givento one of the Janakas. Not the original Janaka who was made fromchurning. Seven generations after him there was one Janaka calledDevarata Janaka. He was very attractive to the Devas so he was knownas Devarata. Devarata got Siva's bow and he kept it in the palace asa worshippable object. In this way it was coming down in the family,and this Janaka we are dealing with was also worshipping the bow. Hedid not have any children, so they suggested to him to do ahola-yajna. You take a plough and draw a line around the palace.When you move the plough, it will get stuck in the mud, and everytime it gets stuck you have to donate gold to the priests. And everymovement you make it will get stuck, so you have to give gold. Whenall the Brahmins are satisfied, you move it again and when it getsstuck you have to get more gold. In this way you are giving a lot ofcharity and you are getting a lot of blessings so you will getchildren. So Janaka was doing this, moving the plough and givinggold. In one place it got stuck, and after giving all the gold,still the plough would not move on. "There must be some big rockthere," everybody said, so they dug and found a box. And inside thebox was a baby, a female baby, and she looked just like Laksmi. Shewas known as Janaki, the daughter of Janaka, and she grew up in thepalace. She was six years old. Janaka had a brother, and he hadthree daughters. So these four daughters were running around andplaying at the palace. Once they made a stick with a hook on it totake some flowers from the trees. So Janaki was trying to get it,but somehow or other there was a mystic tree there, and whenever shereached up, it grew more. Somebody was in that tree. So Janakicould not get it and she was the only daughter of the emperor, so shewas very frustrated. "I want to get it, and I know what I will useto get it." She ran into the puja room, and in there was this bigbow inside a box. She opened the box and took the bow in her hands,and then she walked outside with the bow. When the soldiers saw herthey all swooned. Three hundred people were supposed to push thecart, and this little girl was holding the bow. Whoever was able tostay conscious ran to Janaka and said, "Do you know what's happening?Your little girl is holding Lord Siva's bow!" "Send this man to thedoctor," Janaka said. "There's something wrong with his head." Thenanother lady came and said, "Yes, yes, it's true! And if you want tosee it come quickly." "What's wrong with these people?" Janaka said.Then he called his doctor. "Supply 1000 lemons to the palace. Andput at least 500 lemons on these people's heads, to cool them down."And then Janaka's minister came running and said, "No, it is no joke.I just saw it myself." This time Janaka said, "It must be true," sohe came running, and the last thing he saw was Janaki lifting the bowinto the box. Then she came towards Janaka as if she had donenothing. When questioned by Janaka, she innocently said that she hadperformed no great task. But Janaka had seen it happen, and he wentto his ministers and said, "My daughter must be haunted by some bigbrahma-rakshasa ghost, more powerful than Lord Siva. Otherwis blethat she is able to lift it?" So then the ministers thought over itand said, "Janaka, we think that your daughter is Maha-laksmi. Fromall the symptoms of her bodily features, we can understand that sheis none other than Laksmi. And if she is Laksmi, then naturally herLord is Narayana. Now your problem is, how are you going to getNarayana to marry her? There is no Narayana here." Then Janaka cameup with an idea. He said, "Anyone who can take this bow and stringit will marry my daughter." All the ministers laughed. They said,"In this way your daughter is going to remain unmarried. Because whoon this earth has the strength to do this?" Janaka said, "Narayanaobviously knows that Laksmi is here. He is not going to leave herunmarried. She is not going to take some woman sannyasa or anything.No. Narayana must come here." So everyone was shocked. They weresaying, "What is this man doing? This is as good as saying, `No-onecan marry my daughter.'" Anyway, this was going on, and a yajna wasperformed. The special feature of this yajna was that they weregoing to bring the bow and put it for darshana, and the ksatriyakings could try. So Visvamitra knew this, so he told Rama andLaksmana, "This is the bow used by Lord Siva, and if you want to seeit I will take you there." "We must see it," they said. Rama andLaksmana came there, and the rest of the story is known. We are onlydealing with those parts of the story that are not well-known. Allthe ksatriyas came and they were seeing the bow and Janaka toldVisvamitra, "You must call your young student to come and have a lookat this." So Ramacandra came and saw it, and Laksmana said, "Tryit." Janaka announced, "If anyone wants to try and string this bowand get my daughter, then please come." So one or two very puffed-upksatriya kings came. The first one could not lift it, and anothergot his hand stuck between the floor and the bow, and he had to bepulled out. Just then the whole assembly became dark and the earthwas shaking. They heard someone laughing loudly. So then Janakacaught hold of Visvamitra's hand and said, "Tell me what is nowhappening." Visvamitra said, "This must be a demon. Very soon hewill enter." In another three minutes there was a flash of light,and between the light came Trilokeshvara, Ravana. He had arrangedthat before he came, two other demons would precede him and announce,"Trilokeshvara Ravana is coming." Everyone was scared, "What is thisdemon doing in our assembly?" So then Ravana appeared. "What isthis svayamvara? You are all spineless people. You can't even liftthis bow! You must know who I am. I am Ravana, and I have liftedKailash with Lord Siva on it. This is only his bow. This is the bowof Lord Siva, and Lord Siva, his whole family, his entire troop ofghosts and goblins and the whole Kailash mountain was lifted by me,and I flew to Lanka. That is my strength." So then everybodythought, "He can easily lift this bow." So Ravana came, and he puthis hands on each side, and he lifted the bow. Everyone was amazed."Ah! He has lifted the bow!" Then Lord Siva in Kailash wasthinking, "What's going on? I didn't leave it for him. I left itfor Lord Rama." So then Siva went inside the bow and pressed down.Ravana got stuck. That also happened when he lifted Kailashmountain, when he put it down he got stuck. Now he was also stuck.He was crying and pleading, and finally Lord Siva let go, and he gothis hand out. And then Rama came, but he didn't use two hands, onlyone. He put his foot on the other end of the bow and he took thestring. As he pulled it, the bow broke into two pieces. Everyoneclapped their hands, and flowers fell from heaven. Then LordRamacandra got married to Sita, and those other three girls weremarried to Bharata, Satrughna and Laksmana. And they were comingback to Ayodhya. On the way back, again everything became dark andthe earth shook, and all the birds stopped singing. Dasaratha askedVisvamitra, "Is Ravana coming again?" " No, this is Parasurama,"Visvamitra said. "He is about one hundred miles away, that is why itis shaking. He is angry." Dasaratha said, "What are you going todo? Are you going to do anything to protect us?" And he askedVasistha too. They replied, "In this we have only one opinion.Usually we have two opinions, but here we have only one opinions.We're going to lay down and close our eyes, because Parasurama iscoming." So they laid down and closed their eyes, and Parasurama wascoming closer and closer, and he was doing his umkara. Every step hewas taking he was going, "Oom! Oom!" And by this sound all ofDasaratha's army fainted, and the elephants screamed. By hisattachment to Rama, Dasaratha didn't faint, because he wanted to lookafter Rama. Finally when Parasurama came, only two people wereconscious, the supremely conscious people, Rama and Laksmana. EvenBharata and Satrughna were on the ground. Rama looked at Laksmanaand said, "You have planned something?" So then Parasurama came tohim and said, "Who is this Rama?" Ramacandra said, "It is you. Youare the only Rama. You are Parasurama. Who else is Rama?"Parasurama said, "Some young child from Iksvaku's dynasty, how darehe break Lord Siva's bow? I have controlled the ksatriyas so much.I have finished them all. And now someone else is coming. He mustknow that I am still here." Ramacandra said, "No, no, what's theproblem? I didn't break it, but the bow was so weak that I justlifted it and it broke into two pieces." Parasurama said, "You meanto say that You are so strong and Lord Siva's bow is so weak? So theksatriyas are becoming strong again, and I am not going to leave itlike that. If you think that you are so powerful, then why did youinsult Lord Siva? You don't think that you have done aparadha? He'sthe great Mahesha and you broke his bow! And how does this Janakamake a svayamvara like this, that someone should string Siva's bow?So he is also an impostor. Now again I will start, and I will finishall of you. Finish Dasaratha, finish Janaka, finish everyone." Sothen Ramacandra said, "Yes, many people are supposed to be finished,but it is supposed to be done by me." Parasurama said, "Now you arecompeting with me?" He took his axe and said, "You look at this."Rama and Laksmana paid obeisances. "Why are you paying namaskara tomy axe?" Parasurama asked. They replied, "Because it killed all thebad ksatriyas. It is a famous weapon. It is a weapon of Visnu, andwe are in the Surya dynasty so we must pay our obeisances." SoParasurama was perplexed. At one point they are instructing, andthen they are paying obeisances. "There is something here that I amnot able to figure out," Parasurama said. "So I will have to givethem a test." Then he addressed them. "If you are so courageousand so strong, I will give you the bow of Visnu. Let us see if youcan string it." Ramacandra said, "Anything you give, I will take,and anything you say I will do by your blessing." So thenParasurama closed his eyes and lifted his hands. He was invokingSarnga-dhanu, the original bow of Visnu. He was calling andcalling, but it was not coming. And then he opened his eyes, and hesaw that Rama was already holding it, and it was already strung.Then he said, "You are the source of all strength. Now I understandthat it is you and not me. You are the Rama, I am not the Rama. SoI have no worries, and now I will only do meditation. That was whatI was doing, but Narada came to me and said, `What are you doing,Parasurama? The ksatriyas are becoming powerful again.' And hetold me that some king, he didn't tell me who, he just told me thatsome king has a son, and this son has broken Lord Siva's bow. Henever told me it was You." So then Parasurama paid obeisances, andRamacandra said, "Now what am I supposed to do? I have strung thebow, I have put and arrow upon it. I need some object. I am Rama.My arrow and my word never go wrong. This arrow has to get anobject. So where should I aim it? You tell me. You ust then hesaw Mother Sita. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "You look horrible with thistree bark and renunciate clothing on. This is the dress of arenunciate, not of a grhasta. You come with me." Compared to him,Sita was very small, and she was wondering, "What is this demontrying to do me?" So he told Sita, "After finishing these two, Iwill reduce my form and then we will be a good match." Ramacandrasaid to Laksmana, "Look what has happened! You had so many plansthat we would go to Dandakaranya and kill all the demons and returnto Ayodhya. But now, my wife is gone. Look, she is being carriedaway by this demon! We can't do anything, look what he has on histrident." Laksmana said, "Why are you saying all this? Just finishhim!" So they both took their swords, and they cut his legs, and hefell down. Then they brought Sita away, and they began cutting thedemon into pieces. The demon was screaming and shouting, "Who areyou? Tell me!" Ramacandra replied, "I am the son of King Dasaratha,and this is my brother Laksmana." Immediately the demon said, "I amactually a gandharva, and I was cursed to become a demon. They toldme that only when Rama and Laksmana cut me into pieces would I berelieved of this curse. So please do it, quickly, and then dig a bighole and bury me there." So they did that, then from the hole cameTumburu, a great gandharva musician who had been cursed by Kuvera forsinging some sense gratification songs. So he told Ramacandra, "Ifyou walk this way in Dandakaranya, you will come to the ashrama ofSarabanga Rishi, and then you will find so many rishis. Eventuallyyou will come to Agastya, and he will give you divine weapons. Afterreceiving these weapons you will go to Pancavati, and in Pancavatisome bad things will happen, but I won't tell you what they are.However, these deeds will make you most famous." In this way Tumburuwas sent there in disguise, and Ramacandra entered into theDandakaranya forest, and h is pastimes with the different rishis willbe discussed later. At the end of Dandakaranya, after Sita was takenaway, and Jatayu was given cremation by Ramacandra, Rama and Laksmanawere coming to Kishkinda, because one rishi told Ramacandra that inKishkinda they would get information where Mother Sita was. As theyreached Kishkinda, there was a very very old man with matted locks ofhair walking in front of Lord Rama. He looked at them and said, "Youare saintly people, or are you kings, or are you hunters, ordemigods? Please tell me who you are. I am a beggar in this area,and anyone who comes here, I beg something from them. So accordingto your business I will make my demand. You tell me whether you area demigod or a king or saintly person." So Ramacandra looked atLaksmana and said, "This is a wonderful beggar. According to thestandard of the donors his demands increase or decrease." Then helooked at the beggar, and he saw a wonderful diamond necklace on hisneck. He said, "You are a strange beggar. You have a very nicediamond necklace, and yet you are begging. I can't understand. Youhave so much wealth. How can one have such a nice necklace, andstill be begging?" The old man said, "You are able to see mynecklace?" Ramacandra replied, "Yes, I can see it." Then the beggarasked, "Is he able to see my necklace?" So Rama asked Laksmana, "Canyou see it?" Laksmana said, "No. I don't see a thing." Ramacandraasked, "How come I can see the necklace and Laksmana can't?" Thenthe sage very excitedly began to explain. And this is explained inthe next story.