1. Once, while moving about the country, Rishabha was in Brahmavarta. There, in an assembly of sages, where a large audience was present to listen to him, Rishabha delivered a sermon especially to teach his sons, though they were endowed with self-control, humility, affection and discipline in all matters of life.
Rishabha said:
2. Oh children! The sacred human body that you have got in the world is not meant to be utilized for sensuous enjoyment as by low creatures, which too get such enjoyment through the filth they consume. It is to be used for observance of austerity with noble spiritual ends. By such austerity the mind becomes pure, enabling one to attain to the bliss of the Brahman.
3. The association with holy ones is the door for entrance to the realm of liberation. And the entrance to hell (spiritual degradation) consists in association with worldly-minded men who are intensely attached to women. Holy men are those who are even-minded, tranquil, peaceful, unperturbed, friendly to all, and endowed with all good qualities.
4. Or, holy men are those who consider the intense attraction they have for Me as their noblest attainment in life, who have no attachment to worldly-minded people, wife, children, properties, etc, and who are satisfied with such requirements as are enough to live on.
5. Whoever struggles to satisfy the senses is bound to be morally and spiritually lethargic and bound to do many evil deeds. I find no meaning in men doing again and again the very kind of karma which has brought into existence this body which, besides being short-lived and ephemeral, is the cause of all suffering. The repetition of the karma is bound to result in new embodiments in a series, and more suffering.
6. As long as man does not make an earnest enquiry about the Spirit within, so long will he, out of ignorance, be debarring the dawn of spiritual consciousness in him. As long as he works for selfish attainments, so long will his mind be inclined only towards such actions (and not for spiritual enquiry). And for such body-centred men given to selfish actions, embodiments are caused again and again.
7. When ignorance clouds the mind, it is enslaved by samskaras -the impressions of actions done earlier. As long as the mind does not develop attraction and love for Me, Vasudeva, so long release from embodiment does not arise.
8. As long as man, unconcerned of the purpose of life, fails to perceive that the actions of his body-mind are not of the Atman, the spiritual Self, he will be completely oblivious of his spiritual nature and behave like an ignorant person, a merely body-centred being, seeking delight in the sex-dominated life of the householder suffering from its endless woes.
9. The union of man with woman is spoken of by great men as a new knot in their heart, added to the already existing knot of ego-sense. For, from that springs the terrible infatuation causing the extension of the sense of identification, consisting in the sense of ‘mini-ness’, with regard to house, property, son, friend, money and so on.
10. This knot of the heart, the ego-sense (Ahamkara), which is the result of tendencies created by past actions, is identical with the mind. So if man is to be totally free from the bondage to sensuous enjoyment, his mind, free from all modifications, should be dissolved in the category superior to it. Then man becomes free from the cause of bondage, namely, ignorance.
11. The means to be adopted by one who wants to break this knot of the heart are as follows: Devotion to, and service of, an enlightened guru who is only Myself – the Supreme Divinity; renunciation; equanimity in suffering and enjoyment; the constant remembrance that suffering is there in any attainment in this world or in the hereafter; intelligent reflection on the true nature of all experiences; abandonment of works for personal gains; austerity;
12. dedication of works to Me; hearing the recitals of My divine actions every day; contact with great devotees having Me as their object of adoration; singing about My excellences; non-entertainment of animosity towards any one; equanimity; tranquility; cultivation of intense desire to get over identification with home and one’s own body;
13. study of scriptures; living in solitude; conquest of the senses and vital energy; strong faith; celibacy; vigilance; restraint of speech;
14. the knowledge and insight to see My presence in everything; practice of samadhi; cultivation of equanimity; firmness, perseverance and discrimination. By practising all these, an earnest aspirant can get over the knot of the ego-sense.
15. After one has, by the instruction of the guru and the careful practice of the above disciplines, completely overcome the knot of the heart (the ego-sense), which is born of ignorance and forms the seat of tendencies leading to works, one can give up all practices of yoga.
16. These instructions should be given by a father to a son, by a teacher to a disciple, and by king to a subject, if they wish to attain to My state or aspire for My grace. It should be done patiently without getting annoyed even when they are found unreceptive. They should not be allowed to get more involved in works for sensuous gratification with which their discriminative faculty has already been dulled. What gain can a teacher have by inducing such men, already blinded spiritually, for want of discrimination, in their involvement in the whirlpool of samsara, to works and rituals for worldly advantages?
17. The ignorant men of the world without a proper awareness of their ultimate good acquire objects of enjoyment out of their intense desire for them. In mutual competition for these petty objects of enjoyment, they quarrel and fight among themselves and suffer misery without end.
18. No wise person, who knows what is good for man and is endowed with a kindly disposition, would, on seeing another man steeped in ignorance and perverted in intelligence, encourage him to persist in the wrong path he is following, even as he would not do so with a blind man going towards a pit.
19. One, who would not save another from the path of death, on which the latter has entered, cannot be called one’s guru if he is the guru, one’s relative if he is a relative, one’s father if he is the father, one’s mother if she is the mother, one’s deity if it is the deity, one’s husband if he is the husband.
20. This body of mine is of an inexplicable nature, as it cannot be accounted for by karma. My mind is dominated by the quality of sattva by virtue of which devotion to God flourishes in it, and adharma finds no place as it has been left far behind. So wise men call me Rishabha.
21. Hence all of you, who have sprung from my heart, serve, without any reservations, Bharata, your brother, who is adorable for his excellences. Serving him is equal to looking after the subjects.
22. Among objects that have existence, plants with life are superior to lifeless things like stone. Among living objects, moving beings like animals with consciousness are superior to plants. Among creatures with consciousness, man is superior. Higher than man are astral beings; higher than these are beings like gandharvas, siddhas and kinnaras.
23. Greater than siddhas and kinnaras are the asuras; greater than they are the Devas with Indra at their head. Greater than them are the sons of Brahma, the Prajapatis. Among the sons of Brahma, Rudra is the greatest; greater than Rudra is Brahma who is the devotee of Mahavishnu. And Mahavishnu is the devotee of holy men.
24. I do not consider any one to be equal to a holy man. I do not find any one higher. I accept whatever food men offer Me through holy men with faith and devotion wholeheartedly. This food is dearer than even what is offered in fire at the Agnihotra.
25. In this world, it is the holy man who holds within himself my primeval and the most worshipful form, the Veda. I do not find any one equal to the holy man in whom the supremely pure qualities of sattva, control of mind, control of the senses, austerity, forbearance, truth, benevolence towards all and realization are present.
26. These supreme devotees who have nothing to call their own do not pray for any personal advantage even from Me, the Infinite and the Absolute Being, and the grantor of heavenly enjoyment and liberation. Why will they then seek small perishable worldly advantages?
27. Seeing that all things, moving and unmoving, are ensouled by Me, you must salute them every moment with sincere feeling. This indeed is real worship to Me.
28. The true meaning of all that man does by mind, speech, cognition and actions is only adoration of Me. Without this kind of worship of Me, man will not be able to rid himself of the noose of Yama, which consists in the great infatuation of looking upon the body as the spirit.
Sri Suka said:
29. Though his sons knew all the above teachings in a way, he made his sermon in order that the world at large might understand this doctrine. After this, Rishabha, the friend of all, desired to teach and demonstrate to the world the dharma of the paramahamsas characterized by repose in the Self, renunciation of actions, devotion, knowledge and dispassion. He, therefore, installed in succession to him as the ruler of the country, his eldest son Bharata, who was himself the embodiment of sattva and who was devoted to the servants of the Lord, and dependent on them in all matters. Then Rishabha left his residence, taking with him nothing but the body. He was henceforth like one inebriated, completely nude, and having dishevelled hair. Withdrawing into his heart the sacrificial fires like the Ahavamya maintained by him, he took to the life of a sannyasin and wandered away from his country, the Brahmavarta.
30. In the midst of men he appeared from time to time as a senseless man, blind man, dumb man, a ghoul or a drunkard. In repulsive attires, he was found to remain silent, not answering even any one’s questions.
31. He travelled through towns, villages, military cantonments, cow-pens, cowherd settlements, travellers’ shelters, mountains, forests and hermitages. All along the way, as an elephant in rut is pestered by flies, evil men persecuted him by threatening, beating, urinating on him, spitting on him, throwing stones, cow-dung and dust at him, and insulting and abusing him. Being firmly established in the knowledge of the real and the unreal, and in the conviction that one was nothing but the Universal Spirit, he had no identification with the body, which, for men in ignorance, is the most real entity, but was, for him, unreal. So none of these persecutions disturbed him, and he traveled all over the world alone, his mind merged in the Atman.
32. By nature, he was endowed with very handsome and well-proportionate hands, legs, chest, arms, shoulders, neck and face. His face always had shone with a natural smile. His eyes were long and red like a lotus petal, having pupils that assuaged the grief of men. The parts of the face like the ears, eyes, cheeks, neck and nose were all well-proportioned and symmetrical. The veiled smile on his lips had always attracted the interest of women. This handsome form of his now presented the appearance of a ghoul with dishevelled hair, dirty and unwashed, owing to lack of body consciousness.
33. Rishabha realized from the persecutions of ignorant people that society was hostile to the practice of yoga. To retaliate against the persecutors would be still worse. So he gave up the habit of moving about and adopted what is called ajagaravritti, the way of life of a python which remains at a spot without going for food anywhere. He lay himself in one place, took whatever food he had there, performed the functions of excretion and stretched himself there rolling in the faucal matter, and got himself covered with it.
34. His excreta, however, were so fragrant that the atmosphere up to ten yojanas was filled with its sweet smell.
35. Similarly, he followed also the ways of cow, deer and even of crow – walking, sitting, eating, drinking and excreting like all those creatures.
36. Bhagavan Rishabha then practised various forms of yogic discipline, experienced the unbroken bliss of the Spirit, and attained to the sense of oneness with the all-pervading Being. In the course of it, various yogic powers like movement in the sky with the speed of mind, power of disappearance, entry into another body, clairaudience, etc came to him automatically without his striving. But he rejected them all.
Chapter Two
Raja Parikshit said:
1. Oh great one! In the case of those who are established in the Atman, they have already burnt the seeds of karma in the fire of yoga. How can the powers of yoga that have come to them automatically, prove to be a bondage to them? Why did then Rishabha refuse to accept them?
Sri Suka Said:
2. What you say is true in a way. But though the mind has been controlled, it cannot be trusted too much. The best of yogis do not do so, knowing its fickleness and untrustworthiness, just as a determined hunter would not entrust a captured animal with any freedom.
3. So it is said: Do not compromise with the fickle mind. For, by doing so, very powerful personages have lost all their spiritual powers.
4. A yogi who trusts his mind too much is like a husband who does so in regard to his unfaithful wife. The fickle mind might betray him into the hands of his enemies like lust and its allies, just as the unfaithful wife might betray her husband by colluding with her paramour.
5. Can any man of true discrimination put full trust in the mind in the belief that it has come under his control - the mind which is the root cause of all dangerous passions like lust, anger, pride, greed, sorrow, infatuation, fear and the bondage of karma?
6. Thus, though he was the king of kings, he veiled his divine nature from vulgar eyes by assuming the attitude of a senseless man in dress, language and conduct. Next, in order to show how great yogis abandon their bodies, he established himself in the perpetual consciousness of the Atman by recognizing the indivisibility of the Atman into the seer and the seen, and thus overcoming even the modicum of tendencies he had assumed for the blessing of the world.
7. Without connection with even the lingasarira (subtle body), by the mere remaining momentum left of the impulsion given by yogamaya, his body travelled all over the land, and reached the region of Konka, Venkata, and Kutaka included in Dakshina Karnataka. There he travelled in the forest at the foot of the mountain known as Kutakadri like a ghoul – with the mouth filled with stones, hair dishevelled, and stark naked.
8. Once a forest fire broke out there by the mutual rubbing of bamboos in a strong wind. The whole forest, along with his holy body, was burnt in that fire.
