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Vasishta and Viswamithra -1



1/9/09


Vasishta was one of the saptarshis (one of the seven great sages) and he was the maanasa putra of Brahma Devan. He was the respected Guru of several great kings including Lord Sri Rama and Lakshmana.
 
Viswamitra was a Kshathriya King who did severe penance and became a Rajarshi. When a Kshathriya becomes a  sanyasi he is called Rajarshi. Only Brahmin sanyasis were called Brahmarshi and in spite of Viswamitra's repeated and severe penance Vasishta did not give him the Brahamarshi padam or status. Viswamitra was upset with Vasishta and wanted to take revenge on Vasishta!!
 
There was a king called Kalmashapada and Vasishta was his royal priest. Viswamitra wanted the post of Rajaguru and was jealous of Vasishta. One day king Kalmashapada was walking through the forest and reached a narrow bridge. As soon as he stepped on one side, Vasishta's son Shakthi stepped on the other side of the bridge. Both did not want to retrace their steps and both of them could not walk simultaneously on the narrow bridge. King thought that Sakthi should give way to him because he was the king and Sakthi thought that king should give way to him because he was a Brahmin. Finally they got in to big argument and Kalamashapada whipped Shakthi very hard. Sakthi cursed him to turn into a man-eating demon. 

When this happened, sage Viswamitra was watching the whole thing and he immediately transferred the soul of a demon into the King's body. King became a real demon and ate Sakthi. Then Viswamitra told the hungry demon inside Kalmashapada to eat all the other 99 sons of Vasishta. Kalamashapada ate all of them in no time.
 
Vasishta was devastated with sorrow and did not want to live. He tried to take his life by many means and nothing worked. Finally he bound himself with lot of rope and jumped into the fast flowing river nearby. River lifted the noble sage from his despondency, and landed him safe on the bank. 

This river then got the name Vipaasa or the one who destroyed the bonds of attachment of Vashishta. "He emerged a man freed from his sorrows, as one who understood the meaning of mortality and immortality. 'Paasha' (പാശം ) means attachments and 'Vipaasha' (വിപാശം ) or Vipaasa means removal of worldly attachments." New name or the present name of this river is Beas River.
 
Even though Vasishta was free of attachments, he did not want to live. He wanted to end his life by entering another river nearby and this river also did not want to help the noble sage end his life. River divided itself into 100 channels and saved the life of Vasishta from drowning. This river is called Shatadru because it divided into Shatham or hundred arms or channels. The new name of this river is Sutlej. Both these rivers start from the Himlayas.
 
Sreekrishnaarpanamasthu





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