A Study of the Bhagavata Purana or Esoteric Hinduism Part 46

Next in order was the _Karusha_ race inhabiting the north.

The _Dharshtas_ were also a spiritual race (Brahmanas).

The descent towards Materiality commenced with Nriga. He is said to have been transformed into a lizard. His grandson was _Bhutajyoti_, Bhutas being different forms of matter. _Vasu_ is a G.o.d of Material wealth.

_Pratika_ means the reverse or opposite (_i.e._ the reverse of spirit.) _Ogha_ means a current. The current of materialism set in with the line of Nriga.

The next line, that of Narishyanta, shews further materiality. Midhvat is that which wets (the root _mih_ means to pa.s.s water). _Viti_ is production, enjoyments. Vitihotra is the name of a sacrificial fire.

_Agnivesya_ is an incarnation of Agni or the Fire-G.o.d, but he is nick-named Kanina or son of an unmarried woman and also _Jatukarna_ (the name of a Vedic Ris.h.i.+). There seems to have been s.e.xual procreation in this line. The incarnation of Agni further indicates that the present human form was complete, for Agni is the form-giving energy in Nature.

In the next line of _Dishta_ we have _Vatsapriti_ or affection for children, _Pransu_ or tall, _Pramati_ or full-grown intellect, _Khanitra_ or digger, _Chakshusha_ or the eyed, and _Khaninetra_ or the hollow-eyed. This line represents the race of the earliest diggers, very tall, with the hollow eye predominant in them as a characteristic feature; this race was very powerful and capable of direct communion with the Devas, and the G.o.ds acted as waiters in the Yajna of Marutta.

The line of Saryati refers to anarta and a town named Kusasthali, built in the midst of the Sea. Evidently the continent on which the race flourished is now under water. anarta is supposed to be Sourashtra (modern Surat.) But the site of Kusasthali cannot be ascertained. There were remnants of this race till the time of Krishna, for Balaram married Revati, the daughter of Kakudmin (hump-backed). The line of Nabhaga is a short one and it merged itself into that of Angiras who was the father of Brihaspati or Jupiter. Ambarisha is the prominent figure of this period.

Then we come to the line of _Ikshvaku_. This is the best known line of the Solar races. It flourished during the last Tretayuga. _Ikshvaku_ is called the eldest son of Manu. Perhaps this has reference to the appearance of the Race in the previous Manvantaras.

The eldest son of Ikshvaku is Vikuks.h.i.+ (_Kuks.h.i.+_ is womb.) He is also called Sasada or the Rabbit-eater. The Moon is called Rabbit-marked.

_Puranjaya_ is the son of Vikuks.h.i.+. He is called Indra-Vaha or Indra-Vehicled. Several of the kings of this dynasty befriended the Devas of Svar Loka.

Further down we find King _Purukutsa_ forming an alliance with the elemental serpents, and holding communion with the dwellers of Rasatala.

The river Narvada is mentioned in connection with Rasatala.

_Mandhata_ is a traditional name that has been preserved upto this time in common parlance in the saying "As old as king Mandhata." The line of Mandhata was divided into three different branches. _Muchukunda_ represented a branch of Yogins. The long, unbroken sleep of Muchukunda is traditional and he is credited also with Yogic powers. Another branch that of Ambarisha, Youvanasva and Harita represented a spiritual sub-race. But we have to follow the history of the Atlanteans through Purukutsa. The connection with Rasatala, or the plane of Material ascendancy, affected the destiny of this line. In Trisanku, the aspiration ran very high. He became a Deva, but had his head turned downwards, _i.e._ turned towards materiality. With the powers of a Deva, but with the aspirations of an Asura, the ground was prepared for the downfall of this line. For a time, however, the Race flourished in all its materiality. The alliance between Devas and men became cemented by the performance of Vedic sacrifices. This was the first spiritual advance of the human race, through the temptations of Svarga life.

The time of Haris Chandra is the Vedic era, when the earliest Riks of what we know as Rigveda were composed. Visvamitra and his disciples were the Vedic Ris.h.i.+s of this age. The Vedas tried to curb the riotous course of materiality by prescribing a number of restrictions on the enjoyment of material desires. Elaborate rules were laid down as to how the desires might be best gratified for a prolonged period in Svargaloka, by the performance of sacrifices or Yajna. The whole of the life of the regenerate cla.s.ses was regulated by rigid laws and a glowing picture was given of life in Svarga after death. The sacred injunctions were not, however, potent enough to check the Kamic tendencies of the race and the cyclic law which now required the spiritual evolution of humanity was continually disregarded by the race. This was poison (_gara_) to the system of humanity and king Sagar imbibed this poison. Hence he was called the Poisoned. He had two wives. The sons of one wife were 60 thousand in number. They offended Kapila, an Incarnation of Vishnu, and thus were all consumed. They reached the limit of material degradation, where final extinction awaited the race. The number 60,000 is suggestive.

The extinction of Sagara's sons was attended with great changes on the earth's surface. It is said they dug the earth and made the seas in their search for the sacrificial horse. Hence the sea is called Sagara.

This may refer to the sinking down of Atlantis when a large portion of that great continent became a sea-bed. There was a corresponding upheaval of land and the Himalayan chain reared up its head, as we can easily infer from the first appearance of the Ganges. The first flow of Ganga indicated a many sided revolution in the appearance of the earth's surface. A new continent was formed to which India was attached as the prominent link. Spiritual sub-races grew up on the banks of the sacred river who more than atoned for the sins of their fathers. The fore-runner of the race of spirituality was Asamanjas (rising above the ordinary run). He was a Yogin not led away by the material tendencies of the age. His son was Ansumat (having the ray or light in him). Ansumat pacified Kapila.

Ganga is said to be a spiritual stream flowing from the feet of Vishnu.

With the advent of this stream, the spiritual rebirth of humanity commenced in right earnest, for the remaining period of the Kalpa.

Already the path had been paved by the Karmakanda of the Vedas, which put restrictions on the wanton and reckless performance of Karma or action. The pure magnetism of the holy river helped on the process of regeneration. But this was not in itself sufficient to cope with the forces of materiality. Accordingly we see _Kalmasha_ or sin appearing in the line of Bhagiratha. King Kalmashapada became a Rakshasa. A Rakshasa is an elemental of destruction. When mind becomes too much identified with the gross body and its desires, its connection with the Higher Self is liable to be cut off by the action of the Rakshasas. These forces of Tamas act in different ways to serve different purposes in the economy of the Universe. When the material downfall of man reaches its furthest limit in the Kalpa, the Rakshasas become Tamasic forces in man and he is unconscious of his higher nature. That sleep in time becomes a permanent sleep, and the lower man becomes dead to his real Self. This is the real death of man, when the ray sent forth by ishvara comes back to Him, without any spiritual harvest, and what const.i.tuted the personality of man dissolves into the Material Universe.

The time had come when a fresh departure was necessary in the methods pursued by the Lila Avataras for the spiritual regeneration of the Universe. They had now to appear amongst men, as ordinary beings, to give direct teachings to their votaries, to infuse as much Satva as possible into humanity and to r.e.t.a.r.d by all means the further extinction of the human race.

For a time the Rakshasas reigned supreme, but not over the new continent, permeated as it was by the sacred waters of the Ganges. Their stronghold was Lanka, the remnant of the Atlantean continent. Following the descent of Ganga therefore, Vishnu incarnated himself as Rama, one of the greatest of his manifestations. The Rakshasas of Lanka were killed. Vibhishana only survived, but he was allied to Rama and so became immortal in spirituality. The Rakshasa survives in us but its energy of dissolution does not militate against the evolution of man. It was Rama who first gave the idea of ishvara to the degraded human races of the present Manvantara. They knew, for the first time, that there was one greater than all the Devas - the G.o.ds of the Vedas - and that there were planes higher than even Svarga. The path of devotion was proclaimed. And it became possible for men to cross the limits of death and of Triloki by this quality. The downfall was stopped no doubt; but the ascent was only permanently secured by Lord Sri Krishna as we shall see later on.

After Rama, there is little of interest in the line of Ikshvaku. The decline commenced and the line became extinct with Sumitra, but it is said one king Maru of this line became an adept in Yoga and retired to Kalapa, where he bides his time to revive the solar dynasty towards the end of the Kaliyuga. We may take him to be the originator of another race which will be the re-incarnation of the Ikshvaku race.

We have considered the line of Ikshvaku's descendants through Purukutsa.

There is another line of his descendants through Nimisha. Then we come to the Lunar Dynasty.

The Lunar races first appeared while the descendants of Ikshvaku were still flouris.h.i.+ng, though on the eve of their decline. They had immense possibilities of spiritual evolution, and the great Aryan race seems to be connected with them. The appearance of these races is almost simultaneous with the first flow of the Ganges. For we find Jahnu, who swallowed up the Ganges in her first terrestrial course, is only sixth in the line of descent from Pururavas.

The Lunar dynasty originated in the union of Tara, the female principle of Brihaspati (Jupiter), and the Moon. The issue was Budha (Mercury), the direct progenitor of the Lunar dynasty.

The son of Budha was Pururavas. He married Urvasi, the renowned Deva nymph.

Pururavas had six sons. But we are concerned with only two of them, ayus and Vijaya.

Vijaya gave the Adept line of the race and ayus, the ordinary humanity.

In the line of Vijaya, we find Jahnu, purified by the a.s.similation of Ganga, Visvamitra, pre-eminently the Ris.h.i.+ of the Rig Veda and one of the seven sages who watch over the destiny of the present Manvantara, Jamadagni, another of the seven sages of our Manvantara and Parasurama one of the coming sages of the next Manvantara. We have already mentioned the part taken by Visvamitra and his sons in the composition of the Vedic Mantras.

Coming to the line of ayus, we recognise the forefathers of the Aryan races.

In the short-lived branch through Kshatra-vriddha, we find the Vedic Ris.h.i.+ Gritsamada, his son Sunaka, the renowned Sounaka, Dirghatamas and Dhanvantari, the promulgator of ayur-veda.

But the longest history of the Race is through the descendants of Yayati.

King Yayati married Devayani, the daughter of Sukra, the presiding Ris.h.i.+ of the planet Venus, and had by her two sons, Yadu and Turvasu. Sukra is the son of Bhrigu, the Ris.h.i.+ of Mahar Loka. Devayana, is the path leading beyond Triloki, after death.

But the King had also connection with a Danava girl, who brought forth three sons, Druhyu, Anu and Puru. For his Danava connection, King Yayati had in youth to undergo the infirmities of age. This evil was transmitted to Puru, the youngest son of the Danava girl.

The line of Puru was short-lived. But it is this line that gave some of the renowned Vedic Ris.h.i.+s, viz. Apratiratha, Kanva, Medhat.i.thi and Praskanva. Dushmanta, the hero of Kalidasa's renowned drama also came of this line. Vishnu incarnated in part as Bharata, son of Dushmanta.

Then there was a revolution. Bharata found that his sons were not like unto himself. So the direct line of Puru came to an end. What followed is a little mysterious. Bharata adopted Bharadvaja as his son.

Bharadvaja was begotten by Brihaspati (Jupiter) on the wife of his brother Utathya named Mamata (Egoism).

Bharadvaja is one of the seven presiding Ris.h.i.+s of the present Manvantara. His name is connected with several Mantras of the Rig Veda.

The great actors in the Kurukshetra battle were the descendants of Bharadvaja. We find much diversity of spiritual characteristics among them. The material and spiritual forces were gathered together, in all possible grades from the Pandavas downward to the sons of Dhrita-rashtra and their allies. The poetical genius of the author of the Mahabharata has called forth characters in the Drama of the Kurukshetra battle, that stand out in all the details of real life and find a permanent place in the genealogy of the Lunar dynasty. The study of the racial account of the line of Bharadvaja becomes therefore extremely difficult.

The Lunar dynasty will be revived by Devapi, a descendant of Bharadvaja, who is biding his time at Kalapa.

The early inhabitants of Bengal, Behar and Urishya were the sons of Anu, the second son of Sarmistha. The famous Kama, one of the heroes of Kurukshetra, also belonged to this line.

The eldest son of Sarmistha by Yayati was Druhyu. Prachetas of this line had one hundred sons, who inhabited the north as Mlechha races.

But the greatest interest attaches to the line of Yadu, the eldest son of Yayati by Devayani. The early descendants of this line were the Haihayas, killed by Parasurama, and the Talajanghas, killed by Sagar - both of the Solar Dynasty. The Mahabharata has given an importance to the overthrow of these early Yadu cla.s.ses as a victory of the Brahmanas over the Kshatriyas. Next to the Brahmanas in intelligence were the Kshatriyas. They eagerly accepted the teachings of Rama, who incarnated as one of them. They knew isvara as higher than the Devas and the Brahmanas. They thought they could profitably employ their time in seeking after the knowledge of Brahman. This necessarily offended the orthodox Brahmanas, who performed the Vedic sacrifices and had no higher ambition than to resort to Devaloka. The Kshatriyas thus represented a religious evolution, of which the Upanishads were an outcome. In time, some Brahmanas even became disciples of Kshatriyas. Both Rama and Krishna incarnated themselves as Kshatriyas. We are to understand that by Kshatriyas, during this period of Puranic history, is meant seceders from Vedic Karma Kanda more or less.

The early seceders, the Haihayas and Talajanghas were put down by the Brahmana Parasurama and by the Kshatriya King Sagar, who espoused the cause of Vedic Karma Kanda and of the Brahmanas, represented by Ris.h.i.+ Aurva of this time.

Parasurama did not like any meddling with Vedic Karma Kanda by persons not perfected in wisdom. Even Rama had to respect the Vedic Ris.h.i.+s and had to protect them in the performance of Vedic sacrifices from the attacks of Asuras and Rakshasas. When Lord Krishna appeared on the scene, the Asuras still survived; the Vedic Ris.h.i.+s denied offerings to Him, Vedic Karma had a strong supporter in Jarasandha, there was hypocrisy in the name of religion, and there were pretensions in various forms. On the other hand great improvements had been made in the proper understanding of the realities of life and of the laws of nature.

Intellect overflowed in many channels of thought, and the religious nature of man found vent in all directions from atheism to religious devotion.

Leaving this general resume', we may now enter upon a closer study of the history of religious movements in our present Manvantara, so that we may understand the great work done by Lord Sri Krishna. The races live as individuals live. However developed an individual may be, when he is re-born after death, he first becomes a child as any other child. There is much of spiritual life in the child, and sometimes pictures of heavenly life are presented to his spiritual vision, which are denied to to the grown-up man. The child begins his life when he is grown up, and then his individual characteristics soon manifest themselves. We do not read much of the man in the child. Hence the history of the early spiritual races, who were infants in the racial life, does not teach us anything. We find some of them had communion with the Devas of Svarga Loka, but that is more on account of their infant spirituality than any thing else.

When the races developed in time, they became most intellectual as well as most material at the same time. Manvantara after Manvantara was taken up in developing the physiological (Pranic) activities, the sense (Indriya) activities, and then the lower mental activities of the Jivas.

The personal man was fully developed in the sixth Manvantara and the great churning only opened the door for another line of development. The possibility of spiritual activity was secured to men by Kurma.

When the races of the Sixth Manvantara therefore became reborn in the Seventh Manvantara, they were the most intellectual of all races, but they had also the power given to them of developing spiritual faculties.

They could not however shake off the Asuric element all at once. They were extremely fond of material joys, and they devised all means, which human intellect could contrive, of gratifying material desires. That was right which gave material gratification; that was wrong which militated against material enjoyment.

Bhuvar Loka is the plane of animal desires. The human beasts go after death to Bhuvar Loka. They do not possess anything which could take them to Svarga Loka.

The Svarga Loka is for those who develop in themselves the faculty of discriminating between right and wrong, and who do or attempt to do what is right. Far more it is for those who love others and who do good to them. For service and love pertain to planes higher even than Svarga.

But in the higher planes, service is unselfish and love is divine. The lower forms of service and love pertain to the plane of Svarga. In Svarga there is selfishness, but it is mixed with spirituality. It is only the good, the virtuous, the devoted that go to the plane of the Devas and there gratify their higher desires to their heart's content.