Rantideva Upākhyāna

King Rantideva gave away everything that came to him. The Rantideva Upākhyāna is told in the 21st chapter of the 9th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. It shows karuṇā (compassion for all beings) and freedom from attachment. After forty-eight days without food, Rantideva was given a meal. He gave every portion to the guests who came, one after another, a brāhmaṇa, a śūdra, a man with dogs and at last a caṇḍāla, until not even a cup of water was left for himself.

The fast of forty-eight days

Rantideva kept only what came to him by chance. He stored up no wealth, and whatever came, he gave away at once. So he and his whole household lived in constant want. Yet he never lost his calm or his faith.

The want grew so great that for 48 days he and his family had neither food nor water. At the end of the 48th day, food arrived: ghee, pāyasam (sweet rice pudding) and water, enough to end the fast. As the household was about to eat, a brāhmaṇa came to the door as a guest.

Rantideva saw Śrī Hari in every being. He welcomed the brāhmaṇa with respect and gave him a share of the food. The brāhmaṇa ate and left.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.

The guests who followed

Then, as the household was dividing what was left, a śūdra came as a guest. Rantideva gave the rest of the food to the śūdra, keeping Śrī Hari in his mind. The śūdra left.

Before even his own share was eaten, a man came to the door with his dogs. He said, “O King, my dogs and I are starving.” Rantideva gave the man and his dogs all the food that remained. He honoured them with a respectful greeting and a bow to the ground.

Now nothing was left but one cup of water, hardly enough to ease one man’s thirst. Rantideva was close to death from thirst. At that very moment a caṇḍāla came, worn out and in need, his voice heavy with suffering, and begged for water.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.

Rantideva’s words

Rantideva heard the caṇḍāla’s voice and was pierced to the heart with compassion. He gave him the water. As he gave it, he said:

“I do not ask Īśvara for the eight great powers (ashṭaiśvarya), nor for the state from which there is no return (moksha). I have one prayer only: let me live in all beings and feel their sufferings from within, so that by my feeling them, their sufferings may be taken away.

This man is worn out, a living being who wishes to live. By giving him this water, all my hunger, thirst, bodily weakness, grief, low spirits, pain of mind, distress and the weakening of my limbs are gone.”

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.

The guests show their true forms

At that moment the four guests showed their true forms. They were Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva. The beings who had come as the brāhmaṇa, the śūdra, the man with dogs and the caṇḍāla were all forms made by Vishṇumāyā. The rulers of the three worlds had come to see the quality of Rantideva’s mind, and to give him varas (boons).

Rantideva had not a trace of desire or attachment left. He bowed before them and fixed his mind, with pure bhakti (devotion), on Bhagavān Vāsudeva alone. The māyā of saṃsāra, the whole web of the three guṇas (qualities of nature), melted back into his own svarūpa (true nature), as foam melts into the ocean.

His attendants, who had lived close to him all the time, were also changed by that satsaṅga (company of the good). They too became yogīs for whom Nārāyaṇa alone was the final refuge, the āśraya.

Source: Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21