Kṛshṇa’s Tejas

Near the end of the long teaching on dāna-dharma (the dharma of giving), Yudhishṭhira asks Bhīshma for a wonderful account. Bhīshma tells how Kṛshṇa Vāsudeva, keeping a twelve-year vrata (vow) to obtain a son equal to himself, was visited by Nārada, Parvata, Vyāsa and other great ṛshis. During the vrata, a fierce fire burst out of Kṛshṇa’s own Nārāyaṇa tejas (radiance), burned a whole mountain with every living thing on it, and then came back to bow at Vishṇu’s feet. Vishṇu then gave the mountain back its old state.

Kṛshṇa then tells the amazed ṛshis what had happened. This episode leads directly into the Umā-Maheśvara Saṃvāda, which begins at Chapter 140.

Yudhishṭhira’s request

Yudhishṭhira spoke to Bhīshma as the one who had fed and guarded their great family through many āgamas (teachings). He said that in this hour of hardship for their kinsmen and relatives they had no other teacher but him. He asked for an account that rests on dharma and artha (wealth and worldly aims), that brings sukha (happiness) in the future, and that is a source of great wonder to the world.

He asked this in the presence of Nārāyaṇa himself, who sat there honouring Bhīshma with full trust and devotion. Yudhishṭhira and his brothers wished to gain both teaching and the joy of Bhīshma’s affection, before all the assembled kings.

Bhīshma begins: Kṛshṇa’s twelve-year vrata

Bhīshma was moved by the love in Yudhishṭhira’s request. He agreed to tell a wonderful kathā (account) about Vishṇu’s power (prabhāva) that he had heard long ago. He also promised to tell, straight after it, the conversation (saṃvāda) between Umā and Maheśvara, the deva whose banner bears the bull. This included the doubt (saṃśaya) that Rudrāṇī herself once voiced.

He told it this way. Once, Kṛshṇa, whose self is dharma, took up a twelve-year vrata. The devarshis Nārada and Parvata wished to see him in his dīkshā (the period of a vow), and they came to him. With them came Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa), Dhaumya, the best of those absorbed in japa (repeating a mantra), Devala, Kaśyapa and Hastikaśyapa. Other great ṛshis came too, marked by the great qualities of steadiness (nishṭhā) and self-control (dama). There were also siddhas, disciples as bright as devas, and those whose wealth is tapas (austerity).

Kṛshṇa, the son of Devakī, was glad. He arranged for them the hospitality (ātithya) that suited the dignity of his family, hospitality worthy of being praised as equal to the worship of the devas themselves. The great ṛshis sat on new seats decorated with many-coloured peacock-feather eye patterns. They sat close to Bhagavān Kṛshṇa in affection. Those whose wealth is tapas shared sweet talks on dharma about royal ṛshis and devas.

The fire from the cakra

Then, as Kṛshṇa grew in tejas through the very fuel of his vrata, a Nārāyaṇa tejas, able to do astonishing things, burst out in the form of fire (agni) from his cakra. That fire burned the whole mountain. Its trees, creepers, thickets, birds, herds of beasts, fierce animals and serpents were all consumed, and the mountain was left reduced to nothing. Creatures of every form cried out in hāhākāra (a great cry of grief). All became lifeless, and the very peak of the mountain was crushed into a pitiful, shattered state.

The blazing fire had burned everything completely. Then it went to Vishṇu himself and touched his feet in praṇāma (a bow), like a disciple before his guru. Vishṇu’s very nature is to destroy his enemies. He looked at the ash-covered mountain with a gentle, kind gaze, and with that gaze he brought it fully back to its earlier state. Its creepers bloomed beautifully again, it was filled again with the calls of flocks of birds, and it was again home to fierce beasts and creeping creatures.

The ṛshis’ question and Kṛshṇa’s answer

The munis saw this astonishing and unimaginable event. They stood with their hair on end and their eyes full of tears of wonder. Nārāyaṇa, who is skilled in speech, then spoke to the amazed ṛshis. They were free of attachment at every moment, had no sense of “mine” (mamakāra), and had knowledge of the āgamas. He asked why they had fallen into such wonder, and asked them to say plainly and with certainty what had caused their astonishment.

The ṛshis answered: “Svāmī, you create the worlds and you alone dissolve them again. You are cold and you are heat. You alone send the rain. Of all the beings on earth, whether fixed or moving, you are the father, the mother and the master. You are the very source of them all. O Madhusūdana, O one whose nature is auspicious! You alone must settle our doubt about this fire that came out and then turned back, for this very event has astonished us. O destroyer of enemies, O Hari! Our hearts are settled now. We will tell you plainly whatever we heard and saw.”

Vāsudeva answered them: “This is the Vaishṇava tejas, which came from my own countenance. It is like the fire at the time of pralaya (the end of the world), and by it this mountain was reduced to nothing. All of you, whose wealth is tapas, who are equal to devas and have conquered anger and the senses, were distressed and shaken by this. But do not grieve.

“This fire rose from the power of my service in the vrata of tapas. I took up this vrata because I wished for a son equal to myself in strength. For this very purpose I came to this auspicious mountain to keep my vrata. My own power of self (ātma-śakti) then came out as this fire and went to the grandfather of all the worlds (sarva-lokānāṃ pitāmaha), who is Maheśvara, Śiva. That giver of varas (boons) then spoke to my ātman about the matter of a son: ‘A son shall arise from half of your tejas.’ So Śaṅkara spoke.

“That same fire then came peacefully to the base of my feet, returned to its natural state (sahaja-sthiti), to serve me like a disciple. This is the secret (rahasya) of the wise Padmanābha, the lotus-naveled one. I have told it to you in brief, you whose wealth is tapas. Do not be afraid.”

Kṛshṇa went on: “All of you have great foresight, and your understanding (buddhi) is never shaken. You blaze with the power of your tapas and vrata, and you shine with knowledge (jñāna) and its deeper form (vijñāna). If there is anything else that you have heard or seen, in the sky or on earth, that is supremely wonderful, tell it to me. I have a great wish to hear your words, which are like amṛta (the nectar of immortality), the very honey that you who live in the forests of tapas speak.

“O great ones, whose very presence is like a sight of the devas, if there is any wonderful sight, in svarga or on earth, that I have not yet seen myself, let me receive that sight through you. For nothing anywhere stands against my own para-prakṛti (highest nature), and so no wonder that belongs to my own ātman ever seems astonishing to me. But what has reached the ears of good people, and is told on to others so that it can be trusted, lasts long on the earth, as if cut into a mountain. So tell me something that came from the mouths of the good, that happened at the time of union with Parameśvara, and that lights up the understanding of men. Tell me something wonderful.”

Nārada is asked to speak

At this the munis, amazed, looked at Janārdana with lotus-like eyes in the presence of Kṛshṇa. Some rejoiced, some worshipped, and some praised Madhusūdana with words rich in meaning, adorned with the ṛk verses of the Veda.

The munis then chose Nārada to answer for them. He had always been a witness to the Svāmī and was skilled above all in speech. The munis said to him: “O Muni, tell, for the good of this gathering of ṛshis, the astonishing and unimaginable event that took place on Himavat. The company of munis, who were set on going to tīrthas (holy places), saw it. You yourself saw it from beginning to end, centred on Hṛshīkeśa. Tell it exactly as you saw it.”

So Bhagavān Nārada, the devarshi, began to tell the account that follows: what happened long ago between Umā and Maheśvara. This account ends here, at the close of Chapter 139. The whole Umā-Maheśvara Saṃvāda, which begins at Chapter 140, is told separately.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 139