Tulādhāra-Jābali Saṃvāda

This account is told in the Mokshadharma Parva, within the Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata. It is about Jābali Maharshi, a brāhmaṇa (priest) who did very hard tapas (austerity), and about Tulādhāra, a merchant of Vārāṇasī who was wiser than he.

Bhīshma tells it to Yudhishṭhira. It comes in the talk about whether a king’s rule can ever go together with ahiṃsā (not harming any being).

Jābali’s tapas (Chapter 261)

Jābali Maharshi was a brāhmaṇa of the forest. He came to the seashore and began very hard tapas. For years he stood without moving, like a pillar. He bore the heat of summer, the cold of winter and the rains, with no shelter. He ate nothing and lived on air alone.

His hair was never cut. The rains soaked it, and it coiled and locked into thick jaṭās (matted locks). In the rainy season a pair of kuliṅga birds, a kind of small bird, found his jaṭās a safe place and built their nest there.

Jābali was moved by karuṇā (compassion), and he did not stir. He stayed completely still while the birds built the nest, laid their eggs, kept the eggs warm and raised their young through all the seasons. At last the young birds grew wings and flew away. At first they came back each night, then they came back on fewer and fewer days, until they were gone for good.

Jābali felt glad that he had given them shelter. He stood up, clapped his hands and said aloud: “I have attained the highest dharma!”

The voice from the sky

At that moment of pride an unseen voice came down from the sky. This is called an ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky). The source says that elsewhere it is named as the words of piśācas (spirits) who were present but could not be seen.

The voice said: “Jābali, you have not yet attained anything like what Tulādhāra of Vārāṇasī has attained. Tulādhāra does not speak as you are speaking. Go to him.”

The words hurt Jābali, and he became very curious. He left his place by the sea and travelled across the land. After a long journey he reached Vārāṇasī.

Tulādhāra recognises Jābali (Chapter 261)

Tulādhāra was a vaiśya who lived by trade. Jābali came to his shop in the market. Tulādhāra rose at once and welcomed him with honour. He said: “I knew you were coming before you arrived. I have nothing to ask you. Let me speak, and you listen.”

Tulādhāra then told Jābali something Jābali had not yet seen. His great tapas at the seashore had been true, and protecting the birds had been an act of dharma. But the words “I have attained the highest dharma!” showed that ahaṃkāra (pride in the self) was still alive inside his austerity. The voice from the sky had spoken about this hidden pride, and not about the tapas.

The teaching on ahiṃsā (Chapters 262 and 263)

Jābali now sat as Tulādhāra’s student and asked: what is dharma? The long talk that follows, in Chapters 262 and 263, explains ahiṃsā as the ground of all dharma.

Ahiṃsā is the base

Tulādhāra said that every dharma gets its strength from ahiṃsā hidden inside it. This is true of yajña (fire ritual), dāna (giving), tapas, ritual and pilgrimage. Where there is no ahiṃsā, the outer form of dharma is an empty shell. Where there is ahiṃsā, even the simplest act is a complete yajña. Giving water to a guest is one. Giving shade to a tired animal is another.

The merchant’s evenness of mind

Tulādhāra told Jābali that he sold his goods at the same price to everyone. He did this for friends and strangers, for enemies and allies, in times of want and times of plenty. This evenness in trade was his dharma. The name Tulādhāra means “he who holds the balance”. His level scale was more than a tool of trade. It showed an inner state, samatā, the same vision for all beings.

Svabhāva and dharma

One turning point of the teaching is a question. Is dharma set down from outside, or does it come from the purified svabhāva (own nature) of the person who practises it? Tulādhāra answered that in the end the two are the same. A person whose nature is purified will act in ways that match dharma. He does so not because the śāstras (scriptures) force him, but because his inner nature has been brought in line with the ground of being.

The birds’ teaching (Chapter 264)

When Tulādhāra finished his teaching, he asked Jābali to call the birds that had grown up in his hair. Jābali called them. The birds came and spoke in clear human speech. What they said agreed with everything Tulādhāra had taught:

“Ahiṃsā practised in body, speech and mind, in this world and the next, gives the highest fruit. Hiṃsā (harm) destroys śraddhā (faith), and the destroyed śraddhā destroys the one who does the harm. The path that protects all beings, that seeks neither to harm nor to use them, is the one path that leads beyond the cycle.”

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 261–264