Rāvaṇa’s Tapas and Nandī’s Śāpa

Rāvaṇa was the chief of the rākshasas. He was the son of Viśravas and the grandson of the ṛshi Pulastya. This account tells how he did great tapas (austerity) at Gokarṇa to please Bhagavān Śiva, and what he received. It goes on to Nandī’s śāpa (curse), the prayer of the devas to Bhagavān Vishṇu, and the plan by which Bhagavān Vishṇu would be born as Rāma. It is from Chapter 8 of the Kedāra Khaṇḍa, in the Māheśvara Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

Rāvaṇa’s tapas

Rāvaṇa did a great tapas on the mountain of Gokarṇa, in honour of Bhagavān Śiva, whom the rākshasa line loved most. For a thousand years he cut off each of his ten heads in turn and offered them as dravya (an offering) to the Śivaliṅga. As each head was offered, another grew back. His body stayed in perfect yoga-samādhi (deep meditation) before the Liṅga. Such complete self-offering joined strong vairāgya (detachment) with great bodily endurance. It had no equal even among the greatest tapasvis (those who do tapas).

The Kedāra Khaṇḍa says that Rāvaṇa was already a sincere devotee of the Śivaliṅga. The other great rākshasas worshipped Bhagavān Śiva in the same way: Bali, Namuci, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Vṛshaparvā, Bāṇa and the other disciples of Śukra. Through this worship Rāvaṇa had earlier gained great knowledge and strength that could not be beaten. Bhagavān Śiva has five faces, and Rāvaṇa’s ten heads were twice that number. This shows the greatness of his tapas-power.

Bhagavān Śiva’s vara

Bhagavān Śiva was very pleased. He appeared before Rāvaṇa and told him to ask for whatever he wished. Rāvaṇa did not ask for riches or power in the usual way. He said, “I ask for nothing else, O Bhagavān Śiva! I take refuge at your lotus feet alone. If you are pleased with me, give me the highest vara (boon) of your own choice.”

Bhagavān Śiva gave Rāvaṇa these gifts:

• Victory in battle over all enemies.
• Rule over Laṅkā and all the rākshasas.
• Ten heads, matching the five faces of Bhagavān Śiva, a sign of doubled divine power.
• Vijñāna-sahita jñāna (knowledge together with realisation), flowing straight from Bhagavān Śiva.

By the prasāda (grace) of Bhagavān Śiva, Rāvaṇa’s tapas-power grew so great that the lokapālas fell before him and Brahmā himself was overcome. The devas had to give up svarga. The realms of Indra, Candra, Agni and Varuṇa all became his. The Kedāra Khaṇḍa adds that Rāvaṇa even made a second world by his tapas-power. Such was the grace that came from worship of the Śivaliṅga.

Nandī’s meeting and śāpa

Rāvaṇa came to Kailāsa to meet Bhagavān Śiva. Nandī received him at the gate. Rāvaṇa was swollen with pride from his conquests, and he did not show Nandī respect. He laughed at Nandī’s monkey-like face and said he was not worth noticing.

Nandī, whose face looked like the future allies of Rāma, answered gravely. He told Rāvaṇa that pride in the power of Bhagavān Śiva had made him forget what the Liṅga truly means. Bhagavān Vishṇu is the pīṭhikā (the base) and Bhagavān Śiva is the Liṅga itself, and the two are one. To worship only the Liṅga and to dishonour the pīṭhikā, who is Bhagavān Vishṇu, is worship that is not whole. It would lead to Rāvaṇa’s ruin.

Then Nandī spoke his śāpa:

“The very beings whose form you mock, monkeys and bears, will be the means of your destruction. A noble human born among men, supported by vānaras, will slay you.”

The devas ask Bhagavān Vishṇu for help

The devas were crushed under Rāvaṇa’s rule. They gathered at Meru, and then went to Bhagavān Vishṇu in Vaikuṇṭha. They sang a stotra (hymn of praise) that told of his earlier avatāras. They named Narasiṃha, who killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, Vāmana, who bound Bali, and Paraśurāma, who killed Kārtavīrya. They prayed to be saved from Rāvaṇa.

Bhagavān Vishṇu answered with a plan. Rāvaṇa was a devotee of Bhagavān Śiva and a jñānī (a knower), but he had not sought Brahma-vidyā (the knowledge of Brahman) in its full form. As long as he stayed a devotee with bhakti and jñāna, Bhagavān Śiva protected him and he could not be killed. Only when desire spoiled him and he turned away from dharma would he become one who could be slain. That would happen when he carried off Sītā, who is Brahma-vidyā herself. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu would slay him through that same Brahma-vidyā. Rāvaṇa would thus reach sārūpya (liberation in the form of Bhagavān Śiva).

The plan of the Rāma avatāra

Bhagavān Vishṇu told the devas to take forms of vānaras on earth. He himself would be born at Ayodhyā in the house of Daśaratha. He would be in a state of yogamāyā, appearing as a human being.

Brahma-vidyā herself would be born at Mithilā as the daughter of King Janaka. She would be called Sītā, because she was born from the earth when a plough-furrow was opened. She would be called Maithilī, because she was born in Mithilā, and Jānakī, because she was Janaka’s daughter. In an earlier birth she was called Vedavatī, and by her tapas she had made herself the highest Brahma-vidyā.

The births were fixed as follows.

• Vāli came from a part of Indra.
• Sugrīva came from a part of Sūrya.
• Jāmbavān came from a part of Brahmā.
• Hanumān came from a part of the eleventh Rudra, chief among the gaṇas of Bhagavān Śiva. He had measureless tejas (radiance) and was the highest servant of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
• Manda, Nīla and other vānaras came from parts of other devas.
• Bharata and Śatrughna came from the mighty arms of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself.

As Rāma, Bhagavān Vishṇu did fierce tapas in the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest, as strong as Rāvaṇa’s own. In six months Rāma and his gathered army killed Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was struck by the arrow of Bhagavān Vishṇu, which is the weapon of dharma itself. Through his devotion to Bhagavān Śiva and the liberating weapon of Bhagavān Vishṇu together, he reached sārūpya with Bhagavān Śiva. At once he was given dvaitādvaita-jñāna, the knowledge that goes beyond both duality and non-duality.

The teaching of Lomaśa

Lomaśa draws this teaching from the account. Rāvaṇa’s fault was not his tapas, which was true and supreme. His fault was that he worshipped the Liṅga, who is Bhagavān Śiva, and dishonoured the pīṭhikā, who is Bhagavān Vishṇu, treating them as separate. Full worship of the Śivaliṅga includes respect for Bhagavān Vishṇu as the pīṭhikā. Rāvaṇa was freed in the end because his devotion to Bhagavān Śiva was real. It only waited for the moment when the weapon of Bhagavān Vishṇu would finish what tapas had begun.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8