Śākalya, Guru of Paraśu
Śākalya
Paraśu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Paraśu. Śiśira has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śiśira. Mudgala has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mudgala. Śubhra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śubhra.
Śākalya was a ṛshi of great self-discipline who performed tapas on Mount Śubhra, on the southern bank of the Gautamī. Tending the sacred fire and studying the Vedas, honoured by all beings, he kept his word even to the rākshasa Paraśu who came to devour him, and stood fearless under the protection of Bhagavān Hari. Seeing in him the form of Vishṇu that holds the universe, Paraśu took refuge in him, and Śākalya became his guru, sending him to Devī Sarasvatī and to the praise of Bhagavān Vishṇu, by whose grace the rākshasa reached svarga. The Brahma Purāṇa tells this in the account of the Sārasvata tīrtha.
The ṛshi of Mount Śubhra
Brahmā tells Nārada of the Sārasvata tīrtha, which grants all desires, gives bhukti and mukti and destroys all pāpas. East of Pushpotkaṭa, on the southern bank of the Gautamī, stands Śubhra, the most excellent of mountains, frequented by ṛshis, gandharvas and devas. There Śākalya performed excellent tapas. All living beings bowed to and praised him, and he was devoted to the agnihotra and to the study of the Vedas.
On the same mountain lived a rākshasa named Paraśu, who terrified the devas and the brāhmaṇas, hated yajñas and killed brāhmaṇas. He could take any form he wished: now a brāhmaṇa, now a tiger, a deva, an animal, a young maiden, a deer or a boy. Every day he came to the place where Śākalya stayed, but though he tried to carry off and kill that brāhmaṇa of great purity, he could not.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93
The guest at the meal
One day, after carefully worshipping the devas, Śākalya came to his meal. At that moment Paraśu came too, in the form of a feeble, grey-haired brāhmaṇa, with a girl beside him. “O brāhmaṇa,” he said, “we want food, and we have come at the hour when guests are fed. They alone are blessed from whose houses guests go out with their desires fulfilled; others are dead though alive. If a man, sitting down to eat, gives the guest what was made for himself, it is as though he had given away the earth.”
Taking him for a brāhmaṇa, Śākalya seated him and said, “I shall give.” He honoured him and served the food. Taking the water for ācamana, Paraśu spoke again: “The devas follow the weary guest from afar; if he is satisfied, they are satisfied. The guest and the slanderer are the true kinsmen of the world: the slanderer takes away pāpas, and the guest gives svarga. If anyone looks with disgust at a guest weary from the road, his dharma, fame and prosperity perish at once. So I beg of you: if you grant me what I desire, I shall eat. Not otherwise.” Śākalya said: “It is already given. Eat.”
Then Paraśu said: “I am Paraśu, the rākshasa, your enemy, not an old, grey-haired brāhmaṇa. For many years I have watched you, and my limbs are drying up like a drop of water in summer. I shall carry you off with your followers and eat you.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93
Śākalya keeps his word
Śākalya answered: “Those born of noble families, who have understood the śāstras, hold to what they have promised, never otherwise. Friend, do as you please. Still, listen: good and wholesome words should be spoken even to one who is trying to kill you.” And he spoke his protection by the names of Bhagavān Hari:
- “I am a brāhmaṇa of adamantine body. Bhagavān Hari protects me on all sides.”
- May Vishṇu protect my feet.
- May Varāha protect my arms.
- May Dharmarāja protect my back.
- May Kṛshṇa protect my heart.
- May Narasiṃha protect my fingers.
- May the ruler of speech protect my mouth.
- May he who rides on the bird Garuḍa protect my eyes.
- May Kubera, the ruler of wealth, protect my ears.
- May Bhava protect me all round.
- Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself is the sole refuge in every adversity.
“Now take me or devour me happily, great rākshasa Paraśu, without any hesitation.” The rākshasa made ready to devour him and came near with a mouth terrible with curved fangs, for, Brahmā says, there is no mercy in the hearts of those given to pāpa.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93
Paraśu takes refuge
But as soon as he looked at the brāhmaṇa, Paraśu cried: “O excellent brāhmaṇa, I see you holding the śaṅkha, the cakra and the gadā, with a thousand feet and heads, a thousand eyes and hands, he who is the sole abode of all beings, whose form is the Vedas. Today I see you as one with the universe; this is not your former body. You alone be my refuge. Grant me knowledge, and tell me the tīrtha for the prāyaścitta (expiation) of my pāpas. Meeting the great is never fruitless, even by accident, in hatred or in ignorance: iron touched by the sparśa-maṇi turns to gold.”
Śākalya spoke with compassion: “Before long Sarasvatī will grant you varas. So praise Vishṇu; there is no other means to the good you seek than prayer to Nārāyaṇa. And at my request that devī will be pleased with you.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93
By the grace of the guru
Paraśu bathed in the Gaṅgā, the purifier of the three worlds, and stood facing her with a controlled mind. There Devī Sarasvatī appeared to him, of divine form, anointed with divine scents, the mother and devī of the universe who dispels its dullness, present because of Śākalya’s words. Freed of his pāpas, Paraśu said humbly: “My guru Śākalya told me to praise the consort of Lakshmī, the bird-bannered one. Grant me that power by your grace.” “Let it be so,” said Sarasvatī, and by her grace Paraśu praised Bhagavān Vishṇu. Vishṇu, the ocean of mercy, was pleased and granted him varas: “Whatever is in your mind will come to pass.”
So, though he had done great pāpa, Paraśu went to svarga by the grace of Śākalya, the grace of the Gautamī, the grace of Sarasvatī, the grace of Narasiṃha, and the grace of the bearer of the Śārṅga bow, whose lotus foot is a tīrtha for all. From then on the place is known as the Sārasvata tīrtha. One who bathes there and gives dāna is honoured in Vishṇuloka, the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu. On that Śveta mountain there are many tīrthas born of the grace of Sarasvatī, Vishṇu, Śākalya and Paraśu.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 93