Cirakārī

Cirakārī · cira-kārī, “the one who acts slowly”

Cirakārī was a son of Gautama Maharshi of the Āṅgirasa line. His name means “the slow-acting one” or “the deliberate one”. The Mahābhārata tells his account in the Cirakārī-upākhyāna, in the Mokshadharma Parva of the Śānti Parva (Chapter 266).

All his life he thought long before he did anything. His community made fun of this. But his habit of careful thought stopped a wrong that could never have been undone. His father, in anger, ordered him to kill his mother, and the father at once regretted it. Cirakārī had not yet acted.

Character and name

Cirakārī’s name says what he was. He could not act quickly. Before any task he thought for a very long time. He weighed the results, considered the duties that pulled against each other, slept on the question, woke and thought again, and only then acted.

His community, his father included, saw this slowness as a fault. They called him dull-witted and lazy, and said he could not act with the decision that people value.

The Āṅgirasa line is the line of Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the devas.

The father’s command

One day Gautama was overcome by rage. He ordered Cirakārī: “Kill your mother.” He gave the command after he believed he had found a breach of the honour of his household. He spoke it and at once went off into the forest, leaving Cirakārī alone with the order.

No other son was there, and no one else saw it. The command came from the highest human authority Cirakārī knew, his father, a maharshi, and it was given in absolute terms.

Cirakārī’s deliberation

As was his nature, Cirakārī began to think. He did not act. He turned the question over from every side.

For carrying out the command. A father’s ājñā (command) is among the highest duties. The pitṛ-dharma (a son’s duty to his father) binds the son completely. To refuse or delay a father’s command is itself against dharma, for it defies the holiest authority.

Against carrying it out. The mother is the source of the son’s own life. Mātṛ-hatyā (the killing of one’s mother) is one of the gravest of all pātakas (great sins). These pāpas stain for many lifetimes and are not easily washed away. Also, the command came from a father filled with rage. His mind was not in the calm, judging state that a right order needs. Had the charge against the mother been checked? Was the punishment fair? Was an order given in the heat of feeling truly an order of dharma?

The deeper point. An order given in the heat of feeling, even by a lawful authority, does not carry the full weight of a carefully thought-out order. Acts that cannot be undone, above all the taking of life, call for a certainty that an order spoken in rage cannot give.

He went on thinking. Hours passed. A day passed. Cirakārī did not act.

The father returns and praises him

While Cirakārī was thinking, Gautama was alone in the forest. His rage cooled. When his mind was clear he saw with horror what he had done. In a moment of wild anger he had ordered his son to kill his own innocent wife. He had spoken with no checking and no fair judgement, led only by his feeling. He was horrified at himself.

Gautama hurried back to his āśrama. He found Cirakārī still thinking, and his wife still alive.

Gautama praised Cirakārī without limit:

“Cirakārī! You are the wise one! Your slowness has saved this family from a disaster that could never be undone. The one who acts slowly, who takes time to weigh before acting, never makes mistakes that cannot be undone. You have saved your mother. You have saved me from a *pāpa I would have carried for lifetimes.”*

The very quality the whole community had laughed at, his slowness and his inability to act quickly, was what kept a disaster from happening.

What the account answers

The Cirakārī account is Bhīshma’s answer to a question from Yudhishṭhira: should an act be done quickly, or only after careful thought? The answer depends on the act. Some acts call for quick action. Others, above all those that cannot be undone, call for the careful thought that Cirakārī practised.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 266 (Cirakārī-upākhyāna)