Lomaśa

Lomaśa, simply known as Lomasha, Sanskrit: लोमश, Telugu: లోమశుడు, Hindi: लोमश.

Lomaśa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Lomaśa.

Lomaśa is an ancient ṛshi who lives for an extraordinary length of time. One hair of his body falls out with each kalpa (a great age of the world). After countless kalpas he has very few hairs left. He lives alone in a dense forest.

The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata tell of him in many places. In the Padma Purāṇa he finds the cause of King Mahijit’s lack of sons and tells him of the Putradā Ekādaśī. In the Skanda Purāṇa he is the main speaker of the Kedāra Khaṇḍa and the teacher of Indradyumna in the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa. In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa he meets Kākabhuśuṇḍi. In the Mahābhārata he is the guide of the Pāṇḍavas on their pilgrimage.

Who he is and how long he lives

Lomaśa is known for one kind of long life: with each kalpa one hair falls from his body. A kalpa is a huge span of time, 4.32 billion years in some reckonings. After countless kalpas Lomaśa is still alive, but few hairs remain. This is a sign of his great age. He lives in a dense forest and practises tapas (austerity) alone. This is from the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 55.

The people of Māhishmatī come to him

The subjects of King Mahijit of Māhishmatī were troubled that their king had no son. They met together and decided to look in the forest for a ṛshi who could find the cause and the remedy. After searching, they found Lomaśa. He welcomed them and asked about their welfare and the purpose of their visit. He heard them tell of the king’s piety and his deep sorrow at having no heir. This is from the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 55.

Meditation and the cause

Lomaśa closed his eyes and meditated, and so saw the king’s earlier birth. In that life Mahijit had been a merchant. He came to a pond at noon to quench his own thirst, pushed away a thirsty cow and drank first. This one act of cruelty to a suffering creature bore fruit as karma. In the present birth the result was that he had no children. This is from the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 55.

The remedy

Having found the cause, Lomaśa told the people to keep the Putradā Ekādaśī. This is the Ekādaśī of the bright fortnight of Śrāvaṇa, and Putradā means “giver of sons”. He told the subjects to keep it together for the king and to give its puṇya (merit) to Mahijit. The king was to bathe in the river Mandākinī, fast, and receive the merit given to him. They did as he said. The queen conceived and bore a son. This is from the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, chapter 55.

Speaker of the Kedāra Khaṇḍa

In the Kedāra Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Purāṇa, Lomaśa is the main speaker of the whole khaṇḍa (section). He tells the Kedāra māhātmya (greatness of the place) and all the accounts that go with it to the assembled ṛshis at Naimishāraṇya. In this way he is the speaker who frames the khaṇḍa and the teacher of one of the great Śaiva texts. He speaks from his direct knowledge and from the line of Śiva’s teaching. Among the accounts he tells are the Daksha-yajña, Dāruvana, the Samudra Manthana, the tapas of Rāvaṇa, Vāmana and Bali, the marriage of Pārvatī, the birth of Kārttikeya and the greatness of Śivarātri. This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, chapters 1–35.

The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa: his past life and the vara from Bhagavān Śiva

The Kaumārika Khaṇḍa gives the fullest account of how Lomaśa came to live so long. It also shows him as teacher and guide in the liberation of King Indradyumna and four animals who had been cursed.

A poor śūdra’s act of worship

In an earlier life Lomaśa was born as a poor śūdra. He wandered the earth in great hunger and thirst. One midday, worn out by the summer heat and thirst, he came upon a great Śivaliṅga in a lonely place. Beside it stood a sacred water vessel, a devī-jalādhāra. He went into the sacred space and drank the water, which quenched his thirst. Then he bathed the Śivaliṅga with the water and worshipped it with good lotuses that lay nearby. His throat was still dry, but he had made this offering of his own accord. He walked on and died on the road. This one act was not a set ritual or a vow. It was the plain gesture of a dying wanderer, yet it carried enough puṇya to change many births. This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 12.

Born as a brāhmaṇa and a silent ṛshi

He was born again as a brāhmaṇa, named Īśāna, with jātishmara, the memory of all his past births. He understood that this memory had come from that one act of bathing the liṅga and offering lotuses. He kept this knowledge to himself and chose silence, mūkata. He seemed mute to his family. They believed he was truly mute and tried every cure, while inside he smiled at their mistake. He lived on fruits. Each night he went back to worship Bhagavān Śiva with flowers of every kind. After a hundred years of unbroken worship, Bhagavān Śiva appeared before him and offered a vara (boon). This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 12.

Lomaśa asked: “Grant me freedom from old age and death.” Bhagavān Śiva replied: “Even I, having taken nāma and rūpa (name and form), am subject to old age and death. How can I grant this to you? Name a limit to your life.” Then Lomaśa asked for the thing that marks him: “Let me lose one body-hair for each kalpa. When all the hairs have fallen, let death come. After death, let me become one of your gaṇas.” Bhagavān Śiva granted this exactly.

From that time Lomaśa carried the clear knowledge that his own life was passing, each falling hair being a count. So he saw no point in building a home.

He appears at Kalāpagrāma

Indradyumna’s party sought Lomaśa at Kalāpagrāma, because the turtle had told them to. With Indradyumna was Mārkaṇḍeya and the four cursed animals: the crane Nāḍījaṅgha, the owl Prākārakarṇa, the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja and the turtle Jayadata. They found an ancient ṛshi whose tapas was plain to see. His jaṭā (matted hair) was yellowed by the three daily baths, trishavaṇa-snāna. His body shone as if soaked in ghee (clarified butter). In his left hand he held a grass fan for shade, since he had no āśrama, and in his right a rudrāksha-mālā (rosary). He walked the path of Maitreya, hurting no creature with harsh words, and was absorbed in japa (repeating a name or mantra). He welcomed the party with hospitality and gave them seats. This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 12.

Teaching Indradyumna on impermanence and dāna

Indradyumna’s first question was sharp. He asked why Lomaśa lived without an āśrama even in the heat of summer. Lomaśa’s answer became one of the well-known teachings of the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa on impermanence:

“Death is certain. This body will surely fall. In the midst of this passing saṃsāra (cycle of birth and death), for whom does one build a home? This day, this ‘today’, is what is real. What can be said about when death will come? The body that arises from śukra is like coal that cannot be made clean however often it is washed. The teeth become loose. Wealth, youth and life itself are all unsteady. This whole saṃsāra is cala-cala, always moving. Dāna alone is the true home for human beings. Knowing this, and knowing saṃsāra as changing and without essence, for whom would one build an āśrama?”

This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 12.

Teaching on antaryoga and bahiryoga

Lomaśa then gave the main teaching of chapter 12 of the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa. It describes two paths to liberation.

Bahiryoga (outer yoga) is holding back outer action. It means mastering the jñānendriyas (senses of knowing) and the karmendriyas (senses of action) and joining them into Sadāśiva. The practice of bahiryoga is pañcabhūta-pūjā, worship with offerings made of the five elements. It gives very great fruit. Bhagavān Śiva taught this path as open to all, because antaryoga is so hard.

Antaryoga (inner yoga) is holding back bāhya-pravṛtti (outer activity) from within. It means joining everything into Parameśvara through constant meditation and praṇava-japa (repeating Oṃ). By antaryoga one worships Īśvara, who is untouched by kleśa, karma, vipāka and āśaya (pain, action, ripening and the store of impressions). By this path one reaches moksha (liberation) directly.

Lomaśa named devotion to Bhagavān Śiva as the rarest gain. Birth in Bhārata is rare. Within that, worship of Śiva is rare. Within that, bathing in the Gaṅgā is rare. Within that, devotion to Bhagavān Śiva is the rarest of all. He gave Nandīśvara and Śveta Rāja as examples. Nandīśvara gained siddhi (perfection) through worship of Śiva in that very body. Śveta Rāja worshipped Nīlakaṇṭha and gained a liberation so complete that Kāla (Time) itself was humbled at the end of the cosmic cycle. Lomaśa ended: “O king, you too should practise like this, and you will surely gain what you seek. In all three worlds there is nothing a devotee of Śiva cannot obtain.”

This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 12.

Sending the party to Saṃvarta

After his teaching, the four cursed animals asked Lomaśa to show them one place that would give the fruit of all tīrthas. He said: “Ask Saṃvarta Muni. He can truly direct you to that holy region.” He then told them how to find this hidden yogī in Vārāṇasī. Saṃvarta lived with hidden signs, gupta-cihnas. He was smeared with filth, naked and ate only alms (bhikshā). To know him, they should place a corpse in the royal road at night and watch for the one who turned back from it without crossing. If he asked who had revealed him, they should say: “Nārada told us, and he has entered fire.” In this way Lomaśa became the guide who set the party on the road to the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama through Saṃvarta’s teaching. This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 13.

Declared jīvanmukta by Bhagavān Śiva

Lomaśa went with the party, Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya and the four animals, through Vārāṇasī and on to the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama. There the party worshipped the pañca-liṅgas (five liṅgas) with meditation on Śiva and devotion. Bhagavān Śiva appeared and said: “O Baka, Kūrma, Ulūka, Gṛdha, and King Indradyumna, all of you will gain sārūpya-mukti (liberation in a form like mine) and live in my loka. Lomaśa and Mārkaṇḍeya will also become jīvanmuktas.” The ṛshi who had watched his hairs fall as a count of death was thus given liberation while still in the body, the highest kind of release. This is from the Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, chapter 13.

Lomaśa and Kākabhuśuṇḍi in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

In the Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lomaśa Maharshi appears in the account of Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s earlier lives. In his birth as a brāhmaṇa, after many rebirths that followed Bhagavān Śiva’s changed curse, Kākabhuśuṇḍi wandered the forests longing to see Bāla Rāma. There he met Lomaśa seated under a great banyan tree on the peak of Mount Meru.

Kākabhuśuṇḍi bowed and asked to be taught saguṇa-brahma-upāsanā (worship of Brahman with form). Lomaśa began joyfully to tell of Rāma’s glories. Then he turned to teaching nirguṇa-tattva, the formless Absolute. Kākabhuśuṇḍi earnestly refused: “As a fish cannot leave water, my mind cannot leave saguṇa tattva.” The two argued. Lomaśa defended the higher place of nirguṇa upāsanā, and Kākabhuśuṇḍi held to saguṇa. Kākabhuśuṇḍi pressed his case so strongly that he contradicted and defeated the great ṛshi. Lomaśa became angry and cursed him: “O Fool! I offered you the teaching of brahma-tattva and you refused it and stood against me with stubbornness. Therefore you shall take the vile birth of a crow and roam!”

Kākabhuśuṇḍi took the śāpa (curse) without fear or disturbance. He bowed calmly, chanted Rāma’s name and left in peace. Bhagavān Śiva, telling this to Pārvatī, said that a person free of kāma (desire), krodha (anger) and the other inner enemies, who ceaselessly worships Bhagavān Rāma, the king of Avadha, sees the whole world as full of Rāma. Such a person has no wish to quarrel with anyone in any situation.

Lomaśa saw the depth of Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s devotion and the purity with which he took the curse. He understood that Rāma’s own saṅkalpa (resolve) had used him to test Kākabhuśuṇḍi. He called Kākabhuśuṇḍi back warmly and gave him great varas: the Rāma-mantra, meditation on the form of Bāla Rāma, the telling of the whole Rāmacaritamānasa (received from Śaṃkara), firm devotion to Rāma, the power to take any form, death at his own choice, freedom from māyā within a yojana around his āśrama, and freedom from all afflictions. At that moment Rāma’s own ākāśavāṇī (voice from the sky) confirmed the varas.

This is from the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, in the parts on Lomaśa Maharshi’s curse and the varadāna (gift of a boon) from Lomaśa.

Guide of the Pāṇḍavas in the Mahābhārata

In the Vana Parva, Lomaśa is Indra’s messenger and the guide of the Pāṇḍavas in their forest exile. He came to Indrasabhā in svarga while Arjuna was living there. He saw Arjuna seated on half of Indra’s throne and was astonished that a mortal was given such honour. Indra explained that Arjuna was Nara, the eternal companion of Nārāyaṇa. Then Indra asked Lomaśa to take a message to Yudhishṭhira. He was not to grieve for Arjuna. He was to go on tīrtha-yātrā, which would give great puṇya. And Arjuna would return with all the weapons he needed. This is from the Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, chapter 47.

Lomaśa went back to the Pāṇḍava camp in the forest (chapters 27–29) and gave this message. He then stayed as guide for the Pāṇḍavas’ pilgrimage. He led them to the holy places of all four directions, told the māhātmya of each tīrtha, and told upākhyānas (teaching narratives) that showed dharma along the way. His long life and his knowledge made him the right one to tell the old histories tied to each holy place.

Guide of the tīrtha-yātrā in the Vana Parva (chapters 101–163)

In the forest exile of the Pāṇḍavas, Lomaśa came from Indra’s svarga with a message from Arjuna, who was then in svarga receiving divine weapons. Lomaśa told Yudhishṭhira that Indra had sent him to guide the Pāṇḍavas through the great northern tīrthas. The pilgrimage would purify them while Arjuna was away, and it should follow the path of the ṛshis.

Lomaśa was the chief guide and speaker for the whole long pilgrimage of Vana Parva chapters 101–163. Along the way he told the accounts of the tīrthas they visited:

• The birth of Vṛtra, Indra’s killing of Vṛtra and the cleansing from brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa) (chapter 101)
• The Kālakeya asuras hiding in the ocean and Agastya drinking it dry (chapters 102–105)
• The account of Agastya and the Vindhya mountain (chapter 104)
• The line of Sagara and Bhagīratha’s bringing of the Gaṅgā to earth, the Gaṅgāvataraṇa (chapters 106–109)
• The account of Ṛśyaśṛṅga (chapters 110–113)
• Kārtavīrya, Jamadagni and Paraśurāma (chapters 114–117)
• Cyavana and Sukanyā (chapters 121–125)
• Māndhātā (chapter 126)
• Somaka and Jantu (chapters 127–128)
• The hawk and the dove (Śyena and Kapotīya) and Uśīnara (chapters 130–131)
• Kahoḍa and Ashṭāvakra (chapters 132–134)
• Yavakrīta and Raibhya (chapters 135–138)
• The slaying of Naraka and Varāha lifting the earth (chapter 142)

In the Vana Parva Lomaśa was a living map of holy places. He had himself visited all these tīrthas, and he carried the knowledge from those visits in the upākhyānas he told. He guided the Pāṇḍavas all the way to Gandhamādana. Then he left, his task done, as Arjuna’s return was near. This is from the Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, chapters 101–163.

Lomaśa’s teaching in the Anuśāsana Parva

In the Rahasya-Dharma section, chapter 129 of the Anuśāsana Parva, Lomaśa teaches that men who stay attached to another man’s wife without marrying leave their pitṛs (ancestors) wholly disappointed at the time of śrāddha (offerings for ancestors). Attachment to another’s wife, clinging to a barren woman and stealing a brāhmaṇa’s wealth are called equally grave doshas (faults). Those guilty of any of these become unfit even to be spoken to by the pitṛs, and the devas and pitṛs both refuse their havis (offerings).

Lomaśa then teaches another rahasya (secret). Giving ghee and akshata (unbroken rice) to brāhmaṇas on every dvādaśī and pūrṇimā gives a fruit equal to a quarter of an Aśvamedha. By this the moon grows full and even the ocean swells. Giving a tila-pātra (vessel of sesame) to brāhmaṇas at dawn with śraddhā (faith) equals, by Indra’s own words, the gifts of cows and of land and an Agnishṭoma yajña with rich dakshiṇās, all together. This is from the Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, chapter 129.

Sources

• Padma Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 55
• Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kedāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–35
• Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapters 12–13
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 27–29 and 47
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 101–163
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 129