Śamīka
Śamīka, simply known as Shamika, Sanskrit: शमीक, Telugu: శమీకుడు, Hindi: शमीक.
Gauramukha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Gauramukha.
Śamīka Maharshi was a brahmarshi (a ṛshi who knows Brahman) of the Āṅgiras line. He was known for his deep calm and his mastery of yoga. He was the father of Śṛṅgi. He has a central but quiet part in the events that led to the śāpa (curse) on King Parīkshit and Parīkshit’s prāyopaveśa (fast until death).
The event at the āśrama
King Parīkshit Mahārāja went hunting and became dry with thirst and tired. He wandered into the forest āśrama of Śamīka Maharshi. Śamīka sat there in full samādhi (deep meditation). His senses were fully drawn in (pratyāhāra). His breath was held still (prāṇāyāma). His mind and intellect had merged into the state beyond the three usual states of awareness (jāgrat, waking; svapna, dream; sushupti, deep sleep). He rested in the changeless form of Parabrahma (nirvikāra Parabrahma-svarūpa).
Parīkshit was weak from hunger and thirst. He asked the silent muni for water and a welcome. He got no answer. He could not tell whether the muni was truly in samādhi or only pretending, to avoid serving a king. In a moment of anger that was not like him, the king lifted a dead serpent from the ground with the tip of his bow and put it around the muni’s neck. Then he left. Śamīka, deep in samādhi, did not know what had been done.
How Śamīka answered the śāpa
Śamīka’s son Śṛṅgi heard from his friends what had been done to his father. The young ascetic cursed Parīkshit: “Seven days from now, the serpent Takshaka will bite and kill this king who has insulted my father.” Śṛṅgi then came to the āśrama and wept when he saw the dead serpent around his father’s neck.
Śamīka slowly opened his eyes, understood what had happened and questioned his son. When he heard of the śāpa, he at once blamed Śṛṅgi. He did not grieve about the insult to himself. He was pained that his son’s answer was so severe. He said:
“Alas! O foolish one! You have done a great pāpa (sin). The punishment you gave is far too heavy for the offence. The king is a rājarshi who upholds dharma and destroys the wicked. The śāstras say that the king is Vishṇu himself. Such a one does not deserve to be cursed. You are young in judgement, and you have insulted one who cannot be insulted. May Parameśvara forgive this!”
Śamīka then sent a disciple to warn Parīkshit of the śāpa. He did this not to harm the king, but so that the king could prepare himself in spirit.
The calm of a brahmarshi
The Bhāgavata says that Śamīka “did not grieve about the insult done to himself.” It shows him as a true brahmarshi of the kind the Bhāgavata describes. Such ṛshis serve Śrī Hari in the heart. They do not strike back when they are harmed, mocked, abused or beaten. They see Bhagavān Hari as the ātman in all beings, and they take suffering from others as a test of their calm. The Bhāgavata sets this against the hasty answer of his son Śṛṅgi.
The account in the Ādi Parva
The Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva (Chapters 40 to 42), tells the same event. It names the disciple whom Śamīka sent to warn Parīkshit: he was Gaurumukha. The Bhāgavata does not give this name. Śamīka told Gaurumukha to give the king every detail of the śāpa, so that the king could prepare himself. The Ādi Parva shows Śamīka’s calm and kindness in this act of warning one who had wronged him, in spite of the heavy insult.
Āśramavāsika Parva: present at Janamejaya’s sight of Parīkshit
Vyāsa gave Janamejaya a sight of his father Parīkshit at the avabhṛtha bath (the closing bath) at the end of the sarpa-yajña (the snake yajña). Śamīka Maharshi, whose śāpa had led to Parīkshit’s death through his son Śṛṅgi, appeared in the same vision with Śṛṅgi. (Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 35)
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 18 and 19
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 40 to 42
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 35