Rantideva
Rantideva was a king of the Paurava line. His descent is given as Bharadvāja, Vithatha, Manyu, Saṃkṛti, and then Rantideva. His fame went beyond the three worlds, for his life shows one of the highest forms of care for all beings in the Purāṇic tradition. He lived through 48 days without food. He gave away his one small meal, and at last his final cup of water, to guests. The Bhāgavata says these guests were Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva in disguise. He said that he wanted neither rule nor moksha. He wanted only to live in the hearts of all beings and take their suffering on himself, so that it would be removed.
Life and character
Rantideva held only what came to him by the grace of fortune. He kept no store of wealth. Whatever reached him, he gave away at once and kept nothing. So he and his family lived in constant want. He never complained and never lost his calm.
The want grew so sharp that he and his family went 48 days without proper food. At the end of this fast, food came: ghee, pāyasa, a rice pudding (halvā), and water, enough to keep them alive. Just as the family was about to eat, a brāhmaṇa came to the door as a guest. Rantideva saw Śrī Hari in every being. He welcomed the brāhmaṇa with respect and gave him a share of the food. The brāhmaṇa ate and left.
Rantideva then divided the rest of the food among his household. He was about to eat his own share when a śūdra came as a guest. He gave him the food. Then, before he had eaten his own share, a man came with dogs and said that he and his animals were starving. Rantideva gave him and the dogs all that was left, with full honour and bowing.
The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21, tells this.
The gift of water
Now nothing was left but one cup of water. It was just enough to quench the thirst of one man, and Rantideva was close to death from thirst. At that moment a caṇḍāla (one who does the hardest and lowest kind of work) arrived and begged for water. His voice was heavy with tiredness and pain.
Rantideva heard that voice and was pierced by compassion. He gave the water. As he gave it, he spoke words that are among the most quoted in the Bhāgavata:
“I do not ask Īśvara for the eight great powers (ashṭaiśvarya), nor for the moksha from which there is no return. My one prayer is this: that I may live in the hearts of all beings and feel their sufferings myself, for when I feel them, their sufferings will be removed.”
He went on: “By giving this water to this tired and dying being, all my hunger, thirst, bodily weakness, grief, low spirits, distress and pain of mind are gone.”
This is from the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.
The vision of Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva
The moment Rantideva gave the water, the guests appeared in their true forms. They were Brahmā, Vishṇu and Śiva. The brāhmaṇa, the śūdra, the man with the dogs and the caṇḍāla had all been forms made by Vishṇumāyā. These were forms of the supreme rulers of the three worlds, and they had come to test the quality of Rantideva’s mind. They offered him varas (boons).
Rantideva had not the slightest wish or attachment, not even a flicker of longing for saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). He bowed to them and fixed his mind with pure bhakti on Bhagavān Vāsudeva alone. The māyā of saṃsāra, which is made of the three guṇas, dissolved into his own true nature (svarūpa), as foam dissolves into water.
His followers had lived in constant satsaṅga (good company) with him. That nearness changed them. They too became yogīs, for whom Nārāyaṇa was the one and final refuge (āśraya).
This is from the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21.
Rantideva in the Anuśāsana Parva
The Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata names Rantideva in three teachings on dāna (giving).
In the teaching on the wheel of saṃsāra, Bṛhaspati holds up Rantideva as the best example of anna-dāna (the gift of food). He says that Rantideva reached divi (svarga) through the very greatness of his anna-dāna, since food is praised above all other gifts as the prāṇa (life breath) of every being. This is in Chapter 112.
In Chapter 115, in the list of those who gave up meat (māṃsa), Rantideva is named among the great rājarshis (royal seers) who gave it up and so reached svarga and Brahmaloka.
In Chapter 137, in the roll-call of the greatness of dāna, Bhīshma says that Rantideva of the Sāṅkṛtya line gave arghya (water of welcome) by the proper rule to the great Vasishṭha. By this he reached the highest lokas (worlds).
Rantideva in the Nakula account
Rantideva is also named in the Aśvamedhika Parva, in the account of Saktuprastha, a brāhmaṇa who lived by gleaning grain. There Dharma himself saw the whole family give away all their saktu (barley flour). He names Rantideva as proof that a king who owned nothing, and gave only his own water with a pure heart, reached svarga. He adds that a large amount of wealth given without care does not by itself bring the same fruit. This is in the Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 21
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 112, 115, 137
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 90