Vīravāhana and Nārada’s Past Life

King Vīravāhana was a king who ruled with justice and devotion. This narrative from the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells how he met a group of suffering pretas (spirits of the departed who have not found peace) at the holy lake of Pushkara. A brāhmaṇa named Viśvambhara then explained who they were. The pretas were from a family whose rites had been left undone by a priest, and that priest was the great devarshi Nārada in one of his earlier births.

Vīravāhana’s tīrtha-yātrā

Vīravāhana took a long tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage to holy places) through the main sacred sites of Bhārata. He did it as an act of piety and to make up for any wrong he had done while ruling. He went to the Gaṅgā, the Yamunā, the Narmadā and the Godāvarī. At last he came to Pushkara, the ancient and most sacred lake in the desert, where Brahmā himself performed a yajña (fire ritual) at the beginning of creation.

At Pushkara, Vīravāhana bathed in the holy lake and performed the tīrtha-karmas (the rites laid down for the place). After his bath he sat on the bank in meditation and japa (quiet repetition of a mantra). Then he heard a strange and sorrowful sound coming from the direction of the kuṇḍa, the main bathing ghat. It was a low and steady wailing of many voices. It was not like the grief of the living. It had a hollow, aching sound that he had never heard before.

The pretas at Pushkara

Vīravāhana went towards the sound. At the edge of the water he found a group of preta-forms, thin and worn out, with long matted hair and sunken eyes. They were trying to reach the holy water but could not touch it. Their hands passed through the surface as if a barrier kept them from the puṇya (merit) of the tīrtha. They cried out for water, for release, and for someone to remember them.

The sight moved the king deeply. He was used to the suffering of the living, but he was not ready for the pain of beings trapped between worlds. He called to them: “Who are you? I am Vīravāhana. Tell me your condition and what I can do for you.”

The pretas turned their sunken eyes to him. They were surprised that a living person could see them and speak to them. The eldest among them said: “O king, we cannot tell you the whole story. Seek out the brāhmaṇa Viśvambhara, who is performing his sandhyā (daily prayer) near the eastern ghat. He knows our history and can explain our condition to you.”

Viśvambhara explains

Vīravāhana found Viśvambhara, a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa who was finishing his evening prayers. The king told him what he had seen. Viśvambhara became serious and said: “O king, I know of these pretas. They are from a family that was served by a tīrtha-purohita (a priest of a holy place) in an earlier age. That priest failed in his duty to them. The chain of neglect has left generations of ancestors without their offerings, and they have become pretas. But the story is more remarkable than that. The priest of that age was none other than the great devarshi Nārada, in one of his earlier births.”

Vīravāhana was astonished. Nārada was the wandering ṛshi, the devoted bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the teacher of Bhakti-yoga. Had he once been guilty of neglecting a rite? Viśvambhara went on.

Nārada’s past life

“In an earlier kalpa (a great age of the world), Nārada was born as a brāhmaṇa tīrtha-purohita at Pushkara. He was one of those priests who serve pilgrims. They perform the tīrtha-karmas for them, keep their family records, and make sure their departed ancestors receive tarpaṇa (an offering of water) at each visit. One family came to Pushkara over several generations. They were devoted householders who followed dharma, and they had complete faith in this priest.

“One year the priest was ill, had worries of his own, and was pressed by the many families he served at the tīrtha. He did not perform the scheduled tarpaṇa and śrāddha (the rite for the departed) for this family’s ancestors. He accepted the materials and the dakshiṇā (the priest’s gift) from the family, but he did not do the rites. He thought he would do them later. Later never came.

“The departed ancestors of that family were waiting for their scheduled tarpaṇa and did not receive it. They stayed unsatisfied, and the chain of their regular nourishment was broken. On the family’s next visit the priest again failed to perform the rites properly. The neglect grew over time. The ancestors, kept from their tarpaṇa, fell from the pitṛ-loka (the world of the ancestors) and became pretas.

“When that brāhmaṇa, Nārada, died and was born again in a higher form, the result of his neglect followed. The pretas of that family stayed at Pushkara, the place where they expected to be freed. They could not leave and could not be satisfied. They have waited here through many generations of pilgrims. Most people do not see them. Only those of especially pure sight can see them, or those to whom Parameśvara chooses to show them.”

The remedy

Viśvambhara then taught Vīravāhana the whole Vṛshotsarga vidhi (the rite of releasing a bull) and the śrāddha that goes with it, which would free the pretas. The king performed the rite. At the Pushkara tīrtha he released a black bull and a heifer. He offered the piṇḍas (rice balls for the ancestors) with the right mantras for the family line of the pretas. He fed brāhmaṇas in their name and offered udaka-tarpaṇa (water offerings).

As the rites ended, the preta-forms at the water’s edge grew bright. Their thin faces relaxed. One by one they were able to touch the holy water of Pushkara lake. It was the first time in ages that they could receive the puṇya of the tīrtha. As each one touched the water, it dissolved in light and rose upward. The wailing at the Pushkara ghat stopped. Vīravāhana, with tears on his face, went on with his pilgrimage.

Sources

• Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Dharma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 6