Asita-Devala and Jaigīshavya

In the Śalya Parva of the Mahābhārata, at the Āditya-tīrtha on the Sarasvatī, the account is told of the householder ṛshi Asita-Devala and the great yogī (one who practises yoga) Jaigīshavya. Jaigīshavya came to live in Devala’s āśrama. When Devala tried to test him by flying to many worlds, he found Jaigīshavya already present in every one. In the end Devala bowed to him and was taught mokshadharma (the path of liberation). (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Asita-Devala

Asita-Devala was a householder ṛshi who kept strict dharma. He never used a staff in anger. He stayed even-minded (samabhāva) in praise and in blame. He saw gold and a clod of earth as equal. He kept brahmacarya with firm resolve. He was free from krodha (anger) in every situation, and he had full control of his senses.

He lived as a gṛhastha (householder), but with the inner discipline of one who has given up the world. He honoured the devas and the pitṛs (ancestors) regularly. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Jaigīshavya arrives

One day the great yogī Jaigīshavya came to Devala’s āśrama as a wandering bhikshu (one who lives on alms). He had full jñāna (knowledge) and the powers of yoga. He was a siddhapurusha (a perfected being) and nityayuktavān (always joined in yoga).

He settled in Devala’s āśrama without speaking. He took bhikshā (alms) when it was offered, moved about very little, and stayed silent for a long time. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Devala’s wonder and search

After a long time Devala became deeply curious, and perhaps uneasy. This being had taken his hospitality and stayed for years without a word.

One day Devala took up his kamaṇḍalu (water pot) and rose into the sky to fly to the ocean. When he arrived, he found Jaigīshavya already there, bathed and doing his sandhyā rites. Jaigīshavya had reached the ocean before Devala, though Devala had left him sitting in the āśrama.

Astonished, Devala did his own bath in the ocean and his own rites, and then returned to the āśrama. There he found Jaigīshavya sitting, as if he had never left.

Devala then searched the worlds one by one. He flew:

• To the ocean. Jaigīshavya was there.
• To the āśrama. Jaigīshavya was there too.
• To the various levels of the devaloka. Jaigīshavya was in each.
• Through the worlds of the siddhas, of those who perform great yajñas, of those who keep brahmacarya, of the various Vedic rites, of the pitṛs, of Mitra and Varuṇa, the Ādityas, the Rudras, the Vasus and Bṛhaspati. In every world Devala found Jaigīshavya there.
• To Goloka. Jaigīshavya was there.
• To Brahmaloka. He could not reach it. The siddhas told him that Jaigīshavya had gained the eternal Brahmaloka and was there.

Devala came back down through all the worlds he had visited, to the earth and then to his own āśrama. He found Jaigīshavya sitting as before. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Devala bows to Jaigīshavya

Devala came to Jaigīshavya with humility. He said he wished to understand mokshadharma and asked to be taught. Jaigīshavya agreed. He taught him the nature of yoga, the difference between kāryam (what must be done) and akāryam (what must not be done), and the full withdrawal from saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).

Devala’s life as a householder had tied him to the world by his duty to the pitṛs, to the plants, and to the beings who lived on what he gave. When he got ready to take sannyāsa (renunciation), the gathered bhūtas (beings) wept and cried that he was leaving them. But Devala stayed firm in his resolve.

After deep thought, Devala reached paramapada, the highest state, through the mokshadharma that Jaigīshavya taught him. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Nārada’s remark

When Devala reached the perfected state, the devas went to praise Jaigīshavya. Nārada, however, said to the devas: “There is no tapas in Jaigīshavya. He only astonished Devala.”

The devas answered firmly: “No one who exists equals Jaigīshavya in power (prabhāva), in brilliance (tejas), in tapas or in yoga. No one is his equal.”

So both Jaigīshavya and Devala are counted among the highest siddhas. (Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50