Kīṭopākhyāna

The Kīṭopākhyāna is the account that Bhīshma gives to Yudhishṭhira to console him for the warriors who died in the great war. Kṛshṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa was wandering without being recognised. On a bullock-cart road he met a kīṭa (an insect or worm) running away in terror.

The kīṭa had been born in the lowest of births. Yet it still clung to life. In explaining why, it told of its past life as a cruel, miserly śūdra moneylender. That man had done three small good acts: he had honoured his aged mother, worshipped one brāhmaṇa, and hosted one guest. These kept his memory of past lives alive even in the body of an insect. Vyāsa was moved by this remaining puṇya (merit) and led the insect forward by the power of his tapas (austerity). It was crushed under a cart wheel and then born, by his grace, as a kshatriya prince, then as a brāhmaṇa, and at last it reached Brahmaloka.

Chapter 117: The insect’s fear

Yudhishṭhira asked Bhīshma what gati (destination) is reached by those who die in a great battle, whether they wanted its fruit or not. He said that giving up prāṇa (life breath) is said to be very hard for all beings, rich or poor, fortunate or unfortunate.

Bhīshma answered with an ancient itihāsa (account of past events). Once Dvaipāyana, the brāhmaṇa who is Brahman itself, was wandering without being recognised. On a cart road he saw a kīṭa running in terror. Vyāsa knows the gatis of all beings and the languages of all living creatures. He spoke to it directly and asked why it ran in such fear and where its terror came from.

The kīṭa answered. It had heard the terrible rumble of a great cart coming near. It had heard the groans of the oxen, struck with goads, pulling their heavy load, and the shouting of the men who drove them. These sounds are hard to bear even for a creature of low birth, and so it fled from the great fear (mahā-bhaya). It said that death is the greatest sorrow for every creature and that life is the hardest thing to gain. It would not willingly pass from happiness to a state without happiness.

Vyāsa asked what happiness a mere kīṭa could know. It knew nothing of sound, touch, taste, smell or the great pleasures of the senses. Vyāsa suggested that death would be a mercy. The kīṭa replied that every jīva (living being), in whatever birth, thinks of its own state as sukha (happiness). It too found happiness in this birth, for the experience of life always follows from the body one lives in.

The kīṭa then told of its former life. It had been a human, a śūdra, very rich, without knowledge of Brahman. It had been cruel and low, and had lived by lending money for interest. It was a slanderer, skilled at causing harm, and hated all people. Fate had turned it to wrongdoing, and it coveted the property of others. It ate without thought for those who depended on it. In its own house it was miserly and jealous. It indulged its own taste and did not feed its servants or guests. Out of greed for wealth it held back the food, gathered with śraddhā (faith), that was meant for the devas, the pitṛs (ancestors) and the yajñas. It gave up without warning those who came to its house seeking shelter (śaraṇa) and safety (abhaya). It burned with envy when it saw the wonderful wealth, grain, dear wives, vehicles and prosperity of others. It wished them only misfortune, and out of pure envy it harmed the dharma, artha and kāma of others.

Thinking of this cruelty, the kīṭa grieved like a man who has lost a dear son. But it did not know the fruit of any good karma it might have done. It remembered that it had once honoured its aged mother, worshipped a single brāhmaṇa, and once hosted a guest who came to its house out of friendship. Because of this, its memory of its past birth had not been lost, even in the body of an insect. The kīṭa ended by asking the one before it, rich in tapas (tapo-dhana), what its future would be. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 117)

Chapter 118: Vyāsa’s grace and the insect’s death

Vyāsa told the kīṭa that its clear memory in so low a birth was his own doing, the fruit of his grace. By the power of his tapas, through this darśana (sight of him), he would help it cross over. Nothing is stronger than the power of tapas (tapo-bala).

He told it plainly that its own karma as a cruel, violent śūdra, obsessed with wealth, could not simply be wiped away. But its darśana of him now would lead it forward. This darśana was itself the fruit of its worship of the devas and brāhmaṇas, even in its animal and insect lives. By giving up its life and body for cows and brāhmaṇas, it would gain brāhmaṇahood (brāhmaṇatva). Then it would perform yajñas with generous dakshiṇā (gifts to the priests), gain knowledge of Brahman, and at last reach the imperishable happiness of svarga.

Vyāsa also stated the general rule. A śūdra becomes a vaiśya. A vaiśya becomes a kshatriya. A kshatriya who lives in a way that all praise, according to his class, gains brāhmaṇahood. A brāhmaṇa who acts rightly reaches the svarga of puṇya.

As the kīṭa gave its word, a great cart suddenly came along that road. Crushed under its wheel, the kīṭa gave up its life breath. By the grace of the mighty Vyāsa it was born at once into a kshatriya family. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 118)

Chapter 119: From kshatriya to brāhmaṇa to Brahmaloka

The prince remembered his former birth. As he grew in strength, he slowly took up the full dharma of a kshatriya and ruled with great distinction. Vyāsa saw this and came to him again. He taught that the protection of all beings is the deva-vrata (the vow of the devas) fitting for a kshatriya. If the prince kept this in mind rightly, then in time he would gain viprattva (brāhmaṇahood). Vyāsa urged him to rule with full judgment between śubha (good) and aśubha (bad), protecting the righteous and holding back the wicked. He told him that by devotion to his own dharma he would in time leave this kshatriya body and reach the state of a vipra.

After ruling by dharma for some time, the prince died and was born as a brāhmaṇa, as foretold. Vyāsa came to him a third time. He said that good deeds lead to good births and evil deeds to evil births. He said that this brāhmaṇa birth was the fruit of pāpa (sin) that had been used up. He urged him not to grieve but to go further toward the highest dharma.

The former kīṭa was now a shining and wealthy brāhmaṇa. He told Vyāsa that through him alone he had passed from suffering to the highest state of prosperity rooted in dharma, and that his pāpa was now at an end. By Vyāsa’s word, this being gained the very rare state of brāhmaṇahood and set up hundreds of yajña posts on the earth. At last, as the foremost among the knowers of Brahman, he reached the loka equal to Brahman itself.

Bhīshma ends the account by telling Yudhishṭhira that through this same greatness (mahimā), by which even a kīṭa’s chain of karma was brought to the highest gati, the kshatriyas killed in the great war reached the gati of puṇya. Yudhishṭhira should not grieve for them. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 119)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 117 (the insect’s fear)
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 118 (Vyāsa’s grace and the insect’s death)
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 119 (from kshatriya to brāhmaṇa to Brahmaloka)