Kṛshṇa’s Tapas at Upamanyu’s Āśrama

In the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata, Yudhishṭhira asks Bhīshma to recite the names of Bhagavān Śiva. Bhīshma says he cannot describe Śiva well enough, and he asks Śrī Kṛshṇa to speak instead. Kṛshṇa then tells how he went to the āśrama (forest home of ṛshis) of the great Śiva bhakta Upamanyu, how Upamanyu learned of Śiva’s greatness as a child, and how Kṛshṇa himself did tapas (austerity) until Śiva and Pārvatī appeared before him and gave him their varas (boons).

This episode is remembered as the Meghavāhana Parva. It leads straight into the teaching of the thousand names of Śiva, the Śiva Sahasranāma.

Bhīshma asks Kṛshṇa to speak

Yudhishṭhira asked Bhīshma to recite the auspicious names of Bhagavān Śaṅkara. Śaṅkara is the master even of Brahmā, has the whole universe as his form, is the cause even of the avyakta (the unmanifest), and is the guru of devas and asuras alike. Bhīshma praised Śiva at length. He said Śiva is beyond the reach of Brahmā, Vishṇu and Indra, and is parabrahman, beyond prakṛti (nature) and purusha (the person). Bhīshma admitted that he could not describe such a being well enough.

Bhīshma said that among all beings only Śrī Nārāyaṇa, who has divine vision (yoga-chakshus), can truly know Parameśvara Śaṅkara. He then turned to Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa and explained why Kṛshṇa alone is fit to speak. Through his love for Rudra, Kṛshṇa fills the whole universe. At Badarikāśrama, Kṛshṇa did tapas for a thousand years and made Śaṅkara fully pleased. Śaṅkara is the guru of everything that moves and does not move, and the giver of varas. By this, Kṛshṇa became the most beloved being of the whole universe.

Bhīshma added that only one who has directly known the ātman (the self) can truly know the qualities of another. Kṛshṇa alone has such knowledge. So Bhīshma asked Kṛshṇa to tell the full glory of Śiva, as Kṛshṇa had come to know it himself. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14)

Kṛshṇa performed ācamana (the sipping of water for purity), composed himself and began to speak. He said he had learned the true greatness of Śaṅkara from the great muni Upamanyu. He would now tell the whole account, and how he came to see Mahādeva himself.

Jāmbavatī asks for a son

Kṛshṇa remembered that Śambarāsura was killed through Pradyumna, the son of Rukmiṇī. After that he returned to Dvārakā. Twelve years later, his queen Jāmbavatī saw Rukmiṇī’s eight shining sons. They were Cārudeshṇa, Sucāru, Cāruveśa, Yaśodhara, Cāruśravas, Cāruyaśas, Pradyumna and Śambhu. Jāmbavatī was still childless, and she came to Kṛshṇa and begged:

“Acyuta, give me a son equal to yourself without delay. Let him be heroic, strong, beautiful and free of pāpa (sin). There is nothing in the three worlds that you cannot obtain. You could make whole worlds by your own saṅkalpa (resolve). You kept a twelve-year vrata (vow), made your own body thin, and worshipped Bhagavān Paśupati so that Rukmiṇī might have her sons. Give me the same.”

This passage of the Anuśāsana Parva calls Jāmbavatī the daughter of a Vidyādhara (in the Telugu text, “విద్యాధరపుత్రి”). It uses the words ārtā vidyādhara-putrī, “the grieving daughter of a Vidyādhara”, at the moment Kṛshṇa takes leave of his elders. Other Purāṇic accounts, such as those of the Syamantaka jewel, call her the daughter of the bear-king Jāmbavān. The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells of her earlier birth as the daughter of Soma.

Kṛshṇa agreed. He took leave of his father Vasudeva, his mother, King Ugrasena, Āhuka, Gada and Balarāma. All of them blessed him that his tapas might go on without any obstacle.

Jāmbavatī herself spoke a blessing over his departure (maṅgala-āśāsana). She called on Brahmā, Śiva, Kaśyapa, the rivers, the devas, the holy lands (kshetras), the herbs (oshadhis), the mantras, the Vedic metres (chandas), the ṛshis, the yajñas, the oceans, the priests’ gifts (dakshiṇās), the chant syllables (stobhas), the stars (nakshatras), the pitṛs (ancestors), the planets (grahas), the wives of the devas, the manvantaras, the cows, the Moon, the Sun, Indra, Sāvitrī, brahmavidyā (knowledge of Brahman), the seasons, the years, and all divisions of time. She asked them all to guard him without rest on his way.

Kṛshṇa then remembered Garuḍa, who carried him to the Himālaya. There Kṛshṇa sent away his vāhana (carrier) and went on foot.

Arrival at Upamanyu’s āśrama

Kṛshṇa found that this mountain region was the best of all kshetras for dharma and for those who do tapas. There stood the divine āśrama of Upamanyu, son of Vyāghrapāda. Devas and gandharvas honoured it, and it was full of brahma-tejas (the radiance of Vedic knowledge).

Many trees grew there. They included dhava, kakubha, kadamba, coconut, kuravaka, ketaka, jambū, pāṭala, vaṭa, varuṇaka, vatsanābhi and bilva. There were also sarala, kapittha, priyāla, sāla and tāla trees. There were badarī, kuṭaja, punnāga, aśoka, mango, atimuktaka, madhūka, kovidāra, campaka and jackfruit trees. They bore every kind of flower and fruit. There were also banana groves, creepers and flowering bushes.

Rurus (a kind of deer), monkeys, lions, leopards, deer, peacocks, cats, snakes, buffaloes and bears lived there, and even elephants in fresh musth. Around them were heaps of ash from countless sacred fires, streams falling from the peaks, the songs of kinnaras, and the chant of siddhas singing the Sāmaveda (sāmagāna). The sacred Gaṅgā flowed there, ever fresh.

Ascetics of every kind lived there. Some lived on air and some on water alone. Some did constant japa (repeating a mantra). Some made their minds pure through friendliness (maitrī), and some were lost in dhyāna (meditation). Some drank only the smoke of yajñas, and some lived on milk. Some followed the cows and lived as the cows do. Some ate grain pounded by a stone or by their own teeth, and some drank only moonlight and sunlight. Some drank the foam of milk, and some lived among wild beasts under a vrata. Some ate only the fruit of the aśvattha tree, and some slept in water. They wore bark, hide and valkala (bark cloth).

Because the ascetics kept ahiṃsā (non-harming), natural enemies such as the mongoose and the snake, and the tiger and the deer, played together there without fear. This is as the Yogasūtra teaches about one who is firm in ahiṃsā.

Kṛshṇa entered the āśrama and saw Upamanyu Maharshi himself. He had matted hair and wore bark. He blazed like fire with tejas (radiance) and tapas. He was a young, excellent brāhmaṇa, with his disciples around him. Kṛshṇa bowed his head to him.

Upamanyu welcomed him warmly: “Puṇḍarīkāksha, welcome. Our tapas has borne fruit today. You, whom all worship, now worship me. You, whom all seek to see, now seek to see me.”

Kṛshṇa folded his hands and asked after the well-being of the āśrama’s beasts and birds, its sacred fires, its dharma and its disciples. Upamanyu answered in gentle, calm words: “Kṛshṇa, you will surely get a son equal to yourself. Adhokshaja, do great tapas and please Īśvara. Mahādeva himself lives here and plays with his consort Pārvatī. In this āśrama, devas and groups of ṛshis have pleased Śaṅkara, the best of the devas. They did it through tapas, brahmacarya (self-restraint), truth and control of the senses, and they won their good wishes.”

Upamanyu’s own story: the taste of milk

Upamanyu then told Kṛshṇa about his own childhood, and how he came to know Śaṅkara’s greatness. He was the son of the great ṛshi Vyāghrapāda, who knew the Veda and its limbs. He had Dhaumya as his younger brother.

The Anuśāsana Parva here makes Dhaumya Upamanyu’s own brother, both being sons of Vyāghrapāda. In the Ādi Parva of the Mahābhārata (Pauloma Parva, Chapters 3 to 5), Dhaumya is Upamanyu’s guru. There Upamanyu is one of Dhaumya’s three well-known disciples, with Āruṇi and Veda. He is sent to herd cattle, nearly goes blind from eating ākra leaves, and is healed by the Aśvins.

When Upamanyu was a small boy, he and Dhaumya wandered playfully into the āśrama of some pure-minded ṛshis. There he saw a cow being milked. He tasted the milk and found it as sweet as amṛta (the nectar of immortality). He asked his mother for milk-rice. She was sad that she had none to give, so she mixed flour with water and gave him that.

He had tasted real milk once before. His father had taken him to the yajña of a rich man, where the divine cow Surabhi was giving her milk. That one taste of true milk, sweet as amṛta, had shown him what milk really is. The flour-water gave him no pleasure. He said plainly to his mother: “Amma, this is not milk-rice.”

His mother was overcome with sorrow. She embraced him and explained through her tears that forest ascetics who have no cows of their own cannot get milk. This holds for those who live on the Vālakhilya-visited banks of the sacred Gaṅgā, on mountainsides, those who eat only wind or drink only water, and those who have given up village food for forest fruit. She said: “My son, there is no milk in a forest without the descendants of Surabhi. For those who live by rivers, in mountains and caves, and in every kind of tīrtha (holy place), absorbed in tapas and japa, the highest refuge is Śiva alone. Without pleasing the giver of varas, the eternal, formless Virūpāksha, how can anyone get milk-rice, clothes or comforts? My child, always take full refuge in Śaṅkara with a whole heart. By his grace you will get every wish and its fruit.”

The boy asked his mother with folded hands: “Amma, who is this Mahādeva? How is he pleased? Where does he live? How is he seen? How does he rejoice? What is his form? How is he to be known? Will he let me see him if he is pleased?”

The mother’s teaching on Śiva’s form

His mother wept with love and told him at length about Śiva’s nature. She said that Mahādeva is very hard to know (durvijñeya) and hard to hold in the mind even when he is known (durādhara). He is hard to sustain there (durābādha), and bound about with countless hard knots (durantaka). Without vairāgya (detachment) from the things of the world, he cannot be grasped (durgrāhya) or even seen (durdṛśya) by those who have not mastered their minds. Though he has no form, out of grace for his devotees he takes countless forms and lives in countless wonderful places, in ways no one can fully describe.

She then listed the forms Śiva takes to bless his devotees.

• The bodies of Brahmā, Vishṇu, Indra, Rudra, the Ādityas, the Aśvins and every deva.
• The forms of men, of celestial women, of pretas and piśācas, of kirātas and śabaras, of water-born beings and of forest-dwellers.
• The forms of the tortoise (kūrma), the fish (matsya) and the conch (śaṅkha), and of spring (vasanta) adorned with new shoots.
• The forms of yakshas, rākshasas, serpents, daityas, dānavas and those who live in Pātāla.
• The forms of tigers, lions, deer, hyenas, bears, birds, owls, dogs and jackals.
• The forms of swans (haṃsas), crows, peacocks, chameleons, cranes, balākas, vultures and cakravākas.
• The forms of cows, elephants, horses, camels, donkeys and mountains themselves, and of goats, other great beasts and divine birds.

He carries the staff (daṇḍa), umbrella (chatra) and water-pot (kamaṇḍalu) of the twice-born. He is six-faced and many-faced, three-eyed and many-headed. He has many hips, feet, bellies, mouths, hands and sides, and countless gaṇas (his attendants) are around him. He takes the forms of ṛshis, gandharvas, siddhas and cāraṇas. Smeared with bhasma (sacred ash), he is white-bodied and wears the half-moon. Countless sounds surround him and countless stotras (hymns of praise) praise him. He is the destroyer of all beings, the one whose form is all forms (sarvarūpa), and the inner self (antarātman) in all worlds. He is present everywhere, in the heart of every embodied being.

Whatever any being wishes for, and whatever reason lies behind their worship, he knows it all. His mother said: “Therefore, my son, if you want anything at all, take refuge in that Bhagavān Śaṅkara.”

She went on. He rejoices, he grows angry and he roars. He carries the cakra, the trident (śūla), the club (gadā), the pestle (musala), the sword (khaḍga) and the paṭṭisa. He is Bhūdhara. He wears a nāga-mauñjī (a girdle of serpents), serpent earrings and a serpent as his sacred thread, and a serpent-skin as his upper cloth.

He leaps, yawns, weeps and makes others weep. He speaks like one who is drunk, laughs, sings, dances beautifully and plays every instrument with his gaṇas. His eyes strike fear even while he laughs. He wakes, sleeps and yawns as he pleases. He does japa and is the object of japa. He does tapas and is the goal of tapas. He gives to all, and if something is given to him, he takes it. He practises yoga and dhyāna.

He gives darśana (a sight of himself) at the sacrificial altar (vedi), at the yūpa (the sacrificial post), in the cowshed and at the agnihotra. He appears as a child, as an elder and as a youth. He plays with the daughters and wives of ṛshis. He has upright hair (ūrdhvakeśa), is mahāliṅga, clothed only in the directions (digambara), with fierce eyes, covering all things.

He is fair, dark, black, sometimes pale and sometimes smoke-red. He is wide-eyed, clothed in the directions and in every garment at once. He is formless. His form is the first form (ādi-rūpa) of all forms, and he is beyond all form. Water, the first of created things, is his form. He has no birth, no beginning and no end. Who can ever fully know him? He lives as prāṇa (breath), mind and jīva (the living self) in the heart of every being. He himself is yoga and dhyāna, and he is the Paramātman who is known only through bhakti (loving devotion).

She ended: “My son, become his bhakta. Hold fast to him alone, trust him as your only protector, and serve that Mahādeva. You will get from him whatever you seek.”

Upamanyu’s thousand years of tapas

From that day, single-minded bhakti for Mahādeva arose in Upamanyu. He began his tapas and stood on his left big toe for a thousand years. For the first hundred years he ate only fruit, and for the second hundred only fallen leaves. For the third hundred he took only water, and for the remaining seven hundred he lived on air alone. In this way he worshipped Śaṅkara for a full thousand divine years.

Indra’s test

Śiva was pleased. He saw that Upamanyu was his one foremost devotee, and he decided to test him. He took the form of thousand-eyed Indra with the vajra in his hand, with all the devas around him. He rode the great elephant Airāvata. Airāvata was white as camphor, with red eyes and upright ears. He was in musth, his trunk was curled, and his four tusks shone. He blazed with divine tejas, wore a crown, necklaces and armlets, and had a white umbrella over him. Apsarasas served him, singing to gandharva melodies.

The false Indra said: “Best of brāhmaṇas, I am pleased with you. Ask for any vara you want.”

Upamanyu was not moved. He replied: “I ask for no vara from you, Devendra, nor from any other deva. This is the plain truth. Only the account of Rudra pleases me. No other holds any interest for me, and this too is certain and fixed.

“At Śaṅkara’s word I would gladly become a many-branched tree or a tiny insect. Even rule over the three worlds, if anyone other than Śaṅkara gave it, does not attract me. I would rather be born in a chaṇḍāla’s house with devotion to Śiva’s feet than be born in Indra’s own palace without being his bhakta. What use is freedom from suffering for one who has no bhakti for the guru of devas and asuras, even if he lives on wind and water alone? What use are other kathās (accounts) to those who cannot bear even a moment’s break in remembering Śaṅkara’s feet?

“In this crooked Kali Yuga, all people should meditate without pause on Śaṅkara’s lotus feet alone. Those who drink the rasāyana (elixir) of devotion to Śiva have no fear of the disease of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). I would gladly be born again and again as a locust or an insect at Śaṅkara’s command, rather than accept your rule over the three worlds. I would gladly be born a dog at his command, for that is my true wish. I cannot desire even the kingdom of the three worlds without his leave.

“I seek neither svarga (heaven), nor the kingship of the devas, nor Brahmaloka, nor even nirguṇa-brahma-sāyujya (union with the attributeless Brahman), nor any bundle of desires at all. I seek Śaṅkara’s service (dāsya) alone. He wears the pale moon on his head. He is Bhagavān Paśupati, my Īśvara. Until he is pleased, I can bear every sorrow of birth, death, old age and the hundred afflictions of the body.

“Who in this world finds peace without pleasing that Śaṅkara? He is the very essence of the three worlds and blazes like the sun, the moon and fire. He has no equal. He is the uncaused cause of the world, without a second, never growing old and never dying. Even if my own faults of karma bring me birth after birth, may I have unshaken bhakti for Śaṅkara in every one of those births.”

The liṅga and yoni argument

Śakra (Indra) then challenged him with a question of philosophy: “What proof is there that Śaṅkara is the cause of all causes?”

Upamanyu answered at length. He said that the wise, who speak about Brahman (brahmavādins), describe Śaṅkara in many ways: as sat (being) and asat (non-being), as manifest and unmanifest, as one and as many. They call him the one, eternal, undivided tattva (truth) named Parameśvara, and they ask their varas from this same Parameśvara. He has no beginning and no end. He has the power of knowledge (jñāna-aiśvarya) and is beyond the reach of the mind. This is why the brahmavādins call him parabrahma.

From him alone come akshara and akshara, the unmanifest, vidyā and avidyā (knowledge and ignorance), what is done and what is not done, dharma and adharma. He is the cause of all causes.

As proof, Upamanyu gave the argument of the liṅga and the yoni. It is seen directly that among all beings, and among all bodies made by the saṅkalpa of Brahmā and the other prajāpatis, only the liṅga and the sign of the yoni mark the male and the female forms. The lotus of Brahmā, the cakra of Vishṇu and the vajra of Indra never do. No being anywhere carries the marks of Brahmā, Vishṇu or any other deva as its sign of generation. Yet all beings without exception carry either the liṅga or the yoni. From this it follows that all creatures are the children of Śiva and Pārvatī alone. Every male form is Śiva’s own form, and every female form is Pārvatī’s own form. By their two bodies the whole moving and unmoving universe is filled.

So Upamanyu said: “I ask for a vara, or even for death, from Śaṅkara alone. Indra, go or stay as you please. A śāpa (a curse) or a vara from Maheśvara is equally welcome to me, but I cannot ask for the fulfilment of any wish from any other deva.”

The vision of Śiva and Pārvatī

At once the great elephant changed, before Upamanyu’s eyes, into a bull. It was white as a swan, as jasmine and as the moon, slender as a lotus stalk, and shining like silver, as if the Kshīrasāgara (the Ocean of Milk) itself had taken the form of a bull. Only its tail was black. Its eyes were the colour of honey, and its horns were hard as the vajra and the colour of well-smelted gold. It tore at the earth with soft hooves tipped in red. Its whole body was hung with a golden garland, and its hump and shoulders were broad and shapely, like the snow-white peak of the Himālaya.

On this bull, Nandin, sat Śiva together with Pārvatī, shining like the full moon. From his tejas rose a fire-like light that filled the thunder-heavy sky like a thousand suns, as if the fire of pralaya (the end of the world) had risen to burn all beings. Upamanyu could not bear the sight and was thrown into confusion. But within a single muhūrta the blaze drew itself in, by the māyā of the deva of devas himself. There stood Maheśvara as Sthāṇu and Nīlakaṇṭha, a treasury of tejas, eighteen-armed. He wore every ornament and was wholly unattached. He was dressed in white, garlanded and anointed in white. He bore the white bull banner (śukla-dhvaja) and the white sacred thread. Around him were attendants (pārshadas) of equal valour, singing and dancing to instruments. He was crowned with the crescent moon and pale as the autumn moon at dawn. His three eyes blazed like three suns. His white body was adorned with a jewelled necklace strung with golden lotuses.

The weapons in Śiva’s eighteen arms

Kṛshṇa, telling what Upamanyu saw, then described the divine weapons (astras) in Śiva’s eighteen arms.

• Pināka was his bow. It was equal to Indra’s own weapon. It showed itself as a great seven-hooded serpent, huge in body and poison-fanged, with the bowstring around its throat, before it took a human shape.
• Pāśupatāstra was his arrow. It blazed like the sun and was terrible as the fire of the end of time. It was unrivalled and cannot be described, and it struck fear into all beings. It is greater even than the Brahmāstra, Nārāyaṇāstra, Aindrāstra, Āgneyāstra and Vāruṇāstra. It is the very astra with which Mahādeva once burned the Tripuras to ashes in an instant. Before it, nothing is unslayable, not even among Brahmā, Vishṇu and the devas.
• Triśūla was his trident. It can split the whole earth and dry up the ocean. If it were let loose, the whole moving and unmoving universe would be destroyed. Upamanyu recalled that the daitya Lavaṇāsura, merely by taking hold of this triśūla, was destroyed with his army by the emperor (cakravartin) Māndhātā, son of Yuvanāśva. Other accounts say that Lavaṇāsura, who held Śiva’s triśūla, was slain by Śatrughna. Its three points blazed without smoke, dark as the rising sun at pralaya. A serpent was coiled round it, and it was terrible as Yama with his noose.
• Paraśu was his axe. Śiva once gave it in his pleasure to Paraśurāma. With this axe the whole kshatriya order was destroyed, and the emperor Kārtavīryārjuna was slain in battle. Paraśurāma, set on making the earth free of kshatriyas twenty-one times, carried out his vow with it. Its blade was always ablaze, its edge terrible, with a serpent coiled at its haft, glowing like a hundred agnihotras.

Kṛshṇa said that Śaṅkara has countless other divine astras beyond these few main ones that were described to him.

Who stood around Śiva

On Śiva’s right stood Brahmā, the grandfather of the worlds, on his haṃsa-vimāna (swan-chariot) that moves as fast as the mind. On his left stood Nārāyaṇa with the conch, cakra and club, mounted on Garuḍa. Near Pārvatī, riding a peacock and carrying the śakti (spear) and the bell, Kumārasvāmī blazed like a second Agni. Before Mahādeva stood Nandikeśvara with the trident, looking like a second Śaṅkara.

The Svāyambhuva and the other Manus, Bhṛgu and the other maharshis, and Indra with all the devas had gathered there. All the gaṇas and the forms of the Mothers (mātṛ-mūrtis) had come and stood around him with praise. Brahmā sang the Rathantara Sāma, Mahāvishṇu sang the Jyeshṭha Sāma, and Indra sang the excellent Śatarudrīya. The three shone before Śaṅkara like the three sacred fires (tretāgnis). In their midst Mahādeva shone like the sun coming out of autumn clouds. As Upamanyu praised the lord of the whole moving and unmoving universe, he saw thousands upon thousands of suns and moons in the sky.

Upamanyu’s stotra and the varas

Upamanyu offered a long hymn of salutation. He bowed to Śiva in each of his forms and aspects in turn.

• As the very Indra whose form Śiva had worn.
• As Vajrahasta, Piṅgala and Aruṇa.
• As Pinākapāṇi, who carries the conch and trident and wears black hide and black matted locks.
• As the one who keeps the Kṛshṇāshṭamī vrata, the white-coloured one clothed in white.
• As the red-coloured one clothed in red, with red banners and red sandal.
• As the yellow-coloured one clothed in yellow.
• As Ardhanārīśvara, who bears half a garland of lotuses and half of blue lotuses on his two halves.
• As the form of the sun and the form of the moon.
• As Harihara, with half his body dark and half pale, man and woman in one form.
• As the rider of the bull (vṛshabha-vāhana), who goes where no one else can go.
• As the beloved of the gaṇas who sing and dance around him.
• As the lord of the Bhairava gaṇas, who takes the form of the liṅga, the father of Kumāra.
• As the one who cut off Brahmā’s fifth head, the slayer of Mahishāsura, the one who took a woman’s form, and the one who shattered Daksha’s yajña.
• As the destroyer of Tripura, of the body of Manmatha and of Yama’s pride.
• As the slayer of Andhakāsura.
• As Skanda-Viśākha in essence, as Bhava, as Śarva, as the one whose form is the universe.
• As the goal and the best of all beings, their very heart.

He then praised Śiva as the greatest in each class of things.

• Brahmā among the devas, and Nīlalohita among the Rudras.
• The purusha of Sāṅkhya, the bull among the pure, and the stainless Śiva among yogīs.
• The householder among the āśramas, and Maheśvara among the īśvaras.
• Kubera among yakshas, and Vishṇu among the yajñas.
• Meru among mountains, and the moon among stars.
• Vasishṭha among ṛshis, and the sun among the planets.
• The lion among forest beasts, and the bull among village cattle.
• Vishṇu among the Ādityas, and Pāvaka among the Vasus.
• Vainateya among birds, and Ananta among serpents.
• The Sāmaveda among the Vedas, and the Śatarudrīya among the Yajus.
• Sanatkumāra among yogīs, and Kapila among the followers of Sāṅkhya.
• Indra among the Maruts, and Havyavāhana among the pitṛs.
• Brahmaloka among the worlds, and moksha among all goals.
• The Kshīrasāgara among oceans, and Himavān among peaks.
• The brāhmaṇa among the varṇas, and the one consecrated for a yajña among brāhmaṇas.

He ended: “O Bhagavān Śiva, you are the origin, the destroyer and time itself. Whatever highest tejas there is anywhere in these worlds, all of it is you alone. This is my firm belief. Salutations to you, O Bhaktavatsala, O Yogīśvara, O cause of the world’s very rising. Be pleased with this poor and small devotee. I have no power, and you alone, O Sanātana, are my refuge. Forgive whatever fault I have done without knowing.”

A rain of cool, sweet-smelling, divine flowers fell on Upamanyu’s head. Divine drums sounded, and a pure, pleasant breeze blew. Mahādeva, Vṛshabhadhvaja, with Pārvatī at his side, was delighted. He said to the gathered devas: “Behold the supreme, single-hearted bhakti of the great Upamanyu.” All the devas bowed to Śiva with folded hands and said: “O Bhagavān Devadeveśa, Lokanātha, Jagatpati, let this best of brāhmaṇas receive from you the fruit of all his wishes.”

Mahādeva smiled and said to Upamanyu: “Best of munis, I am pleased with you. Behold me. You are my steady bhakta, and I tested you. I am very pleased with this bhakti. I will give you all that you want.”

Upamanyu was overcome with tears of joy and with his hair standing on end. He bowed down again and again, and in a voice choked with feeling he said that this very day was his true birth. He had seen the guru of devas and asuras, whom even the devas cannot easily see. He asked for the vara of knowing all that has happened, is happening and will happen. He also asked for the vara of eating inexhaustible milk-rice (akshaya kshīrānna) with his kinsmen forever, with Śiva’s own constant presence in his āśrama.

Śiva gave him these.

• Freedom from old age, death and sorrow.
• Fame (yaśas), tejas and divine knowledge.
• That all the ṛshis would come to see him by Śiva’s grace.
• Good character, good qualities, knowledge of all things and a pleasing look.
• Unfading youth and fire-like tejas.
• The Kshīrasāgara made easy to reach and close at hand, so that wherever he wished for anything, he would find it there.
• Milk-rice mixed with amṛta, to eat for a full kalpa together with his kinsmen. His family line (kula) and gotra would go on without loss through time, and in the end he would reach Śiva himself.
• Lasting bhakti for Śiva.
• Śiva’s own constant presence in his āśrama, giving darśana whenever he was remembered.

After giving all these varas, Īśvara, who shone with the tejas of ten million suns, vanished from that place.

Upamanyu’s list of earlier devotees of Śiva

Before turning to Kṛshṇa’s own tapas, Upamanyu told of earlier beings who had also received varas through devotion to Śiva.

• Hiraṇyakaśipu, the daitya strong enough to shake even Mount Meru, received by Śiva’s grace rule over all the devas and over the three worlds for ten crore years.
• Hiraṇyakaśipu’s son, named in this passage as Maṅgāru and, again and again, as Mandāraka (Māndāraka), fought Indra for ten crore years by Śiva’s vara. In that war, Vishṇu’s cakra and Indra’s vajra broke against his body like dry grass, because Śiva had made him safe from all weapons. In the course of this same conflict, Śiva wished to kill a mighty daitya hidden in the waters. He made a blazing cakra and gave it to Kṛshṇa himself, naming it Sudarśana from that moment. It could be seen by none except Pinākapāṇi Śiva alone. Yet even the Sudarśana was as useless as dry grass against Mandāraka’s body, which Śiva had made safe. So fierce was the fighting between the devas and the asuras whom Śiva had also made strong.
• Vidyutprabha, a daitya, was given rule over the three worlds for a hundred thousand years. He was made an eternal attendant of Śiva, was given a crore of sons, and was given the kingdom of Kuśadvīpa.
• Śatamukha, an asura made by Brahmā, offered all of his own flesh into Agni for a hundred years. Śiva gave him the yoga power to make the moon, the sun, the rain cloud and the earth, with an everlasting strength born of brahmavidyā.
• A son of Svayambhū (Brahmā) meditated on Śaṅkara through yoga for three hundred years, wishing for sons equal to Kratu’s. He was given a thousand sons equal to Kratu.
• Yājñavalkya, the supremely dharmic maharshi, worshipped Mahādeva and won peerless fame.
• Vedavyāsa, son of Parāśara, also worshipped Śaṅkara and won peerless fame.
• The Vālakhilya maharshis, once insulted by Indra, grew angry, did tapas and pleased Śaṅkara. He told them: “By the power of your tapas, make Garuḍa. He will steal the amṛta.”
• The devas: once Śiva’s anger destroyed all the water in the worlds. The devas pleased Rudra, lord of the waters, through the saptakapāla-yāga, and the water was restored.
• Anasūyā, wife of Atri, once grew angry with her husband and resolved never again to submit to him. She took refuge in Mahādeva. He gave her the vara that she would have a son without union with her husband, only by drinking a charu (an offering of cooked rice). The son would be famous in her own line under her name.
• Vivarṇa, a rich man, pleased Mahādeva, who gives joy to his bhaktas, and reached siddhi (perfection).
• Śākalya, a maharshi troubled by doubt, worshipped Śaṅkara through mano-yajña (a yajña of meditation). He was given that he would become an author of texts, that his family would be adorned by maharshis and never fade, and that his son would become a writer of sūtras.
• Sāvarṇi, a maharshi of the Kṛta Yuga, did tapas for six thousand years. Rudra gave him that he would become famous in the world as an author of texts, and that he would never grow old or die.
• Indra himself once worshipped Śiva at Kāśī, the naked, ash-smeared Śiva, with the highest bhakti, and so obtained his own kingship of the devas.
• Nārada maharshi also worshipped Śiva with bhakti. The pleased guru of the devas told him that no one would equal him in tejas, tapas and fame, and that he would always excel in song and in playing the vīṇā.

(Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14)

Kṛshṇa’s own tapas

Upamanyu then foretold that Kṛshṇa himself would see Mahādeva within six months and would receive twenty-four varas. Eight days later, Upamanyu formally gave him dīkshā (initiation) with a mantra to repeat.

After this dīkshā, Kṛshṇa shaved his head and rubbed his body with ghee. He took up the staff, the kuśa grass and the mauñjī girdle, and began his tapas. In the first month he ate fruit, in the second only water, and from the third to the fifth month he lived on air alone. He stood on one leg with his arms raised.

In the sixth month Kṛshṇa saw in the sky a tejas like a thousand suns, ringed with rainbows and garlands of lightning. It gleamed like a range of blue mountains lined with cranes. There Śiva and Pārvatī shone together, bright with tapas and tejas, like the sun with the moon inside a cloud.

Kṛshṇa was full of wonder as he saw Hara. He was crowned and carried a club and a trident, and he was clothed in tiger-skin. He had matted hair, carried a staff, was Pinākī, and bore the vajra. He had sharp fangs and fine armlets, and wore a serpent as his sacred thread. A many-coloured divine garland hung to his ankles. A halo ringed him like the moon at the end of the rains, and he looked like the autumn sun within its own ring. The Pramatha gaṇas were around him, and with him were eleven hundred Rudra gaṇas. He rode the bull, kept his self in control, and was with those who do good works.

Kṛshṇa praised this Viśvanātha with praises of every kind.

• The Ādityas, Vasus, Sādhyas, Viśvedevas and Aśvins all praised him with every kind of hymn.
• Indra, Upendra and Brahmā, the three, sang the Rathantara Sāma in Śiva’s presence.
• Many lords of yoga, brahmarshis with their sons, and devarshis praised the guru who gives yoga.
• Earth, the space between, the stars, the planets, the months, the fortnights, the seasons, the nights, the years, the moments, the muhūrtas, the winks of an eye and the cycles of the yugas all bowed to him.
• Sanatkumāra, Itihāsa, Marīci, Aṅgiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, the seven Manus, the Somas, Bṛhaspati with Atharvan, Bhṛgu, Daksha, Kaśyapa, Vasishṭha and Kāśya also bowed.
• The metres, the dīkshās, the yajñas, the priests’ gifts, the agnihotras, the offerings, the parts of the yajña and the yajña materials, all in bodily form, bowed.
• All the guardians of creatures, all rivers, serpents and mountains, the messengers of the devas, and the wives of the devas with their good daughters bowed.
• Crores upon crores of ṛshis, mountains, oceans and the directions themselves bowed to the peaceful Śaṅkara, their lord.
• Gandharvas and apsarasas, skilled in song and instrument, sang with wonderful rhythm.
• Vidyādharas, dānavas, guhyakas, rākshasas and all moving and unmoving beings bowed with mind, speech and act to him who fills all.

So Śaṅkara, lord of the three worlds, stood before Kṛshṇa. Even the prajāpatis and the Indras watched in wonder.

Kṛshṇa’s stotra: Śiva as the Mahat and the Ātman

Kṛshṇa was overcome and at first could not bear the sight. Then Śiva himself spoke to him: “Kṛshṇa, look, speak. You have worshipped me in a hundred ways and in a thousand ways. In the three worlds no one is as dear to me as you.”

Kṛshṇa bowed his head. Pārvatī too was pleased. Before Sthāṇu, praised by Brahmā, Kṛshṇa then offered his own stotra.

Kṛshṇa said that Śiva is the cause of all, the eternal one whom the ṛshis call the lord even of the Veda. Śiva himself is tapas, sattva, rajas and tamas, the very truth that good people name. He is Brahmā, Rudra, Varuṇa, Agni, Manu, Bhava, Dhātā, Tvashṭā, Vidhātā, and the lord who faces every way. Every moving and unmoving being, and the three worlds with all their motion and stillness, are created by him.

He is beyond the prāṇas (the life-breaths), the seven fires, the mind and every order of the devas. He is beyond speech itself, formless, the highest state (paraṃ pada). He fills the Vedas, the yajñas, the soma creepers, the southern fire, the offerings and every yajña tool without exception. What is offered and what is given, what is studied, the vratas, the niyamas, woman, fame, prosperity, beauty, contentment and siddhi all lead only to his own form. Desire, anger, fear, greed, pride, stiffness and envy, and every mental and bodily ailment (ādhi and vyādhi), are also his own body.

He is action and change, love, the first cause (pradhāna), the seed and the unchanging. He is the highest source of the mind, of everlasting power, unmanifest and purifying, beyond thought. He is the golden Sun himself and the first support of life for all the gaṇas.

In the Veda he is praised by fourteen names that mean the Mahat and the Ātman. They are Mahān, Ātmā, Mahat, Brahma, Viśva, Śambhu, Svayambhū, Buddhi, Prajñā, Upalabdhi, Saṃvit, Khyāti, Dhṛti and Smṛti. When a brāhmaṇa knows him through the Veda by these names, he destroys completely the root ignorance (mūla-ajñāna) of saṃsāra.

He lives in the heart of every being as the knower of the field (kshetrajña) itself. Every mantra praises him. He has hands, feet, eyes, heads, mouths and ears on every side, and he fills the whole world. He is himself the joy of svarga, which is born even of the sun’s momentary acts. He is aṇimā, mahimā and prāpti (the powers of becoming tiny, becoming great and reaching anything). He is Īśāna, light and the unchanging. Understanding, thought, the worlds, those who have surrendered, those who meditate, those who are always joined to him, those whose resolve is true and those who have mastered their senses all rest in him alone.

The wise know him as the purusha who lives in the cave of the heart, the ancient purusha, the master, the golden-formed and the highest goal. By knowing this, they go beyond all worldly understanding. The learned man who knows the mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra, the tanmātras, the seven subtle principles and the six limbs of his own tamas nature takes refuge in the way of the pradhāna and enters into him alone.

As Kṛshṇa spoke, Śiva took away all sorrow from the moving and unmoving world. It rang with a great lion’s roar. Rākshasa and bhūta gaṇas, maharshis, brāhmaṇas, suras and asuras, nāgas, piśācas, pitṛs and birds all bowed to Śiva. A rain of sweet-smelling divine flowers fell on Kṛshṇa’s head, and a pleasant breeze blew.

Śiva then looked at Pārvatī, at Kṛshṇa and at Indra, and said to Kṛshṇa: “Kṛshṇa, destroyer of enemies, I know the highest bhakti you hold for me. Be at ease. My love for you is great.”

The Meghavāhana Parva is named for the cloud-riding, Indra-formed appearance of Maheśvara by which Śiva first tested Upamanyu. This chapter establishes the greatness (māhātmya) of that Meghavāhana form.

Chapter 15: The sixteen varas of Śiva and Pārvatī

Kṛshṇa folded his hands and bowed before the mass of radiance in front of him. He asked for eight varas: firmness in dharma, victory over enemies in battle, the highest fame, great strength, being dear together with yoga, Śiva’s own presence, and ten thousand sons. Śaṅkara said, “So be it.”

Then Pārvatī, mother of the world, supporter of the world, purifier of all and treasury of tapas, reminded Kṛshṇa that Śiva had already given him the son named Sāmba. She offered eight varas of her own. Kṛshṇa bowed to her and asked for these.

• Freedom from anger toward brāhmaṇas.
• His father’s grace.
• A hundred sons.
• The highest enjoyment (parama-bhoga).
• Love within his family.
• His mother’s grace.
• Calm (śama).
• Ability (sāmarthya).

Umā answered: “Amara-prabhāva, so be it. I never speak a falsehood, so know also that you will have sixteen thousand wives, and love for them that never fades.” She also gave him constant affection among his kinsmen, a body that never loses its beauty, and seven thousand guests fed every day in his house.

Having given these varas, Śiva and Pārvatī vanished at once among their gaṇas. Kṛshṇa was amazed. He told this whole wonderful account to the radiant brāhmaṇa Upamanyu. Upamanyu bowed to Mahādeva and said: “There is no deva equal to Śaṅkara, no goal equal to his. None equals Śiva in giving, and none equals him in battle.”

Upamanyu then turned to the teaching he had promised. He told Kṛshṇa of the ṛshi Taṇḍi and the origin of the thousand names of Śiva. This continues in the account of Taṇḍi’s vision of Śiva and is completed in the recitation of the Śiva Sahasranāma.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 14 (Bhīshma defers to Kṛshṇa, Jāmbavatī’s request, Upamanyu’s āśrama and story, his tapas, the vision of Śiva, the list of earlier devotees, Kṛshṇa’s tapas and stotra)
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 15 (the sixteen varas, the teaching of Taṇḍi)
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Pauloma Parva, Chapters 3 to 5 (Dhaumya and Upamanyu)
• Yogasūtra (on ahiṃsā)
• Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Jāmbavatī’s earlier birth as the daughter of Soma)