Lomaśa Muni Ākhyāna

Lomaśa Muni is the longest-lived muni whom King Indradyumna and his companions meet on their search for a guru. This account is from Chapter 12 of the Kaumārika Khaṇḍa. It tells why Lomaśa has no āśrama (hermitage), how one act of pūjā to a Śivaliṅga in a past life gave him his long life, the vara (boon) he asked from Bhagavān Śiva, and his teaching on bahiryoga and antaryoga.

The way to Lomaśa

The turtle Jayadata, who is also called the kūrma, had finished telling his own account. Indradyumna had said that he did not want the svarga (heaven) offered by the divine vimāna. He said he wanted a guru who could show him the far shore of the ocean of saṃsāra.

The turtle gave one more direction: “There is a great muni who is older even than I am, Lomaśa. I once saw him at Kalāpagrāma.”

Indradyumna answered: “Then let us all go there together. The sādhus say that good company (satsaṅga) is purer than any tīrtha.”

All six set out for Kalāpagrāma to find Lomaśa: the king, Mārkaṇḍeya, the crane, the owl, the Garuḍa and the turtle.

How Lomaśa looks

They found Lomaśa at Kalāpagrāma. He was an ancient muni who looked like tapas (austerity) itself. In his left hand he held a grass fan for shade. He had no āśrama or hut, only the shade of a few blades of grass to keep off the summer sun. In his right hand he held a rudrāksha-mālā (a rosary of rudrāksha beads). His jaṭā (matted hair) was yellow from bathing three times a day (trishavaṇa-snāna). His body shone as if soaked in ghee. He walked the path of Maitreya, the path of friendliness to all beings. He hurt no creature with a harsh word, and he was firm in the siddhi of japa.

The whole company bowed to this ancient store of tapas: the crane, the king, the muni, the owl, the Garuḍa and the turtle. Lomaśa welcomed them, gave them seats and honoured them as was right.

Indradyumna’s first question: why no āśrama?

The turtle introduced the group to Lomaśa and told him Indradyumna’s case. The king’s kīrti (fame) had been restored and a divine vimāna had come, yet he refused svarga because he feared falling again. He wanted a guru to teach him. The turtle asked Lomaśa to take Indradyumna as a śishya.

Lomaśa welcomed this and asked the king to put his doubts freely. Indradyumna’s first question was plain and sharp: “Bhagavān Lomaśa, even in summer, with the sun straight overhead at noon, you have no āśrama and no hut, not even a small shelter. You hold a little grass over your head for shade. Why do you live without a home?”

Lomaśa answered:

“Death is certain. This body will surely fall to the ground. In this passing saṃsāra, for whom would one build a home? A person for whom death is a friend, who has drunk the nectar of immortality, may fittingly say, ‘I have a tomorrow.’ But for the rest of us, what is the right attitude?

“This day, this ‘today’, is what is real now. A tomorrow in the future is only an idea. What can anyone say about the limit of when death will come? The body is born of śukra (seed). It is like coal that cannot be made clean however often it is washed. The body is ruled by the six enemies (arishaḍvarga). Should one not be ashamed to do pāpa (sin) for the sake of such a body? This body comes from Brahmā’s work in its subtlest form.

“How can a person truly live who reads or recites the Veda and yet stays ignorant? The māyā of Bhagavān Vishṇu confuses even those who do not see clearly. Even after hundreds of years, the death that lives in the heart is not seen. The teeth become loose. Wealth, youth and life itself are all unsteady (acala). This whole saṃsāra is cala-cala, always moving. Dāna (giving) alone is the true home of human beings. Knowing this, knowing that saṃsāra changes and has no essence, for whom would one build an āśrama?”

Indradyumna’s second question: the secret of long life

Indradyumna laughed in wonder at this answer. Then he asked the key question: “Mahātmā, you are called the longest-lived being in the three worlds. Yet you speak like this! What is the cause of such a long life? Is it dāna? Is it tapas? What is the power behind it?”

Lomaśa replied: “O king, listen. I will tell you an account that destroys all pāpa. It is what happened in my past life. It is a narrative of dharma connected with Śivadharma.”

Then he added a point: “I lose one body-hair each kalpa. Look at my knee. Those two inches have no hair. That is what makes me afraid. When all the hairs have fallen, death comes. Knowing that I must die, what use is a home?”

A past life: the poor śūdra at the Śivaliṅga

In a past life Lomaśa was born a poor śūdra, wandering the earth in hunger. One noon, tormented by heat and thirst, he saw from far off a great Śivaliṅga with a sacred water vessel (devī-jalādhāra) placed beside it. He entered the holy place and drank the water that was offered there, and his thirst was eased. He bathed himself, and then he bathed the Śivaliṅga with the water. He did pūjā to the liṅga with good lotuses that were lying nearby. Then, his throat still dry, he walked on along the road and died on the way.

Through the puṇya (merit) of this one act, bathing the liṅga and offering it lotuses, he was born as a brāhmaṇa in his next life, with jātishmara, the memory of all his past births. He saw clearly that his jātishmara had come from that one act of liṅga-snāna (bathing the liṅga) and lotus pūjā.

Life as the brāhmaṇa Īśāna, the silent muni

In this brāhmaṇa birth, Lomaśa remembered what his past life had shown him and acted on it. He kept the knowledge to himself. He saw that the world appears real but is made of avidyā (ignorance), and he kept silent (mūkata). His family took him to be truly dumb and tried every cure: mantras, medicines and other means, to heal his “condition”. Inside, Lomaśa smiled at their mistake.

In his youth he came home at night and did pūjā to Bhagavān Śiva with lotus flowers. After his father died, all his relatives left, thinking him a fool. He lived on fruits, but he kept doing pūjā to Bhagavān Śiva with many flowers of every kind. After a hundred years of this, Bhagavān Śiva appeared before him and offered him a vara.

Bhagavān Śiva’s vara: one hair for each kalpa

Lomaśa asked Bhagavān Śiva: “Grant me freedom from old age and death.”

Bhagavān Śiva replied: “Even I, having taken nāma (name) and rūpa (form), am bound by old age and death. How can I give this to you? Name a limit for your life.”

Then Lomaśa asked for this vara: “Let me lose one body-hair each kalpa. When all the hairs have fallen, let death come. After death, let me become one of your gaṇas.” Bhagavān Śiva granted exactly this.

From then on Lomaśa was a tapasvin, one who loses a hair each kalpa. He knows that each falling hair counts down to his own end, so he sees no point in building a home.

Teaching on bahiryoga and antaryoga

Lomaśa then gave a long teaching on the path to moksha.

Bahiryoga (outer yoga). It is the holding back of outer activity: the control of the jñānendriyas (senses of knowing) and the karmendriyas (senses of action), and their merging into Sadāśiva. Bhagavān Śiva himself called this path strong, and he taught it because antaryoga is so hard.

Pañcabhūta-pūjā, which is pūjā with offerings made of the five elements, gives very great fruit.

Antaryoga (inner yoga). It is the holding back of bāhya-pravṛtti (outer activity), the merging of everything into Parameśvara from within. This is the higher and harder path. By it one does pūjā to Īśvara, who is untouched by kleśa, karma, vipāka and āśaya, while always repeating the praṇava (Oṃkāra) in japa. Through this one reaches moksha.

When all pāpa has been destroyed, bhāvanā (contemplation) of Bhagavān Śiva comes of itself. For those whose mind is set on pāpa (pāpabuddhi), even hearing about Śiva is hard. In Bhārata, birth itself is rare. Within that, Śiva pūjā is rare. Within that, a bath in the Gaṅgā is rare. Within that, Śiva-bhakti is the rarest of all.

A gift to a brāhmaṇa and pūjā of Agni are also rarely gained. Those with little puṇya cannot even reach the pūjā of Purushottama, which is Śiva pūjā. It takes a lakh of births of yoga practice, half a lakh of births of agni-karma, and sixty births as a Rudra oneself, before the ātmā is ready.

Lomaśa ended: “O king, you too should practise like this. You will surely gain what you seek. In all three worlds there is nothing a Śiva-bhakta cannot obtain.”

The examples of Nandīśvara and Śveta

Lomaśa gave two examples to support his teaching:

• Nandīśvara. Through Śiva pūjā Nandīśvara gained siddhi in that very body. Knowing this, who would not do pūjā to Bhagavān Śiva?
• King Śveta. Śveta did pūjā to Nīlakaṇṭha and reached such complete moksha that even Kāla (Time) was humbled at Pralaya. Knowing this, who would not do pūjā to Bhagavān Śiva?

Bhagavān Śiva is the one whose will rules the birth, upkeep and dissolution of this whole universe. Who would not seek his śaraṇa (refuge)? This is the secret (rahasya): all human beings should do Śiva pūjā. When the world puts obstacles in the way, a single namaskāra to Bhagavān Śiva removes them at once.

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārika Khaṇḍa, Chapter 12