Agastya’s Vision in Ilāvṛta

In the Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 69 and 70, Agastya tells a king about two events. The first is a journey to Ilāvṛta, the central region around the great mountain Meru. There he found a tapasvin (an ascetic) living in a hut by a lake. The tapasvin showed him a world of golden mansions and then made himself known as Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. The second event is a great gathering at one of Agastya’s yajñas. There Bhagavān Śiva, as Rudra, taught that Nārāyaṇa is the highest Deva (para-daiva), and that Brahmā and Śiva are his own forms.

Arrival at Ilāvṛta

Agastya tells the king: “This body of mine has been the place of many wonders. It lasts for many kalpas, made pure by knowledge of the Veda. As I wandered over the whole earth, I came to the great varsha called Ilāvṛta, beside Meru.”

At its edge stood a beautiful lake. On the bank was a kuṭīra (a hermit’s hut). Inside sat a tapasvin who was only bones and skin. He wore bark clothes and was worn thin by long fasting.

The invitation

Agastya was wondering who this being was when the great muni spoke to him: “O brāhmaṇa, stop! Stop! I must give you ātithya (the welcome due to a guest).” Agastya went into the hut. The muni shone with tejas (brilliance). When Agastya stood on the ground, the muni made a huṃkāra (a deep sound). From that sound five kanyās (maidens) rose up from Pātāla. One brought a seat, one brought water, and a third washed Agastya’s feet. Two more stood on either side and fanned him with cāmaras (fly whisks).

The golden bowl from the lake

The muni made a second huṃkāra. At that sound a great golden bowl, a yojana wide, was brought up out of the lake by a makara (a crocodile-like creature). In the bowl were hundreds of lovely kanyās wearing golden earrings (kuṇḍalas). The muni asked Agastya to bathe in the bowl. The moment Agastya stepped into it, it sank. When he rose from the water, he found himself in a new world.

The world beyond the water

What Agastya saw was a realm of fine beauty. There were handsome buildings, rooms and wide halls, broad royal roads, and good people who were wise and old, who knew the ātmā, and who stood firm on the path of dharma. The realm was also full of mighty white beings carrying fine ropes, crowds of elephants and horses, and deep round forts.

There were rare and lovely lakes, full of padmas and kuvalayas (lotuses and water lilies). Many kinds of birds came to them. The water sang with the hum of bees on the lotus petals, and the birds themselves chanted what sounded like wonderful Vedic mantras. On the shores of those lakes stood the houses of brāhmaṇas who knew the Veda and of pure-hearted beings. Their pillars were of golden jewels, and their colour was that of padmarāga gems. They were sweet with the scent of pārijāta flowers and were served by yakshas and kinnaras. Rivers flowed with curds and milk, and great ponds were full of ghee.

The muni makes himself known as Nārāyaṇa

As Agastya wandered in that realm, he came once more to the same lake and the same hut. The tapasvin was there as before. Agastya went up to him. The muni smiled and said: “O vipra, do you not know me from before? You are looking at this world with a confused mind. This is my own domain, which even the devas cannot see. I have shown it to you for your joy.”

The muni then told what Agastya had seen: rivers flowing with curds and milk, ponds full of ghee, buildings of gold and jewels, the brightness of padmarāga, the fame of the pārijāta, and the service of yakshas and kinnaras.

Agastya’s heart was full of wonder. He asked: “How did this world come to be? Who are you? What is its cause? What is this lake in Ilāvṛta by which I found your hut? What is the place of this humble kuṭīra in a land of golden mansions?”

The muni answered: “I am Nārāyaṇa, the sanātana (eternal one), present in the form of water. I fill all the three worlds, moving and unmoving. That form of Parameshṭhī that you saw is also me. The one they call Varuṇa is none other than the para-Nārāyaṇa. You did ārādhanā to me for seven births. Because of that, even when all three worlds perish, you alone are picked out and known.”

The return to Meru

While Nārāyaṇa spoke, Agastya fell as if asleep, with his eyes closed. He woke at once and found himself on the top of Mount Meru. He looked on the seven oceans, the seven kula-parvatas (the great mountain ranges), and the earth of seven dvīpas. Agastya ends: “To this day I meditate only on that highest loka-vara (world-boon). I have one thought: when shall I reach that world?”

The great assembly and Rudra’s teaching (Chapter 70)

The account goes on. The king asks Agastya: “By what vrata (vow), what tapas and what dharma did you reach that wonderful world?” Agastya says that he performed yajñas for a hundred years, with great dakshiṇās (gifts to the priests), doing ārādhanā of the sanātana Vishṇu. At one of these yajñas all the devas came at his invitation, and Indra was among them. Then, without warning, Bhagavān Śiva, called Vṛshabhadhvaja, also came. He stood in the raudra-sthāna (his fierce station), and his three eyes blazed.

At that gathering the great yogī Sanatkumāra, who knows the three times (trikāla-jña) and is lotus-born, also came down from a vimāna bright as the sun. He came in a form no bigger than a speck of dust and stood there in shining attendance. A question rose in Agastya’s mind: “Among all these, who is most worthy of pūjā? Who is greatest? By whose satisfaction (tushṭi) would all be satisfied at once, Rudra too?”

Rudra himself turned to the assembly and said: “O devas! O pure devarshis! O brahmarshis of great fame! O Agastya, hear me well. He by whom all yajñas are performed, from whom this whole world arises together with the devas, in whom it stands for ever, and into whom it is drawn back, is the para-daiva, whose nature is sattva. He is Janārdana-Nārāyaṇa. He made himself into three forms.”

The three forms of Nārāyaṇa

Rudra’s teaching at Agastya’s yajña is the deepest statement in these chapters.

Nārāyaṇa, filled with rajas and tamas, brought forth from the lotus of his navel the lotus-seated Brahmā, who is mostly rajas and sattva. Then again, filled with rajas and tamas, he brought forth Rudra-Śiva himself, who is mostly rajas and tamas. Pure sattva-guṇa is Hari himself. Hari alone is the parama-pada (the highest state).

Rudra said: “The Brahmā born in the lotus is that very Deva, and I am also that same Deva, in the form of rajas and tamas. There is no doubt. Sattva frees the jīva. Sattva is Nārāyaṇātmaka (of the nature of Nārāyaṇa). Nārāyaṇa, who is the form of the yajña, is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself. In the Kṛta-yuga, the pure and subtle Nārāyaṇa is meditated upon (upāsita). In Tretā he is worshipped in the form of yajña (arcanīya). In Dvāpara the Pañcarātra way is used. In the Kali age, those of tamas worship him in many forms, even with a hostile mind (dvesha-buddhi). Even so, he is the Paramātmā whom they are coming to.”

The warning against division

In the assembly Rudra said: “Whoever sees any difference between us, who thinks that I am other than Vishṇu, or that Brahmā is other than Vishṇu, is a pāpa-purusha (a wicked person) and goes to a bad end (durgatī). We three are one. Only those with clear sight see this.”

Agastya then asked about the śāstra of Śiva himself. Rudra answered by telling the origin of the river Godāvarī, which flows directly from this same assembly.

Sources

• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 69 to 70