Māyāmoha and the Rākshasas
The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa tells how the daityas and rākshasas kept the Vedic dharma and so grew strong, and the devas could not defeat them. Bhagavān Vishṇu then sent out from his own body a being called Māyāmoha, the Great Deceiver. Māyāmoha went to the rākshasas on the banks of the Narmadā and led them away from the Veda. Once they gave up the Veda, the devas could defeat them. Parāśara tells the account, and he draws a lesson from it for those who leave the path of the Veda.
The crisis of the devas
Many powerful daityas and rākshasas, among them Hrāda, had become unbeatable. They had done long tapas (austerity) and held firmly to the Vedic dharma. The devas themselves kept the trayī-dharma (the dharma of the three Vedas), and they could not kill these rākshasas, because the rākshasas had the same Vedic covering. This left the two sides stuck. The same dharma that gave strength to the devas gave strength to their enemies when their enemies followed it.
The devas were driven out of the three worlds and lost their shares of the yajña (fire ritual) offerings. They went to the northern shore of the Kshīra Sāgara (the ocean of milk). There they made a great stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Vishṇu. In it they named his forms: deva, daitya, yaksha, nāga, siddha, ṛshi, kāla (time), purusha, paśu, vṛksha, and the undivided Brahman itself. They gave themselves over to him and said: “These rākshasas follow the same Vedic path that we do. We cannot destroy those who are protected by their svadharma. Give us the means.”
This is in Chapter 17.
Māyāmoha comes from Bhagavān Vishṇu
Bhagavān Vishṇu heard the devas’ prayer. He sent out from his own body a being called Māyāmoha, the Great Deceiver. He sent him with this command: “Go to where the rākshasas are practising tapas. Confuse them. Turn them away from the Vedic path. When their Vedic armour is removed, the devas will overcome them.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu said: “I am the keeper of Brahmā’s order. Those who block that order, whether devas or dānavas, become fit to be destroyed. Māyāmoha will go ahead of you.”
The devas bowed and went back to their world. Māyāmoha set out for the Narmadā.
This is in Chapter 17.
The first deception: the Jaina form
Māyāmoha found the rākshasas on the banks of the Narmadā. They were deep in tapas, with their eyes fixed on moksha.
He came before them as a digambara (sky-clad) ascetic. He wore no clothes and carried peacock feathers, the mark of the Jaina munis. He spoke to them softly: “Daitya-patis! Are you doing this tapas for this world or for the next? If it is for moksha, then follow what I teach. This is the open gate of moksha. There is no better path.”
He used seven kinds of misleading argument. He moved back and forth between “this is dharma” and “this is adharma“, between “this leads to moksha” and “this does not”, and between “this is proper” and “this is not proper”. He kept changing his position and so made them confused. Little by little he moved the rākshasas from firm trust in the Veda to doubt, and then to giving it up. He taught what the text calls the Arhat-mata, the teaching of the worthy ones, and the rākshasas who received it came to be known as followers of the Arhat. Group after group of rākshasas took this teaching and gave up the trayī.
This is in Chapter 18.
The second deception: the Buddhist form
With a second group of rākshasas, Māyāmoha changed his way. He now wore red robes, showed restraint of the senses, and spoke with the mildness and exactness of a Buddhist ācārya (teacher).
He said: “If you want svarga (heaven) or moksha, stop the killing of animals in yajñas. Know that all this is made of consciousness (vijñāna-maya). The whole world has no base (ādhāra-śūnya). Passions such as rāga hold beings in saṃsāra. Understand this, understand this, understand this well.”
The text explains this talk as two wings of Buddhist teaching. One is the Yogācāra view, that the world is ātma-khyāti, the self-showing of consciousness. The other is the Mādhyamika view, that the world is śūnya-khyāti, mere emptiness with nothing beneath it. Māyāmoha made the rākshasas accept these teachings and drop their keeping of the Vedic rules, above all the rites that involve killing animals.
The third deception: the Lokāyata teaching
Then Māyāmoha turned to a third group with the Lokāyata (Cārvāka, or materialist) teachings. These deny the authority of the Veda on the ground of reasoning. They deny that offerings reach the devas, and they mock śrāddha (the rites for the dead). With this Māyāmoha completed the deception.
This is in Chapter 18.
The result
In a short time almost the whole host of rākshasas had been turned away from the Vedic dharma. Many became open critics who spoke against the Vedas and the brāhmaṇas. Their arguments included these. “The Veda itself forbids hiṃsā (harm), yet it orders the killing of animals in yajñas, so it contradicts itself.” “Offerings burned in fire cannot reach the devas, and that is a child’s belief.” “If eating in this world could feed the dead, travellers would not need to carry food.”
The devas saw that their enemies no longer had the Vedic armour. They gathered their forces and went to battle with the rākshasas. The rākshasas who had been unbeatable were now killed quickly. Their svadharma-kavaca (armour of dharma) had been stripped away by their own giving up.
This is in Chapter 18.
Parāśara’s teaching
Parāśara draws this conclusion: “Those who walk the path of dharma that goes against the Veda are nagna, naked and unprotected. The Vedic trayī was their covering. Without it they can be harmed by every force.”
The Purāṇa gives these teachings:
- A brāhmaṇa who gives up the Vedic trayī is called nagna, which means naked, without protection. The Veda is the garment (āvaraṇa) of the spiritual life, and without it a person is exposed.
- The text says plainly: “Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, parivrāṭ: these are the four āśramas. There is no fifth. One who leaves gṛhastha dharma without properly entering vānaprastha or sannyāsa becomes a nagna pāpī (sinner).”
- These are the rules of the pāshaṇḍa-dosha (the fault of contact with those who have left dharma). Contact with those who have left dharma costs a person the puṇya (merit) he has gathered that day. Speaking with such a person for a full year makes one equal to him. Śrāddhas that nagna persons witness become fruitless. A qualified person who meets such a person by chance should at once look at the Sun to be made pure.
This is in Chapter 18.
Sources
- Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Tritīyāmsa, Chapters 17–18
- Chapter 17: the crisis of the devas; the stotra; the emanation of Māyāmoha
- Chapter 18: the three deceptions; the result; Parāśara’s teaching