Ṛbhu and Nidāgha

This is the account of Ṛbhu and his disciple Nidāgha. It is told in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, in the Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapters 15 and 16, as part of the Jaḍabharata Upākhyāna. Ṛbhu Muni visited Nidāgha, the son of Pulastya, twice at Vīranagara on the river Devikā. The first visit came after one thousand divine years. The second came after another thousand years. At the second visit Ṛbhu asked the famous question of the king and the elephant, and Nidāgha came to know the teaching of advaita (non-duality) in direct experience. Jaḍabharata tells it to King Rahūgaṇa.

Where the account is told

Jaḍabharata had just finished the palanquin dialogue with King Rahūgaṇa. In it he had shown that no part of the body is the “I”, and that the palanquin, its wood and its tree are a likeness for the wrong idea that the body and the ātmā (soul) are the same. Rahūgaṇa was deeply moved. He fell at Jaḍabharata’s feet and asked for moksha (liberation). Jaḍabharata answered by telling him the account of Ṛbhu and Nidāgha.

Rahūgaṇa had just been shown advaita through an everyday event, riding as a passenger in a palanquin. In the same way, Nidāgha was shown it through an everyday event, watching a royal procession.

Ṛbhu and Nidāgha

Ṛbhu Muni was a mānasa-putra (mind-born son) of the four-faced Brahmā. He had tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the truth) as his natural state. He needed no sādhana (practice), because this knowledge was his nature from birth.

He took Nidāgha, the son of Pulastya Maharshi, as his disciple. He taught him the whole amitatānanda vijñāna, the knowledge of supreme bliss. This is the teaching that advaita is the highest truth (paramārtha), and that the knowledge of Brahman is free from all deva-ādi-bheda, the divisions between kinds of beings, such as devas and others.

After this teaching, Ṛbhu was not content to rest. He wished to see with his own eyes whether Nidāgha had truly taken the teaching in, and whether advaita had passed from the mind into the direct experience of his ātmā. He decided to visit his disciple.

The first visit

Vīranagara was a lovely city on the bank of the river Devikā. Pulastya had founded and built it. It was ringed by pleasant gardens, and it was rich and well ordered. After one thousand divine years, Ṛbhu came to Nidāgha’s house.

The visit followed the rules of atithi-dharma (the duty to a guest) exactly. Nidāgha had finished the day’s vaiśvadeva rite. He welcomed Ṛbhu at the door, washed his feet, offered him a seat and had his wife prepare food. Ṛbhu asked what there was to eat. Nidāgha told him what his household had: husked grain, several dishes of vegetables and simple offerings. Ṛbhu asked for better food, and Nidāgha’s wife then cooked it. Nidāgha served Ṛbhu with full care. He stood near him in quiet attention while Ṛbhu ate.

After the meal Ṛbhu gave more tattva-upadeśa (teaching of the truth) and left. This first visit showed that Nidāgha’s devotion, discipline and conduct as a householder were faultless. But Ṛbhu was not yet sure that advaita had become Nidāgha’s lived truth.

The second visit and the royal procession

After another thousand years, Ṛbhu came back to Vīranagara. As he drew near, the city was full of celebration. A king was entering Vīranagara on a great elephant, with his retinue, with music and with crowds. Nidāgha had placed himself outside the crowd, apart from it. He held samidha (sticks for the fire) and darbha grass, which are materials for ritual, and his throat was dry from fasting.

Ṛbhu came to the place where Nidāgha stood. He greeted him with respect and asked why he stood apart. Nidāgha answered that the great king was entering the city with a huge retinue, and that he was keeping away from the crowd.

Ṛbhu then asked the first question: “I see the celebration, but I see everyone together. Who is the king among all these people?”

Nidāgha pointed to the one on the elephant: “The one on top, seated on the great elephant, is the king. The others are his retinue.”

Ṛbhu pressed him: “You have shown them to me together, as one: one on top and one below. You have not shown me each one separately. Which is the elephant? Which is the king?”

Nidāgha explained what seemed plain: “The one below, who carries, is the elephant. The one above, who is carried, is the king. The relation of the one who carries and the one who is carried is known to everyone. Who does not know this?”

Ṛbhu said: “I do not fully understand. Please show me plainly which is above and which is below.”

Then the two took the places of the king and the elephant, one above and one below. And Ṛbhu asked: “Now you are above, as the king. I am below, as the elephant. In this arrangement, who are you? Who am I?”

Recognition and moksha

That question struck Nidāgha deeply. It was asked by his guru while the guru was acting out the very example used to explain it. The plain difference of king and elephant, above and below, carried and carrier, had just been used by the guru to make the opposite point. In the one non-dual ātmā, who is the one who tells apart? Who is “above” and who is “below”?

Nidāgha came down and bowed at Ṛbhu’s feet. He said: “You are my guru, Ṛbhu Maharshi. No mind but one formed by the saṃskāra (inner training) of advaita could have turned the example itself into the undoing of the example. I know you.”

Ṛbhu gave his name and said:

“Nidāgha, I am indeed Ṛbhu. I came before out of guru-sneha (the love of a teacher for his disciple) to give you this teaching of advaita. I have come now again out of the same love. What I have now told you, in short, is the highest truth: advaita is the essence, knowledge free from all divisions of kinds of beings such as devas. That alone is moksha.”

With this, Ṛbhu left.

Nidāgha took in the teaching not only as words but as direct experience. The Purāṇa says that he reached advaita-nishṭhā, firm and unshaken footing in non-dual awareness. He saw all beings as not different from himself (sarva-bhūtāni ātmanaḥ abhinnāni paśyati). Absorbed in Brahman (brahma-para), he reached mukti (liberation).

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 15 (the setting, Ṛbhu and Nidāgha, the first visit)
• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 16 (the second visit, the recognition and Nidāgha’s moksha)