Khāṭvāṅga Mahārāja

Khāṭvāṅga Mahārāja was a great king. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa holds him up as the finest example of moksha (liberation) reached in a single muhūrta, a short span of time of about forty-eight minutes.

He had fought for the devas and was offered any vara (boon) he wished. He asked only how much of his life remained. He was told it was one muhūrta. He at once gave up attachment to everything and fixed his whole being on Bhagavān Vishṇu, who is also called Śrī Hari. In that one muhūrta he reached moksha.

The background

Khāṭvāṅga was a king of great power who kept dharma. The devas were fighting the asuras and asked him for help, and he fought on their side. His strength and his part in the battle were so great that the devas were more than pleased. They offered to grant him any vara he wished.

Another king might have asked for a long life, rule over the worlds or the pleasures of svarga (heaven). Khāṭvāṅga asked one question:

“How much time is left in my life?”

The devas answered:

“Only one muhūrta.”

The renunciation

When he heard this, Khāṭvāṅga did not grieve. He did not ask for the vara to be changed. He did not bargain for more time. He came down from svarga, and in that one muhūrta he gave up everything.

He gave up his attachment to:

• his body, the tool he had used all his life;
• his senses and their pleasures;
• his kingdom and its rule;
• his family and his line;
• his ties with the devas themselves;
• the three worlds (svarga, the earth and the realms between) and everything that could be wished for in them.

He fixed his mind wholly on the ātman, and through the ātman on Bhagavān Vāsudeva, who is the one shelter (āśraya) of all. He held back nothing, so there was nothing left for saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) to hold. At the end of that muhūrta, Khāṭvāṅga reached moksha.

What Śuka Maharshi teaches through him

Śuka Maharshi tells Khāṭvāṅga’s story when he answers Parīkshit Mahārāja. Parīkshit had been put under a śāpa (a curse) to die in seven days. He asked what a person should do when death is certain. Śuka gives Khāṭvāṅga as the model. This is what one does when one’s time is short. It is not lament, not hurried ritual and not long argument. It is the full giving up of all attachment.

The Bhāgavata makes two points through this story:

1. The length of time is not what matters. Moksha does not depend on decades of practice. One muhūrta of complete vairāgya (dispassion) and śaraṇāgati (surrender) is enough. What has gathered over many lives can be dissolved in one moment of true surrender.
2. Completeness is what matters. Khāṭvāṅga’s one muhūrta was enough because his giving up was total. He kept not one attachment. He let go even of his tie with the devas, the highest of worldly honours, without delay.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 2nd Skandha, Chapter 1