Asita Devala
Asita Devala, simply known as Asita Devala, Sanskrit: असित देवल, Telugu: అసిత దేవలుడు, Hindi: असित देवल.
Asita Devala was a gṛhastha (householder) maharshi (great ṛshi) of great discipline. He kept his āśrama (hermitage) near the Āditya-tīrtha on the Sarasvatī. The Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50, tells how he met the great yogin Jaigīshavya. Devala was amazed by Jaigīshavya’s yogic powers, which reached everywhere. After years of trying to understand them, he gave up and asked for teaching. He received the teaching of mokshadharma (the way of liberation) and in the end reached the paramapada (the highest state).
He appears in other parvas of the Mahābhārata too, as a questioner, a teacher and a witness.
His character
Asita Devala was known for samabhāva, perfect evenness of mind. He:
- never raised a staff in anger against anyone;
- treated gold and clods of earth as the same;
- felt no difference between praise and blame;
- kept the highest standard of brahmacarya (celibate discipline);
- faithfully worshipped the devas and the pitṛs (departed ancestors);
- lived as a householder, but with the discipline of a renunciant.
He was also a parivrājaka, one who wanders. The Śalya Parva describes him this way.
The meeting with Jaigīshavya (Śalya Parva, Chapter 50)
The wandering yogin Jaigīshavya came to Devala’s āśrama as a bhikshu (beggar monk). He settled there and stayed silent. For years he lived in the āśrama without saying a word.
Devala became curious, and then determined to understand this strange silent guest. He flew to the ocean with his water pot. There he found Jaigīshavya already present, his bath finished. Devala came back to the āśrama, and Jaigīshavya was there as well. Devala then flew through many lokas (worlds): the world of the devas, the world of the pitṛs, the worlds of those who perform yajñas (fire rituals), Mitra-Varuṇa-loka, Āditya-loka, Rudra-loka, Vasu-loka, Bṛhaspati-loka and Goloka. He even tried to reach Brahmaloka. In every world he found Jaigīshavya already there.
Devala could not understand this with his own limited powers, so he gave in. He came to Jaigīshavya with folded hands and said he wished to learn mokshadharma. Jaigīshavya agreed. He taught Devala the highest yoga and the path of liberation.
The pitṛs, the plants and the beings who depended on Devala all wept when he prepared to leave the householder life. He had to overcome their grief. He held to his resolve and reached the paramapada.
The Jaigīshavya–Asita dialogue (Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 229)
In the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 229, Asita Devala appears again. This dialogue is separate from the Śalya Parva account. Here Asita Devala asks Jaigīshavya about his remarkable evenness of mind. He notices that Jaigīshavya is not glad when praised and not angry when insulted. He asks: “What is the nature of this prajñā (wisdom)? From where did it arise? What is its parā-gati (highest goal)?”
Jaigīshavya answers with a full teaching on the dharma of the sthita-prajña (one whose wisdom is steady). It includes these points:
- keeping the inner life hidden;
- not striking back at those who do harm;
- living from moment to moment, without clinging to the past or the future;
- samabhāva toward all beings;
- treating insult as amṛta (nectar) and honour as visha (poison);
- cutting the hṛdaya-granthi (knot of the heart), so as to move freely toward brahma-tattva (the truth of Brahman).
The Nārada–Asita dialogue (Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 275)
In the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 275, Asita Devala is the teacher in the Nārada–Asita Saṃvāda. Nārada finds the aged Asita Devala sitting in contemplation. Nārada asks a question about the whole universe. From where are all moving and unmoving beings created, and into what do they dissolve at pralaya (the dissolution)?
Asita Devala answers with the five mahābhūtas (great elements): water, space, earth, wind and fire. He adds kāla (time) as the sixth. These six are śāśvata (eternal), acala (unchanging) and dhruva (fixed). They are the basic parts of everything that exists. Each part of the body matches one of them. The body itself comes from earth. Hearing comes from ākāśa (space). Sight comes from the principle of Sūrya. Prāṇa (life breath) comes from vāyu (wind). Blood comes from water. At death each part goes back to its source.
The teaching ends with this point: nothing beyond these six can be established by pramāṇa (valid proof) or yukti (reasoning). The body is a gathering of bhūtas, not the ātman (self). Seeing this removes deha-abhimāna (taking the body to be oneself), which is the root of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death).
Dharma restored after Indra’s curse (Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 18)
In the Anuśāsana Parva, in the chapter that praises the thousand names of Bhagavān Śiva (Chapter 18), Asita Devala speaks to Yudhishṭhira. He says his dharma was once destroyed by Indra’s śāpa (a curse). A commentary on the passage says this śāpa came from a wrong reading of the dharmaśāstra that made Indra angry. Asita Devala prayed, and Śaṅkara, who is able to do all things, gave him back his dharma. Śaṅkara also gave him supreme fame (uttama-yaśas) and a long life.
Present at Bhīshma’s departure (Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapter 167)
Asita Devala is found sitting beside Bhīshma at Kurukshetra, together with Vyāsa and Nārada. This is when Yudhishṭhira came back, fifty-eight nights after Bhīshma fell, to receive his last teaching. Asita Devala saw Bhīshma draw his prāṇa up through the cakras of the body and rise as a great light.
Present at Dhṛtarāshṭra’s tapovana (Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20)
Under the name Devala, Asita Devala came with Nārada and Parvata to see Dhṛtarāshṭra. They met at the āśrama of the rājarshi (royal seer) Śatayūpa, near Kurukshetra. Vyāsa and other siddhas were already there. Devala was in the assembly when Nārada told of ancient kings who had reached svarga (heaven) through tapas in that forest. He was also there when Śatayūpa pressed Nārada, and Nārada foretold Dhṛtarāshṭra’s own coming gati (destination).
Named in the Aśvamedhika Parva
The Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 91, names Asita (Devala) in its teaching on hiṃsā (harm) and dharma. He is among the rājarshis and munis who reached parama-siddhi (the highest perfection) through tapas and through dāna (gifts) given truthfully. He is listed with Viśvāmitra, Janaka, Kakshasena, Ārshisheṇa and Sindhudvīpa.
Reciter of the Mahābhārata among the pitṛs
The Harivaṃśa appendix of the Svargārohaṇa Parva (the Mahābhārata Śravaṇa Mahimā, on the rite of hearing the Mahābhārata) names Asita Devala. He is the ṛshi appointed to recite the Bhārata among the pitṛs, the departed ancestors. Nārada proclaims it among the devas. Śuka proclaims it among the yakshas and rākshasas. Vaiśampāyana proclaims it among human beings.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, Chapter 50
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 229
- Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 275
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 18
- Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīshma Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 167–168
- Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 20
- Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 91
- Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Harivaṃśa Appendix (Mahābhārata Śravaṇa Mahimā)