Bhartṛyajña
Bhartṛyajña · bhartṛ-yajña
Bhartṛyajña was a brāhmaṇa who lived at the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama, the holy meeting of the river Mahī with the western sea. He gave himself to the worship of the svayambhū (self-manifested) Mahākāla liṅga at that tīrtha (holy place).
He was the rebirth of the great ṛshi Yājñavalkya, author of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad and receiver of the Śukla Yajurveda. Yājñavalkya had been cursed to be born in a family of low standing (kulādhama) because he once spoke harshly and with contempt (parusha-vākya) to a mongoose. Bhartṛyajña was born with jātishmara (memory of his past life). He went to the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama and did pūjā to the Mahākāla liṅga with steady śraddhā (faith). Slowly he freed himself from the śāpa of low birth, as a snake sheds its old skin.
He was at Mahīsāgara when Indradyumna, Mārkaṇḍeya and the four cursed animals arrived. He taught them the full tīrtha-māhātmya (greatness of the holy place) and the Śataraudrīya-liṅga-māhātmya (greatness of the liṅgas of the Śataraudrīya).
Previous birth: Yājñavalkya and the curse
In his earlier birth Bhartṛyajña was the famous ṛshi Yājñavalkya. He was one of the greatest ṛshis of the Vedic tradition. He was the author of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad, and he received the Śukla Yajurveda directly from Bhagavān Sūrya. He was at his āśrama (hermitage) in the city of Mithilā with his wife Gārgī when a nakula (mongoose) wandered in.
Yājñavalkya said casually to Gārgī: “Gārgī! This nakula is coming. Be careful of the milk. Drive this nakula away.”
The mongoose stopped. In its past lives it had been cursed by Jamadagni’s ancestors. Through those lives of suffering it had gained an awareness of dharma, like that of one who remembers past lives. It heard the dismissive, scornful way in which “nakula” was used, treating it as a mere pest, and it was deeply hurt. It turned and gave a remarkable talk on the adharma (wrong) of parusha-vākya:
“O muni! You think that because you are of good birth and are learned, you may call me ‘nakula’ with scorn. In which Veda or Smṛti is it written that one should call another creature by its species name in a scornful way? Know this: harsh words spoken to others become like arrow-shafts. They enter the heart. Yama’s servants drive iron stakes into the ears of one who speaks so. A harsh word is equal to the vajra (thunderbolt), to a poisoned blade, to the kālakūṭa poison, to death itself. An arrow stuck in the ear can be pulled out. But the shaft of a harsh word cannot be pulled out. It sleeps in the heart forever.”
Yājñavalkya felt true remorse. He folded his hands and made a full apology. He admitted that even the most learned can fall through jñāna-mada (pride in knowledge). He said: “I was reading the teaching of the Gṛhyakāra that one should not call another by a scornful name, and I failed to live by what I was reading. I recite that a paṇḍita’s words should be gentle, yet I used them carelessly.”
The mongoose was not satisfied: “Your apology does not undo the harm. I curse you. Because you called me ‘nakula’, you yourself will be born in a low family, a degraded birth, as the fruit of these harsh words.”
Yājñavalkya accepted the śāpa. He was reborn as Bhartṛyajña in a brāhmaṇa family of low standing (kulādhama) (Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13).
Birth as Bhartṛyajña and the journey to Mahīsāgara
Bhartṛyajña was born with jātishmara, the memory of his past life as Yājñavalkya. So he understood at once what had happened. He did not mourn his low birth. He used the wisdom of his past life.
He saw that the only cure for the fault of birth (kula-dosha) was the power of liṅga worship of Bhagavān Śiva. He knew the teaching of the Purāṇas: “One who worships the Mahākāla liṅga with śraddhā sheds all the faults of low birth, however many births they have gathered, just as a snake sheds its old skin and comes out renewed.” So Bhartṛyajña made his way to the hidden holy place (gupta-kshetra) of the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama.
There a Mahākāla liṅga had appeared by itself (svayambhū). Bhartṛyajña became its devoted worshipper, with unbroken daily practice, with śraddhā, and with all the rules of proper pūjā (Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13).
Slow freedom from the curse
The Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa describes his freedom with this comparison: “Just as a snake sheds its skin, the old outer covering dissolving while the living being within stays, so through the power of Mahākāla liṅga worship the faults of low birth slowly dissolved, while the ātmā’s gathered purity stayed and grew.”
The teaching here is that Śivaliṅga worship works wholly apart from family, line or earlier circumstances. Even after a hundred births of fault, worship of this liṅga removes all of it. This is the śivaliṅga-mahimā (the glory of the Śivaliṅga), the power that belongs especially to the Mahākāla liṅga at the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama (Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13).
Teaching Indradyumna’s group
A group led by Indradyumna came to the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama. With him were Mārkaṇḍeya, the crane Nāḍījaṅgha, the owl Prākārakarṇa, the Garuḍa Kuśadhvaja and the tortoise Jayadata. Saṃvarta Muni had sent them there. Bhartṛyajña received them.
He knew them to be divine beings, the gaṇas (attendants) of Bhagavān Śiva in their various cursed forms. He welcomed them. He said that their coming to this hidden holy place was itself the fruit of great puṇya (merit).
Then he taught them two things:
- The full tīrtha-māhātmya: the merit of bathing and giving dāna (gifts) at the Mahīsāgara Saṅgama, explained through the five coastal tīrthas of the region.
- The Śataraudrīya-liṅga-māhātmya: the glory of all the liṅgas worshipped by different beings across the three worlds.
His main teaching was this. Dharma, artha, kāma and moksha can all be gained by worshipping Bhagavān Śiva. One who recites the Śataraudrīya every day at dawn receives every vara (boon) by the grace of Bhagavān Śiva (Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13).
The Babbru-tīrtha
The tīrtha where Yājñavalkya met the mongoose was named Babbru-tīrtha, from babbru, the word for a mongoose, in lasting memory of the episode. The name holds the teaching: careless speech harms, and the liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva heals what words have damaged. Anyone who visits the place hears the story and learns what follows from parusha-vākya.
Sources
- Skanda Purāṇa, Māheśvara Khaṇḍa, Kaumārikā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 13