Gauramukha at Naimiśa
Gauramukha · gaura-mukha, “the fair-faced one”
Gauramukha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Gauramukha.
Gauramukha (“white-faced”) was a brāhmaṇa ṛshi of the Bhṛgu lineage. The Varāha Purāṇa tells how his prayer to Bhagavān Vishṇu fed a whole army, how Bhagavān Vishṇu’s Sudarśana cakra destroyed that army, and how the forest was named Naimishāraṇya. It also tells how Gauramukha later learned the rites for the ancestors from Mārkaṇḍeya, was shown his past births, and in the end reached parinirvāṇa.
The ṛshi Gauramukha
Gauramukha lived in a forest āśrama (hermitage). The āśrama was known for:
- pure waters and sweet-smelling flowering trees;
- the visits of deva-women, whose footprints could be seen;
- students who recited the Vedas without stopping;
- yajña fires that drove out adharma like lions.
He protected the company of ṛshis. He also purified those who had done pāpa (sin).
The king arrives (Chapters 10–11)
King Durjaya had conquered all of Jambūdvīpa. He camped his army on the mountain Gandhamādana. While he looked over the forest, he came upon Gauramukha’s āśrama.
Durjaya’s army numbered five akshauhiṇīs, a huge force. Even so, Gauramukha promised him hospitality. He worried how to feed so many. So he meditated on Nārāyaṇa and composed a stotra.
Gauramukha’s stotra to Bhagavān Vishṇu
“O one wearing golden garments, namaskāra always. O one of the first form, O one whose form is jala (water), I bow to you.”
“O one who lives in all things, O one who sleeps in jala, O one who appears in the form of bhūmi (earth) and of agni (fire), I bow to you.”
“O one whose form is vāyu (air) and ākāśa (space), I bow to you. Prabhu Vishṇu! You are the deva of all bhūtas (beings). You live in their hearts.”
“You are Oṃkāra and Vashaṭkāra. You live rightly in all things. You are first among all the devas. You have no beginning.”
“Bhūloka, Bhuvarloka, Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka, Satyaloka: you are these. All the caracara bhūtas (moving and unmoving beings) stand in you.”
“This whole universe is formed from you. All the Vedas arise from you. All the śāstras are born of you. All yajñas stand in you.”
“O Janārdana, trees, plants and herbs are all born from you. Animals, birds and serpents are all formed from you.”
“Deva-deva! Prabhu Vishṇu! This king Durjaya has come to me as an abhyāgata (an honoured guest). I wish to give him a feast.”
“Jagatpati! Deva-deva! I have no wealth. I am your devotee, bound by bhakti. Give me food and the means to serve. Do not delay.”
“Whatever I touch with my hand, whatever I see with my eye, whether tree, blade of grass or root, let it become food of four kinds (bhakshya, bhojya, lehya, coshya).”
“O Parameśvara! Whatever else I think of in my mind, may all of it come to me at once.”
Bhagavān Vishṇu’s answer
Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared. He gave Gauramukha a cintāmaṇi (a wish-fulfilling gem) and promised him success. Gauramukha placed the gem in the fire-hall, and at once it brought forth:
- a palace of a hundred storeys;
- thousands of divine women servants;
- heaps of food of all four kinds;
- golden serving vessels.
The whole army of Durjaya, with its horses, elephants and men, was fed, bathed, clothed and entertained all night.
The next morning: greed wakes
In the morning everything vanished. Durjaya was full of desire for the gem. He sent his minister Virocana first, and then the vassal king Nīla with an army, to take it by force.
The battle with the warriors of the gem
When Nīla reached for the gem, fifteen warriors burst out of it. Each had a chariot, a banner, horses, a bow and a quiver. A fierce battle began. The asura-fathers Heta and Praheta joined in, and the battle grew fiercer. Gauramukha sat at the gate of his āśrama and meditated on Hari.
Sudarśana and the naming of Naimiśa
Bhagavān Vishṇu came on Garuḍa. At Gauramukha’s prayer, he sent out the Sudarśana cakra. It burned the whole army to ash in one nimesha (the blink of an eye). Bhagavān Vishṇu declared that the forest would from then on be called Naimishāraṇya, and that he would live there always.
Gauramukha’s continuing tapas (Chapter 13)
Gauramukha then went to Prabhāsa soma-tīrtha and did pūjā to Bhagavān Vishṇu there. At that tīrtha Bhagavān Vishṇu is called “Daitya-saṃhāraka”. The great ṛshi Mārkaṇḍeya came there.
Mārkaṇḍeya’s teaching
Mārkaṇḍeya taught Gauramukha the whole system of the Pitṛ devatās (Chapter 13). He taught their kinds, their origins, the varṇa given to each, and the right timing of śrāddha. He also taught the full śrāddha procedure (Chapter 14).
Gauramukha’s past births (Chapter 15)
After he heard the system of śrāddha, Gauramukha received the memory of a hundred past lives. Mārkaṇḍeya was of the Bhṛgu lineage, and Gauramukha too was of that same lineage. The word of Brahmā, “sons will uplift you through their teachings”, was now coming true.
Gauramukha was a Bhṛgu-vaṃśa brāhmaṇa. His birth as Gauramukha was the high point of many earlier lives.
The Daśāvatāra stotra and moksha (Chapter 15)
For twelve years Gauramukha performed pitṛ-yajña (worship of the ancestors). Then at Prabhāsa he composed the great Daśāvatāra stotra. Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before him. Gauramukha saw the Paramātmā through unshaken ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self). He left his body and merged into the eternal paratattva (the highest reality). In this way he reached parinirvāṇa.
Sources
- Varāha Purāṇa, Chapters 11–15 (the arrival of King Durjaya is placed in Chapters 10–11)