Nidāgha

Nidāgha was a son of Pulastya Maharshi and a disciple of Ṛbhu Muni, who is called a son of Brahmā. He received the highest advaita teaching from his guru. He lived in Vīranagara, a beautiful city built by Pulastya on the banks of the river Devikā.

Ṛbhu came to him twice, after vast spans of time. The first visit gave tattva-upadeśa (teaching on the truth). The second brought direct experience through the well-known question about an elephant and a king. After this Nidāgha held firmly to advaita-nishṭhā (steadiness in non-duality). He saw all beings as not different from himself and reached final moksha (liberation), called brahma-sāyujya (union with Brahman).

His account is told as an inner teaching within the Jaḍabharata Upākhyāna of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa.

Lineage and background

Nidāgha was the son of Pulastya Maharshi, one of the great Prajāpatis and a mind-born son of Brahmā. Pulastya is the father of the line of the rākshasas, through Viśravas and the line of Rāvaṇa. Yet Pulastya himself is a great ṛshi. He built the city of Vīranagara on the banks of the Devikā. It was beautiful and well planned, and was surrounded by pleasant gardens. It was a fitting place for a householder ṛshi who was also a disciple.

Nidāgha became Ṛbhu’s śishya (disciple) and received the highest jñāna (knowledge) from him. The Purāṇa shows him as a sincere disciple whose understanding was not in doubt. The question that Ṛbhu’s visits answer is whether the teaching had moved from understanding in the mind to ātma-siddha, being settled as direct experience.

This is in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 15.

The welcome for Ṛbhu

Ṛbhu arrived at Vīranagara after one thousand divine years. Nidāgha was finishing his daily vaiśvadeva ritual. He welcomed his guru at the threshold with full propriety. He washed his feet, offered him an honoured seat and arranged for food. His wife cooked and served whatever the house had. Nidāgha stood near his guru as he ate, with joined palms, attentive and still. He showed the marks of a true disciple. He did not press the guru for notice, and he did not seek approval too soon.

Ṛbhu gave more upadeśa (teaching) after the meal, and Nidāgha listened closely. The first visit showed that Nidāgha’s devotion and conduct were faultless. It did not yet show that advaita had become his living experience.

This is in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 15.

The elephant and the king

After another thousand years, Ṛbhu returned to Vīranagara. He found Nidāgha standing alone outside the city, at a distance from a festive royal procession. Nidāgha was fasting and held sacred grass and fuel. Ṛbhu came near, bowed and spoke with him.

Ṛbhu asked how to tell which one in the procession was the king. Nidāgha explained that the one seated on the great elephant, raised up and carried, is the king. The elephant below, which carries him, is the vāhya, the one carried upon. To Nidāgha the difference between the carrier and the one carried (vāhya-vāhaka) seemed quite plain and clear.

Ṛbhu then asked him to show it. Nidāgha climbed onto Ṛbhu’s back as a plain example. And Ṛbhu asked: “Now that you are above and I am below, you like the king and I like the elephant, who are you? Who am I?”

At that moment the puzzle pierced through the layer of understanding in Nidāgha’s jñāna. The very ideas of “above” and “below”, of “king” and “bearer”, of “I” and “you” fell away. He came down, bowed at Ṛbhu’s feet and knew his guru. He declared that only Ṛbhu’s advaita-saṃskāra (inner training in non-duality) could have turned the example into a teaching that wiped out the example itself.

This is in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 16.

Moksha

Ṛbhu confirmed that advaita is the paramārtha-sāra (the essence of the highest truth). It is knowledge free of every difference between deva, human, animal or plant. After this, Ṛbhu went away. Nidāgha then entered the state that the Purāṇa describes in these words:

sarva-bhūtāni ātmanaḥ abhinnāni paśyati

He saw all beings as not different from himself. He was wholly absorbed in Brahman (brahma-para) and free from any sense of being apart. He reached final moksha.

The Purāṇa adds that anyone who hears the Bharata-Nṛpa sāra-carita (the essential account of the Bharata kings) told as Nidāgha heard it, with faith and devotion, gains purity of mind and freedom from ātma-moha (self-delusion), and becomes fit for mukti (liberation).

This is in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapter 16.

Place in the Dvitīyāṃśa

Jaḍabharata tells the account of Nidāgha to Rahūgaṇa. This is at the moment when Rahūgaṇa has just been changed by the palanquin dialogue and is asking for teaching on moksha. The outer dialogue, the palanquin, teaches the difference between the ātmā and the body (ātman-body viveka). The inner account, the elephant and the king, teaches advaita-dṛshṭi (the view of non-duality). Nidāgha’s moksha mirrors what Rahūgaṇa is about to reach.

This is in the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapters 15–16.

Sources

• Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Dvitīyāṃśa, Chapters 15–16