Śukadeva

Śukadeva, simply known as Shukadeva, Sanskrit: शुकदेव, Telugu: శుకదేవుడు, Hindi: शुकदेव.

Śukadeva Gosvāmī is also called Śuka Maharshi and Śukabrahmam. He is the son of Veda Vyāsa and the chief narrator of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. He was a brahma-jñānī (knower of Brahman). The tradition says that he knew the ātmā even in his mother’s womb and refused to be born for twelve years. When he came out, he was a complete jñānī (knower) who saw no difference between things.

He learned the Bhāgavatam from his father. This was not from any leftover ignorance. The sweetness of Bhagavān Hari’s qualities draws even those who rest in the ātmā. He told the whole Bhāgavatam to the dying King Parīkshit over seven days on the bank of the Gaṅgā, and Parīkshit reached moksha (liberation).

His nature and appearance

Śuka did not give up the world, because he was born free of it. He never had the upanayana (sacred thread rite) and had no family life. He wandered alone through forests and towns, looking like a child or a madman, and was not tied to any role or name. When he walked through a forest, the trees answered him. When Vyāsa called out “O son!” behind him, the trees replied, because Śuka’s ātmā filled all beings.

One event shows his equal vision. Śuka walked naked through a forest, and a group of apsarās who were bathing were not disturbed. When Vyāsa, who was clothed, followed him, they covered themselves. Vyāsa asked why. The apsarās said: “Your gaze sees the difference between man and woman. Your son’s gaze sees only the ātmā in all.” This is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapter 4.

Śuka was a jñānī who had gone beyond all granthis (the knots of ego). Yet he was drawn to the Bhāgavatam. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa gives the reason: the qualities of Bhagavān Hari have a sarvākarshaka mādhurya (all-attracting sweetness) that even those who rest in the ātmā cannot resist. The ātma-nishṭha sants (saints) who practise Hari-bhakti do so not from ignorance but from the natural pull of Bhagavān Hari’s qualities. This is told in the 1st Skanda, Chapter 7.

When he came to Parīkshit’s prāyopaveśa gathering (the fast until death), he looked remarkable. He seemed sixteen years old and beautiful in every limb. His skin was dark and he was naked. His loose hair fell over his face, and his long arms reached his knees. He shone like Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. Women and children who had followed him out of curiosity turned back when he entered the assembly. This is told in the 1st Skanda, Chapter 19.

The Bhāgavatam told to Parīkshit

King Parīkshit sat in prāyopaveśa on the southern bank of the Gaṅgā. Around him were the greatest ṛshis: Atri, Vasishṭha, Viśvāmitra, Parāśara, Bharadvāja, Gautama, Nārada, and Vyāsa himself. Śuka came there as if by the will of Bhagavān Hari. The ṛshis stood up to receive him, and Parīkshit gave him the highest honour and his own seat.

Parīkshit asked Śuka the great question: “What should a dying person do? Whom should he hear? Whom should he worship? Whom should he remember? What should he give up?” Śuka knew this was the right question at the right time. He gave a one-sentence answer that holds the whole Bhāgavatam: “One should always hear, chant, remember and serve Bhagavān Mukunda with an undivided heart.” He then told the whole Bhāgavatam over seven days.

During the telling, Parīkshit reached moksha and merged into the abode of Bhagavān Hari. This is told in the 1st Skanda, Chapter 19.

The Bhāgavatam as the fruit of the kalpavṛksha

The opening verse of the Bhāgavatam compares the text to a ripe fruit. It fell from the Vedic kalpavṛksha (wish-fulfilling tree) through Śuka’s mouth. It is like a fruit bitten by a parrot (śuka), which is sweeter for the bite. The text itself says: “This Bhāgavatam, full of the rasa (taste) of the highest bliss, has come down to earth from the Vedic kalpavṛksha through the mouth of Śuka Maharshi. O lovers of rasa! Taste this fruit again and again until liberation is reached.” This is told in the 1st Skanda, Chapter 1.

His birth in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa

The Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 58, called Śuka-pralobhanam, gives a detailed account of Śuka’s birth and early life.

Vyāsa’s tapas for a son

Vyāsa Maharshi, the son of Satyavatī, did hard tapas (austerity) on the top of Meru in the Karṇikāra forest, where Mahādeva and Pārvatī lived. He wanted a son as pure and bright as the five elements together: fire, air, earth, water and ākāśa (space). He ate only air and did tapas for a hundred years, worshipping Śaṅkara. In that forest were all the brahmarshis, devarshis, lokapālas, sādhyas, the eight Vasus, the Ādityas, the Rudras, Sūrya and Candra, Viśvāvasu, the Gandharvas, the Siddhas and the groups of apsarās.

Śiva’s vara

Mahādeva was pleased with Vyāsa’s tapas and appeared before him. He gave this vara (a boon): “A son as pure as the five elements together, with a divine tejas (radiance), will be born to you. Through your tādātmya (oneness) with him, you will become famous in the three worlds by his tejas.”

Birth from the araṇi

Vyāsa began the fire ritual and started to kindle the araṇi (fire-stick). At that moment he saw the apsarā Ghṛtācī in her dazzling form. Desire overcame him, and then he steadied himself with great effort. His seed (vīrya) fell on the araṇi itself. As the araṇi was churned, Śuka Maharshi was born from it, a great tapasvin (one who does tapas) and a great mahāyogī.

The welcome from the devas

At Śuka’s birth the Gaṅgā herself took human form, came to the top of Meru, and bathed the newborn. A kṛshṇājina (black deer-skin) fell from the sky for him. The Gandharvas sang, the apsarās danced, and the divine dundubhis (drums) thundered. The Gandharva Viśvāvasu, Tumburu and Nārada, with Hāhā and Hūhū, sang his praises. The lokapālas came, and so did the devas, devarshis and brahmarshis. Vāyu rained all the divine flowers. All the world, both sthāvara and jaṅgama (the unmoving and the moving), was glad.

The upanayana by Śiva

Mahādeva himself came at once with Pārvatī at his side and performed Śuka’s upanayana. Indra gave him a divine kamaṇḍalu (water pot). The devas gave him clothes. Birds went around him in respect: swans, cakravākas, sārasas and parrots.

Education

The Vedas, with their aṅgas and secrets, came to Śuka by themselves at birth, as they had come to his father Vyāsa. Śuka then formally studied all the Vedas, all the Vedāṅgas, all the śāstras, the yogaśāstra and the Kāpila-śāstra, under Bṛhaspati and Vyāsa. Even as a child he was honoured by the devas and ṛshis, and his jñāna and tapas were greater than theirs. Yet his mind found no rest in the āśrama.

The search for moksha

Śuka Maharshi thought about the four āśramas and moksha-dharma and went to his father for guidance. Vyāsa sent him to King Janaka of Mithilā as the best teacher of moksha-dharma. This led to the dialogue between Śuka and Janaka.

This account is in the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 58–60.

The Devī Bhāgavata account: marriage, family and moksha

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa gives details of the later part of Śuka’s life that the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa does not give.

His marriage to Pīvarī

Śuka finished his long talk with King Janaka on jñāna and moksha-dharma and returned to his father Vyāsa. He was then persuaded to enter the gṛhastha-āśrama (the householder stage). He married Pīvarī, a virtuous woman, and they lived together as householders. Śuka and Pīvarī had four sons and one daughter:

• Kṛshṇa
• Gauraprabhu
• Bhūri
• Devaśrutha
• their daughter Kīrti, who was given in marriage to Brahmadatta, the son of Anūhu

This is told in the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 1, Chapters 18–19.

His moksha from Kailāsa

After his years as a householder, Śuka’s inner detachment grew deeper than any tie. He told Vyāsa that he meant to leave the world and rise to final liberation. Vyāsa was full of grief at the thought of losing his son, but he could not stop him.

Śuka went to Kailāsa, the abode of Mahādeva, and from there he rose and merged into the ātmā. Vyāsa cried out in grief behind him, “O son! (Putra!)”. It was not Śuka who answered, but the trees, the rocks and all beings of nature who echoed the cry, because Śuka’s ātmā filled all creation.

Bhagavān Śiva comforted Vyāsa. He taught that the ātmā of a jñānī fills the whole world, that “son” and “father” are made by ajñāna (ignorance), and that Śuka had reached the highest state, from which there is no return.

This is told in the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 1, Chapters 19–20.

The Śukānupraśna in the Mahābhārata

The Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva (Chapters 231–254) holds a long series of teachings that Vyāsa gave to Śuka. It is called the Śukānupraśna, “the further questions of Śuka”. It is the Mahābhārata’s longest account of the teaching between Vyāsa and Śuka, and it covers a very wide range of moksha-dharma subjects.

The form. Śuka asks and Vyāsa answers in a long dialogue. Śuka’s questions come out of the great jñāna he already has. He does not ask from ignorance. He asks because he wants to hear the tradition’s authoritative statements of truths he has already seen directly.

The yugas and cosmic time (Chapter 231). Śuka asks Vyāsa about the length of the yugas, Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali, and the marks of each. Vyāsa teaches the exact measures of the yugas and the conditions of dharma in each age.

Creation and dissolution (Chapters 232–233). Vyāsa teaches the order of creation. It goes from Paramātmā to mahat, ahaṅkāra, the five tanmātras and the five mahābhūtas. He then teaches the matching order of dissolution, in which each element goes back into its cause. These chapters give the full Sāṅkhya-Vedānta account of creation and dissolution.

The four āśramas (Chapters 243–245). Vyāsa explains the dharma of each āśrama in detail. The brahmacārī keeps the discipline of Vedic study. The gṛhastha has duties toward the pitṛs, guests and devas. The vānaprastha withdraws from the household fires. The sannyāsī gives up everything. Each āśrama is shown to have its own path to brahma-prāpti (reaching Brahman).

The kāma-vṛksha (Chapter 254). Vyāsa describes the cosmos as a mysterious wish-fulfilling tree, the kāma-vṛksha. Its nature, branches, roots and fruits are each tied to different tattvas and states of experience. The teaching ends with the way to cut down this tree of saṃsāra through jñāna and to know the ātmā that is its ground.

The Śukotpatti: birth in the Mahābhārata

The Mokshadharma Parva (Chapters 323–325) holds the Śukotpatti, the full account of Śuka’s birth. Bhīshma tells it to Yudhishṭhira. It answers how Śuka reached the highest siddhi (perfection) so fully, and why his jñāna seemed born in him rather than learned.

Vyāsa’s tapas on Meru. Kṛshṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa was doing tapas on the slopes of Mount Meru, in the karṇikāra forests. Mahādeva and Pārvatī were on the same mountain. Vyāsa was deep in yoga and wanted a son equal to Mahādeva himself in tapas, jñāna and spiritual power. Mahādeva was pleased and gave this vara.

Birth from a pṛshatī. A pṛshatī (a female deer grazing on the slopes of Meru) happened to be within hearing when Vyāsa spoke his sacred mantra during the araṇi-churning rite. Through her open ears the deer took in the sound of the mantra together with the force of Vyāsa’s tapas. Śuka was born from the pṛshatī, outside a human womb. He was carried by a forest animal and born of the mountain and the sacred word.

Born enlightened. Śuka came into the world already in the state of knowing Brahman. He was nirbhaya (fearless) from birth and needed no sequence of āśramas and no tapas of his own. His highest siddhi was not gained. It was his very nature from birth, backed by Mahādeva’s vara and the tapas of many earlier lives.

Vyāsa’s teaching. Although Śuka knew Brahman by birth, Vyāsa gave him full Vedādhyayana (study of the Vedas), so that the formal tradition would be passed on through him. When this was done, Śuka received Vyāsa’s anuśāsana (instruction) and was sent out to move freely through the world.

The Śuka-Janaka Saṃvāda

The Śuka-Janaka Saṃvāda (dialogue) is in the Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 326. Vyāsa told Śuka: “If any doubt (śaṅkā) remains in your mind, go to King Janaka of Videha.” Śuka went to Mithilā. Janaka tested Śuka’s calm by putting off the meeting for a full week. During that week Śuka was offered every comfort of the royal palace. Through all of it, the beauty, the delay and the entertainments, Śuka stayed perfectly still. At the end of the week Janaka came himself with great honour and said that the test was complete.

Śuka brought three questions: the dharma of a brāhmaṇa, the svarūpa (true nature) of moksha, and whether moksha is reached through jñāna or through tapas.

Janaka taught the path of the āśramas in order (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa) as the normal way. He also said that a person in whom jñāna and vairāgya (detachment) arise fully in brahmacarya itself has the right to renounce at once. He quoted the śruti:

“Yad ahar eva virajet, tad ahar eva pravrajet.”

This means that on the very day one becomes detached, on that very day one should renounce the world.

Through the gāthās (verses) of Yayāti, Janaka also taught the picture of the jñānī leaving the body like a bird leaving its nest, without grief and without return.

In the end Janaka said that Śuka had already fully reached what he was asking about. The journey did not give Śuka missing knowledge. It gave him the outer confirmation of a guru, which removed the last trace of self-doubt.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 1st Skanda, Chapters 1–4, 7, 18–19
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapters 58–60
• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 1, Chapters 18–20
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 231–254 (the Śukānupraśna)
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapters 323–325 (the Śukotpatti)
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 326 (the Śuka-Janaka Saṃvāda)