Ṛshisatra
Ṛshisatra · ṛshi-satra, “the satra of the ṛshis”
Rajas has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rajas.
Ṛshisatra, “the satra of the ṛshis”, is a well-known tīrtha on the Gautamī, the Godāvarī, where the seven ṛshis sat to perform tapas and held a great satra (a long yajña session), dividing the river into seven streams named after themselves. There Bhagavān Śiva is called Bhīmeśvara, “the Īśvara who is Bhīma, the terrible one”, and the tīrtha is also known as Bhīmeśvara-tīrtha. Brahmā tells Nārada its account in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa: how Viśvarūpa, an enemy of the devas, came to the satra seeking a son invincible to the devas; how Viśvāmitra taught him that karma bears fruit according to the bhāva, the inner disposition, with which it is done; and how Viśvarūpa, taking up a tāmasa bhāva, meditated on the Supreme in a terrible form and gave himself to the fire, and Vṛtra was born. A bath and dāna at Bhīmeśvara undoubtedly give mukti (release), and one who sees Bhīmanātha never again enters saṃsāra.
The satra of the seven ṛshis
Brahmā tells Nārada that the tīrtha called Ṛshisatra is well known: there the seven ṛshis sat to perform tapas, in the place where Bhagavān Śiva is called Bhīmeśvara. He tells an account made great by the devas, the ṛshis and the pitṛs, an auspicious account that gives every cherished thing.
The seven ṛshis divided the Gaṅgā, the Gautamī, into seven streams. In order, they are:
- Vāsishṭhī, the stream of Vasishṭha, at the far right
- Vaiśvāmitrī, the stream of Viśvāmitra, flowing next
- Vāmadevī, the stream of Vāmadeva
- Gautamī, the stream of Gautama, the splendid one in the middle
- Bhāradvājī, the stream of Bharadvāja
- Ātreyī, the stream of Atri, coming next
- Jāmadagnī, the stream of Jamadagni, the last
Those great ṛshis of wide vision performed a great yajña there.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103
Viśvarūpa comes to the satra
Meanwhile a powerful enemy of the devas, well known as Viśvarūpa, came to the satra of the ṛshis. First he won the favour of all the ṛshis by brahmacarya (continence) and tapas, as the rules direct, and then he questioned them humbly: “Ṛshis, tell me how I may beget a powerful son who will be invincible even to the devas. You all surely seek my good. Tell me whether it shall be through yajña or through tapas.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103
Viśvāmitra’s teaching on karma and bhāva
The wise and noble Viśvāmitra answered him:
- Many kinds of fruit come from holy rites and good deeds.
- There are three kinds of cause: karma, the first cause; the doer himself; and the material cause.
- The learned know that the seed is karma. Karma is called the cause because, even when all the other causes are present, the fruit (phala) sometimes appears and sometimes does not: the fruit depends on karma.
- Karma is of two kinds: what is being done and what has been done. The thought of what ought to be done is the means of what is being done.
- In both, the bhāvas, the inner dispositions, are the cause of karma. A being gains fruit according to the bhāva with which it acts. If one performs a karma duly but without bhāva, the fruit is adverse.
- Everything follows its bhāva. So tapas, vratas, dāna, japa, yajñas and other holy rites bear fruit according to the bhāva of the one who performs them.
- Bhāva is of three kinds: sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa. The fruit follows the karmas and the bhāvas that go with them; the way of karma is hard to know. So a wise man should hold the bhāva that fits what he wishes for, and then perform the karma too. The giver of fruits grants the fruit that is fitting.
- If the doer turns his activity towards the fruit, the benefit does not come. One should perform karma naturally.
- The material cause and the rest begin to work as befits the bhāvas, sattva and the others; they work through bhāvas, and the fruit is gained through bhāvas.
- Karma alone is the cause of dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. Karma held by bhāva is the cause of bandha (bondage) and of moksha.
- One’s own karma should fit one’s own nature; it yields different fruits here and in the other world. The selfsame thing appears different because of bhāva; karma is done and its fruit enjoyed according to bhāva. So bhāva matters above all.
“Perform karma according to your bhāva,” Viśvāmitra told him, “and you will gain whatever you desire.”
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103
Viśvarūpa’s tapas and the name Bhīmeśvara
Hearing the words of the wise ṛshi Viśvāmitra, Viśvarūpa took up a tāmasa bhāva and performed tapas for a long time. While the chief ṛshis looked on, and though he was restrained again and again, he performed, in his fury, a terrible rite that struck fear into the devas. In a terrible pit that had been dug, a terrible fire blazed, and Viśvarūpa meditated on the Ātmā dwelling in the cave of the heart as a terrible Purusha present within that terrible fire.
Seeing him blaze in his tapas, a divine voice without a body spoke: “Offer yourself into the fire, keeping back only the jaṭā (matted hair). You will beget a son. Viśvarūpa, he who offers himself into the fire shall become Indra, Varuṇa; he shall become everything.” Giving himself up, Viśvarūpa offered himself into the fire, holding back only his jaṭā. The son is called Vṛtra in the Veda, and he too became wicked. “Who knows the grandeur and greatness of the terrible ruler of the worlds? He creates everything, yet no pāpa of that contact touches him.” Having said this to the ṛshis, the voice ceased. The leading ṛshis bowed to Bhīmeśvara and went to their own āśramas.
Viśvarūpa, terrible in his deeds, terrible in form and size and terrible in his bhāva, had meditated on the Supreme Being in the form of the terrible one, Bhīma, and given himself to the fire. Hence the Purāṇa names Bhagavān Śiva there Bhīmeśvara.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103
The rite and its phala
- A holy bath (snāna) and dāna performed at Bhīmeśvara undoubtedly give mukti.
- Whoever devoutly reads and listens to this account, and bows to Bhagavān Śiva, ruler of the devas, whose feet are the refuge, whose remembrance takes away every pāpa and who grants moksha, prospers.
- The Godāvarī takes away every pāpa and gives the highest wealth always and everywhere, but above all where she joins the ocean. One who bathes at the confluence of the Godāvarī and the sea is full of puṇya (merit); he lifts his pitṛs out of terrible naraka and goes to the city of Bhagavān Śiva.
- Bhīmanātha is Brahman itself, to be known through the Vedas, to be prayed to, bowed to and meditated upon. Once he is seen, embodied beings never again enter the world of terrible sorrow, saṃsāra.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 103