35 - Shankara kavacha

Narayana said - Manorama embraced her husband for a moment and whatever she had heard from the mouth of her husband, she seriously considered it’s the meaning. 

О sage, thereafter she called for her relatives, sons and servants before her and considered the destiny's will which always prevails. She started reciting the name of the lord. With the yogic practices, she pierced through the Sat-chakra and established the air in Brahmanda. Thereafter quick as a bubble of water she removed her mind from worldly pleasures and then concentrated her attention on the thousand pettaled lotus in Brahmarandhra. She then attracted the attention of her mind to the Brahmana and devoted her unstable mind to the divine knowledge making it stable.

She then discarded three types of deeds in order to destroy completely the deeds as well as rebirth. She even ended her life without ending her relationship with her husband. 

Finding her dead, the king started lamenting and crying and throwing away the kavacha, he took her into his lap and said. 

The king said - "О Manorama, get up I will not go to the battle-field now. You revive your senses and look at me." He thus kept on lamenting again and again.

Manorama, you get up and accompany me. О damsel, I shall not fight against Bhrugu now. 

О Manorama, О beautiful one, get up and accompany me to the mountain peak and let me enjoy the love-sport with you there. 

О Manorama, dear one, you get up, go to Godavari and let us have the water-sport there as usual. О Manorama, О beautiful one, you get up and let us go to Puspabhadra river and visit a secluded place in your company. 

О Manorama, О beautiful one, you get up and let us move to the Malaya mountain; let me enjoy your company in the forest of sandal-wood trees. 

The place is filled with fragrance and cool breeze and the place is reverberated with the hissing sound of the black-wasps and the sweet sound of the cuckoo. 

Reaching there you adorn my body with sandal-paste, aguru, kasthuri, saffron, smilingly and look at the limbs of my body delightfully. 

О dear one, you speak out sweet words like nectar, why are you not looking at me with side glances?" 

Hearing the cries of the king there was a divine voice from the sky. "O king, be stable.  Why are you crying? 

By the grace of Dattatreya you are the best of intellectuals and treat this universe like a bubble of water. 

The chaste Kamala was the amsha of Lakshmi who has departed to her abode; you also proceed to the battle-field and achieve Vaikuntha while fighting there." 

Hearing this the king shed away the grief and arranged for a pyre of sandal-wood and made his son to perform the last rights of his mother and distributed charity to the Brahmanas with delight.

For the welfare of the departed soul of Manorama, the king distributed several types of riches including clothes to the Brahmanas with a delightful mind. 

О sage, at that point of time the words of "consume more" or "bring more" were constantly heard. The king gave away in charity enormous riches whatever was available in his treasury.  Thereafter, the king with a heavy heart accompanied by innumerable soldiers and war-bands moved towards the battle-field. 

While moving on the journey he met with many inauspicious signs but disregarding them he kept on his forward march and never returned home. 

He met with a naked widow with dishevelled hair and a severed nose and crying. Besides the  wicked-faced, the degraded and ailing kuttini, a  woman without a child, Dakinis, an unchaste  woman, a potter, an oil-man, a hunter, a snake charmer, a man with dirty clothes and a bright  body which was naked besides the one wearing  ascetic garments, a seller of fat, a seller or  daughter, a fire in which a body was burning,  ashes, coal, a human bitten by snakes, a lizard, a rabbit, poison, food of Shraddha, pinda, motaka, sesamum, a temple of Shudra, a driver of  bullocks, a performer of the Shraddhas of the  Shudras, a store-keeper of the Shudras, a performer  of the yajna of Shudras, the one who performed  yajnas from village to village, the one who burnt  puppets in the cremation ground, an empty  pitcher, a broken pitcher, oil, salt, bones, cotton,  a tortoise, powder, barking dogs, a jackal  howling on the right, small shells, a barber, nails,  refuse, quarrelling people, lamenting people and  the one who always spoke evil words, crying  men, men in grief, men who always gave false  evidence, a thief, a killer of humans, wicked  women without husband and sons, the one who  lived on the rice of a wicked woman, gods,  teachers, the one who stole away the belongings  of the Brahmanas, the one who usurped the  things given away in charity, decoits, a terrorist,  a back biter, a wicked person, the one who  neglected his parents, the killers of the Brahmana  and the pipala tree, a person who spoke  falsehood, an ungrateful person, a usurper of the  trust, the one who betrays Brahmanas and the  friends, an injured person, a betrayer of the faith,  the one who denounces the teacher, gods and  Brahmanas, a destroyer of his own limbs, a killer  of the creatures, deformed, cruel, the one  deprived of the vrata and the vow, the one who  did not give dakshina, impotent, suffering from  leprosy, a one-eyed person, deaf, Chandala, the  one whose male organs are cut-off, a drunkard, a  seller of wine, the one vomiting blood, a he buffalo, a donkey, urine, refuse, cough, a person  with shaven head, a terrific wind, a rain of blood,  a man falling from a tree, a hyena, a pig, a  vulture, an eagle, a white-kite, a bear, a bamboo,  dry wood, a crow, sulphuric acid, a Brahmana  the giver of charity, the one who lived on tantric practices, a physician, red flowers, medicine,  straw, bad news, news of death, a terrific curse of  Brahmana, a wind with foul smell, a horrible  wound, a wind - these were the evil signs met by  with king on the way. 

All these made the mind of the king gloomy and he became upset, his body was fatigued and his left limbs started fluttering. 

In spite of all this, the king marched on towards the battle-field quite courageously. He entered the battle-field together with all his army. 

Finding Parashurama there, he descended from his chariot and he bowed in reverence to him together with all his sons. 

Parashurama on his part blessed them saying, “You achieve your desired heaven." Thus, the words of a Brahmana cannot be otherwise. 

The king assisted by many of the princes bowed in reverence to the king and hurriedly mounted on the chariot and made the war-bands and other musical instruments to be played upon.  He gave away charities to the Brahmanas. 

Thereafter, Parashurama addressing the king in the assembly of kings spoke the beneficial words which were filled with welfare, were truthful and appropriate. 

Parashurama said - О king, you are quite a religious one; having been born in the solar race, you are amsh of Vishnu and are the pupil of great intellectual Dattatreya. You have heard the recitation of the Vedas from the mouth of those who were well-versed in the Vedas but how did you achieve this thought to kill the noble people? 

Why did you kill an ascetic Brahmana getting overwhelmed grief? As a result of which, the chaste lady went to the abode of her husband. 

О king, what is the merit you could achieve by killing both of them? The entire universe is like the drops of water falling on a lotus leaf. In this universe a person meets only with grace and disgrace and the tales of his good and bad deeds are left behind. What is the use of earning disgrace by putting the noble people to disgrace?

Where has that Kapila gone? Where is the remorse that developed because of that and where has the ascetic gone? Thus, evidentially the deeds performed by a king cannot even be performed by the one who ploughs the field. 

Finding you hungry my religious-minded father served you with food and you gave him the reward. 

You have yourself studied the Vedas, served food to the Brahmana daily, which earned you the glory assured in the Vedas but why did you earn this disgrace in your old age? 

Because no one could be as charitable, valorous, religious-minded, glorious, meritorious and intelligent as a king like Kartavirya in the past nor shall be in the future. These are the songs which the bards recite on the earth, the one who is well known is the Puranas, how could he meet with such a disgrace. 

О king, the harsh words of a person are worse than the sharp-edged weapons but in spite of any danger the noble people never utter harsh words. 

I don't want to use harsh words against you, but I am only speaking with reference to the context. Therefore, О king, you give me the answer in your court. 

Because the descendants of the solar, lunar and Manu's races are present here, you speak out the truth in this assembly to enable your manes and the gods to listen to the truth besides other kings; the noble people always look at all the people similarly." 

Thus, speaking Parashurama kept quiet in the battle-field. Thereafter the king started speaking like Bruhaspati in the battle-field. 

Kartavirya said - О Parashurama you are the amsha of the lord besides being devoted to him and are the one who had controlled all his senses and the persons from whose mouth I have learnt about dharmas; you happen to be the teacher of the same teacher. 

The one who is born of the Brahmana, his mind is influenced by Brahman and he always gets devoted to the dharma. That is why he is called a Brahmana. 

The one who acts moving around and keeping mum and speaks only when it is necessary, he is called the muni. 

The one who has an equal feeling for gold, dust, house, forest, mud and sandal-paste, is called a yogi, the one who visualises Vishnu, equally in all the creatures and is always devoted to the lord, he is called a devotee. 

The Brahmanas have only the tapas as their riches which serve them like kalpavruksha and their tapas is like Kamadhenu; therefore, they always remain engaged in the tapas; the Brahmanas are highly esteemed. The riches are the belongings of Kshatriyas and the Vaishyas always remain engaged in business while the Shudras serve the Brahmana as well as the other people. 

The Kshatriyas are not so much devoted to performing tapas and if a Brahmana enters into any controversy, he becomes deplorable. 

The greedy person getting overcome by grief performs accordingly and involves himself in Rajoguna. He is, therefore, called a king. О sage, infatuated with greed I demanded Kamadhenu, therefore what is the wrong if a Kshatriya like me becomes greedy. 

Except you, who else is the sage possessing Kamadhenu, you have the opposite feeling about the battle-field and worldly pleasures? 

О sage, how can one tolerate a person who kills three Akshuhini army and three crores of kings. 

Even if a person well-versed in the Vedas comes to kill me, there is no harm in destroying him. Therefore, I do not happen to be the killer of a Brahmana. 

Because the Vedas do not prescribe for any repentance for the killing of the one who comes to kill you. It would be proper for anyone to kill such a person. This has been ordained by Brahma. Your father has killed many of the valorous kings possessing great prowess. The princes, who have come to face you are only the sons of those kings. 

Therefore, you fulfil your vow for ridding the earth of Kshatriyas twenty-one times. 

Kshatriyas, dharmas is to fight; therefore, their death in the battle-field is not denounced. It is also a fallacy for the Brahmanas to think of fighting which is neither accepted in the Vedas nor by the people. 

Therefore, such of the ascetic Brahmanas who are well-versed in the speech and the Vedas, have always to remain peaceful in all the yugas. They are devoted to the performing of the dharma of the Brahmana and do not take to fighting. 

The valour of the Kshatriyas is in fighting, business is the strength of the Vaishyas, the ascetic’s strength is taking to the alms. The strength of the Shudras lies less in the serving of the Brahmanas and the devotees of the lord getting engaged in the adoration of Hari. The Vaishnavas remain devoted to lord Vishnu and that is their strength. The wicked people remain engaged in terrific deeds, which happen to be their strength, the performing of tapas happens to be the strength of the ascetics; the wicked women have the strength as their self-decoration.  The ladies have the strength of youthfulness; the  strength of the kings is their glory, the strength of  the children is their cries, the strength of the  noble people is truthfulness; the strength of the  wicked people is falsehood, following in others'  footsteps is the strength of the follower; the  collecting of money is the strength of the poor;  the learned people have the strength of  courageous people; the riches happen to be the  strength of the rich people as well as those who  lead a purified life. Intelligence happens to be the strength of peaceful persons. The virtuous people have the strength of unity. Virtue is considered to be the strength of virtuous people. Theft is the strength of the thieves, deceitfulness happens to be the strength of the wicked people; boons happen to be the strength of the gods, besides the pronouncing of curses. Pupils have the strength  in serving the teacher; house-holders have the  strength of performing dharma, a servant's  strength lies in serving the king; prayer happens  to be the strength of those offering prayers,  Brahmana happens to be the strength of the  Brahmacharis; the у at is have the strength of  performing noble deeds, recluses have the  strength of disowning everything, sinners have  the strength of performing sins and people  having no strength have the strength of belief in  the lord.

Noble people have the strength of merits; the strength of the people happens to be the king, the strength of the tree lies in its fruits, the aquatic creatures have their strength in water, the cereals have their strength in water, the fish have the strength in water. Peace happens to be the strength of the king as well as the Brahmana. 

We have never come across a Brahmana who is desirous of all. All this happened when lord Narayana was present. 

Thus, speaking in the battle-field, the king kept quiet and all other kings also kept quiet on hearing his words. Thereafter the valorous brothers of Parashurama started fighting holding in their hands sharp-edged weapons. 

The great and valorous king of the Matsya-country who happened to be the most prosperous of all the properties, got ready for a fight in the battle-field. The king stopped the flow of arrows from the opponents with the shooting of his own arrow. The sons of Jamadagni then cut-off the arrows of the king. 

О sage, the king used a divine weapon which was shining like a hundred suns which was neutralised by the sages with the use of Maheshvara-weapon playfully. 

Thereafter the sages, with the use of the divine weapons, cut-off the bow, the chariot, the charioteer and kavacha into pieces. Finding the king with weapons, the ascetics were delighted and they tried to use the weapons of Shiva to kill the king of Matsya. 

At the time when they were about to shoot the trident of Shiva there was a divine voice from the sky, "O best of the Brahmanas this trident of Shiva never goes waste; therefore, it should not be used now. The king was bestowed with a divine kavacha by the sage Durvasa in earlier times which is worn by him round his neck and protects all his limbs. First of all, you ask for the kavacha from the king, only then should the trident be used. О sage, those people had already used the trident. Therefore, reaching before the king the trident was reduced to a hundred of pieces. On hearing the words of the divine voice, Srungi an ascetic who happened to be the son of Jamadagni took to the form of an ascetic and went to the king begging for the kavacha. The king gladly gave away the kavacha to the Brahmana. 

Thereafter getting the kavacha he again shot the trident. The king was hurt with the same and he fell down to the ground. He possessed the glory of a hundred moons, besides great prowess. He was virtuous and was born in the solar race. 

Narada said - О Narayana, you kindly tell me thee details about the kavacha of Shiva which was worn by the king of Matsya. I am quite anxious about it. 

Narayana said - О Brahmana, the kavacha of Shiva is known as Brahmandavijaya and always protects the limbs of the body. I am going to tell you about the same; you please listen to it. In the earlier times Durvasa had imparted the knowledge of the same to Matsyaraja with the mantra of six letters which removes all sins. 

When the kavacha is worn on the body, the death never approaches him, the weapons, water and fire cannot affect him adversely. 

By wearing it and reciting it Banasura gained the knowledge of Shivatva and Nandikeshvara became like Shiva himself. Samba became the best of the warriors and by wearing which Hiranyakashipu became the lord of the three worlds. 

By holding which Hiranyaksha was victorious and by reciting which Durvasa and achieved success and was adored by the universe. 

While reciting and holding which Jaigisavya became a great ascetic besides Vamadeva, Devala, the wind-god himself. Agastya and Pulastya became adorable throughout the universe. Om Namah Shivaya should protect my head. 

Om Hreem Shreem Kleem Shivaya Svaha should protect both my eyes, Om Hreem Kleem Hrum Shivaya Namah should protect my nose. 

Om Namah Shivaya Shantaya Svaha should protect my throat, Om Hreem Shreem Hrum Samhara Kartrai Svaha should protect both my ears. 

Om Hreem Shreem Panchavaktraya Svaha should protect my teeth, Om Hreem Maheshaya Svaha should protect my lips. 

Om Hreem Shreem Trinetraya Svaha should protect my hair, Om Hreem Aim Mahadevaya Svaha should protect my chest.

Om Hreem Shreem Kleem Rudraya Svaha should protect my navel.

Om Hreem Kleem Mrutyunjayaya Svaha should protect my eye-brows. Om Hreem Shreem Hreem Eshvaraya Svaha should protect my back. 

Om Hreem Eshvaraya Svaha should protect my belly. Om Shreem Kleem Mrutyunjayaya Svaha should protect my arms.

Om Hreem Shreem Kleem Eshvaraya Svaha should protect my hands, Om Maheshvarayaya Svaha should protect my buttocks. 

Om Hreem Shreem Bhutanathay Svaha should protect both my feet, Om Sarvashvaraya Svaha should protect my feet. 

Bhutesha should protect from the eastern side, Shankara should protect the south-east direction, Rudra should protect the southern direction, Sthanu should protect the south-west direction. 

The west end direction should be protected by Khandaparashu, the south-west direction should be protected by Chandrasekhara, the northern direction should be protected by Girisha, the north-east direction should protect by Ishvara. 

Mruda should protect the upper regions and Mrutyunjaya should protect the lower regions besides the water, the land, space, while sleeping or awake. A devotee like me should be protected by the Pinaka-holder. О son, thus have I explained to you the astonishing type of kavacha. 

The one who recites it ten lakhs of times, surely meets with its success. The one who meets with the success of this kavacha, becomes like Rudra himself. 

Because of my affection for you, I have explained this kavacha to you. It should not be revealed by you to anyone. This has been explained in the Kanvashakha and is quite secret and inaccessible. 

The merit of performing a thousand Ashvamedha sacrifices or a hundred Rajasuya sacrifices and all the yajnas cannot compare even to the one sixteenth of the ray of the merit of this kavacha. 

By the grace of this kavacha, the humans are freed from the circle of birth and death, become all knowledgeable and lords of all the success and fortune and attaining the spread of the mind. 

The one who practises this kavacha without proper knowledge cannot meet with success even after reciting it ten lakhs of times.