Bala Kanda, Sarga 63

Meaning

At the end of full one thousand years all the gods headed by Brahmā, the creator, for their part, keen as they were to bestow on the sage the fruit of his austerities, personally called on Viśwāmitra, the eminent sage, who had just finished his ablutions marking the conclusion of a sacred vow. (1)

Meaning

The exceptionally glorious Brahmā addressed to him the following most pleasing words : “May good betide you ! You have now become a Ṛṣi, pure and simple, while you were till now only a royal sage by virtue of pious acts in the shape of austerities performed by your own self.” (2)

Meaning

Speaking to him thus, Brahmā, the suzerain lord of the gods, returned to the highest heaven, his own realm; while Viśwāmitra, the great ascetic, embarked once more on a course of severe austerities. (3)

Meaning

Then after a long time (one day) Menakā, a celestial nymph of the highest order, came to bathe in the three lakes going by the name of Puṣkara, O jewel among men ! (4)

Meaning

The highly glorious Viśwāmitra (son of Kuśika) beheld in the water of one of the aforesaid lakes the celebrated Menakā, matchless in beauty, shining like a streak of lightning in a cloud. (5)

Meaning

Succumbing to the passion of love, the sage (Viśwāmitra) spoke to her in the following words : “My welcome to you, O celestial nymph ! Nay, dwell in this hermitage of mine. (6)

Meaning

“May prosperity attend on you ! Be gracious to me, infatuated as I am through love.” Requested thus, the aforesaid belle forthwith took up her abode in that hermitage. (7)

Meaning

Indeed, in the form of this nymph a great obstacle in the way of his austerities presented itself before Viśwāmitra. Ten years were spent happily by her while living in that pleasant hermitage of Viśwāmitra, O Rāma ! So much time having rolled by unperceived, the great sage Viśwāmitra felt ashamed as it were and fell a prey to anxiety and grief. The revelation dawned on him, with a feeling of indignation, O scion of Raghu, that all that, which was a deep-laid design to rob him of the spiritual energy stored by him through askesis, was the work of the gods. He said to himself, “Ten long years have rolled by me as though it were a day and night, overwhelmed as I was by infatuation born of concupiscence. This is nothing but an obstacle come in my way !” Sighing deeply with this thought the said Viśwāmitra, the foremost of sages, felt distressed through remorse. (8—12)

Meaning

Seeing the celestial nymph, Menakā, standing before him with folded hands, trembling with fear, and dismissing her with sweet expressions, O Rāma, Viśwāmitra, son of Kuśika, proceeded to the northern mountain, the Himālayas: so the tradition goes. Making a firm resolve to observe lifelong celibacy with intent to conquer passion, and reaching the bank of the Kauśikī*, Viśwāmitra, the highly illustrious sage, practised austerities which were hard to accomplish (for others). Fear entered the mind of gods when they saw Viśwāmitra practising terrible austerities on the northern mountain for thousands of years past. Approaching Brahmā, all the gods accompanied by hosts of Ṛṣis, prayed to him as follows : (13—16)

Meaning

“May yonder Viśwāmitra (son of Kuśika) deservedly receive the title of Maharṣi, an eminent seer.” Hearing the intercession of the gods, Brahmā, the progenitor of the entire creation, addressed the following sweet words to Viśwāmitra, whose only wealth was his asceticism : “Hail, O eminent seer ! Pleased with your severe austerities, O dear child, I hereby confer on you the distinction in the shape of the foremost rank among Ṛṣis, O son of Kuśika !” Hearing the boon of Brahmā, Viśwāmitra, however, whose only wealth was his asceticism, replied to Brahmā (the progenitor of the entire creation) with folded-hands as follows, bending low with humility : “If your Holiness used for me the epithet ‘Brahmarṣi’ (a Brāhmaṇa seer), which has no equal in my eyes, as earned through pious acts performed by myself, then only I should consider myself as having thoroughly conquered my senses.’’ Thereupon Brahmā replied to him, “You have not been able to conquer your senses. (17—21)

Meaning

“Strive further, O tiger among sages !’’ Saying so, he rose to the highest heaven (Brahmaloka). On the gods having dispersed, the eminent sage, Viśwāmitra, resumed his austerities standing with his arms lifted upwards, living on air alone and remaining without any abode. Nay, the ascetic whose only wealth was his asceticism, remained seated in the midst of four fires, one in each quarter, and the sun as the fifth overhead in summer, in open air during the rains and standing in water for days and nights during the winter. In this way indeed he practised terrible austerities for a thousand years. (22—24)

Meaning

While the great sage Viśwāmitra was duly practising austerities as aforesaid, deep anguish indeed seized the mind of the gods as well as of Indra. (25)

Meaning

Indra alongwith all the hosts of gods called and addressed the celestial nymph Rambhā the following request, which was in his (Indra’s) own interest, and prejudicial to Viśwāmitra (the son of Kuśika) : (26)