“Then go, get ready.” The Lord dismissed both of us.
While leaving his chambers, I said to Uddhava Maharaja, “Now I understand why the Lord never accepted any royal throne ever!”
Uddhava Maharaja looked at me and smiling just like the Lord he said, “Daruka, its nothing special. Just now he told you to not tell anything to your wife, which means obviously, he is not going to tell anything to Rukminivahini along with his other seven wives. But I don’t know how to leave without telling Rukminivahini. Still, I will go; just as he has told me, without telling anything to anybody.”
The preparations for our departure from Dwaraka were all done. We were only going to take the usual Garudadhwaja chariot with us. The back of the chariot was filled with minimum necessities like food grains for the journey, cooking vessels, and a few clothes. The Lord had given us strict instructions to not take any weapons with us.
A week before our departure the Lord got everybody mentally prepared through Aacharya Sandipani. Aacharya said that ‘My dear disciple, the Lord of Dwaraka is going to a faraway region in the south to obtain a very rare Vidya, on my instructions. The Lord may take a Yadava or two with him if he wishes so. His new Guru himself has instructed him to not bring anybody else along. Therefore, even Prince Balarama will not go with him. With the assistance of Gargamuni, I am looking for an auspicious time for the Lord’s departure.’
After all such preparations, the Lord was ready to depart from Dwaraka; only with us, his two friends! With a signal of the hand he summoned only two of the men from among all who had gathered to see him off at the Shuddhaksha gate, on the Garudadhwaja chariot that was already loaded on a boat. Those two fortunate men were chief minister Vipruthu and Aacharya Sandipani.
We crossed the island creek and descended on the borders of Saurashtra. Then the Lord took the chief minister aside and bidding farewell to him he said, “Chief Minister, I may not come back from where I am going. I pulled you aside from amongst all and have brought you here only to tell you that you have to convey my message gradually and gently to all my wives, sons, Vasudevababa, both matas, the prince and Revativahini, their sons, sister Subhadra, her son Abhimanyu and all citizens in a manner that they can digest it. But not today, only after fifteen days. We will be going to an aashrama near the rivers Krishna, Kaveri in the southern region that we have not seen before. Don’t try to come there to find us ever. It will be in vain.” For the first time, today he embraced chief minister Vipruthu too, who got baffled by the action. The Lord put his head on the feet of Aacharya Sandipani. Aacharya pulled him up with genuine affection and took him in a deep embrace immediately. The Lord looked much taller than aacharya now. Bringing both his palms together in front of his Guru the Lord humbly said, “I am going to see the same Guru whose name you had suggested in the Ankapada aashrama. Aacharya, so far, I have tried to follow your teachings as much as I could. Please forgive me kindly if I have committed any mistakes.” He bade farewell to aacharya too.
I took the charioteer’s seat on the Garudadhwaja. In the back of the chariot were the two venerable Yadavas whom I highly esteemed throughout my life – the Lord of Dwaraka and Uddhava Maharaja. Today there wasn’t the usual grandeur of army with us. What was there, was only the three of us and the infinite, unrestricted cerulean sky atop and the holy land of Aaryabhoomi that was being left behind under the wheels of the chariot!
Our very first halt was at Nageshwara, a holy place of Shiva’s worship. During our journey, so far, we had strongly realized that because of the royal attire of the Lord and Uddhava Maharaja and my attire as a charioteer and also due to the embellished chariot, the men and women meeting us on the way were recognizing us very easily. They were running after the chariot, trying to halt it by spreading their hands. It was necessary to stop this. Nageshwara was one of the twelve holy places of Shiva in Aaryavarta. When we arrived in the Shiva temple here, the Lord shared his plan with me. He said, “Daruka, we all should get rid of the royal attire and put on simple clothes like aashrama residents. We should dispatch our royal attires to Balaramadada in Dwaraka along with our crowns through the temple priest here. Otherwise this journey will take very long. Besides, the course of our journey will be known back in Dwaraka.”
In the temple of Nageshwara we changed from royal attire to the plain clothing of aashrama residents. We removed all royal insignia from the Garudadhwaja chariot, even the well-known pennant atop the chariot with the Garuda emblem, and replaced it with a plain saffron pennant. We also removed the fine caparison on the backs of all four horses, and changed their golden reins too. We handed over all this to the temple priest. The Lord gave him strict instructions about what to do. The appearance of the chariot was radically transformed now and so was ours.
In the temple, we came to know that if we continued our journey in the same way we would safely reach the expected destination of the holy place of Prayaga in the northern region without any obstacles. Before leaving we again devotedly offered a palm full of white flowers and Bela leaves on the grand Shivapindi in the shrine of the temple. All three of us brought our palms together in prayer and closed our eyes. The hymn of Lord Shiva automatically resonated in our minds. Now in our journey ahead, everything that was ‘Shiva’– auspicious in the world, was going to be with us.
We passed Stavatirtha, crossed over river Mahi and entered Avanti through the Malava kingdom. This was the kingdom of Vinda and Anuvinda who were the Lord’s aatya’s sons. But during this journey we didn’t want to give anybody the slightest inkling of our arrival. Therefore, we decided to seek shelter in the charitable rest houses for travellers at Vishnu temples and Shiva temples located on the borders of various kingdoms on our way. Therefore, the citizens of Avanti didn’t get even a wind of the Lord of Dwaraka travelling through their kingdom along with his brother. During this journey the Lord and his brother would tuck their dhotis tight and groom the four white horses of the chariot with the thorny creepers that I fetched from the forests. Both of them used to be completely engrossed in the act. At this time, they would discuss various topics. I had already seen both of them picking up the soiled dishes of the invitees during the Rajasuya yajna. Now I was also witnessing them feeding all four horses, even occasionally picking up the horse dung without any reservation. Whenever we came across any forests or plateaus both the brothers would talk about various aspects of life from all angles. They would also include me in their discussions. But both of them would strictly keep silent whenever we approached a town and could see the people of that town. Then it would be my duty to speak and collect information for our journey ahead. I would also do this very cautiously.
After passing cities like Vidisha in the Nishadha kingdom, Padmavati in the Dasharna kingdom and Sagar in the Pulinda kingdom we crossed river Karnavati. This river was named after Karna – the king of Anga. One of our sojourns was at the bottom of Mount Chitrakuta where Srirama, Lakshmana and Sita had stayed once upon a time. Finally, we travelled through Pampapura and arrived at the holy place of Prayaga.
This place was a holy confluence of three big rivers in Aaryavarta – river Ganga flowing through the Hastinapura kingdom of the Kurus, river Yamuna that nurtured my Lord’s delightful childhood with her waters, that came flowing from the Indraprastha kingdom of the Pandavas; and the third was the invisible river Saraswati.
We arrived at the famous Sangam ghat of Prayaga. I left the chariot on the ghat, in the shade of a sprawling mango tree and gave fodder to the horses. We began climbing down the steps of the Sangam ghat one at a time. At that time, I strongly remembered the Srisopana in Dwaraka. It had also become huge like this.
All three of us kept our dry vestures on a step near the edge and entered the waters of the confluence, dressed only in our loin cloths. Holding his sharp blue nose in his fist the bare-bodied Lord took a dip in the water saying ‘Hail River Ganga ….’ Uddhava Maharaja and I also followed suit. I feasted my eyes upon the Lord standing in front of me, drenched completely in the water
s of Ganga and Yamuna, shining brightly in the sunrays. His radiant face showed no sign of fatigue even after such a long journey. It looked bright like the Shivapindi getting drenched under the trickle of the Abhishek water in the shrine of the Shiva temple at Somanath.
The Lord took water from the confluence of the three rivers in his palms to offer oblations. We followed suit. The Lord chanted clearly – ‘Om bhoorbhuvaha Swaha …. Prachodayat ….’ We repeated after him. Suddenly, without giving us any idea, my Lord shouted ‘Hail Goddess Ida…!’ and plunged into the water in front of us. We just stood there, watching him in astonishment.
After swimming to his heart’s content in the confluence of the three rivers for a good half hour, the Lord came to the shore. I stood in front of him holding his dry vestures in my hand with utter respect. A thought made me smile. What if the Lord were in his usual attire with the crown on his head! What difference would it make if even in the aashrama he wore his regular attire, as a resident of the aashrama? To me he always seemed like an ascetic throughout his life.
I brought the Garudadhwaja chariot in front of the wooden east gate of the aashrama of Aacharya Ghor Angirasa which was close to the Sangam ghat. While descending from the chariot Uddhava Maharaja instructed me, “Daruka, go in the aashrama and inform aacharya about our arrival.”
Saying ‘Yes Sire’ I walked towards the aashrama. I had had an opportunity to visit the Ankapada aashrama of Aacharya Sandipani in the Avanti kingdom. The Angirasa aashrama had been designed exactly in the same way. The tall, capacious cottage of Aacharya Angirasa stood in the centre of all the cottages. Only one thing was more eye-catching here than the Ankapada aashrama. That was the square Yajna pit in front of the Aacharya’s cottage that was aflame throughout the day and night. Uninterrupted worship of Agni was the religious vow taken by the sage Angirasa clan that had continued for hundreds of years. Even in the rainy season the Yajna pit would be kept ablaze under a tall roof of grass by sheltering it on all four sides with shields made of grass.
Aacharya Ghor Angirasa who was surrounded by his chosen disciples came out with me and approached the Lord and Uddhava Maharaja, spreading both his arms wide. I immediately noticed that all disciples were wearing saffron vestures but only the aacharya’s vestures were pure white. He had covered his mouth with a clean white strip of cloth. The strip was tied behind his ears with two strings. That strip easily covered most of the aacharya’s face and his thick beard. At the back of their heads, a tuft of long hair in the centre surrounded by four more tufts around it, was clearly visible. These five long tufts of hair and the Yajna pit were the ancient distinctive features of the Angirasa aashrama. All Angirasas had the five tufts of long hair at the back of their heads to signify that the human body comes into existence with the enigmatic combination of the five basic elements. They were identified throughout the Aaryavarta due to the five tufts of long hair and their love of Agni the Fire. As they lived constantly in the company of the fire most of them had darkened and radiant fair complexions. Their eyes reflected a radiant streak of fearlessness just like the eyes of the Bhrigu disciples.
As soon as aacharya stood in front of them, both the brothers knelt down. My Lord on the right and Uddhava Maharaja on the left put their heads on aacharya’s feet. Aacharya immediately pulled up both the brothers and held them in a deep embrace.
“How was your journey? You came without prior notice – I couldn’t believe it!” Aacharya’s voice was loud and clear.
I had offered respect and sought his blessing immediately after reaching there. He recognized me immediately. I had had the opportunity to offer him chariot service during his previous visit to Dwaraka. I informed him of the arrival of the Lord and his brother. He immediately left the cottage full of disciples, halting his discourse in the middle.
This aacharya was also a former Yadava of Mathura as per my knowledge. He was betrothed in Mathura. But before the wedding he became disinterested in worldly matters and directly went to the Himalayas. He had met the main Angirasa of the Angirasa rishi clan. In ancient times the founder of the Angirasa clan had spontaneously composed a few hymns of Rigveda. Athararvaveda that followed had five kalpas, of which one was known as ‘Angirasa Kalpa’ in his name. Since then the Angirasa clan was considered to be the ‘Vajrakula’ among the various clans of the rishis. Their main aashrama was in the Himalayas. Many branches of their aashrama like the one in Prayaga had spread throughout Aaryavarta. Renowned forefather Maharaja Yayati from the Lord’s dynasty had been in the company of this Angirasa clan. He had also composed a few hymns in the Vedas.
This was a unique meeting of the Yadava dynasty and the ‘Vajrakula’ of the Angirasas.
This sage Angirasa, a former Yadava had obtained formal initiation. He had acquired his Guru’s blessings by severe penance and meditation. As his Guru was pleased with his severe penance he gave him the name of Ghor Angirasa, and had appointed him as his successor, as the chief of the Angirasa clan after him. He had realized that by living in the distant Himalayas it would not be possible to expand the ‘Vajrakula’ of the Angirasa clan. Therefore, he himself had started a branch of the aashrama near the confluence of three rivers at Prayaga. He still had a strong urge to start another branch, way bigger than the main aashrama in the Himalayas, near Mount Kailas.
In this Ghor Angirasa aashrama at Prayaga our new daily routine began. My Lord and Uddhava Maharaja were used to this kind of aashrama life since they had lived in the Ankapada aashrama of Aacharya Sandipani, their former Guru. But I was new to this life. Still I wasn’t afraid of it at all. Both the Yadava brothers stood behind me like rocks and were quite capable of handling the situation in case I made any mistakes.
On the first day, after our formal initiation ceremony the aacharya introduced us to the disciples from various kingdoms. In very few words he said, “This is Srikrishna – the son of Maharaja Vasudeva of Dwaraka – this is his brother Uddhava and this is his friend Daruka!”
As soon as he finished the introduction a big commotion arose among the disciples. Clear, rapid words were falling on our ears – “What? Srikrishna? The slayer of Kansa – Shrugala – Kalayavana – Narakasur – Shatadhanwa – Shishupala – Shalva – Paundrak Vaasudeva – Dantavakra and Viduratha? The possessor of the Sudarshan Chakra? The disciple of Aacharya Sandipani, the Lord of golden Dwaraka? We hope it’s not a dream!”
The commotion kept rising every moment. Aacharya raised both his hands and ordered silence in clear, loud words – ‘Silence – complete silence’. I sat down. The cottage was filled with quiet.
Aacharya recognized the sentiments of his disciples and quieted them saying, “Dear disciples, he is no Srikrishna of Dwaraka now! From today he is your aashrama-brother. You have learned a variety of Yogas till today, but he has initiated a new Yoga in Aaryavarta – that is Premayoga! You will experience it more and more here onwards. Let us first get to know why he has come here. I am also curious to know the reason because he hasn’t come here like you who are unmarried and the followers of Brahmacharyashrama. He is married, a family man, bound in relations such as father, son, husband, brother and a mentor to many. And still I have initiated him as my disciple. As it was his own wish I have also initiated both his friends also as my disciples. It is because I had promised him before that I will be his Guru at the right time. In my opinion that time has come now as he has arrived here. I ask him in front of all of you, ‘Tell me Srikrishna, why did you feel like coming so far away to me at this age in spite of having your dear Aacharya Sandipani with you? What exactly prompted you to do so? Why have you have become so disinterested in life? You would enjoy life to the fullest, played the flute in Gokul, consumed milk and curds after stealing it from the Gopas’ and Gopis’ houses, played the Gopas’ Rasa dance to the heart’s content with the Gopas and Gopis in the full moon of Paurnima, and swam unrestrained in river Yamuna – why have you become like this?”
Quite impressed, I started looking at Aacharya Ghor Angirasa. He had directly a
sked the Lord of Dwaraka all the questions that arose many times in my mind till we came here. I got very curious to see how the Lord was now going to answer aacharya’s questions.
My Lord started getting up from the grass mat. He was very modest as usual. Aacharya didn’t feel it was necessary and so he immediately signalled and said, “Achyuta, you can speak while sitting.” Hearing Aacharya’s words the Lord looked at him with intense affection and smiled. A playful dimple blossomed on his bluish full cheek. Enchanted, I simply kept staring at him and attentively listened to his words that competed with the divine nectar. All disciples in the cottage were in the same state. Even aacharya who had asked the question forgot his seniority and listened attentively to him. The Lord’s words flowed like the sweet gurgle of the swirling waves of Ganga-Yamuna flowing at some distance –
“Venerable Aacharya and all aashram brothers, all of you and Aacharya are wondering why I came here. Probably my dear brother Uddhava and close friend Daruka are also wondering the same. All the people of Dwaraka would also be wondering the same. Therefore, I am humbly stating this in front of the Aacharya who is the ultimate master of Brahmavidya in the entire Aaryavarta.
“It is not in my nature to stop in one place. Form Gokul I came to Mathura, from Mathura to Dwaraka. From Dwaraka I travelled throughout Aaryavarta. I did whatever and as much as I could do.
“I established the Pandavas of the Kuru dynasty of Hastinapura in Indraprastha. I met not one or two but literally thousands and lakhs of men and women. I loved each one of them as much as I could.
“I was involved with my heart and soul in Indraprastha, even more than the golden, puissant Dwaraka. I chose the five Pandava brothers from among the many men whom I came across, not because they were my aatebandhu, but because they possessed rare qualities.
“But – but I am deeply saddened by only one thing. A golden city can be erected on the roaring ocean; a grand royal city can be raised in the thick forests; evil powers obstructing the flow of all life can be destroyed determinedly. All this can be done, but for what purpose? We don’t understand what goes on in the mind of even our dear ones. I am extremely sad as to why it isn’t possible to shape it even with great efforts.
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 52
