One who emerges stronger after each failure is Vishwamitra
He is the king by birth of the Kushik dynasty who later forces the Creator to grant him Brahmarishi-hood through his austerities. This is Vishwamitra in a nutshell. He is one of the saptarishis (the seven sages), who carry special powers of the Almighty
Brahmarishi-hood is the highest order of the rishis, even higher than the gods. They are God’s special agents and help God during His incarnations to achieve His goals! Vishwamitra helped Bhagwan Ram in His mission to eradicate demons. Vishwamitra alone got Ram all the rare weapons He needed to carry out His job.
His brilliant rise
As a king, Vishwamitra once strays into Maharishi Vashishtha’s ashrama with his army. He is overwhelmed by Vashishtha’s welcome. But, he notices that the Maharishi has a wish-giving cow—Kamdhenu—who materialises everything Vashishtha desires. Even the divine meals they had at his ashrama along with his army were materialised by Kamdhenu. While leaving the ashrama, he asks Maharishi to give him the cow in exchange of anything he wishes. He gives Vashshistha many allurements. But, the Maharishi is not affected and humbly requests Vishwamitra that his spiritual, material and welfare actions all depend on the cow. Therefore, he cannot part with the Shabala (Kamdhenu) at any cost. Vishwamitra gets very angry. He orders confiscation of the cow in order to make her the part of his royal assets. However, the cow breaks free and returns to the Maharishi and asks him to command her to decimate the king along with his army and she will do it. She says the king has the power of a warrior, but Vashishtha has unmatched energy and power to rob the king of his might. Vashsishtha gives her the command and Kamdhenu creates armies after armies which decimate the king’s entire army. Defeated and humiliated, Vishwamitra then hands over his kingdom to his son and enters the woods with his wife for austerities.
Shiva’s boon
Pleased with his austerities, Lord Shiva asks him as to ask for what he wishes. Vishwamitra says,
यानि देवेषु चास्त्राणि दानवेषु महर्षिषु।
गन्धर्वयक्षरक्ष:सु प्रतिभान्तु ममानघ॥
“Inspire me with the powers and weapons of all the gods, demons, maharishis, demigods.” Lord Shiva grants his wish and Vishwamitra then goes straight to Maharishi Vashishtha’s ashrama and attacks him with his weapons. But, the Maharishi neutralises even the Brahamastra (the highest weapon capable of destroying the entire universe) with his staff. Vishwamistra is defeated again, but he realises that his powers like a warrior are no good before the powers of a Brahmarishi. He now engages himself in greater austerities to attain the Brahmarishi-hood.
His realisation is remarkable. He says:
धिग् बलं क्षत्रियबलं ब्रह्मतेजोबलं बलं।
एकेन ब्रह्मदण्डेन सर्वास्त्राणि हतानि मे॥
Useless is the power of the warrior race before the fiery power of the pure and intelligent. Vashishtha neutralised all my weapons only by his one staff.
More austerities
He decides to perform austerities which evoke in him the fiery power of pure intelligence. He goes to the south and engages in his tapasya. Eventually, gains the status of a Rajarishi. But he is not satisfied, as the power of Maharishi Vashishtha had left a deep impression on his mind. During this time, king Trishanku approaches him and tells him how his sons of Rishi Mahoday and Vashishtha made fun of his wish to enter the heaven with his body. They even cursed him with an unfit body. Vishwamitra invites all the rishis and gods to his great yagya. But, the sons of Mahodya and Vashsishta refuse to attend it and even use words of humiliation against Vishwamitra. This enrages Vishwamitra and he burns them down with his austere blaze. Despite great opposition and lack of support, Vishwamitra sends Trishanku with his body heavenward. But, the king of heaven Indra forces him with his power to stay out. The king cries for help and Vishwamitra creates another galaxy, heaven, stars and saptarishis for him. Vishwamitra gets back to his own austerities again. But, Indra sends divine damsel Maneka to wean him away. Vishwamitra begets Shakuntala from her, who later becomes the mother of King Bharat, the ancestors of Arjuna. He rejoins his austerities, but Indra plays tricks again and sends another divine damsel Rambha. However, she says she fears Vishwamitra as Shakuntala feared for his all-consuming blazing brilliance. Indra and lord of love accompany her to assist her. But, Vishwamitra is conscious this time and curses Rambha into a stone. Seeing his blazing anger, Indra and lord of love scoot away to safety. Later, the Lord of Creation appears before him but refuses to grant him the Brahmarishi-hood, saying he still hasn’t overcome lust and anger. Meanwhile, Vishwamitra keeps changing his place of austerities. After south, he goes west and from west, he goes to north now. There he performs great austerities, refuses to speak, refuses to breathe. The spiritual heat within him produces fire in his head and people could see blazing smoke coming out of his head. The entire cosmos feels the heat of his austerity. The sea begins to dry up, the mountains begin to split and crumble, the flaming brilliance of Vishwamitra dims the sun. It seems that the entire universe will soon be consumed in Vishwamitra’s fire. The gods run to Brahma for help and ask him to grant Brahmarishi-hood, after they fail to move him by allurements and provoking him to anger.
The blazing brilliance
The lord of creation and all the gods then rush to Vishwamitra and in a pleasing voice call him Brahmrishi! They grant him the status. But, Vishwamitra says he will accept this from Maharishi Vashishtha alone. Vashishtha does it with a blissful smile and compassionate eyes. But, before that, Vishwamitra asks the Creator if He has granted him the Brahmarishi-hood then Omkaar, Vashatkaar and the Vedas should bear his fiery brilliance. The boon is granted. This is how Brahamrishi Vishwamitra enters the Vedic power as Gayatri mantra. Omakaar and Vashatkaar denote Vedic and Tantric forms of Gayatri. He is also known as the Rishi of Gayatri mantra—the won who created this mantra.
Brahmarishi Vishwamitra defines himself aptly to Yatudhani, a demoness.
He says:
विश्वे देवाश्च मे मित्रं मित्रमस्मि गवां तथा।
विश्वामित्रमिति ख्यातं यातुधानि निबोध माम्॥
Apart from the common meaning, It profoundly means: “Brilliance of all the beings in the three worlds (Bhur Bhuvah Swah) is my brilliance. I am the brilliance of the sun, the moon, the earth, the stars, the galaxies, the space and all the related beings and non-beings. Yatudhani that is why I am famous as Vishwamitra.
In Valmikeeya Ramayan, he is described as:
विश्वामित्रोव महामुनि: वाक्यज्ञो वाक्यकोविदम्।
Vishwamitra is a great man in depth who is an expert in the science of word sequencing and how to make them convey the intent. The two qualities not only refer to an expert grammarian but also to the creator of mantras—arranging sound words for a desired effect. This is part of the mantra shastra—the science of mantras. At one place, he is called
विश्वामित्रं महर्षिमपराजितम्
The indefatigable Maharishi.
In other place, he is described as
अचिन्त्यकर्मा तपसा ब्रह्मऋषि: अमितप्रभ:।
विश्वामित्रो महातेजा वेद्म्येनं परमां गतिम् ॥
The deeds of Vishwamitra are too deep to understand. Through great austerity he attained the Brhamarishi status. His brilliance is infinite. His energy is like great blaze. I know him. He is the supreme protection.
In the Balkand, the son of Ahalya and Gautam tells Lord Ram how privileged is He (Ram) to have Vishwamitra on his side.
नास्ति धन्यतरो राम त्वत्तोऽन्यो भुवि कश्चन।
गोप्ता कुशिकपुत्रस्ते येन तप्तं महत्तप:॥
Oh Ram ! There is none luckier than you on the earth as Kushik's son Vishwamitra, who is aflame with the great spiritual fire through austerity, is your secret guide and guard.
The real import
There is a great relationship between Vashishtha and Vishwamitra. Vashishitha shows Vishwamitra the Kamdhenu on purpose. Kamdhenu drives Vishwamitra king to become a rishi and aspire for attaining what Vashishtha has. In fact, the battle is allegorical. It signifies how a guru battles out his disciple’s wrong flights and directly or indirectly guides and grooms him into an evolved personality. Kamdhenu is a wish-fulfilling cow. This shows that a rishi should have this power but shouldn’t try to acquire from others. Instead, he should find the Kamdhenu within (this is great spiritual fact, which we will take up some other time). The guru also teaches the same way that the animal force is nothing compared to the spiritual might. That is why Vashishtha with his one staff neutralises all the weapons, including the Brahmastra, of Vishwamitra. Vishwamitra realises in the end that how Vashishtha had been helping him grow. That is why he prefers to take the honour of achieving the Brahmarishi-hood from Vashishtha even if the Creator grants him this. This is what a guru can do. He can turn his disciple into a Vishwamitra. Bhagwan Ramkrishna Paramhamsa had done the same with Swami Vivekananda, which the latter acknowledged during his speeches on the foreign land. He would often say. The import is, “I naggingly argued with my guru, I fought with him and even called him a brainsick baby. But, look what my life has turned into—I am only learning what I argued against him. It is his grace, he has turned a Narendra into Swami Vivekananda…I am nothing, nothing, nothing…my guru is everything. Had he touched a doll of sand, it would have turned into Swami Vivekananda.” Ramkrishna Paramahamsa even called him one of the Saptarishis during his discourses.
But, what is remarkable to learn from Brahmarishi Vishwamitra is his will to achieve and realise his ideal. There have been many divine and jealous obstructions in his way. He got distracted. But, resumed his course with a greater zeal and finally succeeded. How Brahmarishi Vashishtha is Vishwamitra's guru? Vashishtha himself declares it in a shloka, while answering the demoness. He says:
वसिष्ठोऽस्मि वरिष्ठोऽस्मि वसे वासगृहेष्वपि।
वसिष्ठत्वाश्च वासाच्च वसिष्ट इति विद्धि माम्॥
I am Vasishta. I am called senior as I am the greatest of all. In the body complex, take me as, the giver of all the wealth and fame ( potential and expressed energies). That means he is the energy channeliser. Guru alone has this job. Guru also means what's hidden and profound.
Takeaway: Kindle the will of Brahmarishi Vishwamitra and achieve your goals. Defeats don’t matter. What matters is your sincerity to achieve the goal. Fall million times, but rise once again and rejoin your endeavour with more vigour. The life of this Brahmarishi shows that failures don’t count as after each setback, he gained more power and then he didn’t even care what the result would be. His brain was all fire, which the universe couldn’t hold. He was unmoved. The gods got worried and granted him what he wanted. But, look what he did. He asked them to ask his guru Vashishtha to grant him the honour. Because, he owed his achievement to him alone. The world needs more Vishwamitras today. Make Vishwamitra like efforts and force Nature to give what you want.
Vivek Sharma
Next : Who is Brahmarishi Vashishtha?
