Ramayana Simplified: Part 11: The Story of Bhageeratha
The story of Bhageeratha is one of the most popular and inspirational stories from Ramayana. It shows how perseverance and consistency can help us solve our major and minor problems, and succeed in life. This story can be motivating especially for students. So I request every parent to narrate this story to their children.
On their way to Mithila, Maharishi Vishwamitra introduces Rama and Lakshmana to King Bhageeratha who was another ruler of the Ishwaku dynasty.
Maharishi Vishwamitra started the story: Once King Bhageeratha was ruling the Kosala kingdom. King Bhageeratha was inclined to the path of spirituality more and he was not very interested in ruling the kingdom. Unlike the people we see in the modern world who fight for name, fame, and position, King Bhageeratha was not interested in any of these. He learned Vedas, Vedantas, etc., gave away his rule to become a sannyasin (or a monk), donated his wealth to the poor people, and wholeheartedly handed over his kingdom to the nearby king.
After many years, he came to the minister’s place in Ayodhya for bhiksha (or alms). The people there recognized it was their former king and informed the king who was ruling at that time. The king welcomed Bhageeratha and tried to give back the throne to him. However, he was not ready to take back the throne.
Once, he reached a place that had no good kings, and the people in that place were continuously quarreling and conflicting with each other. Through Bhageeratha’s advice, people slowly started coming to the right path and started following dharma. Eventually, the people of that kingdom made Bhageeratha the king.
After a few years, the people of Ayodhya came there and persuaded him to take the throne of Ayodhya. So he again became the king of Kosala and ruled two kingdoms.
Bhageeratha sets out to help his ancestors to attain moksha
King Bhageeratha remembered that King Sagara’s sons, who were his ancestors, didn’t attain moksha because of the fact that no one was able to make Deva Ganga flow to Earth through the Pathalaloka. King Bhageeratha through different steps makes his ancestors attain moksha by bringing Deva Ganga to Earth.
- Bhageeratha first meditates (does tapas) on Ganga to bring her to Earth. After a long tapas, Ganga Devi appeared before him and asked for a vara (or a wish). Bhageeratha said he wanted her to flow through the Earth, through the Pathalaloka, touching his ancestors' ashes so that they attain moksha. Ganga Devi said that she could do that but the force and strength of her could destroy the whole Earth. When Bhageeratha asked the solution, she advised doing tapas (or meditation) on Lord Shiva. Ganga Devi said that only Lord Shiva will be able to control the force with which she flows, by holding her in his head
- Bhageeratha started doing tapas on Lord Shiva, again, after a long tapas, Lord Shiva appeared before him and asked for a vara (wish). When Bhageeratha said his wish, Lord Shiva was ready to hold Ganga in his head
- Ganga Devi saw that the Lord was bowing in front of her and she became slightly egoistic or she was caught with ahankara on seeing that. She came to the notion that no one will be able to control her, on seeing Lord Shiva bowing in front of her. Lord Shiva understood this and instead of controlling a part of the river Ganga and leaving the rest to the Earth, he held the whole of river Ganga in his head
- Bhageeratha again meditated on Lord Shiva since his intention was to bring Ganga to Earth, again, after a long tapas, Lord Shiva became happy and released Ganga to Earth
- Bhageeratha walked with Ganga towards Maharishi Kapila’s ashram near his ancestors’ ashes. On the way, Ganga again turned egoistic and while maharishi Janva was in tapas, she drowned him in water. The maharishi became very angry and swallowed the entire river. Ganga thus got her name ‘Jannavi’
- Bhageeratha again did his tapas on maharishi Janva and when the maharishi appeared before him, he explained the struggles he faced for making Ganga flow through his ancestors' ashes so that they can attain moksha. The maharishi released Ganga back
- Thus Bhageeratha reached in front of Maharishi Kapila’s ashram, Ganga thus flowed in the direction of his ancestors thereby giving them moksha
Few Insights…
- On going through this story, one may think of so many things that are not practically possible. Why is Bhageeratha taking so much trouble so that his ancestors can attain moksha? What difference is it going to make in his life if his ancestor’s ashes were left like that? How can Lord Shiva hold this huge river in his head? How can maharishi Janva swallow this big river? Like this, there can be a number of questions arising in our minds, but when we go behind the facts, we are losing something very important! It is nothing but the moral value conveyed by the story. Many things which we feel that is practically impossible nowadays were achieved by our rishis. Such is the power of tapas. As we go through the different yugas, in Satyayuga, there were many people who were able to attain Samadhi or the realization of the ultimate. In Tretha yuga it became lesser, in Dwapara yuga further lesser and in Kali-yuga now, spiritual realization is very challenging as people are more into worldly pleasures. Spiritual realization is something that is practically impossible for us now, but we see how easily people in Satyayuga were going into Samadhi. Similarly, many things that we feel impractical now would have been done during the previous yugas due to the power of the tapas
- The task which was taken by Bhageeratha was a huge one, undoubtedly. He was able to make something happen that others could not achieve. This shows us that even though we take up something which others could not achieve, confidence and perseverance can make us achieve it. You don’t have to move away from your dreams thinking that you could not do something
- Bhageeratha was not ready to give up at any stage. In each step he undergoes arduous tapas to bring moksha to his ancestors until he fully succeeds in his task
- In the first step, when Ganga Devi appears before him and says that if she flows through Earth, the whole Earth gets destroyed, Bhageeratha asks for a solution, he doesn’t give up there. We all face problems in our life, often we fail to find solutions and take the path of suicide, but Bhageeratha’s story teaches us that there is nothing in the world without a solution. According to Hinduism, suicide is not considered a solution. It is considered a paapa (sin) as well because we are given a human life that has got enormous talent and intelligence to solve problems, we see how our rishis did a lot of things through their tapashakthi which shows the potential inherent in us. So we are supposed to use that intelligence to solve our problems if we come through any by realizing the potential we have
- As seen in the first point, Why is Bhageeratha taking so much trouble so that his ancestors can attain moksha?
According to Hindu Shastras, we are supposed to perform five acts of yajnas (or sacrifice). They are Deva yajna, Pitru yajna, Rishi yajna, Nri yajna, and Bhootha yajna. Bhageeratha was trying to do the Pitru yajna, which involves offering oblations and doing certain things for our forefathers so that they can attain moksha. They are considered to be in the Pitruloka and are considered to be more powerful than us. When they become happy, they bless us. Nowadays we come across people offering ‘Srardha’ to their forefathers. This is done as a part of Pitru yajna.
