Kaushika turns Visvamitra

Visva means entire world, and mitra means friend. Vishwamitra  means ‘one who is a friend of all’.  

Kaushika was born is a Kshatriya dynasty.  He was a king.  He was duty bound the take on arms when needed and save his clan and kingdom.  This should have been coming natural to him.  But there was something different driving his inner conscience. Something deep within was constantly telling him that he was made for something uncommon. Something which his clan did not do. His spirit was driving him to a faraway journey. A call from the unknown.  

Kaushika outright rejected the prescribed duties of a Kshatriya. Instead he took on the path of intense Tapasya (penance). For this he took the personal guidance of Rishi Vasishtha. Rishi Vasistha was his Guru. He followed the guidelines of his Guru. Over a long period of time Kaushika successfully completed the entire course of his Tapas. His Guru awarded him with the title of Brahmarshi.  Great going!  This success was considerably easy for Kaushika.  He was inflated with ego and pomp. In fact, what he failed to realize is that this success was illusive and deceptive. Kaushika did not realize that he was in a fine loop of an inner trap. The initial success entered into his head.

But, wait a little!  This is not how the dramatic story of Kaushika begins. Let us go back to the time when Kaushika was a king. He heard about the sage Vasistha and his miraculous powers. Kaushika was eager to know about the source of power of Vasistha. In fact, the king had a strong urge to snatch away that store-house of power.  Thus he could position himself above the sage.

Deceit and cunningness of a jackal tucked under the arms; the king visited the Ashram of Rishi Vasistha along with his large army without any prior information or having been invited. The Rishi wholeheartedly welcomed the king. Both had a lot of discussion on politics, finance, security, wellbeing of the subject etc.

The king had something else in mind: ‘Let me see how does this sage feed all of us! It is time for food. We are a large number.’

It was time for lunch. The sage served all the guests with royal dishes. Guests ate to their hearts content.  The king was surprised. This is unthinkable. How could this sage organize such a sumptuous lunch for such a large number of people in a matter of jiffy!  But he kept his feelings under control.

‘I must know the secret. Why? I must grab the same too!’  

The king enquired with the sage about the source of food. ‘Kamadhenu’—was the answer. The sage had a Kamadhenu, a wish-fulfilling cow, which would give everything he wanted.  The sage created Kamadhenu through severe Tapas. Kaushika requested the sage to give him the cow for the welfare of the people. The sage refused.  This made the king angry.  He used his force to snatch away the cow.  Through austere Tapas, the sage had superhuman powers.  So, he easily defeated the king.  Licking his wounds, the king left the Ashram. But he decided to take revenge.

Kaushika prayed to Shiva.  Shiva was pleased and gifted him with many weapons. The king invaded the Ashram of Vasistha. The sage had Brahmadanda, an extremely powerful weapon that he acquired through penance. He defeated the king.

The king was gripped with anger and dejection. Repeated defeat made him to examine and review his tradition as a Kshatriya, the path of conflict, confrontation, fight and war. He could sense that it was not possible to win over this sage by use of arms. He must change the strategy.     

The king once more time entered into the practice of Tapas.  He invoked Lord Shiva. The supreme Lord awarded him with the title of Brahmarshi. 

‘This new line is nice.  I am on the path of success! Let me do some more’.

More Tapas and the king was awarded with the elevated position of Rajarshi. Still more on the path of Tapas and Kaushika is now a Rishi.            

A king named Trishanku approached Vasistha to fulfill a stupid wish. He wished to enter the heaven. The sage outright denied to do any such thing. He threw the king out of his hermitage. Kaushika came to learn about this.  He took Trishanku under his fold and gave him shelter. Not just that. Out of newfound zeal on the path of penance, Kaushika created a new heaven for the king. But with this, Kaushika used up all the power of his Tapas.

Not to lose heart, Kaushika entered into Tapas again. He was now a Maharshi. But this scared Indra, the lord of heaven. Indra might lose his control on heaven. Indra deputed Menaka to seduce and distract Kaushika. Menaka was successful. She kept Kaushika engaged in material world. They had a girl child named Shakuntala.  

            Kaushika got alarmed. He was able to sense that he was trapped. He was diverted from his sole objective. He quickly left Menaka and entered into extremely difficult practice of Tapas. Once more Indra sent Rambha to dissuade Kaushika. But this time the king was gripped by anger and in a rage of emotion cursed Rambha.  Once emotion was subsided, the king was in deep remorse.

This time Kaushika was able to realize what had been his main problem. He was lacking control on his emotions.      

            He entered into Tapas with all seriousness.  Brahma appeared in person and conferred him with the title of Viswamitra. This time he could overcome the dominance of senses and emotions. He is a Jitendriya. Rishi Vasistha too honored him.

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