Viswamitra 11

viswamitra had saved Vasishta who was once his sworn enemy. When he had touched his body he experienced a kind of blissful peace which he had not experienced before. Even in his sorrow, Viswamitra could see Vasishta had a calm, sereneand divine appearance on his face. The sorrow he had taken from over Vasishta gave Viswamitra a strange kind of delight.In short a touch of Vasishta's body made Viswamitra's resolve to attain the state of Brahmarshi stronger. In thatway it helped him to root out pride from his heart.

Viswamithra once again sat in a quiet place for continuing tapas to make him the purest. At this moment he had shed all hatredand pride from his heart. He had great respect for Vasishta in his heart. He considered Vasishta his guru. Now concentrationcame to him naturally. He did not eat for days together. He had only air as his food. He continued penance in sun andrain and years rolled by this fashion. When he realised that he attained the state of total purity he wanted to eat food.At that moment Indra came in the guise of a brahmin and said,"Bhavan bhiksham dadatu". Viswamitra gave all the foodto the brahmin and stood silently. He even controlled his breath and went into deep meditation. At this moment everycell in his body became pure, his evil thoughts left him. His entire body shone with celestrial brightness. A kindof smoke began to emanate from his head. The brightness in his face put the sun god to shame. This brightness touched the devas in heaven and they trembled with fear not knowing what would happen the next moment. All rushed to Brahmadevaand sought refuge in him.

Immediately Brahmadeva, along with the devas came and stood before Viswamithra and said,"O great Viswamithra, may yoube blessed. You have fulfilled your desire. You have become a Brahmarshi please come out of your samadhi and save the world from the heart of your tapas".

Viswamitra stood up and bowed to the devas. He said,"O great Caturmukha Brahma, if I have become a Brahmarshi, letall the Vedas and their meaning be mine. Let the great Vasishta call me a Brahmarshi and only then my tapas willbecome meaningful to me".

The devas said,"So be it" Immediately a very bright light, equal to a thousand suns stood before Viswamithra. Viswamithrabowed to it and made obeisance to it. He then heard a voice and it said,"O Brahmarshi Viswamithra your life's mission hasbeen realised. You have become a Brahmarshi. As you desire, let the vedas and aumkara be yours. Besides these theGayatri which is composed in Gayathri metre be yours. By workshipping the sun god who is the cheif deva of this mantra,let human beings become free from diseases and ignorance and gain salvation. This Gayathri hymn is the essence ofthe vedas and it resides in the three worlds bhuh, buvah and suvah. The root of all these is in the aumkara, pleaseaccept it". So saying the divine light disappeared. A part of that divine light entered Viswamithra's body. As it didso he had the sensation of having an electric shock. His already shining body shone brighter still.

Vasishta came to the place and said,"Viswamithra you are blessed. You have become a Brahmarshi, you are really great.God has revealed the Vedas to you, and has also revealed to you Gayathri, through which you have shown the world theway to salvation and you have reached the state of infinity". As Vasishta spoke these words of praise, heavenly musicwas heared and the devas rained flowers from heaven on Viswamithra.

All Rishis, sadhus and santas assembled at the holy confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Saraswati, and had a darshan of Viswamithra who had attained the status of Brahmarshi, they made salutations to him and got blessed.From then on Viswamithra was constantly engaged in tapas and doing good deeds. He became a model to the world. Brahmarshis,who have attained the ultimate knowledge have been assigned certain tasks for doing good to the world. Devarshis arealso brahmajnanis, but they live in heaven.

Once Brahmarshi Viswamithra decided to perform a certain Yajna for the good of the world. He took Yajna deeksha. Onewho has taken the Yajna deeksha has to follow certain religious and ethical procedures.

He began the Yajna on an auspicious day. As the Yajna was in progress, two terrible demons appeared above the YajnaKunda and Vanished. They also beat other Rishis who were helping in the performance of the Yajna. Viswamithra could notdo anything except keeping quiet. He knew that holding one's peace during the Yajna was as scared and important asnot hurting those who spoil the yajna. He decided to entrust the task of seeing that the Yajna was performed successfullyto some competent persons. Therefore he went to the court of Dasharatha of Ayodhya.

He asked the king to send Ramachandra for the protection of his prosed Yajna. At first the king hesitated to send Sri Rama but on Vasishta's advice he agreed to do so. Lakshamana also accompanied Rama to the forest.

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