RISHABHA GITA
Contents
. Introduction
. King Rishabha
. Teachings of the Rishabha Gita
. Conclusion
Introduction
The Rishabha Gita is contained in the Bhagavat Puran in shloka 19 of chapter 4 and chapters 5 and 6 of Skanda 5. King Rishabha is said to have preached the Rishabha Gita to his sons within hearing of his subjects on the eternal truths and way to liberation for the benefit of the world. India is said to be named after his son Bharata as Bharata Varsha. This is related by Sage Suka to King Parikshit in the Bhagavat Puran.
King Rishabha
In the line of Manu there was a king called Rishabha. He is also known as Adinatha and is considered to be the founder and the first Tirthankara of Jainism. He is said to be an avatar of Vishnu and hence exhibited exemplary qualities of prowess, strength, purity, goodness and beauty. He expounded the Advaitha Vedanta and concepts of delusion and attachment to his sons with the goal of self realisation being the purpose of all human existence.
Teachings of the Rishabha Gita
Rishabha’s discourse to his sons forms the content of the Rishabha Gita. His sons were endowed with humility, self control, affection and righteousness but King Rishabha felt that they would benefit from his maturity and experience hence decided to advise them. He told them that the sacred human body was secured only after millions of births of merit hence it should not be used for sensuous enjoyments like all other lower creatures but should be used to perform austerities and penances for noble spiritual ends. This would make the mind pure and enable one to attain the state of Brahman. There were different kinds of seekers, the Nithyasiddha who were eternally perfect and could realise God without practising any spiritual discipline. Then there were the Sadhanasiddhas who attained perfection through spiritual disciplines like worship, japam, meditation, rituals etc. He said that practise of virtues did not necessarily make a person good unless he eschewed the evil tendencies of anger, greed, desire, attachment, lust, pride and jealousy. The seeker mistakenly thinks he is holy by practising austerities but these are of no use unless effort is made for removal of negative qualities. On the other hand it only succeeds in exalting the ego of the individual. Attachment to ‘I’, ’me’ and ‘mine’ has to be removed in order to attach oneself to God. Association with holy persons is the door to the entrance of liberation while association with worldly people leads one to bondage and attachment to sensory objects. Self effort, understanding of the scriptures and teachings of holy persons helps a seeker in his efforts to attain Brahman. Samskaras or tendencies brought forward from previous lives called vasanas are of two types. The pure ones lead to salvation while the impure ones lead to bondage. The fruit of a seeker’s endeavours is commensurate with the intensity of his self effort. Thus the seeker has to make the right choice and pursue the right path with faith and diligence. Transition from virtues to ascetism, renunciation and true indifference is the first step to progress in the spiritual path. Nourishing the body sparingly, trying to mitigate the sufferings of others and absorbed in the direct, inward, intuitive knowledge from which all virtue and holiness arises is the way to achieve liberation. Although every man is intuitively conscious of the philosophical truths only the ascetic realises and lives these truths. Inspite of knowing the karma that brings about the repeated cycles of birth and death, man continues to perform the same karma which was the cause of his suffering in the first place. Thus man lives steeped in ignorance and bondage. He lives the life of a beast wallowing in physical pleasures. Association with realised souls will help him to practise renunciation and overcome sensory pleasures. There are three kinds of reality-the Supreme Spirit, the Individual Spirit and the Material principle. Each of them relate to the other. By practising discrimination one has to choose the path that leads to God. Discrimination means the knowledge of which is real and which is unreal. The magician alone is real and his magic illusory, this reality should be realised. Like the Gopis of Brindavan one must cultivate intense zeal and love for God. Ignorance is enslaved by samskaras which are of two types-cosmic and individual. Cosmic samskaras are the birth and the way one has been born which is common to all individuals. Individual samskaras are due to one’s own actions in past births. That is why if two children are born in the same family, one becomes a criminal while the other a saint. Thus new samskaras acquired during the present life influences future occurrences in this life or the next lives. Thus man has to be aware at all times of the purpose of human existence and acquire samskaras that will pave the way for ultimate realisation. The ego is the thought ‘I’. It is the sole cause of all suffering as all suffering revolves around egotism. It destroys virtue, self control and dissipates equanimity. The ego sense or Ahamkara identifies with the mind and leads to untold suffering. Ignorance can never perish without yearning for self knowledge. Devotion, study of the scriptures, worship, company of the holy, practising equanimity under all situations, perseverance to the goal and discrimination, these are the ways in which the seeker can get over the bond of ego sense. The ego is like a cloud or veil which obscures the reality and unless removed the state of Samadhi can never be achieved. These instructions have to be given by a father to his children, a king to his subjects and a teacher to his disciples. He is the true Guru who practising all these ideals should encourage the seeker on the spiritual path. King Rishabha then said that his mind was dominated by the quality of sattva and adharma had no place in it as God resided in it therefore he was named Rishabh or one who is highly moral. He then extols the qualities of his son Bharata and asks the other sons to serve him wisely. He said that in all the world, the highest creature is only the holy man as he abides in God. He then asks them to annihilate all desires as it is the root cause of all evil. Knowing one’s own self is true knowledge. Dedicating one’s body, mind and soul in pursuit of this knowledge is the process of self realisation. Sage Suka thus recounting this in the Bhagavad Puran said that inspite of all Rishabha’s sons being aware of all these teachings, Rishabha wished to teach the world at large. He then left to take up the life of a sanyasin. His mind merged in the Atman and he began moving from place to place begging for his food, unaffected by ignorant people who persecuted him in his wanderings, providing succour to those who required it. His pure love for the Lord transformed him and it is said that even his excreta emitted a fragrance, such sublime and exalted heights he had reached. He then achieved total liberation and attained the Lotus feet of the Lord by giving up his body in a forest fire.
Conclusion
Rishabha Gita taught mankind the purpose of human life, how to remove the vagaries of the mind and release oneself from bondage and attain liberation. The greatness of Rishabha is also reflected in this Gita and it also exemplifies the qualities of a Yogi who has achieved liberation and in his compassion helps other struggling souls in their journey to achieve Moksha or self realisation.