Vasant Panchami

Vasant Panchami literally means the fifth day of the spring season (vasant ritu). This day is also considered as the day of Goddess Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and wisdom. In earlier days, pre-school children were inducted to schools on this day, or were made to write from this day. In a country where education is a religion, this day has its own importance. In the Eastern parts of India, every household which has children in schools or colleges perform Saraswati Puja, besides the community ones held on this day.

Saraswati is the consort of Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe and the originator of all knowledge in the form of Vedas. In the eastern parts of India, Saraswati is considered to be the daughter of Shiva and Parvati. She is clad in white, symbolising purity. The vahana or the carrier of Saraswati is a white swan and this too has its own significance. The swan is supposed to have the ability to separate water from milk, signifying that learning and wisdom enables man to distinguish good from bad.

Mythologically, Saraswati is the sister of Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth), but both are considered to be poles apart. Saraswati is permanent, where is Lakshmi is temporary (chanchala – fidgety, and thus does not stay anywhere forever). Worshipper of Saraswati is blessed for life, but the worshipper of Lakshmi is wealthy till the whims of the goddess.

Saraswati has her counterparts in other mythologies too.

Athena

According to Greek Mythology, Athena is the goddess of wisdom and learning. She is the daughter of Zeus and is credited with inventing the flute, which symbolises her association with music and other fields of arts and craft.

Thoth

Besides the goddesses, the Egyptians had Thoth as the god of learning. Thoth was also associated with wisdom, writing, speech, etc. He was the chief counsellor to Ra, the King of all gods.



Odin



Odin was the god of wisdom in the Nordic mythology. He is supposed to have hung on the tree of knowledge pierced by his own spear to gain knowledge and wisdom. He is always depicted as one-eyed, as he is supposed to have traded his other eye for a drink from the Well of Wisdom, which enabled him to gain immense knowledge.

 Though there are many other mythologies which have gods and goddesses of wisdom, learning, poetry, arts, music, etc., the above are deities who are primarily associated with aspects of knowledge and wisdom.

We surely do live in times of dichotomy. Lakshmi or Saraswati? Wealth or Wisdom? To acquire wisdom, we need wealth, and the moment we acquire wisdom or learning, our objective turns to earn wealth. Somewhere, or the other, the pursuit of Saraswati seems to be to acquire Lakshmi. Serious worshippers of Saraswati have humble dwellings, and worshippers of Lakshmi live in palaces. Teachers travel in public transport while students come in chauffeur-driven cars. In the land of gurukuls and unflinching devotion to teachers, one needs to be a strong worshipper of Lakshmi to attain the blessings of Saraswati! Once the blessings of Saraswati are acquired, it’s time to appease Lakshmi again!

If this is not a serious dichotomy, then what is?

Why was Narada Muni a Bachelor?

According to a myth, once Narada Muni’s meditation could not be disturbed even by Kamdev, the god of love. Narada Muni overheard someone say that this made him bigger than even Lord Shiva, since Kamdev had managed to disturb Shiva and his meditation was disturbed by him. This comment went to Narada’s head and he started believing that he was superior to Lord Shiva.

Since Lord Vishnu was concerned of his favourite disciple’s pride and arrogance, he decided to teach Narada a lesson in humility. Vishnu requested his consort, Goddess Lakshmi to take the human form of Srimati, the beautiful daughter, of King Ambarish. During one such visit to the King Ambarish’s palace, Narada saw Srimati and instantly fell in love with her and expressed his desire to marry Srimati. King Ambarish though did not prefer the match, could not say anything to Narada. So he agreed to host a swayamwara and let Srimati choose her husband.

Narada immediately went to Lord Shiva and asked him as to what should he do, so that Srimati selected him. Shiva said that if he could look as handsome as Vishnu, then, Srimati might notice him and for this he should meet Vishnu himself. Narada went to Vishnu and requested that he look as good as Vishnu to enable Srimati select him. Vishnu smiled and decided to play a trick on Narada.

On the day of the swayamvara, Narada got a monkey-face, without his realising this. When Srimati came with a garland in her hand, she saw no Narada Muni but a monkey-faced man. However, next to him was a handsome man calling her out. Srimati immediately garlanded him and before anybody could realise, both Srimati and the handsome man (who was none other than Lord Vishnu) had vanished in thin air.

When Narada saw his reflection in water, he was angry and felt cheated. He then cursed Vishnu that a time would come, when he too would have to be separated from his love, and at that time, it would be a monkey, whose help he would have to take to get his love back! I will spare you all the story of Ramayana!

However, Narada had also learnt his lesson and since then he shed all his pride and arrogance and decided to remain unmarried. Because of this episode, Narada Muni is also referred to as Kapi-Vaktra or monkey-faced.

Narada Muni – Valmiki

As the story goes, Ratnakar was a robber who had taken to robbing and would loot people passing from one village to another. During one such incident he came across Narada Muni and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not part with all he had. Narada got him chatting and asked him the reason of this profession, to which Ratnakara said that he was doing this for his family. Did he know that the means were wrong, to which Ratnakara said that he did, but he had no option as he had to take care of his family too.

Then Narada asked him, if his family would be party to his sin, to which Ratnakara felt, that they obviously would. On Narada’s insistence, Ratnakara went home to check with his family. To his horror and surprise, both his wife and children felt that it was his responsibility to take care of them, but they could not be hold responsible for the sin he was committing. Heart-broken, Ratnakara came back to the waiting Narada and broke down. It was then that Narada taught Ratnakara how to meditate and chant ‘Rama’.

Ratnakar got so engrossed in his meditation that he did not even realise that ant-hills had formed all over him. Later Narada, came and removed the ant-hills from his body and named him Valmiki, (Valmika meaning ‘from the ant-hill’) and gave him the title of Brahmarishi and in due course of time, motivated him to pen down the entire Ramayana, after narrating the story to him.

Here too, we find that Narada was instrumental in seeing the potential of Ratnakara and through the correct means transforms him into Brahmarishi Valmiki. This is thanks to his being aware of the fact that Ratnakar was the long lost son of Rishi Prachetasa, who was lost at childhood and brought up by a hunter, and in due course took to looting. This internal information was put to good use and channelized into making him a rishi and a great author. Narada’s being aware of critical information, making good use of it and influencing in the most positive manner enabled Valmiki to write the epic, Ramayana.

Narada Muni – Lord Dattatreya

According to a myth, earth was chanting the greatness of Sati Anusuya and her chastity was a topic of discussion on heavens. The three prime goddesses, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati, decided to put to test Sati Anusuya’s chastity and made their husbands, the Holy trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to do what they wanted. They insisted that they go to Anusuya and seek ‘Nirvana Bhiksha’, i.e., giving alms in a naked condition.

Much against their wishes, the gods did what their wives had demanded of them. On hearing the request from the three Sanyasis (the form taken by the Trinity), Sati Anusuya, was aghast, to say the least, but turning down such a request would be nothing short of sacrilege. So she sprinkled some water which she had used to wash her husband’s feet, on the three gods, which changed them into three kids. At that moment, she found milk accumulating in her breasts and she fed the three children her milk. While feeding the milk, in a nude form, she thought of them as her children, and thus, her chastity was intact.

It was at this stage that Narada Muni went to the three goddesses and related the whole incident and also informed them that their husbands had been changed into children, and the only way to get them was to beg for them from Anusuya’s husband, Rishi Atri. On begging, the Holy trinity were restored to their original form, and the three children were merged into one god – Dattatreya, a single bodied lord with three faces, in the likeness of the holy Trinity. The three gods then blessed the child and said that the Dattatreya would become a well-known sage and will equal the status of the three gods.

It was Narada Muni who used his influence to get the goddesses to bring out their concerns and get to test Anusuya’s chastity and also to get them to understand that they were not unique and that the earthlings could at times pose a threat to their heavenly status, which had been taken for granted. The envy of the goddesses was instigated by none other than Narada Muni himself, as he was also secretly aware of the fact that Sati Anusuya had a desire to beget children like the holy Trinity. Thus Narada, ensured that Sati Anusuya’s wish be granted while the goddesses pride be grounded. In this example, Narada is instrumental in many of the results that were achieved.

Narada Muni – the Celestial Lobbyist

The technical definition of Lobbyist is – a person or organisation that practices influencing legislatures toward passing bills that favours or helps their interests.  The term has gained larger meaning to include contracts, positions, personal interests, big-bucks, etc.! Lobbying is now the latest buzz word in terms of profession and seems quite a great job, if you don’t get embroiled into controversies, that is! So what does it take to become one?

Here are some qualifications of a Lobbyist –

1.     Great contacts

2.     Influential enough to get things done.

3.     Domain knowledge

4.     Accessibility to all doors

5.     Be well informed

If we remove the label of a ‘Lobbyist’ and deglamourise it a bit, then we can see that such people have been in existence from the times of yore, except that they were not labelled as Lobbyists. Narada Muni from Hindu mythology was but a Lobbyist, if we remove some of the existing labels attached to his persona.

Great Contacts – Narada was the son (mansaputra) of none other than Lord Brahma himself. He was considered to be the greatest worshipper and follower of Lord Vishnu and could present himself at his abode without prior permission.

Influential enough to get things done – Narada Muni’s unique position of being Brahma’s manasputra and Vishnu’s biggest follower and his ‘non-curse able’ personality made him extremely influential in Heavens, which was the main arena of action and the place to get things done.

Domain Knowledge – Nara means man, and da means giver, thus the very name Narada, stands for someone who gives, knowledge (useful) to mankind in general. He was well versed with Vedas and Upanishads. He had an extraordinary proficiency in Samaveda which is dedicated to music. He knew the art of articulating each syllable and was also well versed in semantics. He also knew the precise use of each word.

Accessibility to all doors – Narada Muni had access to all the three lokas, and as mentioned earlier, there was no place on both heavens and earth, that he didn’t have access to. There was no place on either, which he could not visit, and no matter what, he had the ability to be just everywhere at all times! I guess that’s probably why, he was not just a rishi, but a Maharishi.

Be well informed – Narada Muni was known as Trikal Vedi, one who was aware of the past, present and the future at any given point of time. He was well informed of the happenings of all the lokas and knew exactly when to be where and get something to happen. He was a perfect catalyst for many a great things that happened, as would see.

It was thanks to Narada Muni’s influence, or insistence and his being aware of the happenings of all places that we have read about the timely saving of Bhakt Prahalada from the hands of his father Hiranyakashipu and the Narasimha avatar of Lord Vishnu. Or the avatar of Lord Rama and Sita vanquishing Ravana with the help of Hanuman too is thanks to a ‘curse’ by Narada to Lord Vishnu, who was accused of fooling Narada during one his bouts of arrogance. Similarly Narada Muni was instrumental in Ved Vyasa writing the Mahabharata, just as he helped Thyagaraja achieve his epitome as a musician, and Valmiki writing the Ramayana. Narada Muni was also responsible for ensuring that Dhruv got his place in the sky and on the lap of Lord Vishnu, just as his timely intervention ensured the creation of God Dattatreya.

All the myths might have the basic ingredient as Narada the mischief maker, but if we dilute the element of his being Kalaha-Priya or the lover of quarrels, we can see that, at the end of it all, Narada Muni was an individual who was instrumental in many an action. He lobbied with the powers-that-be (gods in heavens in this case), all through the intrinsic knowledge of all that he had, to set a few actions (be it recognition to some or awards to some), needless to say that all for the positive good at the end.

Did he not play the role of a Lobbyist well? Is he not a good benchmark of an ideal Lobbyist?

[During the next few days, we will discuss some of the myths of Narada Muni in greater details.]