One Eternal Divinity, Many Gods

We are looking at examples of guru bhakti from the Paushya Parva of the Mahabharata.

The three shishyas of Dhaumya: Aruni, how Aruni gained complete knowledge in all Vedas and Shastras by blindly following the instructions of the guruji, Dhaumya. Not even one word from Vedas or Shastras was taught to him, but Dhaumya transferred all knowledge to him in one shot because of his blind obedience.

The second shishya, Upamanyu, the guru had to refine him, make him pure through a series of processes. He always looked for a way to wriggle out of the guruji’s instruction. But at the end, Dhaumya showed him the right path — that taking refuge in divinity is the one and only way to achieve anything — and him also Dhaumya blessed after he became eligible through the process of refining.

In this legend of Upamanyu, a lot of information about Ashwini Devas is revealed. Dhaumya, when Upamanyu lost his eyesight and fell into a well, told him, 'I can't help you much. You pray to the divine doctors, Ashwini Devas.'

Upamanyu's prayer gives us a lot of information about Ashwini Devas. This is an extract of the same information as it is available in the Vedas. But, in the Vedas it is spread across. Here, it is at one place. That is the advantage. If you go through Upamanyu’s prayer, you get a fair idea about the Ashwins.

One beauty of our scriptures is that they don’t contradict each other. You will find that every single divinity has common attributes. The Ashwini Devas existed even before creation, before this world that we experience came into existence. That means they are eternal. Then, when the world was being created, they entered the Hiranyagarbha and manifested themselves.

Every divinity, if you see, it is the same concept. We say Mahishasura Mardini, she manifested herself in the world to accomplish a certain task at a certain point in time. But is that her birth? No. She is anadi, she was there even before creation.

Here, the Ashwins were also there before creation. This is like: there is clay — which you can say is the state before creation. Then from the same clay, you make a statue of a boy, a girl, a table, a chair. Different forms. But they all come from the same clay. So when we say Ashwins were there even before creation, it is this clay we are referring to — which is the common source for everything.

The gods that we talk about — Rama, Krishna, Ganesha, Shiva — they all have physical bodies. But that is within the created world, after creation. In Treta Yuga, Lord Rama manifested himself in a human body. But if you trace back, he was very much there even before creation as Parabrahma.

So Parabrahma is that huge mountain of clay. And Rama is a statue made with a handful of that clay, a small part of that clay. So when we talk about the glory of Lord Rama, we should not forget this. What he did while on earth is not even a trillionth part of his original power and capability.

So here, the Ashwini Devas also come from the same source — Parabrahma. And they were among the first who took birth in the world. Two terms are used here to show this difference: prapurvagau and purvajau. Purvagau showing their existence before creation and purvajau showing their birth or manifestation before everything else like humans, birds, plants.

Srishti is not an instantaneous event. It is a process in various stages. Ashwins were among the first borns. They being Parabrahma, you can say that whatever you see around you as various living and non-living beings, they are all Ashwini Devatas.

So here, Upamanyu is not addressing them in their limited functional capacity as the divine doctors. He is going beyond and addressing them as Parabrahma itself, which is also what Veda says. So if you think that Ashwini Kumaras can be prayed to only for health, that may not be all that correct. They are Parabrahma, Paramatma. They can be prayed to for anything.

Upamanyu says, 'I want to listen about you, understand by listening to what is there in the Vedas. I want to understand more about you. Then I want to meditate upon you, contemplate upon you.'

You may hear the word Gopal. You may have a friend by the name Gopal. You may hear his name so many times. You may call him so many times. But does that mere word evoke any bhakti in you? When you call out to your friend, 'Hey Gopal, come here,' does it evoke bhakti in you?

So the word is not sufficient. You have to contemplate upon the meaning of the word. Go-palah — then you see the Lord, the rain-cloud-coloured Lord, holding a flute, wearing peetambara and peacock feather, grazing cows. When you visualize him like this, contemplate upon him internally like this, then devotion comes.

Upamanyu says, 'I want to attain you first by hearing about you, then meditating upon you by visualizing internally based on what you hear and contemplating upon it again and again. Every time you contemplate, a new dimension gets revealed to you. This is what I want to do — through hearing about you and contemplating upon you — giraa tapasaa cha.'

When he does this, what is it that he is going to realize? That their glory is endless, limitless. They are Ananta. They are not just doctors who are going to come and cure him, restore his eyesight.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi