THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL

Om Namah Shivaya

ॐ नमः शिवाय

I bow to Lord Shiva

Our country has been blessed with the wisdom and generosity of many great and pious sages. Sage Bhaskaracharya, calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun, hundreds of years before the first western astronomer W.M. Smart. Rishi Aryabhata was the first to proclaim that the earth is round, it rotates on its axis, orbits the sun and is suspended in space – thousands of years before Copernicus published his heliocentric theory. Acharya Bharadwaja authored the “Yantra Sarvasva” which includes astonishing and outstanding discoveries in aviation science, space science and flying machines. The knowledge of our ancient seers was extensive covering all aspects of science, politics, medicine, archaeology, yoga and religion. Their learning and understanding of every possible field of knowledge was indeed unlimited.

There were so many sages of extensive knowledge and with special powers that to single out one individual among them as the wisest or the most knowledgeable would be difficult. However in generosity and munificence the rishi who among all the others was by far unsurpassable in his unstinting largesse was Maharishi Dadhichi.

Dadhichi was the son of rishi Atharvan and his wife Chitti. Dadhichi was one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. Dadhichi was said to be a master of the Vedic art known as Brahmavidya that enabled mortals to attain immortality. Indra the king of the devas was insecure and felt his position threatened when such a potent power was in the hands of Dadhichi, a mortal.

The Ashwini Kumaras, the twin sons of Surya devta, wished to learn the Brahmavidya from Maharishi Dadhichi. This made Lord Indra even more insecure. He certainly did not want the Ashwini twins to learn the Brahmavidya. Lord Indra in order to deter Dadhichi from imparting the divine knowledge vowed that he would cut off the head of anyone who taught the twins this art.

Such was Maharishi Dadhichi’s magnanimity that, regardless of Indra’s threat and unmindful of his own life, he willing offered to share his wisdom and knowledge with the Ashwini twins. However, the Ashwini twins did not wish to be the cause for the death of such a great and powerful sage. They devised a plan to protect Dadhichi from Indra’s power. The Ashwini twins being divine had many special powers of their own too. Using their mystical powers they cut off Maharishi Dadhichi head, preserved it and replaced it with the head of a horse. They then learnt the art of Brahmavidya from Maharishi Dadhichi who had temporarily been given the head of a horse.

When Indra heard that the twins had gained this secret knowledge he was livid. He rushed to Maharishi Dadhichi and in his wrath chopped off the sage’s horse head. As soon as Indra left the Ashwini twins took Dadhichi’s original head that they had preserved very carefully and fixed it back on to the sage’s mortal body. They then used the Brahmavidya they had just acquired from the sage to revive him back to life.

Some years later it so happened that during a war between the devas and asuras (demons) the asuras were gaining a distinct advantage. To make matters even more difficult for the devas, the asura through some crafty black magic were robbing the devas of all their weapons. The devas could not figure out how their powerful arms and weapons kept disappearing one after another. They began to get very worried. They realized that if their entire weaponry were stolen they would be unable to fight their enemy or even defend themselves. They were greatly distressed.

Knowing of the incredible powers of Maharishi Dadhichi, the Devas decided to request him to safeguard their weapons. Despite the fact that the Devata’s king, Lord Indra, had once attempted to kill him and without even considering that his own life might be in danger for siding with the devas, the kind and forgiving sage without any hesitation agreed instantly to help the devas. The devas left all their reserve supply of arms with the sage and returned to the battlefield to fight the asuras now assured that their weapons would be safe.

The war took many years. The Maharishi waited for the devas to return but there was no indication of them returning. After a very long time had passed and the devas had still not returned, the Maharishi realized that he could not protect the weapons indefinitely. Finally, one day, using his divine powers the sage put all the weapons into a sacred pot of water and drank it all up. Free of the responsibility of protecting the weapons Maharishi Dadhichi went back to focusing entirely on his meditation and tapasya (penance).

A short while later the devas returned to collect the artillery. The maharishi was surprised to see them and said, “You had not come for such a long time that I thought you might not return. I waited many years for you but as you never came back and I could not continue to protect your weapons without neglecting my own duties I put them in a pot of water and drank them all up.”

The devas were horrified to hear this. They exclaimed, “Revered sage it is imperative that we get our weapons back. We are now in a position to defeat the asuras but that will not be possible if we have no weapons to fight them with. We beg of you please find a way to retrieve our weapons.”

Seeing the devas so agitated Dadhichi’s heart went out to them. He was determined to help them. After a moment’s thought he said, “The weapons that are now in my body, have become even more powerful than they were before. But they are in my bones so you must kill me and you will have all the weapons you need. Do not hesitate to kill me and retrieve the artillery.”

Naturally the devas were shocked to hear the solution that the sage had so calmly put across to them. They replied in unison, “Never, great sage would we ever commit such a heinous crime as to kill a pious, kind and great seer like you for any reason whatsoever.”

Maharishi Dadhichi was so incredibly self-sacrificing that he thought nothing of dying in order to save the devas. Now seeing that the devas could not be persuaded to kill him the sage went about creating a huge fire. As the flames soared the brave and benevolent hermit walked into the flames. The devas looked on aghast not knowing what to do.

Then much to their astonishment Lord Brahma appeared and taking the bones from the sacrificial fire he converted them into innumerable, formidable weapons. The power of Dadhichi’s divine virtue and blessed soul had made the weapons even more lethal than ever before. Dadhichi’s back bone was made into the incredibly dangerous Vajra. Ironically it was Lord Indra who was given this deadly weapon. It was this Vajra that Indra used to kill one of the most dreaded rakshasas (demon) Vritrasur. Though Indra had once wanted to kill the holy sage, Dadhichi’s compassion was so all encompassing that he had readily forgiven Indra and willing helped Indra in his hour of need.

Though there are many wise, generous and pious sages, it is Maharishi Dadhichi who will always be the one who remains unmatched in his generosity. There has never been a sage so willing to extend his love to even to those that wronged him nor one as self-less as him. When the Ashwini twins came to him to learn the Brahmavidya, Dadhichi though aware of Indra’s threat to kill him readily agreed to impart this divine knowledge. Later when the very same Indra who had cut off the sage’s horse head needed help to avoid defeat at the hands of the asuras, Dadhichi immediately offered his help even though it meant he would lose his mortal body in order to protect the devas.

Maharishi Dadhichi remains incomparable in his magnanimity. He was not only generous with his love, his knowledge and his powers but he even went so far as to give up his life for the welfare of the devatas.

LIFE LESSONS

1. The most noteworthy trait in a person is his generosity.

2. There is greater joy in giving than in receiving.

3. Like Maharishi Dadhichi let us all try to help and give to those in need.

4. Always remember that God blesses and protects those who are kind, compassionate, caring and giving.