Panchatapas A Mythological Interpretation

Holy Mother on Panchatapas

Do you think the austerity called Panchatapas that Holy Mother Sri performed was one of the many ordinary incidents in her life? Perhaps not. Perhaps it’s the most important, epoch-making incident, at 1. least from the mythological viewpoint. This article studies that. For one thing, Holy Mother’s nature was to downplay everything in her own life, hide herself and present herself as the most ordinary person in the world. She would explain away all extraordinary events and incidents in her life as mere trivialities. Yet, the world knows how important each single event was. Consider, for instance, this little incident. Holy Mother would bathe in the Ganga early morning, at 3 am. Once it was dark and she put her foot on a crocodile; the crocodile jumped into the river. heard this and said that she should carry a lamp. For the student of mythology, it is not a trivial incident, for it is known that Mother Ganga has a “vehicle” (vâhana ), the crocodile ( makara ). It’s also known that the crocodile’s form is a combination of the forms of several animals, and that the crocodile is an ancient symbol of significance in several cultures. Thus, every little thing that happened in Holy Mother’s life is amazing and has a deep significance. And thus, the incident of her performing the five-fire austerity has enormous importance from the mythological and mystical viewpoints. We shall see how. In 1893, Holy Mother performed this five-fire austerity, popularly known as panchatapas. “Panchatapas” is sitting amidst pancha-tâpas (five scalding fires). Here are her own words about this: “Sometime after the passing away of the Master, I began to see the vision of a bearded Sannyasin who asked me to perform panchatapa. In the beginning I didn't pay much attention to it. I hardly knew what panchatapa was. But the Sannyasin gradually put pressure on me. So I asked Yogin about panchatapa, and she said, Very good, Mother, I shall also perform it.' Arrangements were made for panchatapa. I was then living in Nilambar Babu's house. Blazing fires of dried cow-dung were lighted on four sides, and there was the intense heat of the sun above. After my morning bath I approached the fires and saw them burning brightly. I was seized with much fear. I wondered how I would be able to enter the area and remain seated there until sunset. But repeating the name of the Master, I entered the area and the fires seemed to have lost their heat. I practised this discipline for seven days. But, my child, it made my complexion dark like black ash. After this I didn't see that figure of the Sannyasin again.’1

1 Importance of Mythology About mythology, first. From mythos (Greek, ‘divinely inspired’) comes the word myth. ‘Myth’ means a narrative—a story, either long or short. Myths are almost always sacred, being connected to religion. Indian , Roman stories, and stories from the Old Testament are mythological narratives. ‘Mythology’ has two meanings: a collection of sacred stories and the study of myths. Just as ritual and philosophy are important for any religion, mythology too is important. In fact, according to scholars studying mythology, especially William Smith, myth and ritual are deeply interconnected. A ritual has a mythological connotation and vice versa. All cultures have their mythologies. For a religion to survive, continue, 2. and spread amongst the masses, mythology is imperative. We have all grown up with mythological stories ringing in our ears, filling our imaginations, and inspiring our religious pursuit. Most of us take them at their face value, some think of their philosophical significance and a few go deeper to discover what these stories have to do on different aspects of life and living. While they say, generally, that since philosophy is terse, ritual is complex and mysticism is beyond our reach, mythology is always considered near and dear to the heart. However, not many of us are aware that interpretation is necessary to discover the hidden significance of stories. Sometimes, great truths are hidden behind simple stories.

Interpretation of mythology is a big subject now. There have been “mythologists” since quite some time—of whom Carl Jung, Lévi-Strauss, Joseph Campbell and a few others are well known. There have been several scholars who have identified the different important functions of mythology. Of them, Joseph Campbell identifies four functions 2: the metaphysical, cosmological, sociological and pedagogical. The metaphysical function of mythology is to make us, common people, comprehend the incomprehensible through simple stories. Its cosmological function is to give some sort of science to the science-less times of the world. The sociological function of mythology is to give credence to right social behaviour. The pedagogical function of mythology is to give the individual the right method of living to attain higher goals. A fifth function of mythology, which Campbell does not mention, is the religious function in its highest sense. Religion in its true sense should harmonize and unite and mythology, especially its comparative aspect, does that.

Meaning of Mother’s Austerity

It was 1893. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi was staying at the Nilambar Mukherjee’s Garden House in Belur. There, she performed panchatapas for seven days, sitting amidst fires from dawn to dusk. Yogin Ma, her companion, too sat with her. Two points about the seven-day duration.

2 One, the intensity. The intensity of aspiration and seeking of a mere mortal and that of an avatar are worlds apart. So, what the Divine Mother accomplishes in seven days is beyond the imagination of mortals. says that an incarnation lives a million lives in just one life: ‘…take the whole of the animal creation, man and the lower animals, as one whole. There is an end towards which the whole is moving. Let us call it perfection. Some men and women are born who anticipate the whole progress of mankind. Instead of waiting and being reborn over and over again for ages until the whole human race has attained to that perfection, they, as it were, rush through them in a few short years of their life.’3 Two, the genesis story. According to the Old Testament, God made the world in six days and ‘on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he 3. had made.’4 So, if God could make the world in seven days, Holy Mother could change the world, could bring about the new millennium, the Satya Yuga, in seven days. Indeed, history has been created. Here is how.

Daksha’s Horse Sacrifice The Puranas and the (see Shanti Parva—Mokshadharma , chapters 287 and 289) narrate the story of a horse sacrifice that Daksha performed in a beautiful, rich and excellent place.5 Horse sacrifices are performed to conquer the world. Daksha invited everyone to his sacrifice, but conveniently forgot his own daughter, Umâ, and son-in-law, Shiva. And that, despite Sage Dadîchi’s warning. Daksha disliked Shiva or Rudra. He would say that he knew several Rudras but not this Maheshwara Rudra. 6 Daksha’s daughter, Dâkhâyani or Umâ, came to know about her father’s sacrifice, and was extremely sad ( atîva duhkhamutpannam )7 that her husband was not invited to it. According to Mahabharata , Umâ expressed her sorrow before Shiva and Shiva explained to her that non- contemplatives cannot understand him. Yet, Umâ’s intense sadness awakened annoyance in him too. 8 And he created an extremely strong personality, Virabhadra, from his mouth. Shiva told Virabhadra of extraordinary capabilities to go to Daksha’s empire, and destroy Daksha’s sacrifice. From the Divine Mother’s feelings was born Bhadrakali, she sought Umâ’s permission to go to the sacrifice. Virabhadra and Bhadrakali went to the city where the sacrifice was taking place and destroyed it.9 According to another, sadder, version from the Puranas like the Vâyu Purana, Umâ herself went to the sacrificial hall and demanded from her father why he had humiliated his son-in-law that way. When Daksha replied arrogantly, insulted Umâ and even insulted Umâ’s husband, Umâ was deeply hurt. Unable to tolerate the humiliation anymore, Umâ jumped into the sacrificial fire and thus the sacrifice was destroyed.

The Mahabharata version, though, has a happy ending. Daksha realised his folly and prayed fervently to Shiva. Shiva appeared before him

3 in all splendour. Daksha sang a great hymn in Shiva’s praise. Shiva was pleased and blessed Daksha and granted him all the boons worth a thousand horse sacrifices. What if one sacrifice was destroyed, Daksha got everything he needed. Shiva also restored all the items of sacrifice which Daksha wanted to be restored. Further, Shiva assured Daksha that Daksha should never be sad (‘ daksha daksha na kartavyo manyuh vighnam imam prati’ 10 ). Shiva then says something important: “O Daksha, your sacrifices in earlier epochs too had to be destroyed in a similar fashion.” 11 This is important. In every epoch, Shiva has destroyed Daksha’s efforts at world conquest. Why? Shiva explains: ‘The gods and demons have extracted their own types of religions from the Vedas. They struggle 4. hard to attain happiness. But I have given to the world the path of liberation from fetters, which is opposed to the usual duties of caste and status of life.’ 12 The long and short of this mythological story is that Daksha was about to conquer the world on several occasions and Shiva stopped it.

Daksha: The World Maker

Who is Daksha? Daksha is Prajâpati, the originator of living beings, the lord of the earth. In the Mahabharata , Daksha is called Prajâpati, the creator and the progenitor of creatures, by Shiva Himself. 13 He has been called Brahmanaspati, Prajâpati, etc, in the Vedas. For those interested in technical details, J. Gonda’s extraordinary research work, Prajapati’s Relations with Brahman, Brihaspati and Brahmâ (1989) will help. Gonda shows how Purusha (of the Purusha Sukta ), Brahmâ and Brahman have all been equated with Prajâpati. The Rg Veda says that Brahmanaspati resorted to the mountains. He is all-powerful and is the giver of wealth and progeny. 14 He created all these, even the gods, as it was in the previous cycles. 15 Daksha, according to the Rg Veda, gave birth to Aditi 16 , meaning that he is the creator of all the gods. Several Puranas mention Daksha as the creator, as Prajâpati, as Brahmâ, etc. It was this creator who came to meet Ramakrishna’s mother, sweating profusely during the winter months, while Sri Ramakrishna was still in the womb. Creation is Brahmâ’s concern. Creation means the One becoming many—the soul being conditioned to the senses. Creation is materialism. It is involvement ( pravritti ). Creation binds the soul to the world. The horse sacrifice of the Creator symbolises the desire of matter to be victorious over the Spirit, of pravritti over nivritti and of the world over God. No spiritual culture or civilization has ever seconded the life of the senses. The life of the senses leads to unending desire for sense enjoyment, creation of newer objects of sense pleasure, and ends in suffering only. However, let alone living beings, even the gods are after pleasures. When the gods were pleased with their supposed victory once, it was Umâ who gave them Atman knowledge,

4 says Kena Upanishad . This Umâ is Daksha’s daughter. Umâ is the Divine Mother, the source of Self-knowledge. While Shiva symbolizes renunciation and detachment, Daksha Prajâpati symbolizes involvement and attachment: the two extremes. The one who chooses Daksha gets the world and its sorrow, and is bound. The one who chooses Shiva gets Umâ’s grace: divine knowledge and liberation.

Mother’s Concern for the World

Just as no mother is happy if her children suffer due to ignorance, Umâ is sad if living beings suffer in the name of seeking happiness in the world. For, ‘no servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.’17 So, while 5. worldliness seems to be winning and godliness disappearing, Umâ intervenes. Mother goes to any extent to save her children from ignorance, sorrow and existential suffering. Swami Vivekananda writes: ‘Great things are done only by great sacrifices. … Throughout the history of the world you find great men make great sacrifices and the mass of mankind enjoy the benefit.’18 So Umâ makes great sacrifice. Unfortunately, though God’s creation is initially perfect, it tends towards imperfection. Thus there are cycles and epochs, ups and downs. While things begin well with Satya Yuga, the Golden Age, it turns to Yuga, the age of worldliness soon. And in every age, sincerity gives way to laxity, spirituality to worldliness, God to senses. So the Divine Mother intervenes. Through Her austerity, she burns the worldliness and awakens spirituality. When the living beings are awakened from slumber, they slowly struggle to know their true nature and become free. 19 Hence Her sacrifices as Umâ in the past and as Sarada Devi in the present are vital. We know less about the ancient past but more about the recent past. But before Sri Ramakrishna’s advent, the world was certainly in an extremely sad situation. While India was in slavery, ignorance and darkness, the world had ignored spirituality. Sri Ramakrishna came, practised intense sadhanas, and disappeared in 1886. His message had to be given to the world. Holy Mother was intensely pained. Years were passing after Sri Ramakrishna’s disappearance, but yet the world was not waking up from slumber. She went on a pilgrimage and returned. She saw the situation of the world with her divine eyes, felt intensely, and wept silently. She was pained that the embodiment of renunciation, Sri Ramakrishna, had not found place in the heart of the world. She was pained that Ramakrishna’s aspiration for seeking God through diverse paths and knowing that all paths lead to the same goal was yet to find place in the heart of the world. She prayed fervently for the world to change. Sri Ramakrishna had requested her to do something because the people were living like worms. He knew she would accomplish a stupendous task. Her pain at not being to do what she wanted was growing.

5 It was at this time that a “bearded sannyasin” repeatedly requested her to perform the austerity of five fires. She did it in 1893. Her golden complexion turned “dark like black ash”. But this sacrifice took effect soon. And then the world began to change. It never looked back. How?

Daksha’s New Plans Cancelled It was the World Fair at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. About 27 million people saw the World Fair. It was a huge sacrifice by Daksha, as it were, to conquer the world. At this juncture, Holy Mother performed a great sacrifice. The result? A world-renouncing monk, unknown and unheard of before, became the most famous person of the Chicago event. 6. Swami Vivekananda sought Holy Mother’s blessings. With her blessings, the heroic Vivekananda went to the United States, conquered worldliness with spirituality in Chicago. The world changed forever that year. The age of worldliness in religion’s name, isolation of religions, superstitions, ignorance, narrowness and selfishness ended. The epoch of mutual understanding, harmony and love was born. Just as ripples in a pond move outwards from the centre, changes always begin in the world of religions first and spread to other areas. The new millennium of harmony and understanding has begun in 1893. Since that year, a lot has been accomplished. Vivekananda himself spread the message in two continents, gave the world the four yogas, founded centres and the , established Belur Math, and did a hundred other things. Vivekananda wrote one year later: ‘To me, Mother's grace is a hundred thousand times more valuable than Father's. Mother's grace, Mother's blessings are all paramount to me. . . . Please pardon me. I am a little bigoted there, as regards Mother. If but Mother orders, her demons can work anything. Brother, before proceeding to America I wrote to Mother to bless me. Her blessings came, and at one bound I cleared the ocean. Brother, faith is very difficult to achieve. Brother, I shall show how to worship the living Durga and then only shall I be worthy of my name. I shall be relieved when you will have purchased a plot of land and established there the living Durga, the Mother.’ 20 By her grace, Swami Vivekananda had understood and realized by 1893 that Holy Mother was Umâ or Durgâ, who had come to save the world. After 1893, the world is not same anymore. Speaking of religious unity, Swamiji had remarked thus: ‘…if any one here hopes that this [religious] unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the other, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." … For, upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, in spite of resistance: "Help and not Fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."’21 And that is coming true. Religions are changing. They are broadening. With religions changing, other fields too are changing. The world is waking up. No ordinary power could have brought about this change. One more thing.

6 Destruction of Daksha’s sacrifice or spirituality’s conquest of worldliness should not be misunderstood as religion’s being against scientific development and so on. That is not the idea. Daksha’s sacrifice means ignoring spirituality and being attached to the sense world. This means endless suffering. This suffering is eliminated through the awakening of spiritual consciousness. That is all.

A few doubts need to be answered here. One . If Holy Mother’s austerity amidst the five fires was so important, why was she prompted to do so by others? The answer is, Jesus Christ died on the cross for removing the sin of the world. But Judas Iscariot became instrumental in his crucifixion. Two . Wasn’t Holy Mother sad about her husband’s passing? Was she sad about the state of the living beings? The answer is, we read 7. the lives of incarnations like we read novels. We think they are like us. Their minds, their actions, their mission are all beyond our understanding. Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi was no ordinary being, but the Divine Mother. Her actions are divine. Three. Like Holy Mother, others too have performed Panchatapas. Was hers special? The answer is, like Jesus Christ, many others have been crucified in the past. Many women have performed Sati. But these mortals did not change the world. As we have said, the intensity of the avatar in doing anything is beyond our imagination. Further, Holy Mother never took a single breath for herself. Ordinary mortals are self-centred even as their little sacrifices are. Holy Mother lived every second for the good of others. Four . Does it look good to think that Shiva destroys sacrifices every time? Aren’t sacrifices holy? The answer is, the so-called “destruction” is a must if construction is to take place. They say our bodies change every seven years. Old cells die and new ones are born. Suppose the old ones hadn’t died; what then? Shiva is not the “destroyer” but the “transformer”. He cleans. He takes us back to the Truth. He cuts asunder the bonds that bind us to the world and this appears as destruction. Five . Isn’t the story we read in Puranas different from that which happened in Holy Mother’s life? The answer is, it is not imperative that every time, Daksha’s sacrifice should be destroyed the same way. But it is true that after the destruction of each of Daksha’s intention to conquer the world with worldliness, a new age begins. Thus, the Satya Yuga has begun, thanks to Holy Mother’s sacrifice. Six . Are not the Daksha narrative and others merely stories? Have they any realistic connection with our world? The answer is yes. While on a pilgrimage, took seriously ill. In a delirious state, he saw the figure of a hideous-looking woman, who said that his fever was due to her, and had it not been for Ramakrishna’s grace, Yogananda would not have survived. She said that Yogananda should feed a certain goddess some sweets. That very moment, Yogananda was cured. Subsequently, Yogananda discovered that the goddess was Mother Shîtala in Jaipur. He offered sweets to that image. So the stories of gods are true.

7 Like the ancient Umâ’s self-sacrifice, Holy Mother’s Panchatapas has brought a new world to us. Like the Biblical God’s creating a new world in seven days, she has offered us a new world of peace, love and harmony. This is from the mythological viewpoint. Now it is for us to utilize this opportunity.

1 The Gospel of Holy Mother, p. 319 2 Campbell, Joseph. Creative Mythology (Penguin: 1991) 3 4 Genesis , 2.2.3 5 Daksho nâma mahâbhâge prajânâm patir-uttamah Hayamedhena yajate tatra yanti divoukasah. Mahâbhârata, Shânti Parva, 274.23 8. 6 Nâham vedmi maheshvaram, 289.19 7 Shânti Parva, 289.29 8 Devyâh manyu-vyapohârtham hato dakshasya vai kratuh. Shânti Parva , 290.31 9 Complete Works , vol. 2, pp. 18-9 10 Shânti Parva, 290.190 11 Aham yajna-haras-tubhyam drishtam etat purâtanam. Shânti Parva 290.190 12 Varnâshrama-kritaih dharmaih viparîtam kvachit-samam Shânti Parva 290.193 13 Shânti Parva , Mokshadharma , 289.24 “daksho nâma mahâbhâge prajânâm patir uttamah » 14 Rg Veda , 2.24 15 Rg Veda , 10.72.3 Devânâm pûrve yuge satah sad ajâyata 16 Rg Veda , 10.72.4 17 St Luke, 16:13 18 Complete Works , vol. 6, p. 280 19 Jnâtvâ devam muchyate sarva-pâshaih shvetashvatara Upanishad, 1.8 20 Complete Works, vol. 7, p. 485 21 Complete Works , vol. 1, p. 24

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