On the banks of river Narmada, on the outskirts of the Mahishmati town, the renowned devotee of Lord Siva, Madhava, had put up a big pandal where he was conducting a Yaga (sacrifice) for pleasing the Sivaganas (the hordes of attendants who always attend on Lord Siva). The Yagasala (the ceremonial pandal set up for conducting the Yaga) reverberated with the vedic chants.
The fragrant smoke, emanating from ghee and other materials offered to the fire, spread in the surrounding areas. Curls of smoke rose from various homa-kundas. Fire started blazing forth from the sacrificial pits.
Chants of Om!
Blowing of conchshells!
Ringing of bells!
Incessant chants of Vedic mantras!
"Release the goat from the sacrificial post and bring it here", ordered the priest presiding over the sacrificial rites.
Madhava, who had purified himself through austerities for the Yaga, went to the sacrificial post.
A fat well-fed goat for sacrifice!
Silence fell over the Yagasala.
Madhava untied the rope from the post with which the goat was tied.
"O Brahmin! I, who performed greater Yagas than this, am living in misery and doom. Beware! Death will not spare you! It will bring newer births for you to expiate your sins!"
People were taken aback.
Madhava's head started reeling.
The goat was speaking?
Silence and wonderment hung in the air.
"O Brahmin! Don't delay the rituals. Let the sacrifice proceed!" ordered the goat.
Madhava said with folded hands; "Please forgive me and bless me! Who in reality are you, residing in the body of this goat?
"O Brahmin! Let me tell you that anyway. After all, knowledge should be imparted to those who are desirous to know. If you happen to gain anything by this knowledge, it is all the more good."
The priests and their helping mates in the sacrificial rites abandoned their posts and came and stood round the goat.
The goat said: "O Brahmin, I was also born in a brahmin family. I had studied the Vedas. I gained a lot of merits by performing Yagas. It was at that time that my son contracted a chronic disease. Treatments yielded no results. Someone advised my wife to have a Yaga performed for Goddess Chandi along with a goat-sacrifice. And I performed the rite. At the appointed time, I got up, ready to strike down the goat with one powerful blow. I had brought the goat from my own house, and had lifted the heavy sword to bring it down on the animal. "Stop it!" came a thundering voice from behind. My hand froze in mid-air.
"O despicable brahmin who follows the heinous practice of animal sacrifices! May you also become a sacrificial goat like this one!"
Madhava was more interested to know the stories of the various births taken by the goat, than to continue the Yaga. "Revered sir, I do riot even know how to address you properly! We who have gathered here are desirous to know about your previous births", said Madhava.
"If you deem it necessary to hear that, I will narrate those stories also. Listen."
The goat started unravelling the stories of its earlier births. "I shall tell you only about two or three births in which I suffered the maximum, and that too very briefly", said the goat.
"After sacrificing the goat on that fateful day in the Chandi temple, on the eighth day from the date, I too died. None of the merits I gained by performing sacrifices came to rescue me from the clutches of death. My next birth was as a monkey. When I was still a child, a beggar stole me from my mother. He trained me to dance, and I wandered along with him from house to house, dancing to his songs. He eked out a living through my performances."
"One day, he took me to my own house, to my own wife and children. I was ashamed. I refused to perform in front of them. Though they could not recognise me in the form of the monkey, I recognised them all. Remembrance of the past birth hung around me like a curse. When I refused to perform, the beggar beat me severely. From that day onwards I refused to perform any further. The beggar tortured and starved me, and in due course I died."
"My next birth was as a dog".
"I lived the life of a pariah dog, with no one to own me and love me I wandered about, living on the remnants of food thrown away by householders, suffering the attacks of other dogs, narrowly missing the stones and sticks thrown at me, now hiding and now stealthily stalking and stealing food from houses On account of previous remembrance, I entered my own house one day and started eating from a vessel My wife and children saw me, and with lout stick they beat me up, till my back broke I howled with pain and dragged myself out into the open maidan on the north of the house and fainted there My body was covered with wounds which n started festering and within weeks. I died lying there itself.
"Next I was born as a horse".
I landed myself in the service of a liquor distiller I spent my life carrying him, his goods and his people and wandered from place to place. When I became old, and had no more energy left in me, the distiller took me to the market and put me up for sale. I hung around the market place.
"It was then that my wife, who had grown old by that time, came there along with my children in search of a horse at a cheap price. They were planning to go to Dwaraka for a pilgrimage and were looking for a horse at a cheap price to carry them and their materials on the journey. They bargained for various horses and at last landed on me. I could not help weeping when I saw them. They purchased me by paying a silly price."
"After taking me to the house, they gave me some horse gram and grass, and fed me for two three days."
"We started on the pilgrimage. Being old, I could not bear the weight of my wife and children. My back seemed to break by their burden. Still, I carried them on. On the way, we had to cross a lake. I got down into the water. My legs got stuck in the mud. With difficulty I pulled myself out and started swimming. I was tired and gulped mouthfuls of water. Heaving and leaping forward, somehow I reached the other bank, and fell down due to extreme exhaustion. My wile and children tried to make me get up on my legs. But I was too tired to get up. Then they started torturing me in many ways. They twisted my ears, beat me, and goaded me with burning sticks. Unable to suffer the torture, I lay down there on the banks of the lake and died."
The priests and others who had gathered around the goat, were lost in thoughts about the fall of the brahmin.
"Then what happened?" asked one of them.
I shall tell you", said the goat, and continued.
"When they knew that I was dead, they left me there cursed their misfortune and loss in having invested their money to purchase me. They gave up the journey and returned home. It was for my wife and children that I had suffered all through my various births. But they never knew anything about it."
"And then I passed through many more low births and ultimately was born as a goat, ready to be sacrificed in your Yaga."
"How could you have the remembrance of your past births? What good work did you do so that you could have this remembrance and learn from the various births and experiences" asked Madhava.
"When I was a student of the Vedas, I used to recite the ninth chapter of the Bhagawad Geeta regularly. And by the strength of the sacred chant, I still retain myself in my wits, even aware of my precious lives and experiences, unaffected by their stings and sufferings"
"Is there so much potential in the ninth chapter of the Geeta?" Madhava asked.
"No doubt about it", said the goat. 'To remove any misgiving in your heart on that account I shall tell you another story."
The goat paused for a while.
The fires in the homa-kundas had subsided and were dying out.
The people elbowed themselves closer to the goat and became more attentive.
King Chandrasharma ruled the righteous kingdom of Kurukshetra. He was born in the Solar dynasty. During a particular solar eclipse, he decided to ward off all his sins by giving them away along with costly gifts to a brahmin well versed in vedic lore who would receive them. This gifting away of sins to one who is willing to receive the same is called "Kaala-Purusha- Daana". After a long search, a brahmin was found out who would willingly accept the king's sins.
The king and the brahmin proceeded to Kurukshetra for the ritual of Kaala-Purusha Daana.
On their way, they were joined by Kaala-Purusha himself disguised as a brahmin.
"O Brahmin! Are you going to receive the Kaala-Purusha Daana from the king?" asked the disguised one.
The vedic brahmin replied: "Yes, indeed!"
The Brahmin in disguise said: "Normally no one received any gift or charity at Kurukshetra. And never still the Kaala-Purusha Daana, especially during a solar eclipse. It is a great sin to do so. Have you really decided to take on yourself all the sins of the king?"
"Yes", said the vedic brahmin.
"You are going to destroy yourself due to your greed for money", said the brahmin in guise.
"I know what to do to avert self-destruction" replied the vedic brahmin confidently.
"The stranger slipped away from them and disappeared. The king sat down along with his family and retinue at the altar of worship. The rituals and ceremonies were conducted with meticulous care and devotion. His sins were invoked onto an image of the Kaala-Purusha.
"The king offered the image along with costly gifts to the vedic brahmin. The brahmin extended both his hands and received the gifts. He kept them on the wooden seat on which he was sitting, got up, raised both his hands and blessed the king.
"May you be healthy. May you be happy. May all auspiciousness attend on you!" A miracle happened then.
"From the image, there emerged the Kaala-Purusha and his wife Ninda (Ninda=humiliation) , abominable in appearance personifying the sins of the king. They got ready to jump on the brahmin and enter his being. Seeing their frightful figures the spectators closed their eyes in sheer disgust and fear.
dam tu te guhyatamam pravakshyamyanasooy aveJnanam vignana sahitam yat jnaatwa mokshyase asubhaat..."
The frightful apparitions jumped back as if they had received a shock and started walking backwards.
The brahmin continued his chant without fear or anxiety. The apparitions receded farther and farther and disappeared from view.
The crowd was astonished, spell bound, and heaved a sigh of relief.
"The king, who was perplexed, asked: "O brahmin, what is that we saw here now? Who were they? By chanting which Mantra did you drive them away?"
The brahmin stopped his chant and said calmly:
"I had extricated from you the hordes of your sins and had taken them on myself. It was the personification of your sins that you saw as the couple here. They are known as Kaala-Purusha and Ninda. I drove them away by the stick of mantra".
"What was the mantra?" asked the king.
"O king, it was the ninth chapter of the Bhagawad Geeta. I chanted that chapter. Those stanzas have the power to drive away any amount of sins. It was by its power that I saved myself from the hordes of your sins that I had voluntarily taken on me!"
"O great brahmin, please teach me the ninth chapter of Geeta. Let me chant it and save myself from all sins in future."
"Alright"
The brahmin taught the king the ninth chapter of the Geeta. From that day onwards, King Chandrasharma chanted the chapter regularly and warded off all sins".
The people who gathered around the goat were astounded to hear about the glory of the ninth chapterof the Geeta. They danced with joy.
"Revered Sir, thou are equal to our preceptor", said Madhava to the goat. "I am concluding my Yaga here and now. We are releasing you from our bondage. Thou are verily our Gum. Please bless us all by advising us in spiritual matters."
"O pious ones" said the goat. "Yagas and Yagnas are productive of re-births, of the enjoyment and sufferings of the merits and de-merits accrued on account of such rituals.It is a vicious cycle. So, stop all these rituals and start studying the Bhagawad Geeta. At least start studying the ninth chapter of Geeta, if not others. That will release you from the cycle of births and deaths. Start the chanting of the Geeta. As for me, my sufferings in this earth have now come to an end with this advice that I have given. It's now time for me to depart. Remember, study the Geeta, study the Geeta." A strange thing happened.
The goat dropped dead suddenly.
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