“The sage Agastya is of such a purified nature that in his hermitage a liar cannot live, nor a deceitful person, nor a wicked person, nor one that is committed to sinful activity.” (Lord Rama speaking to Lakshmana, Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kand, 11.90)

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नात्र जीवेन्मृषावादी क्रूरो वा यदि वा शठः
नृशंसः कामवृत्तो वा मुनिरेष तथाविधः

nātra jīvenmṛṣāvādī krūro vā yadi vā śaṭhaḥ
nṛśaṃsaḥ kāmavṛtto vā munireṣa tathāvidhaḥ

In the following scene, you are watching from afar. This is not a dream; it is real life. There are two parties involved. One is intent on deception. They are ready to trick others. They have hatched a scheme. The other party is the potential victim. As you witness the drama play out, you are literally screaming at the victim. Don’t fall for it, you yell. Wake up, it’s a scam, you warn. Of course, you are separated from the situation. There is distance. There is a barrier. You cannot do anything to help. Nevertheless, you watch everything go down. It is the worst kind of cruelty. You wish you had never seen it to begin with. But for someone like Agastya Rishi, who is a stalwart defender of dharma, there is nothing to fear. His impeccable credentials are enough to create a barrier of protection, such that even the greatest fraudsters eventually meet their match.

Why is it like this? Why do people have to resort to deception? Why not be honest? One excuse the fraudsters will offer is that this is the landscape of the world. There is the saying, if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying. If viewed as a competition, then the clever ones will go right up to the line. Whatever the rules stipulate, these people will try to test out the parameters. They might venture across the line every now and then, just to see what happens. If other people aren’t intelligent enough to do the same, then it is their loss. They will fall behind. You snooze, you lose.

“The material world is so made that unless one becomes a clever diplomat, his life will be a failure. Not to speak of human society, even the society of lower animals, the birds and bees, cleverly manages its bodily demands of eating, sleeping and mating. Human society competes nationally or individually, and in the attempt to be successful the entire human society becomes full of diplomacy. We should always remember that in spite of all diplomacy and all intelligence in the struggle for our existence, everything will end in a second by the supreme will. Therefore, all our attempts to become happy in this material world are simply a delusion offered by maya.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.30.9 Purport)

Though Shri Rama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, kindly descending as the avatara, He follows tradition by speaking from the Puranas. He relays ancient histories in order to teach valuable lessons and glorify important personalities. One time Rama was speaking on the glories of Agastya Rishi. Rama’s younger brother named Lakshmana was the audience. Rama happened to remark that Agastya has such an aura to him that the sinful class dare not step foot near his ashrama. They cannot even approach, as they are so underqualified.

There is the story of the two brothers named Vatapi and Ilvala. In the hypothetical scene described above, we feel saddened by witnessing cruelty without any opportunity to intervene. Imagine, then, the sadness from watching what these two brothers used to do. They were expert at black magic. In Vedic culture, it is a curse to gain abilities to deceive. If you can excel at cheating others, you are actually moving backwards. Propensity towards adharma is never good, but in today’s world, based on ignorance someone might welcome the opportunity to run a scheme of killing innocent people through deception.

Vatapi had the ability to transform into an animal. Ilvala would meet strangers and then invite them to a feast. Ilvala would cook the animal form of Vatapi and then serve the meat as the meal. Soon thereafter, Ilvala would call out to Vatapi. Vatapi would then burst out of the stomachs of the attendees of the feast, killing them instantly. Who would ever be so cruel? Two brothers with a cruel nature since birth, that is who.

They once happened to try this scheme on Agastya Rishi. The steps proceeded as planned, except the calling out did not work. Vatapi was actually dead inside of Agastya’s stomach. When Ilvala learned this and then rushed towards the sage out of anger, Agastya was able to kill him, also. Using just his eyes, Agastya eliminated the remaining threat out of the terrifying tag team.

The incident highlights the importance of sages like Agastya. The cruelty is a given. Whether we directly witness it or not does not change the reality. I can close my eyes to the chaos around me, but that does not eliminate the truth. Rather, the wise saints of the Vedic tradition fearlessly speak the truth. They find ways to get their message across. They want others to wake up. Everyone is being fooled by maya. Everyone is falling victim to the trap of material existence, which extends across many births. The saint wants me to realize that everything can be corrected right now, today, with a few nominal, but important changes.

बिगरी जनम अनेक की सुधरै अबहीं आजु
होहि राम को नाम जपु तुलसी तजि कुसमाजु

bigarī janama aneka kī sudharai abahīṃ āju
hohi rāma ko nāma japu tulasī taji kusamāju

“The many past births you spoiled can be rectified right now, today, if you start chanting Shri Rama’s holy name and renounce bad association, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 22)

In Closing:

How cruel a person to be?
Sad their schemes to see.

Like Vatapi and Ilvala deceiving,
After politely brahmanas receiving.

Then from the stomachs to burst,
Like for killing a thirst.

But reversed on Agastya instead,
Both sent to land of the dead.

Categories: stories

Tags: agastya, dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, ramayana