Adi Parvamu- Yayati

Devyani was left in the well naked. After sometime, with the grace of God, Yayati came that way while hunting. He was very tired and wanted some water, he looked in to the well and found Devyani and he was shocked to see her down there. She was crying for help. He then asked her " Who are you? How did you get down there?". She saw him many times when he came for hunting and realized that he was a king. She replied saying " I am the daughter of Shukracharya, My name is Devyani. I fell by mistake, Please help me out". He gave his hand in help and pulled her out of the well.

After Yayati left, Devyani's servant Ghoornika came there searching for her. Devyani explained everything about what Sharmishtha did to her and said " Go and tell my father about what Sharmishtha did to me. I will never step in to the kingdom of Vrishparva." When Ghoornika explained everything to Shukracharya, he came looking for his daughter and found her crying bitterly. He consoled her and said " Sharmishtha is younger to you and above all she is the daughter of the King. Don't mess with her, Please calm down and come back. A person who never gets anger is great than a person who does one thousand Yagnas. If someone blames you or shouts at you don't retaliate and don't worry about them. If someone hurts you, don't think bad about them and don't curse them. You are an intelligent girl, Should I tell all this to you?". Devyani tried to explain and said " I tried to stay with friendliness and peace but she turned against me. I cannot stay at a place like this, instead I would rather go and beg alms at some other place. We don't have to stay here like slaves. I will never step in to the Kingdom, you go ahead, I will go somewhere else". Shukracharya said " If you leave, what will I do here, I will come with you. I don't have anyone else except you".

Vrishparva came to know about all this from is servants. He begged pardon from Shukracharya and apologized and said " Its all your grace that I have this Kingdom, people here and the royal property, else the Gods would have destroyed us. We are all here today because of you or we would have been hiding somewhere for our lives. Please ask your daughter to calm down, I am ready to give her whatever she wants". Devyani quickly replied saying " Ask Sharmishtha to become my slave along with the thousand friends". Vrishparva immediately agreed and called his daughter and ordered her to become a slave to Devyani. Sharmishtha followed her fathers orders and served Devyani.

Now it was Devyani's turn to go for an outing. She took the thousand servants and Sharmishtha along with her. All the girls applied sandalwood to their bodies, Folded flowers in their braids, they were chewing betel leaves, applied fragrances to their clothes and started playing in the forest. The air was filled with these fragrances. All of them went to a lake nearby, there were sweet mango trees, Henna trees, Ashoka trees, flower trees and they were emitting fragrance. All the girls started picking flowers and had lots of fun playing. Yayati came to hunting that day, he felt like someone called him. The fragrance in the wind led him to the place where the girls were playing. All the thousand girls had their eyes fixed on him and he felt like it showered lotuses on him. Devyani showered flowers on him along with her thousand and one servants. Yayati already knew Devyani, but Sharmishtha was the beautiful one among them. His eyes were fixed on the beauty of Sharmishtha. He wanted to know who she was, hence he asked slowly " Who are you all?". Devyani said " Did you forget my Lord, I am the one you rescued from the well. This girl Sharmishtha is my slave, she is the daughter of the Demon King Vrishparva, she takes care of me. I was waiting for you since the day you rescued me. You held me with your right hand and pulled me out when you rescued me, Lord Sūrya was our witness. Now please marry me with all the traditional rituals, and these thousand slaves along with Sharmishtha will become your slaves too, and you will enjoy all the luxuries like Indra.". Yayati replied " How is that possible? You are a Brahmin girl and I am a King who has to rule the kingdom righteously, How can I do that mistake?". Devyani said " OK, Will you agree if my father comes and says that this is righteous?". " He is the great sage who knows the Dharma and Adharma, I don't have any objection if he agrees to this" said Yayati.

Devyani immediately called her father. Yayati bowed to Shukracharya. " That day when I was in the well, he held my hand with his right hand and pulled me out. How can I offer my hand to anyone else after this. Hence in this birth he is my husband. My Lord here thinks that it is against Dharma. If you tell him he says he will agree. Please tell me Dad, Please tell something in my favor" said Devyani. Shukracharya said " I approve your marriage and it will not be against Dharma".

Shukracharya took Yayati home and got Devyani married to him with grandeur. While leaving Shukracharya pointed to Sharmishtha and said " She is the daughter of Vrishparva, she has been brought up with love and care. Please take intense care of her, but she shall not share your bed". Yayati went back to his kongdom, he kept Devyani in a beautiful glass building and according to her words he kept Sharmishtha and thousand other girls in a AshokaVanam. He enjoyed all the luxuries with Devyani. After a few days she gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu. Sharmishtha stayed in AshokaVanam letting her youth go in vain. One day she was in her menstrual cycle and she had various thoughts in her mind " My youth has gone in vain, my fertile period is also getting wasted. I am like a flower in the forest. Devyani got the husband she asked for and two beautiful kids, How lucky!. She must have done some real good prayers, a Brahmin girl became a queen. The King sees me with favor and liking, I too like him. Maybe I don't have the luck of becoming his wife". Luckily as Sharmishtha was thinking about all this Yayati came to AshokaVanam, he saw her alone. He smiled and stood in front of her, she was taken back, she immediately bowed to him with respect. She was waiting for an opportunity like this. and she said " Wife, Servant and son, they come after you even if you don't want them. You are the husband of my Master, hence you are my husband too. There is no Dharma that you are not aware of! Once you accepted Devyani, we are all your wives. I am menstruating, please accept me".

"What you say is true, But my father in law said that I should not be sharing a bed with you and I accepted his word. How can I lie to him". said Yayati. " When your life is at risk, property is at risk, in Joking Conversations, When you convince a woman, and in performing a marriage, a lie is permitted said elders. You agreed to this in marriage, so its not a big issue" said Sharmishtha. He immediately hugged her. Sharmishtha became pregnant and she gave birth to a healthy son. Devyani was shocked and said " You are a Virgin and you don't have anyone in your life, How did you have a son". Sharmishtha felt shy and said " One day I finished my menstrual cycle and a Sage came this way, I asked him to give me a son and he gave me one". The affair between Yayati and Sharmishtha stayed as a secret for many years. She had three sons Druhyu, Anu and Puru. One day they were playing with their father, they were shining with glow like Agnihotras. They were wearing silk clothes and had gem stone jewelery on.

Devyani reached the place, Sharmishtha had thousand servants along with her. She looked like a queen. She was shocked to see her sons, they resembled Yayati. She started asking " Whose Kids are these my Lord". Yayati did not say a word, she asked the kids " Who are your parents?". They pointed to Sharmishtha and Yayati. The thousand servants were extremely happy about this, Sharmishtha bowed her head down in shame. Devyani turned pale, she immediately left the place and went back to her father. Yayati tried to give her an explanation, Devyani reached her father and cried out. Shukracharya became extremely angry and cursed Yayati saying" You have lost your mind with the pride of your youth, you will become an Old man now and lose your youth". Yayati fell on his feet and said " Please don't do this great sage, Old age is a curse, please take it back. I have not lost any interest in Devyani yet, If a woman who is menstruating begs to give her a son and If someone refuses to do that, then it is a great sin. That's the reason I succumbed to Sharmishtha, Please forgive me". Shukracharya calmed down and said " Give your Old age to one of your sons and take his youth, after you are done enjoying your youth, give it back to him. but remember, he will become the king after you", Yayati felt happy and left the place with Devyani.

As soon as he entered his Kingdom, his curse came in to existence and he became old. All the problems of old age showered upon him, his head started to shake, his body bent down, he had wrinkles everywhere and his hair greyed out, he was coughing and had severe headache. He called all his sons and said " I became an old man because of the curse, but I still have desires, If any of you can give me your youth and take my Old age". " What are you saying, once the hair is greyed out, women hate even the Manmadha. Even for a person as rich as Kubera, he will not enjoy if he is old. Death or old age should come by naturally, but we are not ready to volunteer to this request" said Druhyu, Anu, Yadu and Turvasu.

Yayati was very angry and cursed Yadu " Your descendants will not be eligible to become kings". The descendants of Yadu are those from Lord Krishna. He cursed Turvasu saying " Your descendants will be illiterates and hopeless people", He cursed Druhyu saying " your descendants will kings of a region which will be in water", He cursed Anu saying " Your descendants will perish in the middle of their existence".

The son of Sharmishtha, Puru accepted his fathers request. He gave his youth to his father and took his Old age. Yayati became young again. He enjoyed for many years and he was satisfied and now his mind started drifting to renunciation. He gave back the youth to Puru. He called all his subjects and people and declared Puru as the Emperor. His subjects were not very happy about this and they said " We are not very happy about this decision, when the eldest son is so capable, why make the youngest son as the king. Is this righteaous?".

"I completely agree to what you say, but a person who disobeys his father is not a son and he will not be the heir for the property. My four elder sons did not listen to me, Puru is very intelligent and good and he listened to my words. He is eligible to become a king. Shukracharya had said that the one who takes my Old age will be the one who should be deckared as the King". According to his curse he exiled the other four sons. He took Vanaprastha and went in to the woods. He ate fruits roots and lived. According to the Vanaprastha, one should perfomr SilaVrutthi and UnchchaVrutthi, which means one should pick the left overs after harvest and one should pick up the left over grains. He used to eat what is left over after feeding the guests. He performed prayers to Agni and his forefathers. He controlled his senses and overcame lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and hate(arishadvarga).

Yayati performed penance for many years. He became detached and was relieved of worldly desires. He performed penance for 30 years without eating anything, he only had air, he stood in the middle of fire for a year, he stood in the water on single leg for a year. The gods were surprised by this severe penance, they sent him the sacred plane and took him to the Devaloka. The sgaes started honouring him. Yayati then went o Bramhaloka, Brahmarishis honoured him. He then went o Indraloka and Devendra honoured him well.

Yayati enjoyed the comforts of Heaven for a long time. One day Devendra questioned Yayati casually adn said " You took the youth of your son and enjoyed your life. But what did you teach him when you gave your kingdon to him?" " I asked him to learn about the History of great Kings and wisemen. I asked him to participate in conversations with knowledgeable people and learn Dharma. Do charity to the right people, never ask for help from people who you dont know. If someone comes for help never let him go without rendering it. Speakout good words which everyone likes. Dont go to people who speak harsh words. Generosity, candour, Control of senses, Truthfulness, peace and purity should reside in your heart. You should be able to overcome Arishadvargas" said Yayati.

" You are a very lucky man, you enjoyed all the luxuries on earth and you enjoyed everything in heaven too. You must have performed great penance." said Devendra. " Oh, Me? How can I explain the penance that I did. The penance performed by Gods, Demons, Khechara, Siddha, human and great sages is nothing before my penance" said Yayati. Devendra was surprised and said " You did leave all the worldly things, but the pride that you carry saying that you left everything is still there in you. With your pride and superiority you have insulted great people. Hence you loose the right to stay in Heaven. Go and live in Hell. Your over confidence and false esteem caused you this situation".

Yayati repented for what he did and he apologized to Devendra saying " Hell is a horrible place, please show mercy on me. Please allow me to stay in the Space in Satpurusha Loka". Devendra finally said yes. Yayati was descending from heaven, his glory was immense. People of Satpurusha Loka were surprised to see his glow. Yayati's grandsons from Madhavi( His daughter) were Vasumanassu, Pravardhana, Sibhi and Ashtaka. They recieved him and honoured him with great respect. After offering him with food and drink they asked him " Who are you oh great sage? Where are you coming from? What is the reason of your arrival?". Then Yayati said " My name is Yayati, king Nahusha was my father, Puru is my son. With the penance I performed I was able to go to Heaven and all other sacred abodes. I was even in the abode of Devendra. Unfortunately I spoke to him about my penance in pride. He asked me to go to Hell, but I convinced him and said that I would go to your abode. Hence I am here".

Ashtaka and others were very happy to see their grand father, they wanted to find out answers to all their question from him. They asked him many questions about Dharma and Adharma, the essense of child birth and got their answers well explained accordingly. " Show love towards all creatures and never lie, this is Dharma. Hurting someone is Adharma. Leading the path of Dharma is the right path. Leading the path of Adharma is wrong. The right path leads to Heaven and the wrong leads to Hell. When the fluids of the womb mix with air and the five senses like Sound, Touch, Form, Fluid and Smell then they form a shape which eventually has organse and will attain life. This form then takes birth. The form that takes birth will listen from its ears, see through it eyes, smell from its nose, taste from its tongue and feel the touch through its skin. They can get the signals from their senses in their mind. In their course of living, with the essense from their past birth they perform good or bad activities. As the bad deeds grow the good deeds diminish, If the Punya diminishes they are born to animals or birds. If the Punya grows more then they are born to great people and they attain salvation.

Those who do good deeds attain Punya. Those who serve their teachers, those who can control their senses and stay pure and celibate. Those who fear of wrong deeds, those who never hurt others and earn through right means, those who treat guests with respect, perform Yagnas, Who only gives but never takes money from anyone, Who are are disciplined and eat according to rules of nature, Vanaprasthas, Those who eat just barely to live, those who control arishadvarga will attain Punya and will cause great fame and good will to their past 10 generations and the next 10 generations.

" Managnihotra, Manadhyayana, ManaMouna, ManaYagna are the four waste things one can ever do. If someone performs agnihotra for show off is called Managnihotra. When someone does studies for show off then it is called Manadhyayana. When someone maintains silence for show off then it is called ManaMounam and when someone performs Yagna for show off then it is ManaYagna. The above deeds are wasteful and will not be fruitful." said Yayati. Everyone was extremely happy on listening to these good words from Yayati. They asked him " Will we attain the PunyaLoka?". Yayati said " Yes, you will". They said " We are you Dauhotras(Daughters sons), Vasumanassu, Pravardhana, Sibhi and Ashtaka". With the company of these good people Yayati was able to go to Heaven again.