Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Tripura Rahasya Day 12 – January 15, 2022 – Mysore
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla
Chapter 13
Manmatha said, “O Devendra! I am leaving for accomplishing your task. I shall single-handedly conquer the humans and very shortly ensure that they become subordinate to you”.
He then took a huge bow and a quiver and, even as the Devatas were watching, angrily attacked the earth.
With a complexion like a lotus filament, with a lotus-like face, lotus eyes, lips like the ripened tindora, cheeks that illumined due to his glittering ear-rings, a crown made of priceless gems, tender limbs, long hands and a golden garment around his waist, he was exceedingly handsome.
In his left hand, he held a glittering bow and an arrow in his right hand. He was extremely angry. His eyebrows were knitted. With his appearance, this 5-year old who filled the onlookers with delight reached the middle of the earth.
Accompanied by the Devatas, Indra arrived to see the magnificent task that he would accomplish. Holding the Vajrayudha, mounting the Airavata elephant, Indra followed Manmatha to witness his victory. All the Devatas, Siddhas, Rishis, Vidyadharas and Kinnaras stood in space exactly above the place where Manmatha was standing on earth.
Addressing the humans, Manmatha angrily said, “O humans! All of you must place my orders on your head and follow them. All of you must, through the performance of Yagnas and Yagas, worship Indra and other Devatas. Else, you will be subject to punishment by me”.
Hearing his words, all the humans laughed loudly and said, “Some boy is uttering these words playfully”. Saying this, they stood there admiring Manmatha’s divine beauty.
“Whoever is his mother, she is undoubtedly very fortunate because she has given birth to this boy who, with this enchanting form, deludes everyone. Such a handsome boy does not exist anywhere on earth. Perhaps he is a prince. This is because ordinary humans cannot give birth to such a handsome boy”- as they were saying so, Lakshmi’s son Manmatha, with his handsomeness, further left them stupefied.
As they were admiring him in astonishment, he said, “O humans! Do not mistake me for an ordinary boy. I, the son of Goddess Lakshmi, am here at my mother’s command to make you, the humans, subordinate to the Devatas. Either through conciliatory methods or punishments, I shall ensure that you become subordinate to them. There is no doubt about this. Now tell me your opinion”.
In absolute astonishment, the humans replied, “O boy! Listen to us. Why should we become subordinate to the Devatas? There is nothing that the Devatas seek from us nor do we seek from them. There is nothing that we stand to gain from the Devatas.
Our Lord and King is also a human. Presently our king, who is renowned as Viravrata, resides in the Brahmavarta land. We are subordinate to him. He is our protector. As we are already in his control, we cannot abide by your commands”.
With this, Manmatha’s eyes turned fiercer due to anger and he tied down the humans using his arrows. That news travelled rapidly by way of mouth to all the lands causing crores of kings of various lands to arrive there equipped with weaponry.
Seeing the kings who had arrived with massive armies, Manmatha began to boil in anger. Fixing the arrows to the bow, he stood without moving. The kings were stunned with his valour. His beauty left them stupefied.
Yet, displaying courage and arrogance, they said, “O boy! Like the moth that gets burnt in the blazing fire, you will be destroyed due to our anger. Hence do not perish. Do not bring grief to the mother who has given you birth. Wastefully you are bringing your ruin”.
Their words pierced his heart and enraged him further. He stood there courageously uncaring for anyone. As his anger had intensified significantly, nothing was visible to him. His anger almost caused him to lose consciousness. Yet, recovering quickly, he said,
“Only foolish people address the young as boys. However, the learned address those who are foolish and without courage as boys. Hence, if you have the strength, the valour and the expertise in weaponry, then display them before me. Stop this wasteful talk. There is nothing to be gained from them. Caught in my weapons, your renown will deplete in no time. Hence do not waste time in talking”.
His words enraged the kings. Just like the clouds shower profuse rain, they rained limitless weapons of varied types on Manmatha. Manmatha who was surrounded by innumerable arrows did not get exhausted.
Within a second, he released arrows and burnt all the arrows directed at him. Every weapon that was hurled upon him was broken into 8 pieces. Due to the Sun called Manmatha, the snow called arrows melted.
All the Devatas applauded Manmatha for this success, rained flowers upon him and beat celestial drums.
Thereafter at great speeds, Manmatha released three types of arrows. With this, the waists, shoulders, heads, thighs, legs, stomachs of the kings were ripped apart. Their body parts were scattered all over the earth.
A river of hot blood began to gush. In it, hair and nerves were the moss, fingers were the tiny fish and heads were floating. The spirits began to celebrate. Like the swans in the river, crows moved in that river of blood. The swords appeared like waves. On the banks, the froth of blood could be seen. As the river quickly flowed towards the slope, hundreds of whirlpools were formed.
This river of blood left the citizens scared and trembling. Indra and other Devatas were delighted at Manmatha’s valour and extolled him. At that time the messengers rushed to Brahmavarta to inform King Viravrata of this massive destruction.
Seeing the messengers, Minister Vardhana asked, “Are all the kingdoms, treasuries, armies, vassal kings safe? Is there peace in the kingdom? You may report to the king the message that you have brought”.
Hearing his words, the messengers bowed to the king and said, “O Lord! Near the Himalayas, in a great battle, a small boy whose valour is like the Sun has killed the kings of the northern provinces and has arrested all your vassal kings. Anarchy has increased in your kingdom. That boy is only 5 years old. His limbs are tender like the lotus. Within no time he has killed crores of kings. We are here to report this to you. Now you know what needs to be done”.
King Viravrata immediately took the bow and the quiver that was beside him and set out for the northern direction. However, minister Vardhana, who was an eloquent speaker, quickly went ahead of him, bowed to him and sweetly said,
“O Lord! Forgive me. He who steps into the task after due deliberation attains success and destroys inauspiciousness. The king should consult with his ministers, ponder over the problem and, in a way that is aligned to the political strategies and in a way that gives success, enter into battles etc.”.
When Vardhana thus entreated, King Viravrata could not refuse him. Minister Vardhana then recalled the members of the court, family members of the king, the 15 akshauhini army and their commanders who had proceeded before the king for the battle.
The vassal kings and the members of the court returned and took their seats. Then, pacifying the king, minister Vardhana said, “O King! Calmly hear what I have to say. The king should discuss thoroughly with his ministers about the pros and cons and then complete his duty.
The science of politics suggests four methods- sama (conciliatory methods), dana (bribing or giving gifts to win over the enemy), bheda (creating dissension in the enemy camp) and danda (war, punishments) to achieve success in the task.
Among the 4, when the former method fails, the next one should be taken up. Hence, now consult the ministers and decide which among the 4 should be adopted.
The present situation demands great urgency in decision making. We do not have the time to discuss it relaxedly. Yet, even when the task on hand demands extreme urgency, discussion with ministers is unavoidable. Hence discuss with the ministers and do the needful”.
Hearing minister Vardhana’s words, King Viravrata looked at his ministers who then began to give their opinion. One minister opined that conciliation (sama) should be adopted while another suggested that dāna (bribery etc) should be resorted to. Some others opined that danda (war) is the right technique. With so many opinions floating around, the king remained silent and looked at Vardhana.
Minister Vardhana then stood up, bowed to the king and said, “O King! Until now you have heard the opinions of the ministers. Each of them has justified his opinion without considering the opinions of others. Hence, their opinions are perfectly right as far as their techniques are studied individually and not collectively. However, the king should note that even after so many opinions we could not solve the problem.
When his camp and the enemy camp are equal in strength, the king should adhere to the sama (conciliation) technique. When the enemy camp is stronger and his camp is weaker, the sama (conciliation) alone is the best approach.
When the enemy camp is weak and is looking to a stronger group for support, then using dāna (bribery, gifts), the members from the enemy camp should be brought into one’s camp. With this, the enemy camp loses while our camp strengthens.
Where dāna technique does not seem to be the right approach, then, using different strategies and different people, bheda (creating dissension) technique should be used.
If the king does not have the assistance of many men who are experts in this, he must resort to sāma and dāna techniques to accomplish his mission.
Only when the other three techniques fail, danda (war) should be used as a last resort. When success can be achieved through conciliation techniques (sāma), the king who resorts to war (danda) is destroying his success.
Presently Manmatha is not fighting for his own needs but is fighting for others.
Hence sāma (conciliation) and dāna (bribery) will not be useful. Further, as he is fighting alone without the help of others, there is no scope for using the dana (bribery) or dissension (bheda) technique. Hence, we are left with only the fourth technique i.e., danda (punishment, war). If we have to resort to war, we must foresee the consequences. Else we will be destroyed.
Manmatha has already conquered all the kings of the various provinces and is fighting to accomplish the task of the Devatas. Hence the consequences of the war will be great.
Manmatha has not come to the battlefield seeking any kingdom or with any other desire. If he had such desires, we could have used the dāna technique and when it failed, then we could resort to war.
We must bear in mind an important point that despite being very young, within a second he has reduced to dust crores of mighty, powerful kings. From this, it is evident that he has divine support. Hence it is evident that there is nothing that he seeks from ordinary beings like us.
Hence O King! There is only one way out. Hold on to Shiva (Pinakadhari) who is your family Guru. With his blessings, you will attain success in your endeavour. Barring this, no other plan comes to my mind.
Kings can attack only those enemies who are weaker than them. O King! I have given my plan. You can discuss this with other assembled members and with other ministers in the court and if you find my suggestion useful, you can follow it”.
Vardhana’s opinion was the best of all the opinions given until then. All the members and the ministers applauded Vardhana and gave their acceptance.
Hearing all their opinions, the wise Viravrata decided to appease Lord Shiva as suggested by Vardhana. Obtaining permission from the royal priests he began to worship Shiva as per the stipulated rules.
Sri matre namah.