(5) The sage who lived inside a tiny leaf - 1

THE SAGE WHO LIVED ON TOP OF

THE KADAMBA TREE

INTRODUCTION

This is the story of Sage Daashoora who in want of a clean place on earth, donned a subtle form and sat on the edge of a sprout on the topmost branch of a Kadamba tree and performed penance.

He had a son mentally created by him who was slightly slow in learning any subject. Daashoora teaches him Self-knowledge through many tales and legends for his easy grasping. Even that slow-grasping brain of that boy is able to understand the abstract truths of Brahman and the boy realizes the Self just by listening to his stories!

Then what is difficult for an intelligent student who desires liberation?!

Here Vasishta presents just one such story told by Daashoora to his son.

 THE ORPHANED BOY

Long long ago there lived a great Sage named SHARA-LOMA (having grass-like hair) in a huge forest in the country of Magadhas. He had a devoted wife who served him affectionately. In their late years, they both were blessed with an intelligent son. They both loved their son more than their lives and the son also was attached to them very much.

However before the boy even reached his teens, his father breathed his last. His mother also gave up her life the moment she saw her husband’s lifeless body.

Daashoora, who suddenly found himself alone in the forest with both his parents lying

dead in front of him, screamed in shock. Unable to withstand the shock of their death, he wept uncontrollably. His screams of agony echoed all over the forest. 

As he lay on the ground shedding tears, suddenly he felt a whiff of fragrant air over his face which seemed to caress his face with affection. Soft petals of various flowers rained on him cooling his tender body. A soft whisper entered his ears soothing his tormented soul.

The invisible voice was that of the forest Goddess who had served Sage Sharaloma by offering fruits and flowers necessary for his daily rituals. Though she had been visible to his father of great penance, Daashoora was not endowed with spiritual powers to see her beautiful form. Unable to see the Sage’s son suffering like this, she had condescended to approach the boy and offer him consolation. She talked about the greatness of his father; she repeated the truths of scriptures his father had explained to her; she talked about the dreams his father had cherished for him; and so on.

Daashoora slowly got up. He washed his tear-stained face. He performed the funeral rites to the best of his ability with the help offered by the forest goddess. He got ready for his lonely life ahead waiting for him.

THE SEARCH FOR SIDDHIS

Daashoora was deep in meditation.

He was analyzing in his mind what penance would be the best of all.

He wanted to acquire all the powers that were possible. He wanted to be eternal; he wanted to visit his parents living in the other world; he wanted never to be helpless again.

At last he remembered the great penance once his father had mentioned to him which required the observation of countless vows and which would make one attain all Siddhis.

He decided to perform that very penance which his father had proclaimed that no Sage had been able to accomplish till now. After all what else was life for, if he could not achieve what he wanted. His father would be proud of him too if he ever completed that penance.

Daashoora smiled with determination.

THE SEARCH FOR A CLEAN PLACE

First he approached the Sages in the nearby forests and mastered all the Vedas. He became adept in all the Scriptures.

Next thing was to find a sacred clean place to perform the penance.

He searched all over the forest with the help of his friend, the forest-goddess. But nothing satisfied him. Even in the cleanest place he felt the presence of invisible micro-sized life forms and rejected those places as unholy.

The whole earth appeared crawling with micro-organisms and thus dirty.

Maybe he can perform the penance on the sky; but he had not yet mastered any power to float in the sky. The best solution would be to sit on the topmost edge of the tallest tree in the forest and sit there in contemplation. Even for that, his body had to be very subtle and tinier than the tiniest.

He decided to please the God of fire and get a boon granted to suit his purpose and he started the sacrifice to invoke the God of fire.

However, even after a long time, the God did not appear in front of him.

Frustrated, Daashoora took a knife and began to slice off the flesh from his shoulders and offered those flesh pieces in the fire. If still the God kept away, he decided to offer his entire body into the fire. Afraid of the sin of killing a Brahmin, the Fire-God appeared before him in his entire splendor. He agreed to the request of the young Sage and vanished out of sight.

Daashoora could now be in the subtlest form and fit inside even the bud or a tender sprout and perform penance.

What cleaner place could be there than the newly sprouted bud or leaf?

THE KADAMBA TREE

The invisible forest goddess brought him to a huge Kadamba tree hitherto unseen by him and left him there.

The Sage glanced up. He could not see the top.

The trunk itself was so huge that thousands of elephants would be like ants crawling in front of it.

The branches seemed to spread across the whole world. The sky was completely invisible from where he stood.

The tree was like a ladder grown by nature to reach the heavens.

The clouds seem to mistake it for a hill and hung on its branches.

Flowers blossomed on all the branches without the least gap and the tree looked like a mountain of flowers.

Here and there rainbows appeared when the leaves wet with dew drops caught a stray ray of the Sun.

Countless birds filled the tree and their chirping noises echoed in the quarters like the Vedic chants.

It reminded one of the VISHVAROOPA, the cosmic form of Naaraayana mentioned in the Scriptures.

The Sun and Moon were like ear ornaments worn by the tree-God.

Serpents rested on its roots and stars rested on its top most edges.

It looked like the great grandfather of all the trees of the forest.

Daashoora was very much satisfied by the giant form of the tree.

He slowly started climbing it.

THE TOP EDGE OF THE TREE

As he reached the topmost branch, he willed himself to be of the subtlest form.

The thinnest branch on the edge was growing straight up. He climbed that too and reached the edge. There was a tiny sprout that burst out that very moment. He entered the inside of it and sat on its soft inner side.

From there he looked all around.

Ah! What a sight!

He could see the whole of the earth from that topmost point of the sky.

The rivers shined like pearl garlands spread out all over the earth.

The huge mountains appeared like anthills.

The oceans were like small water holes.

The clouds were down below spreading out like the curly locks of the sky goddess.

The forests all over the earth were like tiny grass lands.

Daashoora sighed in satisfaction.

He sat in the lotus posture and closed his eyes.

Soon he was absorbed in intense contemplation.

THE SELF-STATE

Daashoora had no knowledge of the Supreme Self or the individual Self.

He had not been instructed about the highest state of Self-realization by anybody.

All he knew was the performance of sacrifices and rituals which his father had meticulously followed.

He now decided to perform mentally all the Sacrifices he knew of.

One by one he finished the performance of each and every sacrifice that could bestow some power or other.

He arranged the bricks mentally, lit the fire mentally, recited the chants mentally, and gave charity mentally.

Ten years passed like this only.

Somehow, even with so many powers mastered by him, he felt dissatisfied with everything.

Strictly adhering to the rule of sitting in a clean place, he had been shifting his residence repeatedly from one sprout to the other newest one on the sky-reaching branch. Changing from branch to branch, sprout to sprout, he was now even above the regions of the sun and the moon. 

He suddenly felt the futility of all actions of the routine life.

He started pondering about his existence, the existence of the world surrounding him and so on. As he enquired within himself, he soon was established in the Self state. Immersed in the bliss of the Self, he lost his desires for divine powers. His mind was free of all wants. He could not see any place which was not his own sacred Self.

There was no dirt outside or inside for him now. Being liberated while living, he just remained absorbed in the bliss of the Self.

THE FOREST GODDESS

Daashoora opened his eyes, as if disturbed by a wind.

His Samadhi state was disturbed by some one pleading for his audience. He opened his eyes and saw in front of him the most beautiful damsel he ever could imagine. He recognized her as the forest-goddess who had helped him when he was a child. Now he could see her with his divine vision and greeted her with affection.

She had had her own troubles in her world, and poured out all her problems in front of him. She had gone to attend the festival of Manmatha in the beautiful garden in heavens. All other forest goddesses also arrived there without fail. Every pretty maiden had found herself a companion and had brought her children to the gathering. Only this forest goddess was without a companion and had been the receptacle of their ridicule and laughter. She looked at the Sage with love and asked him whether he would not bless her with a child. She threatened him that she would give up her life in the fire if he did not heed to her request.

Daashoora was not at all moved by her feminine charms. But he felt compassionate towards her. He flashed a benevolent smile at her and held out his hand. The goddess bent her head in reverence and extended both her hands. A beautiful lotus appeared in Daashoora’s hand and he dropped it into her hands. The flower turned into a pretty baby in her hands to the amazement of the goddess. She hugged the baby to her bosom and saluted the Sage with gratitude.

The Sage told her that this child would be very intelligent and be a cause of pride to her. But since she had forced him to oblige with her request, the boy would have to struggle a lot to obtain any knowledge. The Goddess saluted him and left.

The Sage went back to his contemplation.

THE SAGE’S SON

Twelve years passed.

The forest Goddess came again to visit the Sage. This time she brought her twelve year old son also with her.

The handsome boy, the son born out of the ‘Samkalpa’ (will) of the great Sage Daashoora walked slowly holding his mother’s hands tightly. He felt slightly nervous about meeting his father for the first time.

His mother wiped the sweat forming on his forehead with her flowery hand. She kissed his forehead and flashed a smile of assurance.

The boy smiled back half-heartedly. He again was lost in his own thoughts. His face portrayed the innocence of his young heart. His eyes betrayed the numerous doubts his heart stored. His mother had not spared any effort on her part to educate the child in any learning that was available. She had taken him to many Sages in many forests and had made him learn everything. Of course the curse of his father had made it slightly difficult for him to learn any thing easily. But curse or no curse, he had struggled hard, worked day and night and had mastered all that was there to learn. But his young heart was not satisfied with all that. He had so many questions burning in his heart.

Why and how the world came to be?

Why was he caught in it?

Why was he limited to the identity of a son of a forest Goddess?

Was there no escape?

Could there be a state where these names and forms held no meaning?

So many questions, like torrents had troubled him day and night.

He had expressed his doubts to many a renowned Sage and of course they had given him lengthy discourses on the topic for hours. But the boy had failed to grasp the inner meanings of their words and had returned crestfallen.

His mother had observed his distressed state and had now brought him to his father residing on top of the Kadamba tree.

At last they reached the magnificent magical tree standing majestic like an emperor gracing the lowly citizens with his vision.

The boy looked at the giant tree standing like a mountain in front of him. He thought of his father living on the topmost edge of the tree. He wondered how any person could live inside a sprout for so long. He could not wait to see his father and his wonder-world.

As instructed by his mother, he began to climb the tree slowly.

As the tree had been growing high across the skies, the boy even with his youthful energy took quite a long time to reach the top.

But the amazing world of the tree kept him entertained and he did not feel the tediousness of his upward journey.

THE UNIVERSE OF KADAMBA TREE

The Kadamba tree looked like a huge city built of branches and leaves; a city forever expanding and trying to put its roots in every nook and corner of the world.

The branches were all over, up, down, sideways. Wherever one looked the tree was growing new branches there. It appeared as if it was trying to reach beyond the horizons.

Creepers grew all around the trunks and branches like a lovelorn girl embracing her long lost lover with full passion.

There was no tree or leaf or hole, which was not occupied by a bird, or animal or insect.

Birds of various hues had made nests in each and every branch and filled the quarters with their joyous chirpings.

Light from the Sun pierced through all available holes and created a beautiful panorama of light and shadow.

Dew drops sticking on to the flowers played with the sunlight and created mini rainbows all over the tree branches.

Branches covered completely by fragrant blossoms had become a playground for the forest goddesses. Their joyous screams and shouts joined hands with the chirping of the birds creating a melodious orchestra.

Monkeys and birds competed in finishing off the abundant fruits provided by the tree and had given up the task as hopeless. The fruits magically reappeared once they were eaten. Flowers never faded and never stopped their blooming. No bird or animal felt tired or exhausted as they rested peacefully in the affectionate branches of their mother-tree. Even some hollows had become small waterholes catering to the thirsty citizens of the tree-world.

With its numerous pathways of branches and twigs, the Kadamba tree was a universe in itself.

 FATHER MEETS THE SON

The boy had reached the topmost branch.

His mother who floated along with him pointed out to the tiny sprout at the edge of the far reaching tiny branch and told him that, ‘that was the little house where his father lived’. The son watched the tiny sprout far above the sky in wonder. He could not climb that tiny branch which had grown high up in the sky like a creeper to peep into the heavens. Little drops of tears formed in his bee-like eyes.

Before they kissed his cheeks, he felt two strong arms around him and lo, he was sitting in front of his father inside the little sprout. He had also a subtle tiny form he noticed. His father embraced him affectionately and kissed his forehead. The forest goddess entered inside the sprout and saluted the Sage. With her duty done, she took leave of the child with an affectionate kiss and vanished.

The father seated the boy on his lap and stroked his curly hair with love.

He understood that the boy had to be instructed about the abstract knowledge of the Self.

Since his own curse had made it a difficult subject for the boy, he decided to give the knowledge the easy way.

What easy way is there than a story to reach a child’s heart?

Feeding tiny bits of the delicious fruits of the Kadamba tree into the boy’s mouth and embracing the child to his bosom, the Sage began his fairy tale.