Sage Vasiṣṭha and Kāmadhenu
Viśvāmitra was a King who cared greatly for the welfare of his subjects. Once, he went on a hunt with his army. As he was tiring, he chanced upon the hermitage of Vasiṣṭha who welcomed them with hospitality. He told them that food would be ready when they returned after a bath. The King and his men bathed quickly and when they returned, a grand feast was ready for the entire hunting party. The King was greatly perplexed. After their meal ended, Viśvāmitra approached the hermit Vasiṣṭha and asked him how he managed to prepare such a grand feast. Sage Vasiṣṭha replied that the cow-goddess Kāmadhenu resided at his hermitage and was capable of granting any wish. The king desired to possess the cow for himself. He asked the hermit to give him the cow in exchange for a crore ordinary cows. Vasiṣṭha refused. Viśvāmitra tried laying claim to Kāmadhenu, saying that everything noble and superior in the country rightfully belonged to the King, but Vasiṣṭha refused. Finally, Viśvāmitra was about to take the cow by force. Perceiving the threat, Kāmadhenu held her horns and tail up and stood as a fierce defense. From all the limbs of the cow, thousands of warriors poured out and a fierce battle ensued in which the hundred sons and the huge army of Viśvāmitra met with defeat. At last, Viśvāmitra tried to launch a direct attack against Vasiṣṭha, but the arrows shot by Viśvāmitra turned to flowers when they touched the body of Vasiṣṭha. At last the King admitted that the power of the penance of a Brahmin hermit was superior to his, and conceded his defeat to Vasiṣṭha. From that day, a deep-rooted, enemity against Vasiṣṭha arose in the heart of Viśvāmitra. He left the administration of his Kingdom to the hands of his relatives and erected his own hermitage and began to do an austere penance. He acquired great powers of penance and became a royal sage or “Rājarṣi”. This is how the quarrel between the two great sages Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra began. (from the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa)
Company School, 1820 (circa), Andhra Pradesh
British Museum
There are several stories surrounding Kāmadhenu in various purānas, and since Kāmadhenu achieved her divine powers by Brahmā’s grace, it is but reasonable to believe that all the different Kāmadhenus mentioned are really the different forms of the original Kāmadhenu, the daughter of Kaśyapa. One of the lesser known stories is that of the Kāmadhenu being born from Śrī Kṛṣṇa (from the Devī Bhāgavata, 9th Skandha):
Once, Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā were amusing themselves with amorous pleasures in a remote and secluded place. When they were tired, they wished to drink some milk. At that time, Śrī Kṛṣṇa created by his will power, the cow Surabhi and the calf Manoratha, from the left side of his body. Śrīdāman milked that cow into a new earthen pot and when Śrī Kṛṣna was drinking it, the pot fell down and the milk was spilt all over the floor. The milk which spread over an area of 100 yojanas, became a lake called “Kṣīrasāgara” for Rādhā and her maids to bathe and enjoy water-sports. Numerous cows were born from the pores of Surabhi and they were presented to the Gopas by Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Yoga Vasiṣṭha
Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur, The San Diego Museum of Art
Rāma stands in a posture of veneration before sage Vasiṣṭha, his guru. Next to an auspicious tree, is a depiction of the sacred wish-fulfilling cow, Kamadhenu, suckling her calf. The style of this early painting from Tanjore is closely linked with that of the wall paintings in South Indian temples, a tradition that flourished since at least circa 1000 AD.
When a young Prince Rāma returned from his travels, he was disillusioned and dissatisfied with the world. His father, Daśaratha, worried about his son, expressed his concern to Sage Vasiṣṭha. Vasiṣṭha reassures the king, and tells him that Rāma’s vairāgya was a sign that he was ready for spiritual enlightenment. The contents of Vasiṣṭha’s discourse to Sri Rāma comprises the Yoga Vasiṣṭha. It essentially deals with Advaita Vedantic principles, the illusory nature of the manifest world and the principle of non-duality. The scripture provides understanding, scientific ideas and philosophy; it explains consciousness, the creation of the world, the multiple universes in this world, our perception of the world, its ultimate dissolution, the path to mōksha or liberation of the soul and the non-dual approach to creation.
यस्मिन् देशे हि तत्त्वज्ञो नास्ति सज्जनपादप: ।
सफल: शीतलच्छायो न तत्र दिवसं वसेत् ।।
One must not stay even for a day, in a place devoid of spiritually illuminated people, who, like fruit-laden trees, cast a cooling shade that soothes scorched souls.
Sage Vasiṣṭha to Sri Rāma
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, in his his autobiography, says about Yoga Vasiṣṭha:
“All of a sudden I fell upon the Yōga Vasiṣṭha, and I found it of such absorbing interest that I have come to regard it ever since as the best work on the Vedanta Philosophy. The propositions were so logical, the verse is so beautiful, and the exposition is so thorough and penetrating that the soul loses itself in raptures over it. Such a fine combination of philosophy and poetry is a gift reserved only for Sanskrit poets”.
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