Viswamitra was overjoyed and complemented Rama and Lakshmana for their feasts. He held high opinion of his pupils Sage Viswamitra as guru to Rama and lakshmana was not a mere guru or teacher as we normally understand, but he was totally interested in the welfare of Rama and Lakshmana. How many teachers are concerned with the welfare of their students? 

How many teachers, these days show such concern towards their students? One may take to teaching as means of livelihood   rather than because of passion for teaching. Here the point worth noting is that whatever activity we  engage in  should not be carried out  for monetary gains alone , but it should carried out  with passion . If done that way one can feel really happy with what one does, however insignificant the task may be.

Viswamitra then took both Rama and Lakshmna to Mithila city ruled by King Janaka. , The king of Mithila had arranged a feat  of lifting  the heaviest bow , Gandiva , given by Lord Siva  which was their heirloom   and enable his daughter Sita or Janaki ,  to choose  the person who succeeded in the task as her husband . Viswamitra knew intuitively that Rama was going to wed Sita and that many other things would unfold in the life of Rama.

   They passed through the banks of holy river Ganges which originates in Himalayas. He told them the story of origin of Ganges on earth. Viswamitra told them that mother earth had been there at the beginning of creation and every inch of earth was sacred. Man degrades earth by his actions due to his greed for enjoying  the comforts .River Ganga with pure and Chrystal clear water flows down from Himalayas through the plateau serenely on its long journey , carrying with her the essence of  rare medicinal herbs  , deposits fertile soil and provides drinking water to men , animals and plants all her way till she merges with the ocean .

It is a source of millions of lives. Knowing the importance of River Ganga, it is revered and worshipped. Hindus even believe that Water from Gages can help the dying person to attain moksha or heaven .Men instead of keeping the water clean, pollute the river by letting the effluents from factories and city back wash. They hold wrong understanding of the spirit of sacredness.

They  worship river Ganga ,throw away into it   those things used for worship  and even dead bodies polluting it   beyond imagination,  based on the superstitious belief that it would lead to salvation of the dead .The reason for this is that  people follow rituals blindly which leads to more harm than good . There is a saying that cleanliness is next to Godliness. People should understand that  their obeisance to River Ganga   should be in the form of keeping it clean  so that  water taken from it  is portable  .It is believed  that even Lakshmi the goddess of true wealth visits  during the festival of Deepavali only those houses, which are kept neat and tidy .Rivers and other water bodies are the life lines of people.

Due to overconsumption and misuse of water and land , the ground water level is depleting and it is possible that there could be acute shortage of  water in most of the cities and even villages in our country . In all our epics including Ramayana, the importance given to rivers cannot be adequately described.  We fail to receive the right message from these time honored sources.

On the other hand either based on wrong understanding or self-aggrandizement we act wrongly causing irreparable damage to mother earth .It is said that we have borrowed this world from future generation with the promise that we would return to them as a safe place for them to live .It may not far fetched idea if we say the third world war could be on dispute for water .Extravagant and unplanned material development spells disaster to human beings.

Another point that comes out of the story is that it was due to gigantic efforts the river Ganga could be brought to earth. The word coined as ‘Bhagirathi’s effort’ has become a synonym for efforts beyond imagination. It implies the precious value of water which is ambrosia for all forms of life.  No trace of life is possible without water. All the civilizations flourished only on river banks.

The story as to how Bhagiratha brought river Ganges is as follows: Rama’s ancestor by name Sakara was a virtuous ruler. He wanted to perform ‘Aswamedha’ or Horse sacrifice (a religious ritual) to proclaim his prowess.  It involved letting free a caparisoned horse   , after religious ritual to wander any place crossing the boundaries of the kingdom. If no king stops, their kingdom would be annexed. If any king stopped it, war would be fought to accede his kingdom. Kings go for this, once they find they are sure of their victory and that they deserve to be widely accepted.  It was a way of publicizing the expanding power of the king. Those kings who recognized the prowess accepted to be vassals to the king who proclaimed his power. With rule which is just and with people’s welfare at heart , goodwill of more and more people are received .Such contented people like to be ruled by that kind of ruler . If at all there is opposition, it is only from power mongering rulers .Their opposition would not stand for want of mass support   . This is the way the expansionist tendencies of just Rulers to be interpreted and not as act of aggression for exploiting the people of the country invaded.

Here it also indicates voluntary acceptance of anything that is good. We should be open minded to appreciate and accommodate anything that comes from others that is good. That is how goodness which is key for survival and happiness grows  

Sakara let out the ceremonial horse to wander through kingdoms. Indra felt insecure thinking that   one day Sakara might pose challenge to him. So he abducted the horse and kept it underground, where Sage Kapila was in penance. When the horse was seen missing, Sakkara’s 6000 sons searched everywhere and ultimately found the horse tethered just behind where sage Kapila who was in meditation, was sitting. They seized the horse and mistaking Kapila to be the abductor, tormented him .Kapila being furious reduced them to ashes. The only survivor was their grand son who had a son named Bhagiratha.

Bagiratha felt that the souls of their ancestors might be wandering without resting in peace due to their unnatural death. He felt as his duty to free them from saint’s curse and enable their souls to reach heaven. It was known that if celestial Ganges flows down the earth and washes their bones, they would attain salvation. He tried to bring down Ganges from heaven He practiced severe austerities such as such as living on practically nothing for thousands of years.

He also meditated rigorously on Lord Brahma .Brahma appeared before him and advised him to seek Lord Siva’s help. He did penance for another ten thousand years on Siva. Siva promised to help him , if he could persuade Ganges to descend.  Bhagirathi did penance for five thousand years to propitiate Ganges .Mother Ganges appeared and told him that she would flow down the earth , but cautioned that  the earth can  hardly withstand  the force with which  she  would flow down. Lord Siva assured that he would calm down Ganges.

Ganges started flowing down with enormous force. Lord Siva planted his feet firmly on the ground and on his tangled matted locks he bore the impact of the flow, letting no drop to fall on earth. Seeing this Bhagirathi felt for a moment that all his efforts had gone waste. We too, being inpatient, think similarly, when our efforts do not yield fruits immediately.

Just at that moment Siva let out mild streams   from his head, which Bhagiratha directed to underground, where the bones of ancestors lay. The holy water of Ganges washed off the bones and liberated their souls to go to heaven.

(To be continued)