Jaya Guru Datta

We discussed that Maharishi Nārada visited Maharishi Gautama and that Gautama narrated all his woes to the celestial sage. Maharishi Nārada said, ‘‘O saint! In the absence of your wife how can you run the house and raise the kids? Anyway do not fear. Send your son Shatananda to King Janaka’s court. He will complete his education there and become the royal priest for the king.

Now regarding your daughter Anjana who has transformed into a vānara. Give her in adoption to vānara King Kunjara who will find a suitable vānara husband for her. With this your problem will be solved. Your daughter will bring renown to your lineage. Give up these worries. After obtaining the darshan of Srirama, your family life will be restored to its happy state’.

Gautama perfectly abided by the dictates of Maharishi Nārada and gave his daughter Anjana in adoption to King Kunjara. Thus, in accordance to the promise made by Shiva, vānara Kunjara was blessed with a daughter through adoption.

This is how a boon or a curse creates a huge complex story. A lot of drama takes place before the boon or curse gets executed. This is precisely what happened in this story.

Anjana, who had recently transformed into a vānara, was saddened at her plight. She was distraught that she had to now live amidst vānaras. Due to this transformation in appearance, her pride in her beauty was totally destroyed. Seeing her monkey face she became inconsolable. Seeing her agony Maharishi Gautama’s heart melted. He then used his divine vision and gathered details of her previous lives.

He then consoled his daughter and explained of her previous birth as a Gandharva maiden Sukanya. He also explained to her the incidents that led to her being cursed by Wind-god Vayu. He then said, ‘Anjana, in this birth you need to undergo the effect of Vayu’s curse. You now perform penance seeking the grace of Lord Shiva. In this birth, you are going to become worshipful for the entire creation. You must learn to withstand difficulties and leave everything to divine will. This is the highest duty for all embodied beings. This is by far the best penance that can be practised by living entities’.

Pacified and mentally at peace, Anjana left for her new home amidst the vānaras and acclimatised herself to their ways of living. Kunjara vānara, who had obtained Anjana as a daughter in adoption, subsequently gave her in marriage to vānara Kesari.

This is how the puzzle beautifully fits in! A curse given by someone at some point of time resulted into a different birth in some other plane and brought about a long chain of events. Curses and boons got intertwined leading to some unimaginable outcome. This is the uniqueness and beauty in the Lord’s creation.

Don’t we often say to our dearest, ‘Our first meeting was accidental, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it strange that we had to travel in the same coach that day? Our meeting was so accidental’ or we say, ‘Isn’t it surprising that we had to get enrolled in the same school?’

Anjana and Kesari remained childless for a very long time. Their royal priest Maharishi Matanga, advised Anjana to begin austerities to beget a son. With the permission of her husband, Anjana proceeded to Vŗshabha mountain, located in the Tirupati mountain range, and began intense austerities.

We have now come back to the original location- Vŗshabha hill- from where it all started initially!

Let us learn about the outcome of her penance in the next episodes.

Jaya Guru Datta.