The Story of Ashtavakra (Part 4)

Continuing from last week, King Janaka asked Ashtavakra, “Which living being sleeps with eyes open? What does not grow after being born? What does not have a heart and what grows very fast?” To this, Ashtavakra replied “A fish sleeps with eyes open, an egg does not grow after birth, a stone has no heart, and a small rivulet grows very fast into a mighty river.”

The king was very happy and told both, Ashtavakra and Swetaketu, that even though they were young in years they were old in wisdom. He said no one would be able to defeat them in the debate and allowed them into the Yagna.

Ashtavakra went into the yagna hall and facing Bandi said, “O haughty Brahmin, you have defeated many Brahmins in debate and then you have had them tied up and drowned in the river. Today you will meet your match. Just as the fire of judgment can evaporate a river, I will beat you in the debate. You have harmed my family by defeating my father and having him drowned in the river. Know me as a poisonous snake that is going to sting you to death. Come on let us answer each other’s questions.”

Bandi said “Only the One Agni appears as fire in many different forms, only One sun lightens the world, it is only the One lord Indra who vanquishes his enemies, and only the One Yama, the lord of death, rules the underworld.”

Ashtavakra replied “The Two, Indra and Agni, are friends and roam together; there are Two Deva rishis, Narada and Parvat, there are Two Ashwinikumars, the cart has Two wheels, God has made Two, both, husband and wife to be each other’s friends. Only the Two, intelligence and consciousness, by complementing and supporting each other allow us to experience and enjoy knowledge. Intelligence on its own cannot do anything.”

Bandi said “People perform Three kinds of acts – white, black, and grey. When you have learned the Three Vedas, your life becomes the Vajpayee Yagna. The Brahmins light the Agnihotra in Three periods of the day. There are Three lokas – Bhu, Bhuvaha, and Swaha. And there are Three kinds of flames.”

Ashtavakra said “The Brahmins have Four kinds of ashrams. People are divided into Four castes, there are Four directions and the speech we utter is of Four types from gross to subtle.” (Here Ashtavakra is talking of the Four kinds of sounds called Vaikhari or spoken, Madhyama or molecular, Pasyanti or electronic, and Anahata or unmanifest.)

Bandi’s next argument was, “There are Five kinds of fire or Agnis, the verses of the scriptures or ‘chandas’ are composed of Five lines, there are Five types of yagnas, man has Five senses, and the scriptures describe Five types of Apsaras.”

Ashtavakra replied, “When lighting the Agnihotra, there are Six cows to be given as charity, in the wheel of time there are Six seasons, we have Six senses composed of five that are gross and one that is subtle, the constellation of Krittikas is formed of Six stars and before one learns the Vedas one has to perform Six yagnas.”