Sunday, February 7, 2016

THE STORY OF NIMI AND THE BIRTH OF AGASTHYA AND VASISHTA



                
Lakshmna requested Sri Rama to narrate a few amazing stories at which he came out with the interesting story of NIMI. Nimi was the twelfth son of the great ancestor Ikshvaku. He was a great warrior and followed the path of Dharma. He built a heavenly mansion near the ashram of sage Gauthama and named it “ Vaijayanta” and resided there. He wanted to perform a sacrifice called ‘ Satrayaga’ and got his father Manu’s permission. He approached the Brahmarshi Vasishta to get the yagna performed. He also invited the great sages Atri, and Bhrugu to conduct the yagna.
       Meanwhile sage Vasishta had already agreed to conduct a sacrifice being performed by Indra, king of heaven! He asked Nimi to wait until he returned from Indra’s sacrifice. But sage Gautama took charge and conducted the sacrifice of the king Nimi! Many were invited for the sacrifice and Nimi performed it with great devotion for five thousand years! After finishing Indra’s yagna, sage Vasishta came to Nimi and saw that the yagna was completed! He desired to have an audience with the king and waited for a few hours.Unfortunately , Nimi was fast asleep at that time. Infuriated at this needless delay and completing the yagna before he returned, sage Vasishta cursed the king to be paralyzed! Soon king Nimi woke up and was petrified at the terrible curse served by the sage Vasishta! Saying that the delay was unintentional as he was fast asleep,  Nimi cursed sage Vasishta also to be paralyzed like him.
         As a result of their mutual curses, Nimi and Vasishta lost their physical bodies and took the form of air! Vasishta shorn of his body went to Lord Brahma to seek for a body!  Without a body all karnas will be lost and many sorrows shall accrue. Lord Brahma directed sage Vasishta to enter into the ‘tejas’ of Mitra Varuna and be born differently, not from the mother’s womb! By performing great tapas he can come back to him. As directed by Lord Brahma, Vasishta came to the seat of Varuna where Mitra was being worshipped by Devas.
          URVAS,I the most beautiful heavenly damsel, happened to come there with her train of beauties.  Drawn to her bewitching and tantalizing divine beauty, Varuna made amorous advances to her! But she rejected them saying that she had already given word to Mitra! Thereupon Varuna released his ‘ Veerya’ ( semen) in the divine Pot! When Urvasi went to Mitra, he called her a seductress and rejected her as her heart was on Varuna! He cursed her to take birth on earth and live there for some time. Pururava, the son of Budha shall be her husband So saying, Mitra too left his ‘Veerya ‘ in the same divine pot where Varuna  had deposited earlier!
           From the ‘Tejas’ of Mitra and Varuna  in the divine pot two renowned sages were born! At first sage AGSTHYA was born! That is why he is called “ kumbha sambhava”. He declared that he is not Mitra’s son and went elsewhere. After some time, from the ‘ Tejas’ of Varuna  sage VASISHTA  was born! As he was born of the tejas of Mitra and Varuna, he was called ‘MYTHRAVARUNA.” King Ikshvaku, recognizing the greatness of the sage accepted him as the mentor of his clan!
          The sages , looking at the spirit of Nimi wanted him to perform the yagna. After the completion of the yagna, sage Bhrugu was extremely happy and said he would  bring back Nimi to life! The Devas questioned Nimi where he wanted to live.  Nimi replied that he wanted to reside in the eyes of all creatures in the world! The Devas granted his wish. They told Nimi that because of his presence all creatures shall bat their eye lids for rest! Later the sages brought the body of Nimi and placed an ‘ arani’ on it. With holy mantras and incantations they subjected the body to severe friction. Soon a great person came out of the body of Nimi As he was born out of severe friction he was called “MITHI”. JANAKA, and VAIDEHA! The city ruled by Mithi was called MITHILA!
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