Some of the most important doubts of Yudhistira are cleared by Bhishmapitamaha in the Santi Parva of the great epic Mahabharata! On a question about the uniqueness of king Janaka who ruled Videha with Mithila as his capital, Bhishma describes the distinguishing qualities of Janaka. His original name was Janadeva but he was popularly called as Janaka. He was an intellectual and performed his duties with great deliberation. He was universal in his thoughts and extremely spiritual despite being a king of great repute. While performing yagnas or doing charity or homas or even while ruling the country he was in a kind of trance or blissful samadhi. God himself was a little surprised at Janaka and wanted to probe his mind! God disguised himself as a brahmin and did some mistake that would bring him face to face with Janaka. When he was presented before the king, Janaka,instead of punishing the brahmin, exiled him from his country! “Which is the boundary of your country?”, the brahmin asked the king. Janaka understood the implication of the question and remained silent. He told the brahmin that it is open for him to remain in his country or not.
The brahmin complemented king Janaka for fixing his thoughts always on Lord Vishnu and blessed him. But before leaving, he desired to reveal the spiritual accomplishment and the detachment of Janaka to the brahmins there. According to God’s intention, Janaka’s capital Mithila was in flames and people screamed and ran helter skelter to save themselves! Seeing his capital in terrible flames, Janaka remained calm and unruffled! There was no anxiety or any shade of suffering on his face! He said, “ My wealth is eternal! There is nothing for me to desire! Nothing in me is burnt or destroyed as Mithila burns!” Wondering at the equanimity and spirituality of Janaka, God brought back Mithila to its original glory! The flames disappeared instantly! The Lord presented himself before Janaka, blessed and directed him to tread on the righteous path and be truthful always!There is another version of the story in which king Janaka is considered as the disciple of the famous sage Ashtavakra , son of Kahola, himself a great sage. On an occasion while he was teaching he heard a souñd 'hum’! It was the sound of the child in the womb of his wife! The sound indicated that Kohola had committed a mistake! Kahola grew angry and cursed the unborn child to be defective in eight parts of the body! Thus the child became Ashtavakra and became soon a realized soul!
On one occasion Ashtavakra accompanied his father to a spiritual debate conducted by king Janaka. After he heard a few arguments, he courageously condemned them and said none in the gathering knew about the soul, including his father! King Janaka was shocked! He challenged Astavakra to reveal the true nature of the soul. If he failed, Astavakra would lose his life! The young sage said he would reveal the secret if Janaka obeyed his command to the letter of the word. He wanted Janaka to come to the forest and left the scene. After sometime Janaka went to the forest in search of sage Ashtavakra. The forest grew denser as he travelled with his retinue. Finally he lost the way and the retinue couldn't follow the king. Meanwhile the king found himself in the presence of sage Ashtavakra! Surprised at this sudden development king Janaka was about to get down from the horse when sage Astavakra ordered him to stop! Janaka was on one stirrup and he implicitly obeyed the command of the sage! It isn't known for how long he stayed on the stirrup but at that very moment he realized himself and became an enlightened soul! King Janaka fell at the feet of sage Ashtavakra and sought permission to remain with him.
Ashtavakra did not permit king Janaka to remain with him. Janaka was an enlightened king- a ‘Rajarshi’. He has nothing for himself! He has to serve the society.Thus king Janaka ruled his kingdom selflessly and engaged himself in great introspection after his kingly duties. Ashtavakra liked his disciple and they used to have spiritual discussions between themselves. The intimate relationship between the master and the disciple kindled the jealousy of the other chelas. Sage Ashtavakra knew this and wanted to teach them a lesson. On an occasion when he and king Janaka were engaged in an absorbing discussion, he created a conflagration in which the entire city of Mithila was burning! A soldier came running and reported the matter! But king Janaka remained unmoved! He said that he had not lost any thing! He is not enamored of these worldly attachments! The other disciples were astonished at the detachment of king Janaka and his equanimity!
Sage Ashtavakra desired to prove the materialistic attachment of his other disciples! On an occasion, while in a session of discussion he caused a person to announce that monkeys had invaded the ashram and taken away the clothes of the monks! The moment they heard the news, they ran to salvage their loincloths! But there were no monkeys at all and their clothes were safe. They knew then that it was the trick played by their guru Astavakra! The sage admonished them for their silly attachments and leaving the session of discussion to save their unworthy loin clothes! On the other hand, king Janaka remained unperturbed even while Mithila was burning! Spirituality and detachment should be real, not just outwardly! It should be in the heart of the individual, not a mere show! The monks realized the elevated level of king Janaka and his equanimity and blushed at their own nature!
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