Chapter V - Story of bhargava

Argument. Meditation of Bhrigu, Ramblings of Sukra. His sight of and amour for an aerial nymph.

Rama said:—

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Tell me sir, that knowest all truths, and art best acquainted with all that is past and is to come, how the form of the world is so vividly existed in the mind.

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Please Sir, explain to me by some illustration, how this world, appears as a visible object to the inner mind.

Vasishtha replied:—

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The world is situated as truly in the minds of men, as it appeared in its firm and compact state to the bodiless son of Indu (I have related long before).

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It is situated in the same manner in the minds of men, as the thought of king Lavana's transformation of himself to a chandala, under the influence of sorcery.

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It is in the same manner, as Bhargava believed himself to be possessed of all worldly gratifications. Because true bliss has much more relation to the mind, than to earthly possessions.

Rama said:—

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How is it Sir, that the son of Bhrigu came to the enjoyment of earthly pleasures, when he had been longing for the fruition of heavenly felicity.

Vasishtha replied:—

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Attend now Rama, to my narration of the history of Bhrigu and Kala, whereby you will know how he came to the possession of earthly enjoyments.

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There is a table-land of the Mandara mountain, which is beset by rows of tamala trees, with beautiful arbours of flowers under them.

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Here the sage Bhrigu conducted his arduous devotion in olden times and it was in this place, that his high-minded and valiant son Sukra, also came to perform his devotion.

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Sukra was as handsome as the moon, and radiant with his brilliant beams (like the sun). He took his seat in that happy grove of Bhrigu, for the purpose of his devotion.

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Having long sat in that grove under the umbrage of a rock, Sukra removed himself to the flowery beds and fair plains below.

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He roved freely about the bowers of Mandara in his youthful sport, and became revered among the wise and ignorant men of the place.

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He roved there at random like Trisanku, between the earth and sky; sometimes playing about as a boy, and at others sitting in fixed meditation as his father.

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He remained without any anxiety in his solitude, as a king who has subdued his enemy; until he happened to behold an Apsara fairy, traversing in her aerial journey.

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He beheld her with the eyes of Hari, fixed upon his Lakshmi, as she skims over the watery plain, decked with her wreaths of Mandara flowers, and her tresses waving loosely with the playful air.

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Her trinkets jingling with her movements, and the fragrance of her person perfuming the winds of the air; her fairy form was as beautiful as a creeping plant, and her eyeballs rolling as in the state of intoxication.

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The moon-beams of her body, shed their ambrosial dews over the landscape, which bewitched the hard-heart of the young devotee, as he beheld the fairy form before him.

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She also with her body shining as the fair full-moon, and shaking as the wave of the sea, became enamoured of Sukra as she looked at his face.

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Sukra then checked the impulse of his mind, which the god of love had raised after her; but losing all his power over himself, he became absorbed in the thought of his beloved object.