Story 19 – The Great Fall of Yayāti – Heaven (Swarga) vis-à-vis Moksha (Liberation)[i]

The story of Yayāti is very interesting in Mahabharata. It answers many questions- what are heaven and hell and how is heaven (Swarga) different from Liberation (Moksha); and why do the texts of Hinduism talk about Swargam when it is impermanent?  Let us read and understand the story.

Background of the Story

Yayāti was the son of emperor Nahusha, a famous mythological character of ancient India.  We know from the previous episodes that Yayāti swapped his untimely old age with his youngest son Pururava and ruled the country for thousands of years. While he was a king, he performed innumerable Yagnas and amassed enormous amounts of merit (punya) that he was destined by Providence to spend thousands of years in heaven.

The Story

By virtue of his meritorious deeds Yayāti entered Amaravati, the celestial city of Indra. Since his Punyam (merit) was as high as that of Indra, he was revered and respected by the Gods and other celestial beings. He spent thousands of years in heaven, there afterwards Prajapati loka, and then in Bramha loka (the abode of Brahma) and freely moved with the bevy of beauties in the form of Apsaras.

One day Lord Indra approached Yayāti and said, ‘Hi Yayāti! You have been in heaven for thousands of years. Is there any other person upon the earth who equals with your meritorious acts? Yayāti replied,

नाऽहं देव मनुष्येषु गन्धर्वेषु महर्षिषु।
आत्मनस्तपता तुल्यं कञ्चित्पश्यामि वासव! II[ii]– Adi Parva 88.2

(‘My Dear Indra, I have not seen anybody so far among humans, gods, gandharvas or rishis who is as powerful as I am in the matters of tapas and austerity)

Indra said coolly, ‘Oh, you have rejected the greatness of your equals, your superiors and your subordinates without knowing their merits. Hence your accumulated merit has dried out from your account, and you are destined to fall upon the earth’.

Yayāti realized that his fall was due to his ego. He accepted the imminent fate and requested Indra to place him in the company of good people (सतां मध्ये पतितुं देवराज -satāṃ madhye patituṃ devarāja). Indra respected the words of Yayāti.

Ashtaka, a rishi saw Yayāti falling upon the earth where Ashtaka and his associates used to conduct Yagnas. He was awestruck by the spiritual aura of Yayāti and enquired as to who he was and as to why he was falling upon earth. Yayāti was happy that he had fallen to a place resided by good people. He narrated his entire story (see our previous two stories) and how his merits were wiped out by demeaning the tapas of others.

ज्ञातिः सुहृत्स्वजनो वा यथेह क्षीणे वित्ते त्यजते मानवैर्हिI
तथा तत्र क्षीण पुण्यं मनुष्यं त्यजन्ति सद्यः सेश्वरा देव सङ्घा:II[iii]

– Adi Parva 90.2.

‘Just as the friends, the kith and kin leave a person once his money is drained out, so also, the Gods disown a person once his merits get exhausted’.

Yayāti continued, ‘the persons who tell great about their own meritorious deeds will never qualify to reach heaven. Instead, they fall into Bhauma Naraka (hell connected with the earth). Ashtaka was anxious to know as to what kind of deeds lead to heaven or hell.

How can one attain Heaven?

Yayāti began telling,

तपश्च दानं च समो दमश्च  ह्रीरार्जवं सर्वभूतानुकम्पाI
स्वर्गस्य लोकस्य वदन्ति सन्तः द्वाराणि सप्तैव महान्ति पुंसाम्II

नश्यन्ति मानेव तमोऽभिभूताः पुंसः सदैवेति वदन्ति संतःII[iv] – Adi Parva 90.22

(‘Penance (तपस्), charity (दानं), calmness of mind induced by renunciation of desires (शम), control of external senses (दम), modesty (ह्री:), truthfulness (आर्जवम्), and kindness to all creatures (दया) are the sevenfold steps that lead a person to heaven’)

(Here the idea is that one should have these qualities to become eligible for heaven. If you drop down the idea of eating a sweet, it is sama- शम (control of mind). If you do not allow your feet to move to restaurant to purchase a sweet, it is dama – दम (control of sense organs).

‘Once you attain merit and reach heaven, you should continue in the path of modesty and dwell in the deep thoughts of Vedas and scriptures’. ‘One should discard ego and boastfulness which surely lead a person to hell. Yagnas are not for publicity but for purity of thoughts and actions. Once a person realizes this he is above the concepts of heaven and hell and merges with the Ultimate Truth (परमात्मा) where he attains liberation from births and deaths.

आस्येव तु यदाहारं गोवन्मृगयते मुनि:I
अथास्य लोकः सर्वोsयं सोsमृतत्वाय कल्पतेII[v] – Adi Parva, 91.18

(‘One who takes food like a cow- with mouth and without using arms (it symbolically means that the one who does not accumulate wealth for generations), for him the earth itself is the place for attaining liberation’[vi], Yayāti concluded.

Analysis of the Story

We know from our scriptures that each action (कर्म) has a result- good or bad depending upon the nature of the act and intention of the act. If the act is meritorious and for the good of the people and society at large (लोक संग्रह), it results in accumulation of Punya (merit). Again, if the act is done without an iota of self-interest and without anticipating the fruit of the action (कर्म संन्यास), the person is above the concepts of merit/ de merit; and he is a Liberated Soul.

The story of Yayāti is an interesting episode in Maha Bharata. The etymological meaning of ‘Yayāti’ is ‘yasya vāyoriva yātiḥ sarvatra rathagatiryasya’ (यस्य वायोरिव याति सर्वत्र रथगतिर्यस्य सः ययाति) – the person who wanders everywhere with the speed of Vayu- the wind God and with the speed of a chariot is Yayāti . Here we see Yayāti wandering in different higher worlds, one after another and falls upon earth and again bounce back to heavens. We find in Maha Bharata that he again reaches all these celestial worlds and liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

What is heaven? It is another higher place of enjoyment. If more money is in the packet, one can go from a small hotel to a star hotel in a day and once the pocket becomes empty, he must come back to his home. If more punya is in one’s account, one can reach higher worlds and stay as long as it sustains our existence there. Punya comes from doing social good in the form of yagnas where many people are fed, and charity is done liberally.

Yagna is a karma which gives rise to a result. If it is done for material benefit, it leads to heaven. If it is done without aspiring for the fruit of action, it leads to moksha (where the person is beyond the concepts of merit and de-merit). If it is done to do social injury, it leads to hell. Once the accumulated merit decimates, one must come back. Our scriptures indirectly emphasize the necessity of doing social good with humility. Any social good done for publicity will not attract any merit. Gita says,

“अभिसन्धाय तु फलं दम्भार्थमपि चैव यत् |इज्यते भरतश्रेष्ठ तं यज्ञं विद्धि राजसम् || Gita17. 12||

abhisandhāya tu phalaṁ dambhārtham api chaiva yat
ijyate bharata-śhreṣhṭha taṁ yajñaṁ viddhi rājasam

It means that the sacrifice that is done for material benefit or for boasting or for publicity is ‘rajasa’(राजस) yagna; and anything done with hypocritical aim is in passion mode.

Yayāti attained heaven and higher worlds due to his indulgence in good deeds, of course with the aim of personal benefit (or just without karma samnyasa). The heavens are not permanent, and the goal of any seeker is to attain the Ultimate where he escapes the pangs of cycle of births and deaths. This aim of Moksha or liberation is the highest aspiration one should develop as per our scriptures. The aim of Puranas and Itihasas is spread the gospel of vedic essence in the form of stories. Yayāti story just fits into the narrative.

The story also highlights the importance of humility and enjoins the spiritual seeker not to develop ego and demean others’ merit. Yayāti ’s fall from heaven symbolizes Vedavyasa’s dictum that ksheene punye martya lokam visanthi- क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्य लोकं विशन्ति। (once merit decimates one has to come down from heavens).

A deep analysis of the story further delineates swarga from that of moksha. Swarga can be attained by doing social good by holding self-interest to the chest. In the modern terminology, it is like social entrepreneurship- doing service to society without forsaking entrepreneurship, thus ensuring sustainable models. Here the seeker is not forsaking the fruits of action. Karma is present but karma yoga is still absent.

Karma yoga in simple language means holding karma as a tool to attain a skill (karmasu kausalam- कर्मसु कौशलम्). What is that skill? It is the skill to escape from the craving for karmaphala (fruits of action). Here renouncing fruits of action means doing any good deed to society as if you are a tool in the hands of God and do not go despair if it is not accomplished. In more simple words, do good and forget. This gives purity of mind (citta suddhihi-चित्त शुध्दिः) where there is no craze for heaven even when you do social good. Here the seeker will not get affected either by punya (merit) or papa (de-merit) and just he does social good. He feels that doing good attaining heaven is also a desire (काम). Desireless, dispassionate social good itself is enlightenment where the person sees the God in everyone and there is no scope for jealousy, anger etc.

But then why do our scriptures talk of heaven when it is not permanent? Hinduism talks about things at two levels. From the perspective of religion (for common people) it enlightens people to do social good. From the perspective of Vedanta (for Jnanis), it talks to raise above religion and discard the religion (त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन।– Gita 2.45).

For sending a child to school, it may be necessary to give chocolate, but schooling is not for eating chocolate and the objective is to educate him.  Hindu religion shows the chacholate of swarga to common man for doing social good, but its ultimate objective is to go beyond the realms of heaven (chacholate) or hell and to see all in one and one in all. If swargam is the primary standard, moksham is the post-graduate standard. But no one can complete postgraduation without studying primary standard. The purity of thought that is gained for attaining svarga is useful in later years to attain svarga. It is pathetic that people cling to primary standard (heaven) and never think of Post-Graduation (Moksha).

Thus, doing good to society is the basic narrative around which the entire Hinduism revolves.

Points to Ponder

1. What is the aim of human life- Heaven or Liberation?
2. How can people attain Heaven? What are the austerities prescribed to attain heaven?
3. When shall a person fall from heaven?
4. When can people get liberated from the cycle of births and deaths?
5. Delineate the subtle differences between Swarga and Moksha?
6. Why Hinduism talks of Heaven when it is impermanent?
7. Transcending above religion and remain in purity of thought is labeled as ‘spiritualism’ by modern people. Don’t you think Hinduism advocated ‘spirituality’ as against ‘religiosity’?
8. ‘Reaching the TOP is easy; retaining the TOP is difficult. Explain the reasons with reference to this story.

References

[i] This story is from Adi Parva of Maha Bharata written by sage Ved Vyasa.

[ii] nā’haṃ deva manuṣyeṣu gandharveṣu maharṣiṣu।

ātmanastapatā tulyaṃ kañcitpaśyāmi vāsava! II- Adi Parva 88.2

[iii] jñātiḥ suhṛtsvajano vā yatheha kṣīṇe vitte tyajate mānavairhiI

tathā tatra kṣīṇa puṇyaṃ manuṣyaṃ tyajanti sadyaḥ seśvarā deva saṅghā:II – Adi Parva 90.2.

[iv] tapaśca dānaṃ ca samo damaśca  hrīrārjavaṃ sarvabhūtānukampāI

svargasya lokasya vadanti santaḥ dvārāṇi saptaiva mahānti puṃsāmII

naśyanti māneva tamo’bhibhūtāḥ puṃsaḥ sadaiveti vadanti saṃtaḥII – Adi Parva 90.22

[v] āsyeva tu yadāhāraṃ govanmṛgayate muni:I

athāsya lokaḥ sarvosyaṃ sosmṛtatvāya kalpateII – Adi Parva, 91.18

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