The Story of King Harishchandra (The king of the Surya Dynasty)

Why do the Heroes in real life have been going through the Tapo Bhumi (Heated Ground)?

With the undisputed spirit of investigation and keen desire to know the real, the ultimate truth, most of us have heard from Saints and Yogis that “truth is God and God is truth”, therefore this statement has been encouraging seekers to go into the bottomless contemplation, thinking operation and beyond body-mind complex.

I think that’s the reason, why all the seekers of truth have been going through the path of fire, light, and surrendering In terms of eternal (Subjective) and external (Objective) expedition. Most of us can understand, why such people whose life is following the path of Satyam (truthfulness), have more haters and enemy, instead those, who can admire and appreciate their true identity, strength, and capacity in the culture.

Although, the world has been noticing and awarded many of them, with the rewards in return for their loyalty, contribution, and bold performance, In terms of technological revolution, freedom fighters, thinkers, spiritual masters, scientists, social workers,s and so on. Therefore some of them have not received any rewards when they were alive, but later people understood the values of such people and honored the values and deeds of such heroes.

And many of them just came into the world, did their duties, and passed away with Gaurav and Santosha (dignity and self-satisfaction) within themselves.

Here it doesn’t mean they wanted anything from us or to remember them in the pages of history for the future generation; for such heroes, it is an art of giving, selflessness, and zeal, without thinking of return, the top-secret if I reveal, then it was the DHARMA (righteousness), YAMAS (self restraints) and niyamas (observances) behind their thought, speech, and performance.

The Story of King Harishchandra (The king of the Surya Dynasty)

I am reminded of one of the beautiful stories from Upanishad (the part of Vedic texts), which has been inspiring and encouraging us even today on the path of fire and light. In the story of King Harishchandra (the king of the Surya dynasty) and Sage Vishvamitra (the sage who got the title “friend of all”), the kingdom of Harishchandra was well known for prosperity, charity, commitment, and justice.

One Day The King Was Marching

One day, the king was marching with his armed force and loud noise of drums so that the animals in the jungle remained away from them. The sage Vishvamitra was seated in deep meditation (Samadhi) and got disturbance, thus Vishvamitra got angry by the noise created by the king’s army. The sage Vishvamitra stopped the army and said to the king, that because of him he became fail in his years of austerity to get liberation.

The King Immediately Apologized to Vishvamitra

The king immediately apologized to Vishvamitra

The king immediately apologized to Vishvamitra and asked him to forgive, but Vishvamitra was full of anger and wanted to curse him in terms of punishment, therefore, the king was well known to everyone for his good deeds, with full of prosperity, helping others, commitment, and justice, thus sage told him that he must payback in terms of their years of austerity, so he asked him to give up his kingdom and 1000 gold coins, by his own hard work within a period of a month. The king accepted what the sage has asked him, as a confession, and thereafter king left the kingdom with his wife and son.

The king along with his wife and son started to do labor work in a different kingdom so that he can collect gold coins to give to the sage Vishvamitra in such a short period of time, but it was impossible for him to collect the gold coins in exchange of his work.

One Day The King Decided That He Should Suicide

One day, the king decided that he should commit suicide, so the sage Vishvamitra may forgive his son and wife and return his kingdom to them. Thus, the king was going to dip into the Ganges River, but his wife saw him and asked, they must also do suicide with him altogether. The king stop and started crying and therefore queen said, that she’s the life partner and have equal rights in all the good and bad times with him, thus she must help him to participate on his bad time, perform her role to help his commitment, she decided to sell herself to get the gold coins in exchange and help the king to fulfil the commitment.

Therefore, she made the king agree and kept his commitment, truthfulness in an order of divine will, and her responsibility. The king was unable to stop this incident; she sold herself and her son to the merchant but did not get enough gold coins, as the king was required. Therefore, the king himself sold to Chandala (who deals with the disposal of corpses) to have enough gold coins, he collected the coins before given time; he gave all the gold coins to Sage Vishvamitra and completed his commitment. The difficulties have not finished yet.

One Day The King Was Working On Crematory Ground

One day, the king was working on the crematory ground and saw that a woman is coming with a corpse in her arms, when she came closer and saw that the king was there, with poor condition, she started crying and said to him, that see yourself and myself where we are standing today, what truthfulness and righteousness have given us, we have lost our kingdom, respect sold themselves and now lost the son (prince),

the poor king was standing with his head down and joined hands, therefore she requested to the king, that please collect some pieces of wood so that they could conduct the crematory ceremony for the son, the king with a gentle voice said to her, first arrange some money because it is he’s owner order to him, that does not give anything without exchange or money, she was bitterly crying and telling him that he is your son, how can you say this?

The king replied with a gentle voice, that he has not lost his Dharma (righteousness) when he had everything, now when he lost the kingdom, sold you, son and himself, lost his son, now how could he break his ethics in the poor situation when he has nothing,

so he said that you must give something so that he can give to his owner according to his commitment, then she said that she has nothing except her clothes on her body, which she was wearing and ready to give up, suddenly the sage Vishvamitra appeared and stopped her, and said to the king, you and your family are really a celestial being and the leaving example of truthfulness, not being an ordinary man, you have passed through all your tests, what the sage has heard about the king he found him beyond, therefore, the sage with his mystic power made the king’s son alive, returned the kingdom and blessed them.

The Moral Of This Story Indicates That Rightness and Excellence Through Karmas

The moral of this story indicates that rightness and excellence through Karmas (deeds), by anyone never go worthless, it has to be effective for the self and culture, materially or spiritually, today and tomorrow, people have to understand the values of their deeds (Karma), on a small or big scales, no matter.

But remember one thing that what forces they were having in terms of principles and followed by them to sustain with determination in the world of plurality, where they stood alone but BOLD.

The world where we are left today is relying on man-made principal and therefore. Our history is the biggest example, with untold and told stories of such people, we known as “Real Heroes” today.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the story of King Harishchandra exemplifies unwavering integrity and sacrifice. His life, marked by relentless truthfulness and commitment, serves as a timeless inspiration for embracing virtue and righteousness amidst life’s trials.

I hope my writings inspire the reader and help them to remain motivated on the path of fire and light.

Bipin Baloni