Maharishi Vasistha was master of King Nimi. Once upon a time, King Nimi pledged to perform a royal sacrifice. The duration of this yajna was 5 years. The king collected all the materials required for this yagna. With great respect, sent an invitation to many sages like Pulatsya, Angira, Gautama etc.,to join this yagya. After this, he requested his master Maharishi Vasistha to be the Acharya in Yagya.
Hearing the request of King Nimi, Maharishi Vashistha said, Maharaj, I have already taken the task of being the master of the yjana of Devraj Indra. In this yajna, Devraj Indra will be initiated for 500 years. That is why I will finish that task first, then I will perform your yjana. King nimi says ,I have collected all the materials. Invitations have also been sent to all the sages. Therefore, please do my yagya first, then go to perform Indra’s Yagya. Vashistha did not listen to a single word of Nimi and went to perform a yajna for Indra.
After that ,king made Gautam Rishi , master of yjana and performed his yagna. Vashistha came to Nimi after completing Yagna of Indra. Then he came to know that, King Nimi has completed his yagna. The king was in deep sleep at that time, so the guards did not wake him up. Seeing that the king did not come for a long time, Maharishi Vasistha considered it his insult. Due to this Maharishi Vashisht became very angry.
In anger, the Maharishi cursed the king to be Videha means body less. The king had no ill feelings. Hearing the curse of Maharishi Vashistha, the guards wokeup the king. The king stood in front of the angry Maharishi and said some sweet things to him. After that King Nimi also cursed Vashistha that, due to the anger arising out of the body, you have cursed me in vain. I also curse you that this body of yours be destroyed. In this way Nimi and Vashistha cursed each other.
On hearing the curse of King Nimi, Vashishtha became very distraught and nervous in his mind. He immediately went to his father Brahma. Vashishta said to Brahma ji, father ,King Nimi has cursed me. Please do tell me what I do now, where my next birth will be. How I have made this mistake, due to which I have to loose this body.
After listening to his son Vashistha Brahma ji says. Son , there are two sages named mitra and varuna . They are very godly in nature , you will appear as his son. Go with your astral body and stay in their splendour. Later on you will get another body only by their splendour. You will be called Ayonij because of not being born from the mother’s womb. By obeying the father, Vashisht ji stayed with his astral body in the splendour of mitra and Varun.
Once upon a time, a beautiful nymph named Urvashi was playing water in the river, near the ashram of the Maitravaruni sages. Seeing that Apsara Urvashi, both Maitravarun became fascinated on her. They requested the nymph to stop at their ashram. Apsara understood the sense of mind of both the sages. The nymph agreed to the sages, and she agreed to stop. When the sages Maitravaruna were talking to the Apsara, both of these sages got ejaculated. The semen fell on the earth, from the semen of both sages, two boys were born. One child was named Agastya and the other boy was named Vasistha.
The boy named Agastya went into the forest to do penance after a few days. Vashistha was appointed as his priest by Maharaja Ikshvaku. King Ikshvaku took care of that child. This child later became the master of the Ikshvaku dynasty. In this way, Vashistha ji is called Maitravaruni due to the splendour of Mitra Varuna.
Brahmins should never be angry. They should always control their anger. Always be ready to help others. The same attitude should be kept in mind towards all beings. Kings should always respect their guru. But due to their nature some kings are hard-hearted and some are soft – hearted. That is why King Nimi cursed his master for having a hard heart. Yayati did not curse his guru Shukracharya, even after getting a curse from the Guru because of his calm nature.
On the other hand, King Nimi who had also got a curse from Vashishtha, by the grace of Bhagwati Jagdamba, began to wander in the eyes of all living beings as air. He never took a body after that with the grace of Adishakti.
Thus Vashishtha ji got the name Maitravaruni.
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Categories: Devi Bhagwat Puran
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