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Story of Queen Chudala

This is a story that appears in Yoga Vasishta. Kunju Swami, at the request of Sri Ramana Maharshi, once narrated this story as follows:

King Sikhidvaja and Queen Chudala ruled the kingdom of Malava. Chudala regularly practised meditation in the silent hours of the night. In due course she realised the Self, as a result of which her face shone brightly and she became much more beautiful than before. The king noticed this and asked the reason. The queen replied that it was due to her Self-realisation. The king laughed at her, thinking that realization was possible only through severe austerities and could never be gained while living in a palace. He himself had religious inclinations and wanted to leave the kingdom to practice tapas in the forest so that he could gain Self-realisation. The queen tried to dissuade him and suggested that he could carry on the tapas in the palace itself and rule the kingdom as well. Refusing to act on her advice, he went to the forest and performed hard penance. The queen ruled the kingdom in the king's absence.

The queen took pity on her husband. Being anxious to rescue him from the mire of delusion, she practised siddhis and took the guise of a Rishi called Kumbha Muni. She then materialised before him a few feet off the ground. The king, thinking that some celestial being has descended from the heavens to bless him, fell at his feet, told him his woes and sought guidance.

The muni gave the king the following advice: Karmas (activities) can give fruit as ordained by the Lord, but karmas themselves cannot grant you liberation. By doing disinterested actions (nishkam karmas), one’s mind can become pure. Then, with the pure mind, one should contemplate the Self. This will destroy the vasanas. Next, one should approach a Master and through his grace learn how to enquire into the nature of the Self. Liberation is possible only through enquiry and not by performing any amount of karma. By renouncing everything, one can realize the truth.

The king said that he had renounced everything already, including his kingdom and family. Kumbha Muni told him that his renunciation was only external and that the seeds of attachment were still latent in him. The king then took his walking staff, his water pot, his rudraksha beads, his clothes, threw them all in the fire and stood naked without any possessions. On being told that he had still not renounced completely, the king was ready to drop his last possession, his body, by jumping from the top of a mountain.

The muni asked him, "What harm has the body done to deserve this punishment?"

By giving this answer the muni taught him that he could not realise the truth by destroying the body, but only by destroying the mind that was the source of all attachments. The mind identifies itself as "I" and this is the bondage. The snapping of this identification is the renunciation of everything. Having got this far with his instructions, the muni then described in detail the sadhana of discrimination.

After hearing all these words the king's doubts were dispelled and his mind became pure. The king took the advice to heart, enquired into the source of self, soon became one with it and remained in blissful samadhi.

Kumbha Muni disappeared and returned sometime later, but the king was still in samadhi. Chudala roared like a lion to wake him up, but could not bring him out of his samadhi state. So, taking a more subtle form, she entered the king's heart and found it pure and devoid of any latent tendencies. In a melodious voice she began to chant the Sama Veda. Like the blossoming of a lotus, the king suddenly became aware of the world. Filled with joy, he remained silent, finding no words to express his gratitude. Then, as advised by the queen, he returned with her to the kingdom with the queen for many years.

Source: The Power of the Presence Part Two by David Godman

Note: For more detailed version see The Supreme Yoga (A new translation of Yoga Vasishta) Volume Two by Swami Venkatesananda (pp. 434- 445)

Location: Wilmslow, U.K.

A Note on Yoga Vasishta (Story of Queen Chudala)

The Yoga Vasishta is a well-known Vedanta treatise in Sanskrit. It has been a favourite book of spiritual seekers in India for several centuries. Its special appeal lies in its rational approach, and its presentation of Vedanta as a philosophy to bridge the gulf between the secular and the sacred, action and contemplation, in human life.

The following verse, which occurs several times in the scripture, seems to be the very essence of the teaching.

'This world-appearance is a confusion: even as the blueness of the sky is an optical illusion. I think it is better not to let the mind dwell on it, but to ignore it.' (I.3.2)

An oft-recurring expression in this scripture is 'kākatāliya' — a crow alights on a cocoanut palm tree and at that very moment a ripe cocoanut falls. The two unrelated events thus seem to be related in time and space, though there is no causal relationship.

Such is life. Such is 'creation'. But the mind caught up in its own trap of logic questions 'why', invents a 'wherefore' to satisfy itself, conveniently ignoring the inconvenient questions that still haunt an intelligent mind.

Vasishta demands direct observation of the mind, its motion, its notions, its reasoning, the assumed cause and the projected result, and even the observed and the observation — and the realization of their indivisible unity as the infinite consciousness.

Whichever the scripture taught by whomever and whichever be the path you choose, stop not till the psychological conditioning ceases entirely.

Location: Wilmslow, U.K.