Yavakrita Performs Austerities for Vedic Knowledge
Tormented by envy that his ascetic father receives no honour while a rival sage and his sons are celebrated, Yavakrita resolves to obtain the Vedas through sheer austerity rather than study. He burns his body in a great fire, disturbing Indra himself — who tries twice to dissuade him, first with advice, then with a parable of a sand bridge across the Ganga.
Yudhishthira asked Lomasha: “What powers did the sage Bharadvaja’s son possess? Why did Yavakrita die? Tell me exactly as it happened.”
Lomasha said: “Bharadvaja and Raibhya were friends. They lived together in this forest in great friendship. Raibhya had two sons, Arvavasu and Paravasu. Bharadvaja had one son: Yavakrita. Raibhya and his sons were learned in the Vedas. Bharadvaja was an ascetic, not a scholar.
From childhood, the friendship between the two sages was unmatched. But Yavakrita noticed something that ate at him: his father received no honours. When brahmanas gathered, they honoured Raibhya and his sons. They passed over Bharadvaja. The energetic Yavakrita was tormented by this. He became overcome with anger.
He resolved to obtain knowledge of the Vedas — not through study, not through a preceptor, but through austerities. He built a gigantic fire and burnt his own body in it. The flames rose. The great ascetic’s penance was so terrible it generated anxiety in Indra’s mind.
Indra came to him and asked: “Why are you engaged in these supreme torments?”
Yavakrita replied: “I am performing this austerity so that the Vedas, studied by brahmanas, become manifest in me. Knowledge of the Vedas must normally be acquired from a preceptor and take a long time. Therefore I am engaged in this great endeavour.”
Indra said: “This is not the path for you. Why do you wish to destroy yourself? Go and learn from a preceptor’s mouth.”
Then Shakra left. Yavakrita returned to his austerities.
He caused great distress to the king of the gods. Burnt by the terrible penance of the great sage, Indra came again to restrain him. “The goal you have set is not possible. You have not thought properly about how the Vedas can be manifested to you and your father.”
Yavakrita replied: “If I do not succeed through these deeds, I will torment myself with greater austerities. If you do not satisfy my desires, I will slice off my limbs and offer them into the fire.”
Indra realized the great-souled sage’s resolution was firm. He thought of a means of restraining him.
He assumed the form of a brahmana ascetic — several hundred years old, feeble, overcome with consumption. At the tirtha where Yavakrita came for his ablutions, on the banks of the Bhagirathi, Indra began to construct a bridge of sand. He filled his fists with sand and threw them into the river, scoop after scoop, trying to bind up the Ganga.
Yavakrita saw this and broke into loud laughter. “O brahmana! What is going on? Why are you expending this great effort on a fruitless objective?”
Indra replied: “When I have bound up the Ganga with a bridge, it will be easy to cross. People suffer great difficulties when they try to cross it.”
Yavakrita said: “It is not possible to bind this mighty torrent. Refrain from the impossible and embark on something possible.”
Indra replied: “I have embarked on this task, just as you have embarked on austerities for the Vedas — a burden of mortification impossible to accomplish.”
Yavakrita understood. He said: “O lord of the thirty gods! If you think my endeavours are as fruitless as yours, then tell me what is possible for me. Favour me with boons so that I become superior to others.”
Indra granted the boons. “As you desire, the Vedas will become manifest in you and your father. All your other desires will also be satisfied. You can go now.”
Having attained his objective, Yavakrita went to his father.” Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 432