Yogakshema of Arjun Mishra

Ananyashchintayanto maam ye janaah paryupaasate
teshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yogakshemam vahaamyaham. Gita 9.22

For those constant yogis who worship with thoughts centered only on Me, I Myself carry their yoga (necessities for sustenance) and (protect) their kshema (the necessities)।


Devotees who are always connected to God in their thoughts, have to be really special. We can understand that. But wait a minute here.. what is God saying? Is He promising to haul groceries on His own back and deliver them to His devotees? And also, be their personal chowkidar?

Those are the promises. When Goswami Tulasidas Maharaj wrote the Ramcharitmanas, a few envious kathakars (Scripture narrators) who felt threatened by the popularity of his book, hired a thief to steal it from his hut. When the thief got there, he found Sri Ram and Lakshman walking around the hut with bows and arrows, guarding the hut! He was astonished and shocked! And, he fell unconscious right there. Tulasidasji came out to see what was going on. After reviving him, he asked what he was doing there. The thief confessed, “I was hired by the kathakars to steal your book.” Tulsidasji wrote over twenty books. So, he asked “what book?” “Well they told me the name.. something like, Ram-chira-tama-nash. Haven’t you written a book called that?”
“What did you say? Ram chira tama nash?” Tulasidasji exclaimed, “Ram, the remover of all darkness? Bhaiji, you did not come here to steal the book. No-no-no, you didn’t. Ramji has sent you to teach me this message. Indeed, Ramji is the remover of all darkness.” Tulasidasji was teary-eyed already. Now he fell on his feet. “You are my teacher, Bhaiji.”

Couldn’t resist narrating that story. Anyway, God was doing the kshema duty for Tulasidasji and the Ramcharitmanas. If you haven’t read that book, ask any north Indian, he/she will tell you how precious that book is. Indeed, what Divine nectar flows through that book! Jai ho Tulasidasji! Jai Sri Ram!

God hauled groceries for Arjun Mishra. That is the story I came to tell you today. His story is found in the Bhaktamaal grantha.

Pundit Arjun Mishra lived with his wife in Puri, Orissa. I do not know his exact time, but after talking with some informed people, got the impression that they lived between 150-200 years ago. Puri is also known as the Purushottam kshetra ( Land of Lord Purushottama Jagannatha ). The famous Jagannatha temple is here. The ancient history of this holy place is described in the Skanda Puran (Vishnu Khanda-Purushottam Mahatmyam).

Now, back to the story… Arjun Mishra and his wife did not have much material wealth. In fact, they were poorer than most poor. Like other Brahmins in those days, he never showed any interest in making money. His life was for studying the Gita and the Bhagavata. He was a great devotee and saw the world as Krishna-maya. That means, he saw Sri Krishna everywhere and in everybody, pervading the universe. The world is seen that way by the exalted devotees.

As you can imagine, such devotees are entirely unselfish. Arjun Mishra wanted to find a way to share his most valued wealth: his learning and his Spiritual experiences. What should he do?

“Well, the jagadgurus wrote commentaries on the Gita” thought Arjun Mishra, “I might just do that as well….I would certainly love to discuss those verses where I can mention my own Spiritual experiences.”

He was thinking about this verse
yena bhutaani asheshhena drakshyasi aatmani atho mayi. 4.35
By which (Spiritual knowledge) you will (initially) see all beings in your Atman and then (see all) in Me.

And this verse,
Vidya vinaya sampanne braahmane gavi hastini
shuni cha eva shvapaake cha panditaah samadarshanah. 5.18
The pundits see a wise and humble Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater to be equal (in Spirit).

And these verses,
Samam sarveshu bhuteshu tishthantam parameshvaram. 13.27
The Parameshwar is equally present in all beings.

Yadaa bhuta prithagbhaavam ekastham anupashyati
Tata eva cha vistaaram brahma sampadyate tadaa. 13.30
When (someone) sees the beings of all different characteristics to be one (in Spirit) and sees them to be expanded from That, then (that person) attains the Brahman.

Such Spititual vision of the world has been called sama-darshan (equal vision) in the Gita. Sri Krishna said that these exalted devotees obtain paraa-bhakti (unwavering devotion) (18. 54). Arjun Mishra was ready for it. Still, he had some lingering doubts.

“But… do I really know enough to write about the whole Gita?” he wondered. “Well, let’s look at it this way…Arjuna heard the Gita from Sri Krishna Himself and saw His vishwarupa; yet sage Suta did not consider him a boddhaa (knower) of the Gita, just someone who knows “kinchit phalam” (a bit of the benefits).

krishno janati vai samyak, kincit kunti-sutah phalam. Gita Mahatmya 3 (Vaishnava tantra saara).

Sri Krishna certainly knows (the Gita), the son of Kunti (Arjuna) knows a bit of its benefits.

And again, acharya Madhva initially thought that he could say about his commentary of the Gita that his goal was to, “bakshyaami shaktitah” (describe as far as I can), but later, he changed it to “bakshyaami leshatah” (describe, only be a tiny part of the teachings).”

Indeed, nobody can be wise enough to discuss every message in the words of God. Those thoughts humbled Arjun Mishra very much. But then, he wanted to write the commentary. So he reasoned, “if I get stuck, I will ask Sri Krishna to help me out with the meaning and wait. I am not going to rationalize, but just wait for Sri Krishna. May be Sri Krishna will have mercy on me, and teach me personally! Nothing can be more wonderful.”







Lord Jagannatha with Lord Balarama and Lady Subhadra







Jagannatha temple, Puri







Ratha-yatra festival, Puri.








Ok, he is not Arjun Mishra. But I thought he could pose for him :-)


He was doing fine with writing the commentary until he came to verse 9.22 (that’s the verse in the beginning of this story). A doubt came to his mind. Vahaamyaham? Can it really be true? God lugging provisions on His own back? How can that be? He believed in God’s words in the Gita, but just couldn’t accept that God can also be the porter for His devotees.

He had promised to himself that he will not rationalize, but that’s exactly what he started doing. He reasoned, “May be God means that He will arrange the delivery by someone else.”

Thinking so, he drew a line through the word vahaamyaham in his commentary with red ink. Isn’t it interesting how we want God to conform to our model of Him? But the devotee in Arjun Mishra took over soon. He remembered his vow about not rationalizing. He suddenly became very disappointed with himself. He stopped writing and got up, with a sad heart that he just broke his vow. What could he do? After a while, he got back some of his composure and said a prayer to Sri Krishna in all humility, “Please teach me, O Madhava! I am ignorant and foolish and I do not know what you mean by vahaamyaham. Please teach me, and guide me so the commentary can be completed. You give so much help to Your devotees. I know I am only a poor undeserving devotee, but please have mercy on me and help me.”

It was already mid-morning. His wife came to see him and said, “We have no food today. You have been writing since morning. Please go to beg for alms, otherwise we will have to go hungry.”

Arjun Mishra went out for the alms. In those days, people considered it an honor to give food grains and vegetables to Brahmins like him. Their begging is called maadhukari. Arjun Mishra was distraught from the morning, so he thought that he would go to take a dip in the holy Rohini kunda first. He set out from home, the kunda was a little distance away.

As he was walking towards the kunda, he remembered the story of the old crow in the Skanda puran. When the crow realized that death was near, it flew to the Rohini Kunda and took a bath in the water and then looked devotedly at Lord Jagannatha on the temple alter. Soon afterwards, it died and became free from life. Arjun Mishra thought that taking a dip in such a holy water will help him as well.

While he was gone, two young boys arrived at the Mishra home with big sacks on their backs, huffing and puffing from the load. They looked miserable and were crying loudly. Arjun Mishra’s wife was sitting on the verandah, looking out for her husband. When she saw the boys, she came down the steps running, very concerned. She was an extremely kind lady.

“What happened to you, my children? Why are you crying? I cannot understand who would hurt such young boys. Who is making you carry such heavy sacks? Where are you going?”

Saying so, she helped them unload the sacks. Then she had the shock of her life. She discovered deep lateral scars of fresh injury on their backs. Blood was oozing out from their scars. “Oh! What kind of heartless person can beat small children in this manner?” she exclaimed.

She picked the two boys up in her arms and brought them inside the house। She sat them down on wooden seats they had in the verandah, and ran inside. There was no food in the house, so she brought two cups of cold water for them. After drinking the water, the boys looked slightly more comfortable. They said to her, “Ma! Punditji beat us, and made us carry the grocery sacks. Those groceries are for you.”

“My husband has beaten you? But I have never known him to be angry। For what reason? When did he beat you? What did he beat you with?” she almost collapsed in shock.

“We do not know why, Ma। But he beat us with a sharp stick of iron” they said। “Just a little while ago।”

She could not wait for all the answers. She had to take care of their wounds first. She ran inside again, and came back with a big pot of water and some bandage cloth. They had a ghritakumari (aloe vera) plant in the yard; she ran to it and broke a fat leaf. Then she mashed the leaf with her masala-grinding stone and collected the expressed resin. She was now ready to dress their wounds. She cleaned their wounds, put a little of the ghritakumari extract and made a cloth bandage. The ghritakumari resin soothed their wounds and the boys were feeling a lot better.

“Our friends are waiting for us for play. We want to go, Ma” they said. Then they bowed before her and left.

Arjun Mishra’s wife was happy that she could help them feel better. She also knew how little boys are.. always short on patience. So, she hugged them and did not press for more answers and let them go. Then her thoughts turned again to her husband. She just did not understand how her gentle husband could have hurt those boys. Anyway, she did not have time to think too much. She needed to start cooking. So she picked up the groceries and started cooking. Her husband should come back any time now.

Arjun Mishra had taken the vow of three-house maadhukari. He would only go to three houses and accept one handful of rice and some vegetables from each house. It had rained heavily the night before and it rained all morning. The three houses he went to, were all flooded. He called out, but nobody was home. People had left for higher ground. So he came back home empty-handed. When he got home, he found his wife was cooking something. He thought that somebody must have brought some food for them.

He announced, “My love, the rains have flooded a lot of houses. Nobody was there to give me alms today. But I see you are cooking, who brought us food?”

His wife was crying, “How could you beat those two little boys?”

“What do you mean? I beat two boys? I didn’t beat any boys.” He exclaimed.

“You didn’t beat them?” She said in disbelief.

“Why should I beat anybody? You saw what I was doing since morning. I was writing about the Gita. Then I went to the Rohini kunda and took a bath. Then I went for maadhukari. From there, I came straight back home. I did not see any boys.” He said in defense.

“You did beat them. They told me how you beat them with a sharp stick of iron. They had scars across their backs, and were bleeding. I treated them with ghritakumari myself. ” She said.

“I did not beat anybody. I didn’t. Why should I lie to you?” he insisted.

“Making them carry those heavy sacks was bad enough. What did they do that you beat them with a sharp iron stick?” She grumbled, clearly not believing her husband.

“I do not know what you are talking about.” Arjun Mishra retorted. He went inside to the room where he was writing in the morning. He was about to sit down, but his wife followed him there.

“Come now and eat. I have much work to do. I have to clean after you.” She said.

“All right, I am coming. But I am very unhappy that you do not believe me.” He said.
Arjun Mishra followed her and sat down to eat. “I do not understand how the day is going. First, I get stuck with a verse. Then I do not get any maadhukari. Then you say that I beat up two young boys.” He mumbled. “Who brought us the food?”

“Those two boys, who else? You had sent them with the food, they told me.” She said.

“I sent two boys with food? I did not do any such thing. Are you sure they brought the food for us?” He asked.

“They said your name. And said that you made them carry the sacks of food and bring to me.” She said, “Eat now. I have work to do.”

“Whose children are they? Do you know them?” he asked.

“No. I do not. They are not from our village.” She said.

“Not from our village? What did they look like?” he asked.

“They were cute little boys. The younger one was dark and the older one was fair.” She said.

Arjun Mishra did not need any more clues. He immediately realized who the two boys were: they were Sri Krishna and Balarama. In the morning, he had doubted that Sri Krishna will personally carry provisions for his devotees. To show him that He does, He carried a sack of groceries on His back. He even made Sri Balarama carry a second sack for them for another meal. And, he struck out the word vahaamyaham with red ink. That mark Sri Krishna carried as injury.

Arjun Mishra could eat no more. He was chocking with emotion. He had picked up a morsel, but he put that on his head and sat there in silence. Tears streamed out from his eyes.

His wife was perplexed. “What happened?”

“My love, this is no mere food, this is prasad. Those boys were Sri Krishna and Balarama. You are so fortunate that you saw them. Eat some of the prasad yourself and let’s go out to fetch everybody in the village. This we should share with everyone.” He said excitedly.Then he explained to her what had happened since morning.

She ate some prasad excitedly. After that, they had a big celebration with the neighbors sharing the prasad. There were lots of Harinam singing and ecstatic dancing. After everyone had gone home, Arjun Mishra went to his writing room. He wrote: vahaamyaham, vahaamyaham, vahaamyaham. He was convinced of God’s promise to His devotees.

Arjun Mishra wrote an excellent commentary of the Gita with real Spiritual insights. His commentary is famous for the triple mention of vahaamyaham. The message of this story is that we should never seek an imaginary relationship with God and trust God to personally help us, teach us and at the end, liberate us. If we do not have that confidence, we are not worthy of being called devotees.