Chapter 325

“Bhishma said. ‘The son of Satyavati having obtained this high boon fromthe great God, was one day employed in rubbing his sticks for making afire. While thus engaged, the illustrious Rishi, O king, beheld theApsara Ghritachi, who, in consequence of her energy, was then possessedof great beauty. Beholding the Apsara in those woods, the illustriousRishi Vyasa, O Yudhishthira, became suddenly smitten with desire. TheApsara (Ghritachi), seeing the Rishi’s heart troubled by desire,transformed herself into a she-parrot and came to that spot. Although hebeheld the Apsara disguised in another form, the desire that had arisenin the Rishi’s heart (without disappearing) spread itself over every partof his body. Summoning all his patience, the ascetic endeavoured tosuppress that desire; with all his effort, however, Vyasa did not succeedin controlling his agitated mind. In consequence of the inevitability ofwhat was to happen, the Rishi’s heart was attracted by Ghritachi’s fairform. He set himself more earnestly to the task of making a fire forsuppressing his emotion, but in spite of all his efforts his vital seedcame out. That best of regenerate ones, however, O king, continued to rubhis stick without feeling any scruples for what had happened. From theseed that fell, was born a son unto him, called Suka. In consequence ofhis circumstance attending his birth, he came to be called by name ofSuka. Indeed, it was thus that great ascetic that foremost of Rishis andhighest of Yogins, took birth from the two sticks (his father had formaking fire). As in a sacrifice a blazing fire shed its effulgence allaround when libations of clarified butter are poured upon it, after thesame manner did Suka take his birth, blazing with effulgence inconsequence of his own energy. Assuming the excellent form and complexionthat were his sire, Suka, O son of Kuru, of cleansed Soul, shone like asmokeless fire. The foremost of rivers, viz., Ganga. O king, coming tothe breast of Meru, in her own embodied form, bathed Suka (after hisbirth) with her waters. There fell from the welkin, O son of Kuru, anascetic’s stick and a dark deer-skin for the use, O monarch, of thehigh-souled Suka. The Gandharvas sang repeatedly and the diverse tribesof Apsaras danced; and celestial kettledrums of loud sound began to beat.The Gandharva Viswavasu, and Tumvuru and Varada, and those otherGandharvas called by the names of Haha, and Huhu, eulogised the birth ofSuka. There the regents of the world with Sakra at their head came, asalso the deities and the celestial and the regenerate Rishis. TheWind-god poured showers of celestial flowers upon the spot. The entireuniverse, mobile, and immobile, became, filled with joy. The high-souledMahadeva of great effulgence, accompanied by the Goddess, and moved byaffection, came there and soon after the birth of the Muni’s son investedhim with the sacred-thread. Sakra, the chief of the gods, gave him, fromaffection, a celestial Kamandalu of excellent form, and some celestialrobes. Swans and Satapatras and cranes by thousands, and many parrots andChasas, O Bharata, wheeled over his head. Endued with great splendour andintelligence, Suka, having obtained his birth from the two sticks,continued to live there, engaged the while in the attentive observance ofmany vows and fasts. As soon as Suka was born, the Vedas with all theirmysteries and all their abstracts, came for dwelling in him, O king, evenas they dwell in his sire. For all that, Suka selected Vrihaspati, whowas conversant with all the Vedas together with their branches andcommentaries, for his preceptor, remembering the universalpractice.[1737] Having studied all the Vedas together with all theirmysteries and abstracts, as also all the histories and the science ofgovernment, O puissant monarch, the great ascetic returned home, aftergiving his preceptor the tuition fee. Adopting the vow of a Brahmacharin,he then commenced to practise the austerest penances concentrating allhis attention thereon. In even his childhood, he became an object ofrespect with the gods and Rishis for his knowledge and penances. The mindof the great ascetic, O king, took no pleasure in the three modes of lifewith the domestic among them, keeping in view, as he did, the religion ofEmancipation.'”