Mahabharata – 121

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                   Aadivamsavatarana Parva

The excellent king Yayati,the son of Nahusha,having received Puru's youth, became exceedingly delighted.And with it he once again began to indulge in his favourite desire to the full extent of his will & to the limit of his powers without any hindrance,according to situation,so as to derive the greatest pleasure therefrom. Focussing on virtue he gratified the gods by his sacrifices,the ancestors, by Sraddhas, the poor,by his charities.He Fulfilled the desires of the  Brahmanas, & all persons entitled to the rites of hospitality,with food and drink.He satisfied the Vaisyas, by protection,and the Sudras,by kindness. And the king kept in check all the criminals by proper punishments.Thus Yayati, satisfied all the sections of his subjects.He protected them virtuously like another Indra.And the king possessed of the prowess of a lion,with youth and every object of enjoyment under control, enjoyed unlimited happiness without violating the doctrine of religion. And the king became very happy.

And he was only sorry when he saw ageing Puru though the king was very much delighted with his borrowed youth. He was however waiting for the hour when those thousand years would come to an end. Wise time calculator Yayati  having obtained youth for a thousand years. He was  acquainted with the mysteries of time and watched proper Kalas & sported with Viswachi, the celestial dancer, sometimes in the beautiful garden of Indra, sometimes in Alaka the city of Kuvera the king of wealth and sometimes on the summit of the mountain Meru on the north. And when the virtuous king saw that the thousand years were completed then  he summoned his son Puru,& said to him --- With your youth I have enjoyed the pleasures of life each according to the situation to the full extent of my desires, to the limit of my powers. But our desires, however are never satisfied by indulgence.On the other hand, with indulgence, they only flame up like fire with offerings of sacrificial butter.If a single person became the owner of everything on earth--all her yields of paddy and barley, her silver,gold, and gems, her animals and women,he would not still be self contented.Thirst of enjoyment, therefore should be given up.The wicked & the sinful fellow can never be able to leave the thirst of enjoyment. Due to ageing one becomes worn out  by health but thirst for enjoyment lingers. Indeed, true happiness belongs to them that have discarded their thirst for worldly pleasure. And the thirst for pleasure & pleasures is truly the fatal disease for a man. My heart was  fixed upon the objects of desires for the full thousand years. My thirst for them, however, increases day by day without decreasing. Therefore, I shall throw it away and fixing my mind on Brahma I shall pass the rest of my days with the innocent deer in the forest peacefully & without any desire for any worldly objects. And Oh Puru! I have been extremely satisfied with you.

Good times be yours. Receive back your youth & also my kingdom. You are my dearest son.

Then Yayati, the son of Nahusha, received back his old age & debility. And his son great Puru received back his own youth. And Yayati was passionate to settle Puru, his youngest son, on the throne.

The episode seems to be very educative. Firstly Yayati had no inhibition in him.He did not hide his longing for more sex & he did not hide his inability to perform.His craving for sex was as it were stronger than his love for child.When he received his youth in exchange of his old age he was sad for his son who became untimely old.Despite that he rushed to the women like a hungry beast.Thus Yayati is a singular character in the whole literature torn by two opposite impulses one of sex & the other of the love for the child.This kind of inner conflict is rather rare in any literature.The Mahabharata says that Yayati however obeyed the mandates of religion & yet lived according to his impulse.He went to the women.But he went to them in propitious time.This is very difficult after thousand years of enjoyment Yayati gave back his youth to Puru.But he admitted that even after thousand of enjoying sex he was not satisfied.Thus according to him the supply of object of desire does not destroy desire root & branch.This is a comment on modern consumerism perhaps.And may be this has laid the wise to exhort to refrain from sex desire.But we do humbly posit that unless one has enough sex & unless one feels like Yayati that enjoyment of sex has no future one should not restrain himself from sex listening to the wives. Otherwise despite the exhortations of the finest sages a country might be plunged in corruption the way our India today is.