What Bhrigu Saw

Bhrigu was the son of Varuna, and he was a clever student. He had come to believe that he knew more than his father.

Varuna noticed. "He thinks he is wiser than I am," he said to himself. He did not scold the boy. He gave him an errand.

"Go east, my son. Look at what there is to see. Then go south and look, then west, then north. Last of all go to the north-east. Then come and tell me what you saw."

Bhrigu went east.

There he found men cutting other men to pieces. They hacked off the limbs one at a time and shared them out. "This for you, this for me," they said.

"This is horrible!" cried Bhrigu. "Men are cutting up men!"

The ones with the blades answered him calmly. "They did this to us in the other world. Now we do it to them."

"Is there nothing that can make up for it?"

"There is."

"What is it?"

"Your father knows."

He went south, and it was the same. Men were cutting men apart, limb by limb, and dividing the pieces. He asked the same question and got the same answer. "Your father knows."

He went west. There men sat quite still, and other men, also sitting still, were eating them. Nobody made a sound. "Your father knows," they told him.

He went north. There men were being eaten too, but these screamed, and the ones who ate them screamed as well. "Your father knows."

Then he went to the north-east. Two women stood there. One was beautiful, and the other was more than beautiful. Between them stood a man, black, with yellow eyes, holding a staff.

When Bhrigu saw that man, terror took hold of him. He turned and went home and sat down without a word.

His father looked at him. "Recite your lesson. Why are you not studying?"

"What is there to study?" said Bhrigu. "There is nothing at all."

Then Varuna knew that the boy had really seen it, and he explained.

"The men you saw in the east, cut up limb by limb, were the trees. When a man lays firewood on the sacred fire, he wins over the trees.

"The men in the south were the cattle. When a man makes his offering with milk, he wins over the cattle.

"The silent ones in the west were the plants. When a man lights up the milk with a burning straw, he wins over the plants.

"The ones crying out in the north were the waters. When a man pours water into the milk, he wins over the waters.

"The two women were Belief and Unbelief. The first pouring of the offering wins one, and the second pouring wins the other.

"And the black man with the yellow eyes was Wrath. When a man pours water into the ladle and then makes his offering in the fire, Wrath is overcome."

All of these acts belong to one small rite, the Agnihotra, the offering of milk that a householder made at his own fire every evening and every morning. The Brahmana ends there. Whoever makes that offering knowing this, it says, wins everything.

The Jaiminiya Brahmana tells of the same proud student, and here his father is rougher with him.

Bhrigu thought himself above his father, above the gods and above all the other students. "My son understands nothing," said Varuna. "I will make him understand." He took hold of the boy's breath. Bhrigu fainted, and in his faint he went to the other world.

He saw a man cut another man to pieces and eat him. "What is this?" he cried.

"Ask your father Varuna. He will explain it."

He saw a man eating another man who screamed. He saw a man eating another who made no sound at all. Each time he was told to ask his father.

Then he came to two women guarding a great treasure. After that he came to two rivers flowing side by side. One was a river of blood, and a black, naked man with a club stood guard over it. The other ran with melted butter, and golden men dipped golden cups in it and drew out whatever they wished for.

Last he came to five rivers thick with blue and white lotuses, flowing with honey. There was dancing and singing there, the sound of lutes, crowds of heavenly nymphs and a sweet smell.

Then he came back.

"Have you come, my son?" said Varuna.

"I have come, father."

"Have you seen?"

"I have seen."

Varuna explained it all. The eaters were the trees, the animals, and the rice and barley, which in that world take human shape and eat the people who used them here without offering the Agnihotra. The two women were Faith and Non-Faith. The black man was Wrath, and the river of blood was his food.

"And the five rivers?" asked Bhrigu.

"Those were my own worlds."

"How are they won?"

"By the same offering."

Bhrigu did not need to hear more. "Then there is no other way to win those worlds," he said. "I will set up my fire today."

The Upanishad knows the same father and son, and it tells of a quieter lesson. Here Bhrigu is not proud. He comes and asks.

"Sir, teach me Brahman."

Varuna gave him a list first: food, breath, the eye, the ear, mind and speech. Then he gave him a riddle.

"That from which all beings are born, by which they live once they are born, and into which they pass when they die. Try to know that. That is Brahman."

He explained nothing more. Bhrigu went away and gave himself to tapas, the hard, silent effort of a seeker. Then he came back with an answer.

"It is food. Beings are born from food, they live by food, and they go back into food when they die."

Varuna did not say yes, and he did not say no. Bhrigu asked again, "Sir, teach me Brahman."

"Seek to know it by tapas," said his father. "Tapas is the way to it."

Bhrigu went away and came back. "It is breath," he said. All beings are born from breath, and live by it, and return to it.

"Seek it by tapas."

He came back a third time. "It is mind."

"Seek it by tapas."

He came back a fourth time. "It is understanding."

"Seek it by tapas."

The fifth time Bhrigu went away and strove, and he saw that Brahman is joy. From joy all beings are born. By joy they live, and into joy they pass when they die.

This time the Upanishad does not send him back to his father. He had found it, and there was nothing left to ask. "This," it says, "is the knowledge of Bhrigu and Varuna."

It is still called by both their names. The father's whole share in it was one riddle, and the same short order given four times over.