Like a thousand rays emanating from the Sun, thirty three crores of Gods and infinite number of beings have evolved from one Supreme God. Entire universe is his home, all beings are his babies. In a MahaYaga invitation is there for all divine souls and all earthly souls. If they are pleased He is pleased; if earthly and heavenly beings are pleased, the Supreme Divinity is pleased. Divine souls are invited for accepting the sacrifice in the middle of Yaga while earthly souls are invited before the commencement of the Yaga to accept the hospitality. Sage Vasishtha invited every enlightened being, every exerting being and every emotional being on earth. Invitation with utmost reverence was sent to all who were distributed among the four varnas according to the great four virtues of life called *intelligence-valour-trade-service. When invitation was sent to all common men on earth, need we say it was also sent to all crowned heads? Best of Gurus Vasishtha instructed best of ministers Sumantra to send the invitation of the best of the Yagas Ashvamedha being performed by the best of the kings Dasharatha through best of the sages Rushyashrunga to best of all the humans.  Sage Vasishtha continued, “Invitation with reverence should be sent to all, but make it a point to send invitation with highest reverence to King of Mithila, King of Kekaya, King of Kashi and King of Anga, who are subjects of our highest regard for various reasons.”

King of Anga was the cause of the Yaga by providing Rushyashrunga. King of Kashi was representing Lord of Kashi temple. King of Kekaya was father of Dasharatha’s beloved wife. His supreme intelligence of knowledge caused the great respect which Dasharatha had with Janaka, the King of Mithila. When Vasishtha went a step further and whispered in Sumantra’s ears, “Janaka is the first relation”, it was evident that he was not only the sage who discovered sacred mantras, he was also a sage who discovered things in advance. The Guru of Sun Dynasty had already visualized that Goddess Sita will be born on the lap of King Janaka, marry the Lord of the World and facilitate the well being of the entire world!

 

Having instructed on the list of invitees Sage Vasishtha whispered a secret in the ears of Sumantra, “Calling people is not a great achievement; invitees attending the Yaga too is not great achievement; it will be a great achievement to see that those who attend the Yaga return home after being pleased with our hospitality! No person of any class should feel any disrespect or have any reason to feel unhappy. Make it amply clear to all the servants to serve guests with the spirit ‘Guest is God’. Service is a mighty virtue, but mightier virtue is the mindset of those who render service!”

The ray of invitation which dawned on the horizon of Dasharatha’s heart to shine from the zenith of Vasishtha’s intellect brought the entire population of the world to Ayodhya.

 

When it is said “अनाहूतोध्वरंगछेत  – participate even in the absence of an invite if it is a Yaga”, how can people refrain from attending it when the King himself says “come, take part in the Yaga of Yuga!”?

 

Thus the Ashvamedha of King of Ayodhya aptly commenced with the Yogi’s of the era, people of the whole world and divinities of the skies as witnesses!

 

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Way to wisodm:

*<intelligence-valour-trade-service> : In the great Bharatiya tradition these are the four vibrant virtues of life. For realizing these values quartet of varna system was prescribed.

In this traditional organization people of four varnas, namely, brahmana-kshatriya-vaishya-shudra represented four kinds of services, namely, intelligence-valour-trade-service. No one from this quartet can be omitted, one supports the other.

 

 

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Translated blog of Sri Samsthana SriSri RaghaveshwaraBharati MahaSwamiji

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