Vidyaranya and Kali – The Devotee Who Lost Everything

 About six hundred years ago, during the time of the Vijayanagara Empire in South India, Vidyaranya served as the prime minister of one of its kings. He was deeply devoted to Ma.

Then his life collapsed. He lost his position, his wealth and the power he had once possessed. His family turned against him and treated him badly. With nothing left that he wanted to hold on to, Vidyaranya decided to abandon worldly life and become a hermit.

He went into the forest and prepared to leave everything behind. Before doing so, he worshipped Ma one final time.

His worship had once reflected the position he occupied in the world. When he had been powerful and wealthy, Ma had received the finest things he could offer. Her worship included solid-gold vessels, precious jewels and the best food he could provide.

Now he had almost nothing.

All he could make for Her was a simple unleavened bread made from mud. He offered it to Her and apologized that he was no longer able to worship Her in the way he once had.

Then Ma appeared before him.

She asked him what he wanted.

Vidyaranya could hardly understand why She had come at that moment. If She had intended to offer him something, he thought, She should have appeared before he had renounced worldly possessions. Now he had already decided that he wanted nothing from the world. He did not even want anything from Ma. What he wanted was God alone.

Ma smiled and told him to close his eyes.

When he did, he saw an immense landscape covered with ashes. Among all those ashes there was one small remaining heap from which smoke still rose.

Vidyaranya could not understand its meaning.

Ma then explained that She had watched him worship Her for many years. Through Her grace, the karmas accumulated from his previous births had been burned away. Only that small remaining portion was left.

His loss had therefore not been meaningless. Had he retained his position, he would never have renounced worldly life. His ruin had been necessary to bring him to the point at which he could leave everything behind.

Vidyaranya understood.

He prostrated himself completely before Ma, and immediately entered a state of divine intoxication.

Later he wrote the Sanskrit treatise Jivanmuktiviveka. 

The story then opens into a wider statement about Ma and grace.

When the desire for Ma becomes the only desire left in the heart, She comes. But grace is not something that a person can obtain simply by demanding it. It belongs to Ma, and She gives it according to Her own will.

What can be sought are compassion, learning and Jnana. With Jnana comes the understanding of how grace is obtained.

Source & Note

This article is based on Robert E. Svoboda’s Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.