Janamejaya instructed his brothers, who were cursed by the dog Sarama for shooing away her little pup from the yagna for no fault of hers, that he had found a priest who could help them. The priest, Somashrava—son of Shrutashrava—would help them with practices to mitigate the effect of the curse.
At this time there lived a Rishi called Ayoda Dhaumya. He had three disciples. Their stories are narrated in the Mahabharata’s Adi Parva’s third chapter—Paushya Parva—to show the importance of devotion to the Guru. The three disciples were Upamanyu, Aruni and Veda.
The Rishi asked Aruni of Panchala to stop a breach in the canal in the field. Unable to stop the flow by any other means, he himself lay down there strategically in order to stop the flow. The Guru saw this and blessed the child with knowledge of all the Vedas and Shastras.
Upamanyu, the other disciple, was instructed to look after the cows of the master. He was happily grazing them. Once the master asked, “Of course you take care of the cows well, but how do you manage to be so healthy?” He said that he lived out of alms. The master told him not to take alms for himself.
Day after day he would still be cheerful and healthy even after the master cut down all sources of food available to him like begging, hoarding, drinking the cow’s milk, drinking what the calf threw out as froth after feeding from its mother.
After a few days, the boy with no means to support himself felt hungry and ate Arka leaves which made him blind and he fell into a well. The Guru who came searching for him asked him to pray to the Ashwini twins who are divine physicians. The boy chanted 12 verses in glory of the doctors. This is the first such verse of praise that comes in the Mahabharata. The Puranas and itihasas contain many such chants that common public can use to come out of their different problems in life. Anyone who desires good health and freedom from disease can chant these verses in the Pauloma Parva of Adi Parva.
The doctors were happy and gave Upamanyu a round piece of rice cake and asked him to eat. The boy thanked them but said that it had to be given to his Guru first. They tried telling him that his Guru also once invoked them and when they gave this, he took it without offering it to his Guru and so Upamanyu could also do the same.
When he still refused, the Ashwinis were pleased and blessed that Upamanyu would have teeth of gold. He ran back to his teacher who was also pleased and blessed him with prosperity and knowledge of the scriptures.
The author is Sevak, Chinmaya Mission, Tiruchi; brni.sharanyachaitanya@gmail.com
www.sharanyachaitanya.blogspot.in