Book Presentation

Rishabha, the Adi Buddha

by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar

 

Rishabha is the first of the Buddhas and Gautama is the last Buddha witnessed by the humanity until now. Maitreya Buddha is the incoming one according to the followers of Buddha.

The scripture Bhagavata presents Rishabha as an expression of divinity that laid the foundation to a path of unconditional mendicancy which is not beggary.

The teaching on Rishabha was given by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar in the early 90's in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, during May Call celebrations. It now finds its expression in the form of a booklet. The readers may find this path unique.

Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India 2021

 

 

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Sample:

Life and Work of Rishabha, the Adi Buddha

Rishabha, the Adi Buddha, was born with a body of diamantine hue. He was strong and well statured. Therefore, he was named Rishabha by his father Naabhi, who was in the lineage of Manus.

Rishabha means bull. Bull stands for his roar. In creation, especially in the third root-race, there was the birth of the vocal cords through which the Word gained its vocal state. Before that, it was only exhalation that was at work based on inhalation. There was no vocalization. The beings were having respiration and pulsation as their prana which was based on Pranava, the Word. The birth of Rishabha was the birth of the vocal utterance for which the vocal cords came to be in man. When the Word gained the vocal status much progress was achieved in creation. The faculty of speech enabled faster manifestation of creation.

It is said in the Puranas that the celestial king Indra, who rules over the eight directions, heard of Rishabha and Indra was affected by Rishabha's great accomplishment on Earth. The celestial king is also the seasonal god for the Earth that enables timely rains. When malice towards Rishabha entered into Indra, he decided to test Rishabha. Indra had the ability to withdraw the seasonal rains. Indra, the celestial king in the Puranas, was supposed to be protecting the solar and planetary systems. However, he was affected by the glory of Rishabha and fell into a malicious act of negating seasonal rains to the beings on the planetary plane. He wanted to test whether and how Rishabha could redress this situation without Indra's cooperation.

Rishabha, having realised the mischief of Indra, smiled within and with the power of speech and sound he restored the seasonal rains and also the seasonal functioning of the solar year. Indra felt subdued. He eventually realised that the power of Rishabha exceeded his power of rulership over the solar and planetary systems.

Although Indra is known in the Puranas as the protector of the world, he also has the reputation of carrying mischief. He causes mischief upon those who dwell on the mental and emotional planes. Rishabha, being the Word in flesh and blood, could set off this mischief.

Key for Upliftment

This episode gives us a key, which is, those who are stuck with mental and emotional planes can be lifted up through the constant utterance of “OM” and all other sounds relating to “OM” (Vedic hymns). Such utterances enable upliftment of beings from the ill effects of the emotional and mental planes.

Hence, the Vedic discipline strongly recommends to keep the vocal cords pure, to utilise the throat centre for the right purposes and to dedicate it for the utterance of Vedic sounds. Till date there are ashrams on the planet where, during the early morning hours, students are daily engaged in a three-hour-long Vedic chanting to empower the throat. This practice can even dispel darkness through utterance and is a great contribution given by Rishabha, the avatar.

When an aspirant relates to the throat centre and to the above-mentioned discipline, the illusions of Indra over mind and senses will no longer prevail. People are generally imprisoned/caught by their mind and senses, and are constantly running after sense objects. To overcome this kind of imprisonment of being stuck in the world the correct use of the Word is given as the key and this dispels the illusions of the mind and the senses.

With the power of sound Rishabha, the Adi Buddha, created a field around the Earth which eventually tended to be the path of Earth around the Sun as also the zodiac. This path is called Ajanabha. Ajanabha means, the goat as the centre. This goat is nothing but the sun sign Aries. Zodiac commences with Aries and concludes with Aries. It resulted in the formation of seasons and rhythmic functioning of life on Earth. It also enabled beings on Earth to find their expression through their mother's womb, relating to the zodiac that is developed around the Earth.

Naabhi means the centre of Earth which can be correlated with the Manipura (solar plexus) while Rishabha can be correlated to the Vishuddhi (throat centre) where the Word vocalizes. Together they work for manifestation of the creation in accordance with the law of involution.