traiĹaáš kavo hariĹcandro
viĹvÄmitra-vasiᚣášhayoḼ
yan-nimittam abhĹŤd yuddhaáš
pakᚣiášor bahu-vÄrᚣikam
traiĹaáš kavaḼ - the son of TriĹaáš ku; hariĹcandraḼ - by the name HariĹcandra; viĹvÄmitra-vasiᚣášhayoḼ - between ViĹvÄmitra and Vasiᚣášha; yat-nimittam - because of HariĹcandra; abhĹŤt - there was; yuddham - a great fight; pakᚣiášoḼ - both of whom had been converted into birds; bahu-vÄrᚣikam - for many years.
ViĹvÄmitra and Vasiᚣášha were always inimical. Formerly, ViĹvÄmitra was a kᚣatriya, and by undergoing severe austerities he wanted to become a brÄhmaáša, but Vasiᚣášha would not agree to accept him. In this way there was always disagreement between the two. Later, however, Vasiᚣášha accepted him because of ViĹvÄmitraâs quality of forgiveness. Once HariĹcandra performed a yajĂąa for which ViĹvÄmitra was the priest, but ViĹvÄmitra, being angry at HariĹcandra, took away all his possessions, claiming them as a contribution of dakᚣiášÄ. Vasiᚣášha, however, did not like this, and therefore a fight arose between Vasiᚣášha and ViĹvÄmitra. The fighting became so severe that each of them cursed the other. One of them said, âMay you become a bird,â and the other said, âMay you become a duck.â Thus both of them became birds and continued fighting for many years because of HariĹcandra. We can see that such a great mystic yogÄŤ as Saubhari became a victim of sense gratification, and such great sages as Vasiᚣášha and ViĹvÄmitra became birds. This is the material world. Äbrahma-bhuvanÄl lokÄḼ punar Ävartino ârjuna. Within this material world, or within this universe, however elevated one may be in material qualities, one must suffer the conditions of birth, death, old age and disease (janma-máštyu jarÄ-vyÄdhi). Therefore KášášŁáša says that this material world is simply miserable (duḼkhÄlayam aĹÄĹvatam). The BhÄgavatam says, padaáš padaáš yad vipadÄm: at every step here there is danger. Therefore, because the KášášŁáša consciousness movement provides the opportunity for the human being to get out of this material world simply by chanting the Hare KášášŁáša mantra, this movement is the greatest benediction in human society.