ROMASA MAHARISHI

 

ROMASA MAHARISHI

Romasar was a maharishi and a great devotee of Lord NArAyana. He wished to live a long life devoting his time in the thoughts of MahA VishNu. Hence he did tapas on the banks of river NarmadA. The Lord appeared before him and granted a boon. With folded hands, he asked the lord to grant him the life of several thousands of BrahmAs. He wished to just meditate upon Him. This rishi’s body was covered with hair like a bear. EmperumAn granted the boon saying that when one BrahmA’s life comes to an end, one hair from the rishi’s body will fall off and hence he will live a life till he becomes hairless. 

When BrahmA became arrogant thinking that he is immortal, emperumAn sent him to this Maharishi to know the truth. ROmasa rishi told brahmA that he had seen several BrahmAs. Thus, Lord BrahmA realized that he was not immortal.

In the MahAbhArata, there is mention of ROma Rishi Ashrama.  When the pANDavas were in exile, they once entered Roma Rishi's forest. Roma had a beard which was so long that they spread over the forest like a carpet.  There was a tree in the forest which yielded fruits that relieved one from hunger and thirst for many years. As the pANDavas were hungry, YudhisThira shot an arrow and the fruit fell down. When they went to pick up the fruit, they could not lift it up. In their efforts, they trampled on the hair of rOma rishi making him furious. His hair started coiling around them. Worried Draupadi called out to KrishNa again for help. KrishNa appeared and told them to follow Him.  Being KrishNa's devotee, Roma prostrated Him on seeing KrishNa. But KrishNa prostrated the pANDavas leaving them perplexed. Seeing this, ROma also prostrated the pANDavas. Thus krishNa sorted the tiff between the two and took the pANDavas to Romarshi's Ashrama. They were also gifted with the special fruit which helped them stay nourished in their journey.