The True Salvation Story of Kakbhushundi

Shri Kak Bhusundi or Kaagbhushundi is the name of a sage who is a character being referred to in Epic Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas which are a Hindu religious scriptures composed by Shri Valmiki Ji and Shri Tulsidas Ji respectively. As the name reveals, ‘Kak’ means the crow, that is, Kakbhusundi had a crow-like human appearance. A very well known name with regard to Ramayana this character intensifies the curiosity amongst devotee society as how can a human figure have a face that looks like a crow. Based on the true account being mentioned in Sukshma Veda, means in Sachidanandghan Brahm speech, in this write-up, we will be exploring the secret behind the crow form appearance of Shri Kakbhushundi and some unknown facts about this famous devotee of Lord Ram which none of the religious gurus or priests have put forth to date to the devotee society.

The following will be the highlight of this write-up

Who is Shri Kak Bhusundi?
Importance of Kakbhushundi in Epic Ramayana and Ramcharitramans.
An account of Kakbhusundi's Previous lives
Almighty Kabir met Kakbhushundi
Speech of Sant Garibdas Ji Maharaj on Kakbhushundi
How Can The Supreme Almighty Be Attained?

Who is Shri Kak Bhusundi?

Kakbhushundi is a sage mentioned in Hindu scripture Ramayana. He has the face of a crow and the body of a human being. He acquired this form due to a curse given by sage Lomas. He is believed to have a gift of taking many births and Lord Ram has blessed him with a divine vision which helps him to see events that have already occurred and that would occur in the future. He is believed to live until the very end of this millennium, Kaliyuga, hence, is blessed to be called ‘Chiranjivi’. He is also believed to have seen Ramayana played 11 times.

Importance of Kakbhushundi in Epic Ramayana & Ramcharitmanas

According to recorded texts Ramayana and Ramcharitramans, Kaagbhushundi is believed to be very devout towards lord Ram. He is so devout that in every kalpa (age) whenever Lord Ram will incarnate on earth, Kakbhushundi would move to Ayodhya to witness the divine child plays of Lord Ram (incarnation of Lord Vishnu). In this manner, it is believed that he has already witnessed Ramayana 11 times and Mahabharata 16 times. Some scholars are also of a viewpoint that he has witnessed both these epic events with different outcomes. Ramayana is studied as three set of dialogues between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, sage Bharadwaj and sage Yajnavalkya and between Kakbhushundi and Garuda (King of birds) who is known as the vehicle of Lord Vishnu.

Note: The above information comes from historical accounts and texts easily accessible by all. In this write-up we shall be focusing on the third conversation which happened between Kaagbhushundi and Garuda based on evidence provided in Suksham Veda.

Let us study the true account - what happened in the few earlier births of Kaagbhusundi?

An Account of Kakbhusundi's Previous lives

The four true accounts of the earlier lives of Kakbhusundi will be discussed which shall make readers understand why Shri Kakbhusundi has a crow-like human appearance?

Kakbhushundi Lost Dear Ones in Drought
Lord Shiva Cursed Arrogant Kakbhushundi
Sage Lomas Cursed Arrogant Kakbhushundi
Kakbhushundi’s Birth of Crow-Like Human

Once Garuda and Kaagbhushundi were having a conversation when Garuda said that it feels good to sit and talk with him as he is constantly immersed in devotion to Almighty and is blessed to have a very long life. Upon asking about his crow-like appearance Garud questioned Kaagbhushundi, ‘How did he become like this?’ Upon listening to these words, Kaagbhushundi said that if you have time to listen then I can answer this query as my story is pretty lengthy. Garuda said he is willing to know and that he is ready to listen for however long it might take.

Kakbhushundi narrates the account of his previous life which is described henceforth.

Kakbhushundi Lost Dear Ones in Drought

He said he had taken many human births and wasted all of them as he never got a chance to take the refuge of an enlightened saint and follow true worship. Once when he was in human form, he had a loving family of two siblings, a younger brother and a younger sister along with his parents. A severe drought hit that place and it didn’t rain for many years. People had nothing left to eat as they had eaten all the trees, plants and shrubs. Situation became so worse that to satiate hunger, humans started consuming other humans. During this entire time, he saw his whole family starving to death as younger siblings and old parents were incapable of bearing hunger for a long time. Since he was in his youth (20 years age) he could bear the hunger, hence moved to another place called Avantika to save his life.

This place; Avantika, didn’t have a drought. He had some food and was therefore saved. However, he was feeling miserable as he had to witness his loved ones die due to hunger. He used to think what is this life? Why did this happen? Until a few days ago I had a happy life with my family and now I am all alone, everyone I loved is gone forever? He kept questioning Almighty as to why he had to go through this pain? He recalled his previous human birth due to divine vision and realised that he did not do true devotion and wasted a lot of precious time.

Lord Shiva Cursed Arrogant Kakbhushundi

During all these thought processes happening in his mind, he saw a Shiv temple where a priest was delivering a spiritual sermon. He went there and sat down. After Satang the community meal was organised, intending to have food I started listening to Satsang. When the spiritual sermon got over all the attendees went away but he kept sitting there. When the priest saw him sitting, he questioned him as to who he was? Kakbhushundi narrated his whole story and began to cry. The priest consoled him like his son and offered him to stay in the temple premises and serve devotees whole heartedly.

He began to attend the spiritual discourse daily. It was told in discourse that human birth is highly precious and is obtained to do true devotion and attain emancipation. The priest used to ask him to take Naam Diksha (initiation) but he used to refuse each time by saying he would take initiation later. Since the seed of devotion was not sown in him the nectar speech did not work, hence, did not agree for taking initiation. Inspite; he had endured so much pain still he never felt the need to take the refuge of a saint. He said ‘six months went by like this. Kakbhushundi said that ‘he was so ill fated that even after wasting many human lives and enduring pain of losing loved ones in this life too, it took him six months to realise the importance of true devotion and he took initiation from that priest.

Whenever the priest used to visit some place, Kakbhushundi used to deliver the spiritual sermon. Since he was young, he had a better voice and due to this all the devotees started praising him and admired his way of delivering the spiritual sermon. All these events inflated his ego, he became arrogant. One day while he was delivering the spiritual sermon his guru (the priest) arrived in the temple to worship. Everyone present there stood up and bowed to the priest but Kakbhushundi out of ego didn’t stand up and simply looked at his guru while being seated thinking that if he bows to his guru then he will become inferior to him, since many disciples who used to glorify him were seated. Although Guru Ji did not give a heal but since he was a great worshipper of Lord Shiva, he got angry and made an ether announcement that since he failed to pay respect to his guru he will land up suffering in Hell for one lakh years.

His guru too heard this divine announcement. It is said; a disciple to his guru is always very dear, even more than a child is to a Father and Mother. So he asked him ‘why Lord Shiva got so agitated? Realising the sensitivity of the incident soon, the priest pleaded to Lord Shiva to forgive Kaagbhusundi for his misdoing. Also he told Kakbhushundi to seek forgiveness saying

“Re balak dhar Shiv ka dhyana, tate bakshey tere prana”.

Then again the celestial announcement was made stating that when he cannot give respect to his spiritual master then how would he respect me? The priest kept pleading to Lord Shiva to forgive him and he kept asking the reason for the same. Lord Shiva told the priest through either voice that out of egoistic behaviour he didn’t respect his guru.

When Lord Shiva got convinced with the pleading of the priest he mentioned that ‘I cannot take my words back but can lighten its effect. He will have to live in the Hell for one lakh years however, the demons in Hell will not torture him. After a few years, Kaagbhushundi passed away. He had to go to Hell although he lived there without being tortured by the grace of Lord Shiva.

Sage Lomas Cursed Arrogant Kakbhushundi

After enduring Hell, he again got a human life. By the time the seed of devotion was sown in him. He used to do spiritual discussions on the existence of God and questions: How to attain God?. Once he went to listen to Satsang at one place. At that time, sage Lomas was delivering a spiritual sermon on ‘Sargun’ God. Kaagbhushundi started an argument with him with regard to the appearance of God. Sage Lomas explained it to him in many alternate ways. But Kakbhushundi refuted all the explanations given by the sage and insulted him. Annoyed by this, sage Lomas cursed Kakbhushundi that you will take birth in the house of a Chandaal (Crow). Kaagbhushundi immediately realised his mistake and requested the sage to bless him so that wherever he takes birth he should always remember God and should remain in the refuge of the Supreme Almighty. Sage Lomas agreed to it.

Kakbhushundi’s Birth of Crow-Like Human

Then in the next life he was born from the union of a female swan (Vehicle of Goddess Saraswati, wife of Lord Brahma) and Kaagchand (deity). Hence, his body is like gods but face looks like a crow but he can talk like humans. This was the life in which Kaagbhushundi got a chance to follow a true way of worship.

Moving ahead we will study that Almighty Kabir met Kaagbhushundi.

Almighty Kabir Met Kakbhushundi

During this life, Almighty Supreme Kabir Saheb met Kakbhushundi in the form of Jogjeet and provided him information about the true Almighty, the hierarchy of gods, their powers and authority along with the way of worship to attain true Almighty. Kakbhushundi mentioned to Garuda that it is because of this worship that he got to live for so long and he had seen hundreds of Judgement Days.

Speech of Sant Garibdas Ji Maharaj on Kakbhushundi

The nectar speech of great Sant Garibdas Ji Maharaj mentioned below provides an eloquent description held between Garuda and Kakbhushundi.

Speech of Shri Garuda

Bujhe Garuda bhushund biana, Mose kaho bhed vidhi na na.

Vachan sushil drishti anuragi, Devta ki deh dwar mukh kaaga

Madhkar bain sunant ho shanti, Kaho bhushund mujh ya ki utpati

Shravan sumirat vachan umeda Dhaam rasayan sab tan bheda

Param bhed kaho bahu bhanti Bharam nirup Nirguna bhekha

Kaho bhushund mohe aadi sandesha

Kaagbhushundi Replies to Garuda

Kahe bhushund tum suno khagesha

Tose bhed kahun parvesha

Sankh kalap jug gaye bihaai

Purab Janam ki katha sunai

Sankh kalap jug ho Gaye jaaman maran jihaan

Janam purabla tujhe kahun suno khagesh sujaan.

Suno Garuda mera aadi sandesha

Bhin bhin bhed kahun khagesha

Sankh janam purab pehmala

Gaye jo mithya nahi Sambhala.

Avadhpuri ek nagar nidhana

Jahan avtar dhare more praana

Bees varsh ki umar puneeta

Aur maat pita bhaye kaal sameepa

Pada kaal durbhiksh taahin

Aur Prithvi dol gayi re bhai

Pada kaal durbhiksh apaara

Manush manush ka kare ahaara

Ann ka nahi ahaar praani

Pada kaal durbhiksh swami

Avdhpuri hum taji khagesha

Taahin aaye hum maalu desha

Puri Avanti linya waasa

Jahan wahan nahi ann ki traasa

Ann to wahan pet bhar khaya

Kahe bhushund suno khagraaya

Pandit ek avanti Mahi

Katha karant nit Shiv dware jaahin

…….

Sargun mandal taal aawaja, pawan prere nirgunraja.

Having understood that Almighty Kabir, Param Akshar Brahm the creator of entire Universes met Kakbhushundi and sowed the seed of devotion in him by providing true spiritual knowledge the readers would be curious to know how can the Supreme Almighty be attained which helps souls get relief from the vicious cycle of birth-death hence, attainment of emancipation and a permanent residence in the eternal world Satlok.

Let us move ahead to know the way of attaining God.

How Can The Supreme Almighty Be Attained?

Almighty Kabir descends in all ages in this deceased world intending to liberate souls from the web of butcher Brahm Kaal who has captivated innocent souls in his 21 Universes. In fact until today no religious preacher has ever mentioned the name of the Savior, that is, God Kabir which is clearly mentioned in all Holy books. Kabir Saheb is the Father of us all. A truly enlightened saint can guide us on the path of true devotion to attain Him. The way to identify an enlightened sage is mentioned in Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Verses 1-4.

Today, only Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj from Barwala-Hisar, Haryana, India fits that description. He is the only one on this planet who is giving the true way to worship of Almighty Supreme Kabir Saheb and granting true salvation mantra through which immortal abode is attained whose evidence is mentioned in the pious Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 Verse 23.

To attain true worship and know how to attain true Almighty, it is advised to listen to the Spiritual discourses of Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj.

To take initiation from Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj please click here to fill the initiation from. One Can download the book Gyan Ganga for more information.

Conclusion

Kakbhushundi, due to a lack of true spiritual knowledge suffered a lot. The unscriptural devotion done by him did not provide him any benefit. He obtained true worship from Almighty Kabir with which he lived for many ages. The worldly pleasures and salvation is only attainable with true worship of Kabir Saheb. The above mentioned fact about Kakbhushundi is being told by the great enlightened Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj. The readers are therefore advised to take His refuge and by practicing Sadbhakti should aim to attain the eternal abode; Satlok.

FAQs about "The True Salvation Story of Kakbhushundi"

Q.1 Who is Kakbhushundi and why does he have a crow-like appearance?

Kakbhushundi is a sage mentioned in Hindu scriptures like Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas. He acquired a crow-like human appearance due to a curse by sage Lomas in one of his previous lives.

Q.2 What is Kakbhushundi's significance in Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas?

From the historical accounts and texts, Kakbhushundi is known for his devoutness towards Lord Ram. It is believed that he witnessed the divine child plays of Lord Ram at every age (kalpa) and has witnessed Ramayana multiple times.

Q. 3 What are the accounts of Kakbhushundi's previous lives?

Kakbhushundi's previous lives depict incidents where he suffered due to arrogance, lack of true devotion, and disrespect towards the spiritual Guru. These led to curses, such as being cursed by Lord Shiva and sage Lomas, resulting in his crow-like appearance.

Q.4 What was the consequence of Kakbhushundi's disrespectful behavior towards his spiritual master?

Due to Kakbhushundi's arrogance and lack of respect towards his spiritual Guru, Lord Shiva cursed him to suffer in Hell for one lakh years, though the torment was lightened at the request of His Guru.

Q.5 What did Kakbhushundi learn from his various life experiences?

Kakbhushundi realized the importance of true devotion and the consequences of arrogance and disrespect towards spiritual knowledge and Guru. These realizations guided him towards seeking genuine spiritual guidance and searching for a complete Saint.

Q.6 How can one attain the Supreme Almighty?

According to our Holy scriptures, attaining the Supreme Almighty, Kabir is possible through true devotion by taking initiation from the enlightened saint who can guide individuals on the path of genuine worship and salvation.

Q.7 How did Almighty Kabir meet Kakbhushundi?

Almighty Kabir met Kakbhushundi in the form of Jogjeet during his life. God Kabir Ji provided information about the true Almighty, the hierarchy of gods, and the way of worship to attain the Supreme Being and salvation.