The Story of Tataka (Sarga 25)

In the Bāla Kāṇḍa, from Chapter 18 to Chapter 30—thirteen chapters in total—the story of Viśvāmitra’s yajña is described in detail. Up to Chapter 24 we have already understood the essential meaning of the narrative. Now we have to reflect on the story of Chapter 25 and try to understand its inner message.

Let’s take a short recap, in which three points are important to remember. What are these three points?

First, let us talk about the first point.
The character named Viśvāmitra represents a state of mind that deeply longs to be friendly and loving toward the entire world—toward everyone. He makes every possible effort to fulfill this intention and succeeds to a great extent. But he cannot complete his practice or “yajña” of universal friendliness and love because he remains identified with the body. Because of this body-identity—this belief “I am the body”—the attachments of “I” and “mine,” along with the strong defects of ego and other impulses, suddenly arise within the mind and interrupt his practice of universal friendship.

So the first point is that the character Viśvāmitra indicates a mind engaged in the practice of universal friendship, but unable to succeed because the defects born of body-identity become obstacles.

The second point says that this mind—called Viśvāmitra—which wishes to have love or friendliness toward all, is very noble, skillful, knowledgeable, and full of many excellent qualities. But it can complete the practice of universal friendship only when these defects—attachment and ego—are destroyed. And these defects can be destroyed only when Viśvāmitra becomes established in the Self and attains unity with the Self.

In the story, this is indicated by Viśvāmitra bringing Rāma with him. Viśvāmitra bringing Rāma along means that the obstacles of attachment and ego can be destroyed only when a person becomes firmly established in his true Self. This is the second point.

Now, the third point is that the strong defects like attachment and ego—born from “I” and “mine”—cannot be directly killed. Their root must be destroyed. Only if their root is removed first, then it is possible and easy to destroy these defects. What is the root of these defects? The root is the belief that the person is the body. This belief must be destroyed. In the story, this belief is given the name “Tāṭakā.”

Now let us try to understand the etymology of the word Tāṭakā, how the word is formed, its origin, its strength, and why its destruction is necessary. All of this will come together naturally; it is hard to separate the points.

The word Tāṭakā is a distorted form of the word Tārakā. The original word is Tārakā. The meaning of Tārakā is “the one who carries forward,” a guide or leader. Whatever belief exists in the conscious mind carries a person’s life-boat forward. The belief that resides at the level of the subconscious first influences the conscious mind, and based on the conscious mind, a person’s entire life unfolds. So the driving force behind our entire life is the belief that sits in the subconscious.

If the subconscious holds the belief “I am the body,” then the person’s life will go in one direction. Its quality will be of one kind. But if the subconscious holds the belief “I am the Self,” then the person’s life will move very differently, with another level of quality. Because this belief is extremely powerful, the story describes Tāṭakā as a Yakṣinī and Rākṣasī with the strength of a thousand elephants. This shows how powerful belief is.

No matter how refined we become at the level of the conscious mind, our efforts cannot fully succeed because the conscious mind is influenced by the subconscious mind. Whatever belief is present in the subconscious determines the quality of our life. The subconscious belief is extremely strong. That is why the story says Tāṭakā has the strength of a thousand elephants. This is symbolic. It simply shows how enormous the power of subconscious belief is.

For this reason, scriptures repeatedly instruct us to first change the body-identity we hold as a belief in the subconscious, because it has become deeply ingrained as a saṃskāra.

Life moves in cycles. It never remains the same because the cycle is circular. Just like the wheel of a cart—whatever part is on top will soon come down; what is below will rise. Nothing stays fixed. In this circular movement of life, there is a time when the mind remains connected with the Self, and the subconscious carries the belief “I am the Self; the body is only an instrument.” But as the cycle keeps moving, another time comes when the mind forgets the Self and connects itself with the body, believing “I am the body.” As this belief changes, the subconscious transforms and adopts the idea “I am the body.”

This change—this transformation of belief—is what the story points to by saying that Tāṭakā was once the daughter of the Yakṣa Suketu, but by marrying Sunda she became the Rākṣasī Tāṭakā.

The belief “I am the Self” is divine and positive, symbolized by calling her the daughter of Suketu the Yakṣa. But when this belief changes into “I am the body,” it becomes the Rākṣasī named Tāṭakā. To explain this transformation of belief, the story uses two terms: Suketu the Yakṣa and Sunda the Daitya.

Let us understand Suketu the Yakṣa first. In mythology, Kubera is called a Yakṣa; Kubera is the god of wealth. This “wealth” is not material wealth but spiritual wealth—the wealth of the soul: noble thoughts, noble feelings, noble vision, noble character. Whatever thoughts and feelings follow this spiritual wealth are called Yakṣas. Among all such thoughts, the highest one is “I am the Self.” This highest thought is symbolized as Suketu the Yakṣa.

In mythology, the words Yakṣa and Rakṣa are used abundantly. As explained, thoughts and feelings connected with the spiritual side are Yakṣas; those connected with the bodily side are Rakṣas or Rākṣasas.

The second word is Sunda the Daitya. Sunda represents the pleasure-seeking mind. Tāṭakā’s marriage to Sunda symbolizes that when the subconscious mind connects with a pleasure-oriented mind, the positive belief transforms into a demonic one. To show how belief transforms, the story uses these two words: Suketu and Sunda.

Next, the story includes the episode of Sage Agastya. This has been added to further clarify Tāṭakā’s nature and behavior. The story mentions two things:

1. Tāṭakā devastated the beautiful land of Agastya.
   
   

2. Agastya killed Sunda and cursed Māriča to become a Rākṣasa.
   
   

To understand these, we must first understand the meaning of Agastya. The word Agastya is formed from “ag” and “stya.” “Ag” means motionless or changeless—something without movement or alteration. Only the Self is motionless and changeless; the body is always changing. So “ag” refers to the Self. “Stya” means expansion or spread. Thus, Agastya means “the expansion of the Self,” the state in which one knows oneself as the Self and sees everyone with the same Self-vision.

The opposite state is the expansion of the body-idea, called Pulas or Pulastya. When the mind sees itself and everyone else only as the body, that is the expansion of the body. From this body-expansion, ego arises—symbolized in mythology as the lineage of Pulastya from which Rāvaṇa appears.

Now, if the mind is established in the Self—in the state of Agastya—then naturally the pleasure-seeking mind is destroyed. That is why the story says Agastya killed Sunda the Daitya. But Māriča—symbolizing attachment—does not get destroyed; instead, he takes on a demonic form. This means that even when we are in the Self, the mild form of “I” and “mine” remains because relationships exist. But when we fall into body-identity, this “I” and “mine” becomes distorted and becomes a destructive force.

This is why the story says Māriča was cursed to become a Rākṣasa. In mythology, curse (śāpa) and boon (vara) do not literally mean harm or benefit; they simply indicate that something will definitely happen. A curse means the event is bound to occur.

Thus, when we live in body-identity, the belief “I am the body” inevitably destroys the expansion of the Self. That is why the story says that Tāṭakā devastated Agastya’s beautiful land. Body-identity always destroys the garden of Self-awareness and makes friendship, love, and spiritual vision impossible.

Now, the story describes Tāṭakā as a woman, and several mythological examples are given to support this. But in spiritual literature, the word “woman” does not refer to a physical woman. It indicates body-consciousness, body-memory, body-feeling, or body-identity. Because body-consciousness leads to attachments, ego, and ultimately the pollution of one’s character, its destruction becomes necessary.

This is why the story says that the Rākṣasī Tāṭakā—symbolizing body-identity—must be destroyed. And to support this, three mythological examples are given: Mantharā, the daughter of Virocana; Śukrācārya’s mother; and Bṛghu’s wife. All of these symbolize body-consciousness. Their mention is not historical but only to support the thematic point.

Finally, let us understand the example of Śukrācārya’s mother. Śukrācārya is not literally someone with a magical herb. The word Śukrācārya is formed from “śukra” (seed, essence) and “ācārya” (chief or principal). Over many births, the Self-identity weakens, and body-identity becomes a strong subconscious impression. This powerful impression is called Śukrācārya. It keeps every defect alive; even when we try to eliminate anger or other impulses, they return because this deep impression keeps reviving them. This revival is symbolized as Śukrācārya’s ability to bring the demons back to life.

The root of this body-identity is body-consciousness, which is symbolized as Śukrācārya’s mother. Because body-consciousness gives birth to body-identity, it must be destroyed so that the mind can become pure again. The story says that Śukrācārya’s mother wanted to empty the three worlds of Indra—meaning body-consciousness destroys purity of mind—and that Viṣṇu killed her. This means body-consciousness is destroyed only by becoming established in the Self, symbolized by Rāma.

Thus Tāṭakā, called a woman, represents body-consciousness, and the story teaches that destroying body-consciousness is essential.