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There are many stories about Janak, but three stories about him, are found in the Mahaabhaarat with slight variations :
(1) A husband and wife conversation with king Janak as the context, which is parallel to a Mahaabhaarat’s dialog between King Janak and his queen;
(2) Sri Ramakrishna’s Janak­Bhairavee reference, found as the Janak Sulabhaa incident (12Shaanti Parv. 308); and
(3) Ramakrishna has repeated meeting between Janak and Shuk Dev, corresponding to the remarkable Janak and Shuk Dev story (12Shaanti Parv. 312–13).

This King Janak of Mithilaa is Seetaa’s illustrious father. He is learned, wise, and rules a cosmopolitan kingdom. Mithilaa excelled, culturally and politically, many regional powers and was a seat of Vaidik learning and debates. The great and sublime debates between Yaagyavalkya and other Vaidik scholars - Gaargee, Ashtaavakra etc found in the Brihadaaranyak Upanishad take place in Janak’s palace only.

Janak has been mentioned in Vidik literature also, in the Raamaayan, the Mahaabhaarat, and in many Puraan. If people are not aware of. Janak is not a name of a person, it is a kind of title of the kings of Mithilaa, and so there were many Janak, not one, and they all have different names, for example Seetaa's father Janak's name was Seeradhwaj, and his brother's name was Kushdhwaj whose daughters were Maandavee and Shrutkeerti and they were married to Bharat and Shatrughn respectively. According to the Vishnu Puraan, Seetaa's father was the 21st Janak who found Seetaa while plowing the fields.

One and the same Janak could not have been in different times of Indian history. Thus in the Mahaabhaarat wherever the Janak is mentioned in different stories, they are different persons. Somewhere their names are mentioned, belonging to different times, while at other places they are not. In Mahaabhaarat, Shaanti Parv alone contains several stories, and Yudhishthir also listens to them very enthusiastically. Many times it has been depicted that a Grihasth should be like Janak. That is why only he is known as Raajarshi - means who in spite of being a ing lives like a Rishi.

According to the Devee Bhaagavat, Mithila, or Mithilapuri, was the city founded by Mithi named Janak, son of King Nimi. The dynasty founded by him was called Videh, because of a curse by Rishi Vashishth on Nimi which killed him. Read this story at Vashishth Jee Dies, Vashishth Jdee lives, Thereafter, all the subsequent kings took the title of Janak Videha. Ramakrishna says - "One cannot become a King Janak just like that, first he has to practice much austerity in solitude. The three stories mentioned above show the spiritual evolution of a person. This spiritual evolution involves at least three steps: the immature phase - kacha ami, raw ‘I’; the transition phase, in which the Saadhak struggles to get mature; and the mature phase, Paka ami, ripe ‘I’. When one achieves Paka ami state then he becomes Janak.

A Husband Wife Conversation
Live in the world but, in order to realize God, hold fast to His Lotus Feet with one hand and do your duties with the other hand. When you feel free a bit from your duties, cling to God’s Lotus Feet with both hands - live in solitude and meditate on Him and serve Him ceaselessly.

Sub­judge (joyously): Sir, these are very beautiful words indeed. Of course one must practice spiritual discipline in solitude. But we forget all about it. We think we have become King Janaka outright! (The Master and the devotees laugh.) I feel very happy and peaceful even to hear that there is no need to give up the world and that God can be realized from home as well.
Master: Why should you give up the world? Since you must fight, it is wise for you to fight from a fort. You must fight against your sense­
organs, against your hunger and thirst. Therefore you will be wise to face the battle from the world. …

A man once said to his wife - "I am going to leave the world." His wife was a sensible woman. She said - "Why should you wander about? If you don’t have to knock at ten doors for your stomach’s sake, go. But if that is the case, then better live in this one place." (627). The Mahaabhaarat relates an old story - a discourse between Janak and his queen. Janak abandoned his kingdom to lead the life of a Sanyaasee after casting away all his wealth, children, and wives. He shaved his head and lived by begging or foraging for his food. The queen, in sorrow and wrath, told him with great firmness - "Why has thou adopted a life of mendicancy, abandoning thy kingdom full of wealth and corn? A handful of fallen barley cannot be proper for thee. Thy resolution tallies not with thy acts. … O King, wilt thou succeed in gratifying thy guests, gods, Rishi, and Pitri. … Thou wert before this, the supporter of thousands of Braahman versed in the three Ved and many more besides. How canst thou desire to beg of them thy own food today?’ (MBH, 12/18) Then Janak’s wife said that he would just be stepping out of one power system to enter another. She reminded him that so many people and other lower beings depend their hopes on the king, and
his leaving to become a Sanyaasee will dash all their hopes. He would be committing not only a grave mistake but a grave sin in abandoning
his duties, etc etc.

The whole section is devoted to the queen giving him reasons for not leaving the world and to correctly ascertain his duties. She said that without being a true Mukt-bandhan, free from bondages, he will be a mere Dharm-dhwaj, who wears external signs of renunciation. This is akin to what is called as Markat Vairaagya - monkey renunciation, or showy renunciation.

King Janak and Sulabhaa (Bhairavee) Incident
In fact it is possible to attain spirituality while being a householder, though it is extremely difficult. In this regard Raajaa Janak is worth mentioning, because he achieved it in his household life, because he entered the world after attaining knowledge. Still a householder Gyaaanee has reasons to fear and even a detached householder has to be careful. Its example is - Once a Bhairavee [female ascetic] came to King Janak’s court. Seeing the woman the King bent his head and cast his eyes to the ground. At this the Bhairavee said, “O King Janak, even now you are afraid of a woman?" Through Perfect Knowledge a man becomes like a child of five years old; he does not know the distinction between a man and a woman."

There is a great saying in North India, that "no matter how carefully and cleverly you enter a room full of Soot, you cannot come out clean from that room. Somewhere you will stain your clothes". Ramakrishna considers the three Gun - Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas - as robbers ‘for they rob man of all his treasures and make him forget his true nature. In the same way the males are vulnerable to the female seductive power and hidden sensuality in the male psyche - "The company of a young woman evokes lust even in a lustless man."

When the Bhairavee said - "O Janak, even now you are afraid of a woman!?" Many people think that it is enough not to look at the face
of a women, but what will you gain merely by turning your eyes to the ground at the sight of a woman? “Woman exists for a man as long as he has lust. If he is free from lust, one sees no difference between man and woman." The Bhairavee’s played a crucial role in Janak's life because without being aware of this hidden sensuality, Janak could not have overcome his spiritual obstacles and attain the state of pure Sattwa.

Janak bends his head down on seeing the Bhairavi, but Vyaas' Janak does not look down. Janak and Sulabhaa make eye contact, while Janak reveals his attachment by his visual delight at Sulabhaa’s physical beauty. (MBH, 12Shaanti Parv, 308) She assumed this beautiful form to examine Janak whether he had achieved the state of Mukti, with her Yaugik powers. (12.308.8–11). Having noticed and sensed the King’s feelings and state of his mind, she doubts his spiritual status (12.308.16). Sulabhaa, who was adept to Yog, enters Janak’s Sattwa with her Sattwa. "She and Janak were thus in the same body when they carried on the discussion. After remaining in Janaka’s body for a day, she left the palace.

Indeed, in Janak occurs what ‘bhaver ghare chori, theft in the chamber of the heart, when he approved Sulabhaa’s Bhaav to join his own Bhaav (MBH, 12/308) though Janak calls it Dharm Sanskaar, religious cleansing (12.308.62). Finally, Janaka becomes aware of the vulnerability of Sattwa and Bhaav, and learns from Sulabhaa to be a Kshetragya, knower of the field, in which both Sattwa and Bhaav and other Gun inhere (12.308.105). Janak then goes beyond the bondage of three Gun after meeting Shuk Dev Jee.

King Janak and Shuk Dev Story
This incident takes place in the situation of a Guru and disciple before and after the disciple attains real Gyaan. Once Shuk Dev Jee went to Janak to learn the Knowledge of Brahm. Janak Jee said - “First you give me my fee.” “But”, said Shuk Dev Jee, “why should I give you the fee before receiving the instruction?” Janak Jee laughed and said - “Will you be conscious of Guru and disciple after attaining Brahm Gyaan? That is why I asked you to give me my fee first." Swamiji, in his inimitable style, relates this Mahabharata story (MBH, 12/312) of how Veda Vyaas Jee, after instructing his son Shuk Dev Jee in the knowledge of Brahm, sent him to be tested by King Janak.

"The King knew that Vyaas' son was coming to him to learn wisdom: so he made certain arrangements for him beforehand. Janak Jee, putting him through some rigorous tests for many days and in different ways, found the disciple perfect. He then told Shuk Dev Jee - ‘What your father has taught you, and what you have learned yourself, I can only repeat. You have known the Truth; you may go home."

Among these stories, Bhairavee's story is helpful in understanding spiritual development. A word "Antaraal" has occurred only twice in the whole of Mahaabhaarat. Sulabhaa, the Bhairavee, tells Janak that "you have fallen from your household duties, without having reached Moksh. You are caught in  between these two "Ubhayor Antaraal" babbling Moksh. Antaraal normally means distance, and this distance can be between any two things. Here it denotes the distance between Household life and Moksh. Sulabhaa helps Janak to know himself that he has not yet been able to go beyond gender consciousness and nourishes a hidden desire for women.

In this regard Ved Vyaas and his son Shuk Dev Jee's story is worth mentionable. Once some women were taking bath in a pond. Shuk Dev Jee was coming from one side and was going to other side. Seeing him those women did not care and they continued taking their bath. Behind him was coming Vyaas Jee. Seeing him coming those women ran to wear their clothes. Vyaas Jee asked them - "Just now my young son was passing through this way, then you continued to take bath naked, but seeing me, an old man, you rant to wear clothes? Why? You did not feel shy from him and you are feeling shy from me?" The women said - "We did not care for him because he does not make any difference between man and woman, but you still make the difference between man and woman." Hearing this Ved Vyaas Jee got quiet.

Thus Sulabhaa tries Janak to understand his deficiency that he has not gone just beyond the gender consciousness. Sulabhaa asks permission from Janak to enter his body and Janak's silence permits her to do that. So she enters his body through Sattwa and establishes her connection with Janak's Bhaav

Because Raajaa Janak was indifferent to world that is why he was called "Videh" - who is not worried about his Deh (body) or the one living free from the consciousness of the body. This is like Jeevan-Mukt (free soul). For this intense spiritualism is necessary. Only after crossing the Antaraal, from living in the world, practicing the intense spiritualism (crossing the Antaraal), Janak Jee became to qualify as the Guru of Shuk Dev Jee - the Jeevan Mukt becomes the Guru of Nitya-Siddh (ever perfect)

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