seeing through the eyes of scriptures
Summary of Varaha Purana
Varaha Purana about Govardhaan:
GOVARDHAN TEERTH
Lord Varah,continuing with the description of various holy places told Prithvi about the magnificence of Govardhan parvat- "Govardhan parvat is situated near Mathura.It will have great religious importance because it will witness a great feat of mine in dwapar yuga.I shall lift this mountain to protect people from the incessant rain caused by Indra.There are numerous holy places of great religious significance in the vicinity of Govardhan mountain like Indra teerth,Yama teerth,Varun teerth and Kuber teerth.There is also a famous fresh-water lake called 'Kadamb khand'where people perform tarpan of their ancestors."
Varaha Purana
Narrates the tale of rescuing of the earth from Rasatal by Varaha incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Its contents in brief are as follows:-
Mangala charan: Praying of Narayana by Prithvi (earth). Tale of the creation. Origin of Rudra, Sanatkumar, Marich etc. Tale of Priyavrata. Tale of Dashavatar (ten incarnations). Tale of Dharma-Vyadha. Tale of Suprateek and sighting of Viratroop (colossal appearance). Tale of Gaurmukha. Karma related to Shraddha. Tale of Prajagana. Origin of Agni (fire). Tale relating greatness of the days. Gauri. Destruction of Daksha Yagya. Wedding of HarParvati, Ganesha, Naga, Kartikeya, Aditya, killing of Andhakasura. Matrigana, Katyayani. Kumer, Dharma, Rudra etc. and their origin. Tale of Aruni. Tales of the days falling in different months. Agastya Geeta. Tale of Shubhvrata. Tale of Dhanyavrat. Dialogue between Narad and Vishnu. Methods for expiation. Tale of Agastya. Geographical description of Jambhudweep, Kushadweep, Kraunchdweep etc. Tale of Andhakasura’s vrata etc. Origin of Vaishnava etc.Killing of Mahishasura. Ritual of Kapalik vrata. Dialogue between Prithvi and Sanatkumar. Dialogue between Narayana and Prithvi.
Tale differentiating between sorrow and happiness. Tale describing twelve kinds of crime. Expiation to destroy the sins. Methods of Vishnu worship in the evening. Description of Sanatan Dharma. Description of illusion. Description of the karma for salvation. History of Gridhra and Shringali. Dialogue between Chandal and Brahmarakshasas. Greatness of Kokamukh. Greatness of Badrikashrama. Greatness of Mathurakshetra. Greatness of Shalgram. Tale of Shalankayank. Greatness of Stutswamitirth. Greatness of Lohargalam, Panchar kslutra, Vishran tirth and Devavana. Worship of Lord Vishnu at the confluence of Yamuna-Saraswati. Greatness of Krishna-Ganga. Tale of Samb. Greatness of Dwadashi vrat in Rama Tirth. Rituals of installing different kinds of idols. Description of the origin of Shraddh. Methods of removing impurities. Medhatithi Pitrasambad. Kinds of Pindsankalpa. Ritual of Madhupark. Kinds of Madhupark donation.
Description of the appearance of Yama. Description of the court of Yama. Description of the fate met by sinners. Description of hell. Description of the appearance of Yamadoot. Description of Chitragupt’s effect. Directions by Chitragupt for expiation. Indications by Chitragupt of the fruits of auspicious-inauspicious karmas. Description of Pativrat. Dialogue between Yama and Narad. Greatness of Prabodhini. Description of the greatness of Gokarneshwar. Granting of boon by Nandikeshwar. Description of greatness of Jaleshwar. Description of the greatness of Shringeshwar.
PRITHVI'S QUERIES
Lord Vishnu, in his incarnation of Varah( a boar),had liberated Prithvi(Mother Earth) from the clutches of Hiranyaksha- the mighty demon who had abducted her to rasatal.After being rescued,Prithvi heaved a sigh of relief and looked at her saviour,who was smiling.She curiously asked lord Varah- "How does the process of creation begin in the beginning of each Kalpa? What is dissolution? How do you nurture the whole creation? In what order do all the four Yugas occur and how are they calculated?Why do you take incarnation in each yuga? All these things puzzle me a lot and I request you to enlighten me on all these subjects."
Lord Vishnu burst into laughter and the whole universe,including the deities became visible to Prithvi through his opened mouth.Prithvi became so frightened by this amazing sight that she started to tremble in fear.Lord Vishnu then transformed his appearance and revealed his divine form to Prithvi so that she could become free from her fright.When Prithvi saw the divine form of lord Vishnu,who was in his meditative sleep taking rest on Sheshnag,all her fear vanished.She was extremely pleased to see the divine appearance of lord Vishnu and thanked her good fortune.Prithvi,filled with extreme devotion eulogized lord Vishnu.
Lord Vishnu was extremely pleased by her eulogy and said-"The answers to the questions you have asked are not easy to understand,but still I Shall try to satisfy your curiosity.The supreme Almighty is eternal.In the biginning of creation,Ego(ahamkar) as well as the five basic elements- space,water,earth,air and fire manifest themselves from the supreme Almighty.Subsequently,the great element-mahattatva,nature and collective conciousness manifest themselves.The collective conciousness then combines with each of the three basic qualities-satva(pure),rajas and tamas(dark) and exits in three different states.It's combination with the dark quality results into the manifestation of Mahadbrahm which is also called prakriti or nature by the enlightened ones.Kshetragya(soul) is considered to be more superior than the Prakriti.This way the different permutations and combinations of all the three gunas with collective intelligence result into the creation of different "tanmatras"(subtle form of matters).From the tanmatras are created the "Indrias" or sense organs.This is the way how the Universe comes into existence.I then create all the living creatures with the help of five basic elements."
"In the beginning there was nothing but empty space.Subsequently,various natural elements like "shabda"(sound),"akash"(ether),"vayu"(air),"teja"(light) and jal(water) came into being respectively - each of the latter manifesting from the former.Then,I Created you(earth)to provide base to all the living creatures.The combination of earth and water resulted into an "Egg"(anda).As the egg grew in size,I manifested myself as Narayan within it.During each kalpa a lotus manifests itself from my navel upon which is seated lord Brahma.I then request lord Brahma to commence creation.Inspite of all his efforts, lord Brahma does not succeed in commencing his creation.As a result he becomes furious and from his fury manifests a divine child who starts to wail incessantly.The divine child is none other than Rudra who is requested by lord Brahma to begin creation but the child being incapable of doing that decides to acquire power by doing penance and enters into deep water."
"Lord Brahma then created Prajapati from his great toe of his right foot and Prajapati's consort from the great toe of his left foot.The manifestation of Prajapati and his consort marks the beginning of copulative creation and thus Swayambhuva Manu is born.In course of time population increases.This is the way how creation takes place in each kalpa."
Mother Earth requested lord Varah to shade some more light on the creational process as her curiosity had still not been totally satisfied.Lord Varaha replied- "At the end of the last kalpa,when the whole universe was engulfed in darkness,Narayan went into his yogic-sleep.After waking up he found the world devoid of any creature.Narayan,being the supreme Almighty-the creator,the nurturer as well as the annihilator,decided to commence creation.The term Narayan means one who has his abode in the water- naar means water and ayan means abode.First of all five types of "avidya"(false knoledge) manifested from Narayan- tamas(darkness), moha(attachment),mahamoha(absolute attachment),tamisra(jealousy) and andhatamisra(anger).After the manifestation of these five "avidyas",came into existence immovable things like mountains,trees etc.These being the primary creations came to be known as "mukhya sarga"(main creation).Continuing with his creations,lord Brahma created species that were superior to the earlier creation-animals.This particular creation was called "Tiryaksrota"(quadruped).This way Brahma did his creation.Brahma's sixth creation was called Satvik sarga which consisted of the deities who were all virtuous by nature.The creation of human beings was seventh in order and was known as"Arvaaksrota sarga.Even human beings were of three types -those who were predominantly virtuous possessed satva guna had radiant personality and never experienced sorrow but those who possessed rajas and tamas gunas experienced sorrows."
"Brahma's eighth creation was called "Anugrah sarg" in which he created the sages and the hermits for the benediction of the world.The nineth creation of Lord Brahma was called "Kaumar sarg"(creation of adolescent beings).So,these are the nine main types of creation through which Brahma creates.First of all Rudra and other deities manifested themselves and then came into being eternal adlescents like Sanak,Sanandan, etc.Subsequently,all the ten manasputras of Brahma manifested themselves-Marichi,Angira, Atri,Pulah,Kratu,Pulasya,Pracheta,Bhrigu,Narad and Vashishth."
"Lord Brahma's first creation-Rudra had manifested himself as Ardha narishwar(half male and half female). At the request of Brahma,Rudra dismembered his female part resulting into the creation of two distinct forms- one male and the other female.Later on,ten more Rudras manifested from the male form and all of them collectively came to be known as 'Eleven Rudras'."
PRIYAVRATA ATTAINS TO HEAVENLY ABODE
Describing the incident which enabled King Priyavrata to attain to heavenly abode Lord Varah told Prithvi-
"Swayambhuva Manu lived during the first kalpa.He had two sons-Priyavrata and Uttanpad.Priyavrata was extremely virtuous by nature.In course of time,he relinquished his throne and after distributing his kingdom among his sons went to Badrikashram to do penance.Once sage Narad paid a visit to his hermitage. Priyavrata received his esteemed guest with all the respect which made Narad extremely pleased.Priyavrata then requested Narad to narrate about some interesting incident which had occured in his life.
Narad narrated about an interesting incident which had happened while he was on his way to meet Priyavrata- "I experienced an amazing incident yesterday while I was passing by a lake in Shwetdweepa.I saw a divinely beautiful woman who was standing alone at the bank of that lake.I was surprised to find such a beautiful woman at such a lonely place.For a moment I became so infatuated by her beauty that I lost all control over my senses.My lust had made me devoid of all my knowledge and learning.Now,I became very worried and ashamed of my conduct-but the damage had already been made.I immediately realized that she was not an ordinary woman.To my surprise,I saw a form of a divine person visible clearly within her body.Within nextfew moments two other male forms revealed themselves.Suddenly,all three of them disappeared leaving behind just that divine lady.I was dumbstruck by this amazing incident.I asked her as to who she was.The divine lady disclosed to me that she was none other than goddess Savitri - the mother of all the Vedas and since I was unable to recognize her therefore all the knowledge had vanished from my memory.She also revealed to me that the three divine men which had manifested themselves within her body were in fact the three Vedas- Rigveda,Samveda and Yajurveda.After revealing these amazing facts to me goddess Savitri assured me that by taking a bath in that lake I would not only regain my memory of the Vedas but also of all my previous births.I eulogized goddess Savitri and thanked her for the blessings showered on me.I then bathed in that lake and to my pleasant surprise I now remembered everything of my past births as had been prophesised by goddess Savitri."
Priyavrat was very surprised and requested Narad to describe some interesting incident related with his past birth.Narad narrated the following incident to him- "In satyayuga,I was born in a brahmin family and was named Saraswat by my parents.I was very studious and grew up to become a renowned scholar.The almighty God had blessed me with immense riches and I never experienced scarcity of any kind in my life.But,very soon I got bored of my monotonous and routined life. It had become clear to me that there was more to life than just worrying about the gains and losses.So,I decided to do penance to attain salvation.I distributed all my wealth among my sons and went to the bank of river Saraswati,where I first performed the rituals of shraddh in the name of my ancestors and then performed yagyas.I also donated lot of wealth to poor people.Being satisfied,I then went to Pushkar teerth and did penance at the bank of river Saraswat by continuously chanting the sacred mantra"om namo narayan" and brahm paar stotra.Ultimately,lord Narayan became pleased and appeared before me.Lord Sri Hari asked me of my wish and I express my desire to get united with his divine form.But,lord Narayan told me that the world needed me and so this desire of mine could not be fulfilled.He blessed me and gave me my name- Narad because I had 'donated' water(naar) to my ancestors during the course of performing shraddh rituals.Although my wish of uniting with the divine form of Sri Hari had remain unfulfilled but still there was a consolation as I had been fortunate enough to see his divine form with my mortal eyes. Thereafter,I devoted my life to the worship of Sri Hari.After my death,I attained to brahmaloka- I had been adequately rewarded for my devotion toward lord Sri Hari.Later on,I manifested as one of the ten manasputras of lord Brahma when he commenced his creation.It was only because of the blessings of Sri Harithat I came to be regarded as 'lok guru' by the masses.So Priyavrat,if you are desire of attaining salvation then you should follow my example and devote your life in the name of Lord Srihari."
Prithvi,who was listening to the tales narrated by Lord Varah with rapt attention asked him whether it was possible for anybody to see Lord Narayan with his/her mortal eyes.Lord Varah replied -"Lord Narayan has taken ten incarnations in various forms such as matsya(fish),kachchap(tortoise),varah(boar),narsimh(half human and half lion),vaman(dwarf),parshuram,Ram,Krishna,Buddha and kalki.The last incarnation-Kalki is yet to take place.A man can realize Lord Narayan by having total devotion in any one of the ten incarnations. Even the deities are incapable of this divine experience-what to say about humans.Lord Brahma is the manifestation of all the three qualities of Sri Hari and actually it is He(Sri Hari) who creates in the form of Lord Brahma-it is He who manifests himself in various natural forms like earth,water,fire,air and sky-it is He who manifests himself in various abstract qualities like consciousness- He is omnipresent and the whole universe is pervaded by him."
Prithvi was anxious to know whether Narad's sermons had any effect on Priyavrat and asked Lord Varah regarding this.Lord Varah replied- Priyavrat was so impressed by Narad's discourses that he relinquished his throne and went to do penance after equally distributing his kingdom among his sons.Ultimately,he did manage to attain to the abode of lord Sri Hari by the virtue of his total devotion.
ASHVASHIRA'S UNIFICATION WITH LORD NARAYAN
Prithvi asked lord Varah about the famous incident which described Ashvashira's unification with lord Narayan.Lord Varah then narrated the following tale- "During ancient times,there used to live a virtuous king named Ashvashira.He had performed an ashwamedh yagya in which he had donated large amount of wealth.Once,sage Kapil arrived at his palace acoompanied by sage Jaigishavya.King Ashvashira received both his distinguished guests with due honour.After the formalities were over,he asked both his guests about the means by which lord Narayan could be pleased and also about the rituals pertaining to the worship of lord Narayan."
Both the sages being enlightened souls realized that Ashvashira was asking this question out of his ignorance so,they decided to enlighten him on the omnipresent nature of Narayan and said-'What do you mean by pleasing Narayan? Can't you see two Narayans standing in front of you?' But,Ashvashira was unamused and unconvinced so he replied-'I don't deny that both of you possess supernatural powers and also that all your sins have destroyed on account of the virtues attained by doing penance.But,I don't believe your claim to be Narayan.Lord Narayan is the almighty God and the supreme deity.He holds a conch,a chakra and a mace in his hands.He wears pitambar and has Garuda as his mount.His glory is indescribable and incomparable.'
As Asvashira had raised valid points,sage Kapil transformed his appearance with the help of his divine powers.Similarly,sage Jaigishavya transformed his appearance and became Garuda.But,Ashvashira still remained unconvinced and said-'How can I accept you to be Narayan as there is no sign of lotus manifesting from your navel in which lord Brahma has his abode.'
Sage Kapil then slightly transformed his appearance and created an illusion whereby a lotus flower emanating from his navel became visible to Ashvashira.Sage Jaigishavya sat on that lotus flower in the guise of lord Brahma.Not only that,they also created an illusion due to which all types of living creatures inside the palace premise.
Now,Ashvashira was really confused and requested both the sages to break the magic spell.Both the sages decided not to test the limit of Ashvashira's patience and so,they trasformed their respective guises into their original appearances.Both of them said- 'Narayan is one but can manifest himself in countless forms.The whole universe is HIS creation and HE is present in every single creature.It is impossible for a mortal being to bear the radiance of almighty Narayan and it is only when HE appears in his more gentle form that the enlightened person is able to see him.Therefore,you should engage yourself in the service of mankind,considering each human being to be the medium through which lord Narayan manifests himself.
Ashvashira was satisfied by the explanation given by both the sages but there was still one question bothering him a lot so, he asked- 'Who is most likely to attain salvation-a knowledgeable person or a person who indulges in rightful deeds?' Sage Kapil narrated the following tale-'Once,sage Raimya and king Vasu had asked the same question to sage Vrihaspati.At that time Vrihaspati had replied that anybody who performed his duties with a sense of detachment is sure to attain salvation and to prove his point he had narrated the following tale-'During ancient times,there lived a brahmin named Sanyaman.He was the descendant of sage Atri.One day,while he was going to take his bath he met Nishthoor-a fowler,who used to catch birds and animals for his livings.'
Sanyaman reprimanded Nishthoor for his evil deeds and said- Why do you trap innocent birds and animals? Nishthoor replied-'The almighty God is present in each living creature.One who is desirous of attaining salvation must under no circumstances allow his ego to dominate him.The 'doer' is not the man but the supreme Almighty present in him.Keeping this fact in his mind a man should perform his duties with nonchallance and a sense of detachment.If I earn my livelyhood by catching birds and animals then it is the will of almighty.' To prove his point,the fowler spread his iron-net and kept dry blocks of wood underneath it and then requested Sanyaman to ignite those blocks.Sanyaman was surprised but burnt the wodden-logs as per the fowler's instruction.In a short time all the wodden-blocks became ablaze and the flames startes coming out from the thousand of small holes of the iron-net.The fowler then told Sanyaman that although the flames coming from each hole appeared to have distinct sources,yet the fact was that the flames manifested from the single source-wodden blocks that were burning beneath the iron-net.
The fowler said-"It was impossible to extinguish the fire untill and unless the source of the fire was extinguished.Each hole of the iron-net can be compared with an individual and the almighty God with the source of fire.A man does what God wills and he can never experience sorrow provided he constantly remembers the Almighty even while he is performing his daily chores." Sanyaman was very much impressed by the fowler's wisdom. Having finished his tale,sage Vrihaspati told Ramya-"Now it must be evident to you that salvation is within the reach of any individual.It does not make much difference whether the seeker of salvation is a householder or a hermit aspiring for knowledge." Continuing with the story of Ashvashira,lord Varah told Prithvi-"King Ashvashira was so impressed by Kapil's preachings that he went to Naimisharanya and spent his rest of his life in the service of lord Narayan.Once,while he was performing yagya,suddenly lord Vishnu manifested himself from the altar in the form of a brilliant effulgence and the identity of Ashvashira merged with it.This way,Ashvashira got united with lord Vishnu by the virtue of his deep devotion.
KING VASU AND SAGE RAIMYA UNITE WITH SRI HARI
Prithvi was anxious to know about the effect sage Vrihaspati's discources had on King Vasu as well as sage Raimya.She asked lord Varah-"What did both king Vasu and sage Raimya do after listening to the preachings of sage Vrihaspati?"
Lord Varah replied-"King Vasu was so impressed by Vrihaspati's discources that he decided to spend the rest of his life in the service of lord Narayan.He appointed Viwasman-his eldest son as his successor and left for Pushkar teerth.He engaged himself in austere penance by chanting pundarikaksha stotra.One day,while Vasu was chanting pundarikaksha stotra,he experienced an amazing incident-an entity whose complexion was blue, manifested from his body and stood with folded hands.In his bewilderment,king Vasu requested the stranger to introduce himself.
The entity narrated the following tale to him -
"O King,you were the ruler of Janasthan in your second previous birth.Once,while you had gone deep into the forest on a hunting spree,you were delighted to find a deer which in fact was none other but myself.In fact,I had disguised myself as a deer and was wandering in the forest.Being oblivious of this fact you had killed that dear.Later on,when you realized your mistake,you cursed yourself for having killed an innocent brahmin.To get absolved of this sin,you had observed a fast on Ekadashi and had donated a cow to please lord Narayan.But,inspite of all these austerities you did not attain liberation because at the time of your death you had chanted your wife's name whose name was Narayani instead of Narayan.This blunder of your's had stopped you from attaining to Vishnu loka for one complete kalpa.But,my revengeful soul continued to torture your soul till it was driven out by lord Narayan's escorts.It was only then that you were able to attain to Vishnu loka."
"In your next birth you were born as the king of Kashmir.I did not spare you even in that birth and possessed your body.You performed numerous yagyas to get rid of me but all your efforts went in vain as you had not chanted the holy name of lord Vishnu in any of the rituals that you had performed.But,now I was forced to abandon your body since you have been constantly chanting the sacrosanct pundarikaksha stotra.I have also become absolved of all my sin by the virtue of listening to the pundarikaksha stotra."
King Vasu expressed his gratitude to the entity for shedding light on his previous births.Suddenly,a divine aircraft descended from the heaven and king Vasu left for Vishnuloka mounted on it.Meanwhile,sage Raimya got the news of Vasu's ascension to heaven to Vishnuloka,he wanted to emulate the feat of his friend.He reached Gaya and performed shraddh in the name of his ancestors.He then engaged himself in an austere penance.Sanat kumar-one of the manasputras became very pleased by Raimya's penance and appeared before him.He complimented Raimya for liberating his ancestors by performing shraddh at Gaya.He then described the virtues of performing shraddh at Gaya and narrated the following tale -
"There lived a king named Vishal who had no son.One day,he invited few brahmins to his palace and asked them how he could beget a son.All the brahmins revealed to him that he did not have son because of the curse of his ancestors."You have not performed their shraddh so, they are angry with you and you can never beget a son unless you performed shraddh rituals at Gaya.Vishal went to Gaya as per the instruction of the brahmins.He performed the shraddh rituals and offered pinda-daan in the name of his ancestors.While he was still performing the rituals,he was amazed to see three men descending from the sky-one of them was of fair complexion while the remaining two were of wheatish and dark complexion respectively.Vishal curiously asked them as to who they were.The fair-complexioned person replied-
'I am your father-'sit'.The person with wheatish complexion is my father and the third person amongst us is my grandfather.My father had committed grave sins while he was alive and killing a brahmin was one the gravest sin he had committed.My grandfather was even worst than my father and his dark complexion is nothing as compared to his grave sins.He had killed numerous innocent sages for no fault of theirs.All three of us have come to express our gratitude as we have become liberated from our sins by the virtue of the shraddh rituals you have performed.The water which you had offered to us while performing the rituals have given us the ability to communicate with you,even though we are spirits.'
After finishing his tale,Sanat kumar told sage Raimya that Gaya was supreme among all the places of pilgrimage and the virtues of performing shraddh overthere is incomparable.Sage Raimya dedicated rest of his life to the worship of lord Gadadhar.At last,lord Gadadhar appeared before him.Sage Raimya requested the lord to give him a place in his abode which was dwelled by sages like Sanak and Sanandan.Lord Gadadhar blessed him by saying-'So be it.'This way,sage Raimya attained enlightenment with the blessings of the merciful lord Gadadhar and ultimately attained to the divine abode of lord Vishnu.
GOVARDHAN TEERTH
Lord Varah,continuing with the description of various holy places told Prithvi about the magnificence of Govardhan parvat- "Govardhan parvat is situated near Mathura.It will have great religious importance because it will witness a great feat of mine in dwapar yuga.I shall lift this mountain to protect people from the incessant rain caused by Indra.There are numerous holy places of great religious significance in the vicinity of Govardhan mountain like Indra teerth,Yama teerth,Varun teerth and Kuber teerth.There is also a famous fresh-water lake called 'Kadamb khand'where people perform tarpan of their ancestors."
Varaha Purana
Narrates the tale of rescuing of the earth from Rasatal by Varaha incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Its contents in brief are as follows:-
Mangala charan: Praying of Narayana by Prithvi (earth). Tale of the creation. Origin of Rudra, Sanatkumar, Marich etc. Tale of Priyavrata. Tale of Dashavatar (ten incarnations). Tale of Dharma-Vyadha. Tale of Suprateek and sighting of Viratroop (colossal appearance). Tale of Gaurmukha. Karma related to Shraddha. Tale of Prajagana. Origin of Agni (fire). Tale relating greatness of the days. Gauri. Destruction of Daksha Yagya. Wedding of HarParvati, Ganesha, Naga, Kartikeya, Aditya, killing of Andhakasura. Matrigana, Katyayani. Kumer, Dharma, Rudra etc. and their origin. Tale of Aruni. Tales of the days falling in different months. Agastya Geeta. Tale of Shubhvrata. Tale of Dhanyavrat. Dialogue between Narad and Vishnu. Methods for expiation. Tale of Agastya. Geographical description of Jambhudweep, Kushadweep, Kraunchdweep etc. Tale of Andhakasura’s vrata etc. Origin of Vaishnava etc.Killing of Mahishasura. Ritual of Kapalik vrata. Dialogue between Prithvi and Sanatkumar. Dialogue between Narayana and Prithvi.
Tale differentiating between sorrow and happiness. Tale describing twelve kinds of crime. Expiation to destroy the sins. Methods of Vishnu worship in the evening. Description of Sanatan Dharma. Description of illusion. Description of the karma for salvation. History of Gridhra and Shringali. Dialogue between Chandal and Brahmarakshasas. Greatness of Kokamukh. Greatness of Badrikashrama. Greatness of Mathurakshetra. Greatness of Shalgram. Tale of Shalankayank. Greatness of Stutswamitirth. Greatness of Lohargalam, Panchar kslutra, Vishran tirth and Devavana. Worship of Lord Vishnu at the confluence of Yamuna-Saraswati. Greatness of Krishna-Ganga. Tale of Samb. Greatness of Dwadashi vrat in Rama Tirth. Rituals of installing different kinds of idols. Description of the origin of Shraddh. Methods of removing impurities. Medhatithi Pitrasambad. Kinds of Pindsankalpa. Ritual of Madhupark. Kinds of Madhupark donation.
Description of the appearance of Yama. Description of the court of Yama. Description of the fate met by sinners. Description of hell. Description of the appearance of Yamadoot. Description of Chitragupt’s effect. Directions by Chitragupt for expiation. Indications by Chitragupt of the fruits of auspicious-inauspicious karmas. Description of Pativrat. Dialogue between Yama and Narad. Greatness of Prabodhini. Description of the greatness of Gokarneshwar. Granting of boon by Nandikeshwar. Description of greatness of Jaleshwar. Description of the greatness of Shringeshwar.
PRITHVI'S QUERIES
Lord Vishnu, in his incarnation of Varah( a boar),had liberated Prithvi(Mother Earth) from the clutches of Hiranyaksha- the mighty demon who had abducted her to rasatal.After being rescued,Prithvi heaved a sigh of relief and looked at her saviour,who was smiling.She curiously asked lord Varah- "How does the process of creation begin in the beginning of each Kalpa? What is dissolution? How do you nurture the whole creation? In what order do all the four Yugas occur and how are they calculated?Why do you take incarnation in each yuga? All these things puzzle me a lot and I request you to enlighten me on all these subjects."
Lord Vishnu burst into laughter and the whole universe,including the deities became visible to Prithvi through his opened mouth.Prithvi became so frightened by this amazing sight that she started to tremble in fear.Lord Vishnu then transformed his appearance and revealed his divine form to Prithvi so that she could become free from her fright.When Prithvi saw the divine form of lord Vishnu,who was in his meditative sleep taking rest on Sheshnag,all her fear vanished.She was extremely pleased to see the divine appearance of lord Vishnu and thanked her good fortune.Prithvi,filled with extreme devotion eulogized lord Vishnu.
Lord Vishnu was extremely pleased by her eulogy and said-"The answers to the questions you have asked are not easy to understand,but still I Shall try to satisfy your curiosity.The supreme Almighty is eternal.In the biginning of creation,Ego(ahamkar) as well as the five basic elements- space,water,earth,air and fire manifest themselves from the supreme Almighty.Subsequently,the great element-mahattatva,nature and collective conciousness manifest themselves.The collective conciousness then combines with each of the three basic qualities-satva(pure),rajas and tamas(dark) and exits in three different states.It's combination with the dark quality results into the manifestation of Mahadbrahm which is also called prakriti or nature by the enlightened ones.Kshetragya(soul) is considered to be more superior than the Prakriti.This way the different permutations and combinations of all the three gunas with collective intelligence result into the creation of different "tanmatras"(subtle form of matters).From the tanmatras are created the "Indrias" or sense organs.This is the way how the Universe comes into existence.I then create all the living creatures with the help of five basic elements."
"In the beginning there was nothing but empty space.Subsequently,various natural elements like "shabda"(sound),"akash"(ether),"vayu"(air),"teja"(light) and jal(water) came into being respectively - each of the latter manifesting from the former.Then,I Created you(earth)to provide base to all the living creatures.The combination of earth and water resulted into an "Egg"(anda).As the egg grew in size,I manifested myself as Narayan within it.During each kalpa a lotus manifests itself from my navel upon which is seated lord Brahma.I then request lord Brahma to commence creation.Inspite of all his efforts, lord Brahma does not succeed in commencing his creation.As a result he becomes furious and from his fury manifests a divine child who starts to wail incessantly.The divine child is none other than Rudra who is requested by lord Brahma to begin creation but the child being incapable of doing that decides to acquire power by doing penance and enters into deep water."
"Lord Brahma then created Prajapati from his great toe of his right foot and Prajapati's consort from the great toe of his left foot.The manifestation of Prajapati and his consort marks the beginning of copulative creation and thus Swayambhuva Manu is born.In course of time population increases.This is the way how creation takes place in each kalpa."
Mother Earth requested lord Varah to shade some more light on the creational process as her curiosity had still not been totally satisfied.Lord Varaha replied- "At the end of the last kalpa,when the whole universe was engulfed in darkness,Narayan went into his yogic-sleep.After waking up he found the world devoid of any creature.Narayan,being the supreme Almighty-the creator,the nurturer as well as the annihilator,decided to commence creation.The term Narayan means one who has his abode in the water- naar means water and ayan means abode.First of all five types of "avidya"(false knoledge) manifested from Narayan- tamas(darkness), moha(attachment),mahamoha(absolute attachment),tamisra(jealousy) and andhatamisra(anger).After the manifestation of these five "avidyas",came into existence immovable things like mountains,trees etc.These being the primary creations came to be known as "mukhya sarga"(main creation).Continuing with his creations,lord Brahma created species that were superior to the earlier creation-animals.This particular creation was called "Tiryaksrota"(quadruped).This way Brahma did his creation.Brahma's sixth creation was called Satvik sarga which consisted of the deities who were all virtuous by nature.The creation of human beings was seventh in order and was known as"Arvaaksrota sarga.Even human beings were of three types -those who were predominantly virtuous possessed satva guna had radiant personality and never experienced sorrow but those who possessed rajas and tamas gunas experienced sorrows."
"Brahma's eighth creation was called "Anugrah sarg" in which he created the sages and the hermits for the benediction of the world.The nineth creation of Lord Brahma was called "Kaumar sarg"(creation of adolescent beings).So,these are the nine main types of creation through which Brahma creates.First of all Rudra and other deities manifested themselves and then came into being eternal adlescents like Sanak,Sanandan, etc.Subsequently,all the ten manasputras of Brahma manifested themselves-Marichi,Angira, Atri,Pulah,Kratu,Pulasya,Pracheta,Bhrigu,Narad and Vashishth."
"Lord Brahma's first creation-Rudra had manifested himself as Ardha narishwar(half male and half female). At the request of Brahma,Rudra dismembered his female part resulting into the creation of two distinct forms- one male and the other female.Later on,ten more Rudras manifested from the male form and all of them collectively came to be known as 'Eleven Rudras'."
PRIYAVRATA ATTAINS TO HEAVENLY ABODE
Describing the incident which enabled King Priyavrata to attain to heavenly abode Lord Varah told Prithvi-
"Swayambhuva Manu lived during the first kalpa.He had two sons-Priyavrata and Uttanpad.Priyavrata was extremely virtuous by nature.In course of time,he relinquished his throne and after distributing his kingdom among his sons went to Badrikashram to do penance.Once sage Narad paid a visit to his hermitage. Priyavrata received his esteemed guest with all the respect which made Narad extremely pleased.Priyavrata then requested Narad to narrate about some interesting incident which had occured in his life.
Narad narrated about an interesting incident which had happened while he was on his way to meet Priyavrata- "I experienced an amazing incident yesterday while I was passing by a lake in Shwetdweepa.I saw a divinely beautiful woman who was standing alone at the bank of that lake.I was surprised to find such a beautiful woman at such a lonely place.For a moment I became so infatuated by her beauty that I lost all control over my senses.My lust had made me devoid of all my knowledge and learning.Now,I became very worried and ashamed of my conduct-but the damage had already been made.I immediately realized that she was not an ordinary woman.To my surprise,I saw a form of a divine person visible clearly within her body.Within nextfew moments two other male forms revealed themselves.Suddenly,all three of them disappeared leaving behind just that divine lady.I was dumbstruck by this amazing incident.I asked her as to who she was.The divine lady disclosed to me that she was none other than goddess Savitri - the mother of all the Vedas and since I was unable to recognize her therefore all the knowledge had vanished from my memory.She also revealed to me that the three divine men which had manifested themselves within her body were in fact the three Vedas- Rigveda,Samveda and Yajurveda.After revealing these amazing facts to me goddess Savitri assured me that by taking a bath in that lake I would not only regain my memory of the Vedas but also of all my previous births.I eulogized goddess Savitri and thanked her for the blessings showered on me.I then bathed in that lake and to my pleasant surprise I now remembered everything of my past births as had been prophesised by goddess Savitri."
Priyavrat was very surprised and requested Narad to describe some interesting incident related with his past birth.Narad narrated the following incident to him- "In satyayuga,I was born in a brahmin family and was named Saraswat by my parents.I was very studious and grew up to become a renowned scholar.The almighty God had blessed me with immense riches and I never experienced scarcity of any kind in my life.But,very soon I got bored of my monotonous and routined life. It had become clear to me that there was more to life than just worrying about the gains and losses.So,I decided to do penance to attain salvation.I distributed all my wealth among my sons and went to the bank of river Saraswati,where I first performed the rituals of shraddh in the name of my ancestors and then performed yagyas.I also donated lot of wealth to poor people.Being satisfied,I then went to Pushkar teerth and did penance at the bank of river Saraswat by continuously chanting the sacred mantra"om namo narayan" and brahm paar stotra.Ultimately,lord Narayan became pleased and appeared before me.Lord Sri Hari asked me of my wish and I express my desire to get united with his divine form.But,lord Narayan told me that the world needed me and so this desire of mine could not be fulfilled.He blessed me and gave me my name- Narad because I had 'donated' water(naar) to my ancestors during the course of performing shraddh rituals.Although my wish of uniting with the divine form of Sri Hari had remain unfulfilled but still there was a consolation as I had been fortunate enough to see his divine form with my mortal eyes. Thereafter,I devoted my life to the worship of Sri Hari.After my death,I attained to brahmaloka- I had been adequately rewarded for my devotion toward lord Sri Hari.Later on,I manifested as one of the ten manasputras of lord Brahma when he commenced his creation.It was only because of the blessings of Sri Harithat I came to be regarded as 'lok guru' by the masses.So Priyavrat,if you are desire of attaining salvation then you should follow my example and devote your life in the name of Lord Srihari."
Prithvi,who was listening to the tales narrated by Lord Varah with rapt attention asked him whether it was possible for anybody to see Lord Narayan with his/her mortal eyes.Lord Varah replied -"Lord Narayan has taken ten incarnations in various forms such as matsya(fish),kachchap(tortoise),varah(boar),narsimh(half human and half lion),vaman(dwarf),parshuram,Ram,Krishna,Buddha and kalki.The last incarnation-Kalki is yet to take place.A man can realize Lord Narayan by having total devotion in any one of the ten incarnations. Even the deities are incapable of this divine experience-what to say about humans.Lord Brahma is the manifestation of all the three qualities of Sri Hari and actually it is He(Sri Hari) who creates in the form of Lord Brahma-it is He who manifests himself in various natural forms like earth,water,fire,air and sky-it is He who manifests himself in various abstract qualities like consciousness- He is omnipresent and the whole universe is pervaded by him."
Prithvi was anxious to know whether Narad's sermons had any effect on Priyavrat and asked Lord Varah regarding this.Lord Varah replied- Priyavrat was so impressed by Narad's discourses that he relinquished his throne and went to do penance after equally distributing his kingdom among his sons.Ultimately,he did manage to attain to the abode of lord Sri Hari by the virtue of his total devotion.
ASHVASHIRA'S UNIFICATION WITH LORD NARAYAN
Prithvi asked lord Varah about the famous incident which described Ashvashira's unification with lord Narayan.Lord Varah then narrated the following tale- "During ancient times,there used to live a virtuous king named Ashvashira.He had performed an ashwamedh yagya in which he had donated large amount of wealth.Once,sage Kapil arrived at his palace acoompanied by sage Jaigishavya.King Ashvashira received both his distinguished guests with due honour.After the formalities were over,he asked both his guests about the means by which lord Narayan could be pleased and also about the rituals pertaining to the worship of lord Narayan."
Both the sages being enlightened souls realized that Ashvashira was asking this question out of his ignorance so,they decided to enlighten him on the omnipresent nature of Narayan and said-'What do you mean by pleasing Narayan? Can't you see two Narayans standing in front of you?' But,Ashvashira was unamused and unconvinced so he replied-'I don't deny that both of you possess supernatural powers and also that all your sins have destroyed on account of the virtues attained by doing penance.But,I don't believe your claim to be Narayan.Lord Narayan is the almighty God and the supreme deity.He holds a conch,a chakra and a mace in his hands.He wears pitambar and has Garuda as his mount.His glory is indescribable and incomparable.'
As Asvashira had raised valid points,sage Kapil transformed his appearance with the help of his divine powers.Similarly,sage Jaigishavya transformed his appearance and became Garuda.But,Ashvashira still remained unconvinced and said-'How can I accept you to be Narayan as there is no sign of lotus manifesting from your navel in which lord Brahma has his abode.'
Sage Kapil then slightly transformed his appearance and created an illusion whereby a lotus flower emanating from his navel became visible to Ashvashira.Sage Jaigishavya sat on that lotus flower in the guise of lord Brahma.Not only that,they also created an illusion due to which all types of living creatures inside the palace premise.
Now,Ashvashira was really confused and requested both the sages to break the magic spell.Both the sages decided not to test the limit of Ashvashira's patience and so,they trasformed their respective guises into their original appearances.Both of them said- 'Narayan is one but can manifest himself in countless forms.The whole universe is HIS creation and HE is present in every single creature.It is impossible for a mortal being to bear the radiance of almighty Narayan and it is only when HE appears in his more gentle form that the enlightened person is able to see him.Therefore,you should engage yourself in the service of mankind,considering each human being to be the medium through which lord Narayan manifests himself.
Ashvashira was satisfied by the explanation given by both the sages but there was still one question bothering him a lot so, he asked- 'Who is most likely to attain salvation-a knowledgeable person or a person who indulges in rightful deeds?' Sage Kapil narrated the following tale-'Once,sage Raimya and king Vasu had asked the same question to sage Vrihaspati.At that time Vrihaspati had replied that anybody who performed his duties with a sense of detachment is sure to attain salvation and to prove his point he had narrated the following tale-'During ancient times,there lived a brahmin named Sanyaman.He was the descendant of sage Atri.One day,while he was going to take his bath he met Nishthoor-a fowler,who used to catch birds and animals for his livings.'
Sanyaman reprimanded Nishthoor for his evil deeds and said- Why do you trap innocent birds and animals? Nishthoor replied-'The almighty God is present in each living creature.One who is desirous of attaining salvation must under no circumstances allow his ego to dominate him.The 'doer' is not the man but the supreme Almighty present in him.Keeping this fact in his mind a man should perform his duties with nonchallance and a sense of detachment.If I earn my livelyhood by catching birds and animals then it is the will of almighty.' To prove his point,the fowler spread his iron-net and kept dry blocks of wood underneath it and then requested Sanyaman to ignite those blocks.Sanyaman was surprised but burnt the wodden-logs as per the fowler's instruction.In a short time all the wodden-blocks became ablaze and the flames startes coming out from the thousand of small holes of the iron-net.The fowler then told Sanyaman that although the flames coming from each hole appeared to have distinct sources,yet the fact was that the flames manifested from the single source-wodden blocks that were burning beneath the iron-net.
The fowler said-"It was impossible to extinguish the fire untill and unless the source of the fire was extinguished.Each hole of the iron-net can be compared with an individual and the almighty God with the source of fire.A man does what God wills and he can never experience sorrow provided he constantly remembers the Almighty even while he is performing his daily chores." Sanyaman was very much impressed by the fowler's wisdom. Having finished his tale,sage Vrihaspati told Ramya-"Now it must be evident to you that salvation is within the reach of any individual.It does not make much difference whether the seeker of salvation is a householder or a hermit aspiring for knowledge." Continuing with the story of Ashvashira,lord Varah told Prithvi-"King Ashvashira was so impressed by Kapil's preachings that he went to Naimisharanya and spent his rest of his life in the service of lord Narayan.Once,while he was performing yagya,suddenly lord Vishnu manifested himself from the altar in the form of a brilliant effulgence and the identity of Ashvashira merged with it.This way,Ashvashira got united with lord Vishnu by the virtue of his deep devotion.
KING VASU AND SAGE RAIMYA UNITE WITH SRI HARI
Prithvi was anxious to know about the effect sage Vrihaspati's discources had on King Vasu as well as sage Raimya.She asked lord Varah-"What did both king Vasu and sage Raimya do after listening to the preachings of sage Vrihaspati?"
Lord Varah replied-"King Vasu was so impressed by Vrihaspati's discources that he decided to spend the rest of his life in the service of lord Narayan.He appointed Viwasman-his eldest son as his successor and left for Pushkar teerth.He engaged himself in austere penance by chanting pundarikaksha stotra.One day,while Vasu was chanting pundarikaksha stotra,he experienced an amazing incident-an entity whose complexion was blue, manifested from his body and stood with folded hands.In his bewilderment,king Vasu requested the stranger to introduce himself.
The entity narrated the following tale to him -
"O King,you were the ruler of Janasthan in your second previous birth.Once,while you had gone deep into the forest on a hunting spree,you were delighted to find a deer which in fact was none other but myself.In fact,I had disguised myself as a deer and was wandering in the forest.Being oblivious of this fact you had killed that dear.Later on,when you realized your mistake,you cursed yourself for having killed an innocent brahmin.To get absolved of this sin,you had observed a fast on Ekadashi and had donated a cow to please lord Narayan.But,inspite of all these austerities you did not attain liberation because at the time of your death you had chanted your wife's name whose name was Narayani instead of Narayan.This blunder of your's had stopped you from attaining to Vishnu loka for one complete kalpa.But,my revengeful soul continued to torture your soul till it was driven out by lord Narayan's escorts.It was only then that you were able to attain to Vishnu loka."
"In your next birth you were born as the king of Kashmir.I did not spare you even in that birth and possessed your body.You performed numerous yagyas to get rid of me but all your efforts went in vain as you had not chanted the holy name of lord Vishnu in any of the rituals that you had performed.But,now I was forced to abandon your body since you have been constantly chanting the sacrosanct pundarikaksha stotra.I have also become absolved of all my sin by the virtue of listening to the pundarikaksha stotra."
King Vasu expressed his gratitude to the entity for shedding light on his previous births.Suddenly,a divine aircraft descended from the heaven and king Vasu left for Vishnuloka mounted on it.Meanwhile,sage Raimya got the news of Vasu's ascension to heaven to Vishnuloka,he wanted to emulate the feat of his friend.He reached Gaya and performed shraddh in the name of his ancestors.He then engaged himself in an austere penance.Sanat kumar-one of the manasputras became very pleased by Raimya's penance and appeared before him.He complimented Raimya for liberating his ancestors by performing shraddh at Gaya.He then described the virtues of performing shraddh at Gaya and narrated the following tale -
"There lived a king named Vishal who had no son.One day,he invited few brahmins to his palace and asked them how he could beget a son.All the brahmins revealed to him that he did not have son because of the curse of his ancestors."You have not performed their shraddh so, they are angry with you and you can never beget a son unless you performed shraddh rituals at Gaya.Vishal went to Gaya as per the instruction of the brahmins.He performed the shraddh rituals and offered pinda-daan in the name of his ancestors.While he was still performing the rituals,he was amazed to see three men descending from the sky-one of them was of fair complexion while the remaining two were of wheatish and dark complexion respectively.Vishal curiously asked them as to who they were.The fair-complexioned person replied-
'I am your father-'sit'.The person with wheatish complexion is my father and the third person amongst us is my grandfather.My father had committed grave sins while he was alive and killing a brahmin was one the gravest sin he had committed.My grandfather was even worst than my father and his dark complexion is nothing as compared to his grave sins.He had killed numerous innocent sages for no fault of theirs.All three of us have come to express our gratitude as we have become liberated from our sins by the virtue of the shraddh rituals you have performed.The water which you had offered to us while performing the rituals have given us the ability to communicate with you,even though we are spirits.'
After finishing his tale,Sanat kumar told sage Raimya that Gaya was supreme among all the places of pilgrimage and the virtues of performing shraddh overthere is incomparable.Sage Raimya dedicated rest of his life to the worship of lord Gadadhar.At last,lord Gadadhar appeared before him.Sage Raimya requested the lord to give him a place in his abode which was dwelled by sages like Sanak and Sanandan.Lord Gadadhar blessed him by saying-'So be it.'This way,sage Raimya attained enlightenment with the blessings of the merciful lord Gadadhar and ultimately attained to the divine abode of lord Vishnu.
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Comment by Paramananda das on November 5, 2009 at 9:53pm
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MATSYA AVATAR
Once,when lord Vishnu awakened from his yoga nidra,he found that the Vedas had submerged in the ocean as the result of pralaya(deluge).He incarnated as matsya(fish) to retrieve the Vedas from the ocean-bed.As soon as lord Matsya entered into the ocean,HE attained such an enormous size that the deities became frightened.
All the deities then eulogized lord Matsya and requested him to regain his original form- "O Narayan-the imperceivable lord.You manifest yourself in each and every particle of this Universe.You are omnipresent and exist even during the time of deluge when nothing else exist.O Lord!we are scared of your present form."
On seeing the deities frightened,lord Matsya retrieved the Vedas from the sea-bed and transformed his appearance from the huge fish to that of lord Vishnu.The deities were filled with joy to see the divine appearance of lord Vishnu.
KING DURJAY
During satya yuga,there lived a king named Suprateek.Although he had two queens,yet none of them bore any son to him.One day,Suprateek went to meet sage Durvasa,who had his hermitage at the foothills of chitrakut mountain and engaged himself in the sevice of Durvasa.The sage blessed the king and prophesised that he would become a proud father of a mighty son named Durjay.Durvasa's prophesy came true and Suprateek's eldest queen-Vidyutprabha gave birth to a son.The child was named Durjay.In course of time Durjay grew up to become a worthy successor of Suprateek.Suprateek decided to spend rest of his life in the service of God,so he went to Chitrakut mountain to do penance.
Mean while,Durjay being an ambitious king expanded his kingdom by subjugating all the neighbouring states.He conquered numerous mighty kingdoms and vanquished almost all the prominent warrior castes like- gandharvas,kinnars,demons and even the deities.Indra-the lord of the deities was defeated by Durjay and was forced to retreat towards east of Sumeru mountain alongwith the lokpals-various lords protecting different regions of the Universe.The whole world went into turmoil as the fallout of lokpal's power being snatched by Durjay.While Durjay was returning to his capital along with his victorious army,he met two asuras-Vidyut and Suvidyut, who had diguised themselves as sages.Both the impersonators requested Durjay to make some alternative arrangements so that the world could function smoothly.In reality,both of them harboured wishes of having the powers of lokpal's so they offered their services in this regard.Durjay,being unaware of their real identity agreed to appoint them as lokpal's and then proceeded towards his capital.While he was passing by the mandarachal mountain,he saw two beautiful women.Durjay was surprised to find them at such a deserted place.As he stood their wondering about their identity,he saw two hermits approaching him.Both the hermits asked Durjay-"Who are you? What is the purpose of your arrival?
Durjay introduced himself and told them that he was on his way to conquer the whole world.Now it was the turn of both the sages to introduce themselves-"We are the sons of Swayambhuva Manu-Hetu and Prachetu.We had successfully defeated the deities and driven them out from their abode-Sumeru mountain.All the deities went to seek the help of lord Vishnu and were successful in getting his assurance.Lord Vishnu then attacked us and vanquished our army but he spared our lives.Then onwards we became ardent devotees of the merciful lord Vishnu.
Hetu,then pointing towards one of the women said-"She is my daughter-Sukeshi.The other woman you see is my brother- Prachetu's daughter and her name is Mishrakeshi.Please accept both these beautiful as your wives."Durjay readily agreed to marry both of them as they were really very beautiful.He then returned to his capital.
Everything was going quite smoothly for Durjay,when on one fateful day he met his downfall because of his extreme greed.The incident happened as follows-Once,Durjay had gone into the forest on a hunting spree,where he met a sage named Gaurmukh.Gaurmukh had been blessed by lord Vishnu with a divine diamond named Chintamani which was capable of fulfilling all desires.Gaurmukh gave a royal treatment to Durjay with the help of wish-fulfilling diamond.He created an illusionary palace and offered variety delicacies to him as well as his whole army.
Durjay wanted to have chintamani diamond at any cost and therefore sent his minister-Virochan to persuade Gaurmukh to part with that diamond.Gaurmukh became furious after coming to know about the evil intention of Durjay and told Virochan to ask Durjay to leave at once.But,Gaurmukh knew quite well that the greedy Durjay would not give up so easily and would definitely try to acquire chintamani by force.So, he requested chintamani diamond to create a huge army.
Meanwhile,Durjay ordered his chief-commander,named Neel to bring chintamani at any cost.Neel proceeded with a large number of soldiers.A fierce battle took place between both the armies in which Neel was killed and his army got vanquished.Finally,Durjay himself came forward to fight but even he was defeated. In the meantime,Hetu and Prachetu got the news that their son-in-law was in trouble.Both of them proceeded with a huge army to help their so-in-law.But,they were no match for the might of their adversary and both of them eventually dieed in the ensuing battle.
Meanwhile,sage Gaurmukh found Durjay standing at the entrance of his hermitage with a small number of surviving soldiers.He sought the help of lord Vishnu,who appeared within no time.Gaurmukh requested him to punish Durjay for his evil intention.Lord Vishnu severed Durjay's head with his sudarshan chakra.The place where Durjay was killed later on became famous as Naimisharanya.Sage Gaurmukh continued to live at Naimisharanya without any problem.
PITRAS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 'SHRADDH
Once,sage Markandeya arrived at Naimisharanya to see sage Gaurmukh.Sage Gaurmukh was delighted to find such an enlightened soul at his hermitage.After the formalities were over, Gaurmukh requested him to shed light on the venerability of ancestors and the significance of shraddh rituals.
Sage Markandeya replied-"Lord Brahma,after having created the sapta rishis instructed them to worship him(Lord Brahma) but they became so arrogant that they started to worship themselves.Lord Brahma felt insulted and so he cursed them of becoming bereft of all the knowledge.In course of time,the sapta rishis had numerous sons.After the death of the sapta rishis,all the sons performed shraddh so that their souls could rest in peace.The sapta rishis were also famously known as 'Vaimanik'because they had manifested from the mind of Brahma."
Sage Gaurmukh was listening to Markandeya's utterances with rapt attention.He asked about the most appropriate time for performing shraddh and also about the number of 'ganas' each of the pitras were supposed to have.Sage Markandeya replied-"Pitras living in the heaven are known as 'somap pitras' are believed to be the most privileged ones among all the pitras.They enjoy the most delicious beverage-somaras.Their life-span extends for the full period of kalpa and they worship 'marutas'.Sage Marich belongs to this category of pitras."
Pitras belonging to the category of 'vairaj' are revered even by the marutganas.Sanak comes under this categoty of pitras.Each of these pitras have seven ganas.Similarly,pitras known as 'bhaswar' have their abode in the world called 'santanak'.These pitras are revered even by the deities as all of them are 'brahma vadis'(one who has realized Brahma).They remanifest themselves after every hundred yugas. People belonging to any caste can worship the revered 'pitras' with an appropriately modified rituals and obviously with the permission of the brahmin.Some of the prominent pitras are 'Vasu','Kashyap','Marichi' 'Sanak' etc.
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THE APPROPRIATE TIME FOR PERFORMING SHRADDH
Describing the auspicious time for performing the rituals of shraddh,Markandeya told Gurumukh-"A person desirous of performing the rituals of 'kamya shraddh' can do so on any of the following days-a) at the commencement of uttarayan or dakshinayan. b)at the time when vyatipat yoga takes place. c) at the time when vishu yoga occurs. d) during both solar and lunar eclipses. e) if troubled by the evil influences of a constellation or a planet. f) if troubled by nightmares. g)at the time when the Sun changes it's position from one zodiac to another.
The various nakshatras like Anuradha,Vishakha and Shwati are considered to be very auspicious for performing shraddh- especially, if the day happens to be amavasya.Shraddh performed on such a day pacifies the ancestor's soul for eight years.Similarly the combination of amavasya with either 'pushya nakshatra' or 'punarvasu nakshatra' is believed to pacify the ancstor's soul for twelve years.Some other days which are considered to be very auspicious for performing shraddh are-the third day of the bright half of the hindu month Vaishakh,the nineth day of the bright half of the hindu month Kartik,the thirteenth day of the dark half of the hindu month Bhadrapad and amavasya falling in the hindu month of Magh.A man desirous of performing shraddh can do so on any of the above mentioned days.He should take bath in a holy river and offer 'tarpan'(libation) to his ancestors.
SHRADDH KALPA
Describing the types of brahmin,considered to be elligible to preside over the rituals of shraddh, Markandeya told sage Gaurmukh-"The following types of brahmin are elligible to perform shraddh-'trinachiket' 'trimadhu' 'trisuparna' and the brahmins who are well versed in all the Vedas.The shraddh rituals can be performed by any of the following relatives of the deceased, apart from his son-maternal nephew, grandson(daughter's son),father-in-law,son-in-law,maternal uncle,etc.
Similarly,the following types of brahmin should never be invited at the shraddh at the shraddh ceremony-a deceitful or a wicked brahmin,a brahmin who is a habitual backbiter or who is accused of theft,a brahmin who has married a shudra woman and a brahmin who earns his livelihood by working as a priest.
HOW TO INVITE BRAHMINS TO SHRADDH CEREMONY
Invitation should be given to the all the brahmins one day in advance.If uivited brahmins arrive to attend the shraddh ceremonythey should be treated with due respect.The brahmin who is supposed to perform the rituals should wash the feet of other brahmins to show his respect towards them.He should then help them perform 'achaman'(rinsing of mouth).Finally,the invited brahmins should be fed after the rituals have been completed.
NUMBER OF BRAHMINS
As far as the number of invited brahmins to the shraddh ceremony of the ancestors is concerned,the scriptures have strictly put it to odd numbers-one,three,five,etc.Similarly,the number of invited brahmins for the shraddh of the deities is concerned the number has been put to even number-two,four,etc. But,if the person finds it difficult to invite the above number of brahmins then he can invite only one brahmin for both the types of shraddh.While performing the shraddh of maternal grandfather it is mandatory to perform the shraddh of Vaishyadeva simultaneously.In the shraddh ceremony related with the deities the brahmins should always have their food facing east.On the contrary,in the shraddh ceremony of the ancestors the brahmins should have their food facing north.
TYPES OF SHRADDH
A person performing the shraddh rituals should have his seat made of 'kusha' grass.After taking his seat,he should invoke the deities and make offerings of 'ardhya' to them.While offering 'ardhya' to the deities water and barley are commonly used alongwith other articles like sandalwood,incense,etc.During the entire course of shraddh rituals 'yagyopavit'(sacred thread) should be worn in an inverse position-across the right shoulder and not across the left shoulder as it is normally worn.While performing the shraddh of ancestors offerings of articles like sesame seeds,water and kusha grass are normally made.
SHRADDH MANTRA
It is customary to scatter sesame seeds near the place where brahmins are having food in the shraddh ceremony.The performer of the shraddh rituals should imagine that the food partaken by them are actually satiating the ancestors.The chanting of 'Rakshodhna mantra' is a must.
THE RITUALS OF PINDA DAAN
One important characteristic of the rituals connected with pinda daan is the offerings made to manes in the form of sesame seeds and water.Another important aspect is that 'pinda' is offered on the 'kusha' grass which are kept facing south-first in the name of one's dead father and then in the name of one's grandfather and other ancestors
BALIVAISHVA DEVA
The performance of Balivaishva deva rituals mark the end of shraddh ceremony after which the person should sit down along with all the invited guests to have his food.Ancestors become satisfied if shraddh is performed in their names and all the desires of such a man are fulfilled.Three things have great importance in shraddh rituals-black sesame seeds,the auspicious muhurta named 'Kutup' and grandson(daughter's son).Donating silver is considered to be extremely auspicious.A person performing the shraddh rituals should not venture out of his house till the completion of the entire ceremony.
During tretayuga,there lived a king named Prajapal.Once,while he was on his hunting spree,he entered into a dense forest.He was delighted to see a dear who started running for it's life after hearing the noise. Prajapal let his horse loose in the direction of the running dear.Sage Mahatapa had his hermitage in that forest.While chasing that dear,Prajapal arrived at the hermitage of Mahatapa.Being curious,he entered the hermitage and saw sage Mahatapa.The sage treated his guest with all the respect and offered him fruits to eat.After the formalities were over,Prajapal requested Mahatapa to describe the appropriate way of contemplating on the various forms of lord Narayan which gave salvation to a man. Sage Mahatapa replied-"The Vedas proclaim that all the deities owe their existence to lord Vishnu-Agni,Ashwini kumar,Gauri,Gajanan,Sheshnag,Kartikeya,Aditya Ganas,Durga,all the 64 matrikas,Kuber, Vayu, Yama, Rudra,Chandrama,Pitra Ganas,etc.have originated from lord Sri Hari.All the deities,although appearing to to have distinct identity,are in fact inseparable from lord Vishnu."
AGNI
"When Agni manifested himself from Brahma's anger,he requested him(Brahma) to assign an auspicious day to him for his worship.Lord Brahma said-'Since you have manifested first of all the deities,therefore the first day(pratipada) will be reserved for your worship.One who performs havan on pratipada would be blessed."
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ASHWINI KUMARS
King Prajapal requested Mahatapa to describe how both the Ashwini kumars manifested themselves.Sage Mahatapa narrated the following tale-'Marichi was Lord Brahma's son while Kashyap was Marichi's son.All the twelve Adityas are the sons of sage Kashyap.One of the Adityas-Martand,was marrird to Vishwakarma's daughter whose name was Sangya.Martand had two children from her and their names were-Yama and Yami.Being unable to bear the extreme radiance of Martand,Sangya created her shadow identity and after instructing her to serve her husband(Martand) in best possible ways,she herself went to live at Uttarkuru.Later on,when Martand came to know about the reality,he went to Uttarkuru and found Sangya in the form of a mare.He then changed his own form and became a horse.Both of them stayed there for a long time.In course of time,Sangya gave birth to two sons who became famous as Ashwini kumars.'
Martand instructed both his sons to please lord Brahma with their devotion.Both of them engaged themselves in austere penance.Finally,lord Brahma appeared and blessed both of them by saying-'Your good-looks and knowledge of ayurveda will be unmatched in the world.'It was 'dwitiya'(second day) when lord Brahma had blessed both the Ashwini kumars.This is the reason why this particular day is the reason why this particular day is deeply attached with the worship of Ashwini kumars.'
GODDESS PARVATI
King Prajapal asked Mahatapa about the reason why goddess Gauri-the epithet of power,had to take incaranation.Sage Mahatapa replied -"Goddess Gauri manifested from lord Narayan and was offered to Rudra as his consort by lord Brahma.Lord Brahma then instructed Brahma to begin creation but Rudra being free from all kinds of worldly attachment refused to oblige lord Brahma and engaged himself in austere penance.Goddess Gauri then merged her identity with Brahma,who later on created his seven 'manas-putras'. In course of time,Gauri was born as the daughter of Daksha Prajapati and hence came to be known as 'Dakshayani'.
Once, Daksha Prajapati organised a grand yagya in which all the seven manasputras were assigned specific responsibilities.Meanwhile,Rudra came out from his meditation and was extremely furious to see the earth occupied by countless creatures.He thought-'Brahma had requested me to create then who is responsible for all these creation? Who has dared to transgress my authority ?' As Rudra stood wondering,suddenly he heard the sound of the mantras being chanted at the yagya performed by Daksha.Now, Rudra's fury crossed all limits resulting into the emergence of numerous spirits and ghosts from his ears.He then went to the oblation-site accompanied by the ghosts and started destroying it.Lord Vishnu tried to protest as a result of which a fierce battle was fought between both of them.It was only on lord Brahma's intervention that both of them stopped fighting.Lord Brahma said-'From now onwards Rudra would become famous as 'Har' while Vishnu would be known as 'Hari'.He then directed the deities to eulogize Rudra and give his due share of the yagya being performed by Daksha Prajapati.'
Rudra became pleased by deities's eulogy and blessed them.This way,Daksha Prajapati was able to accomplish his yagya with the blessings of Rudra.In course of time,Rudra married Gauri-the daughter of Daksha Prajapati.Once,Gauri went to her father's place to attend a yagya ceremony against the wish of her husband.On seeing her,Daksha Prajapati started cursing Rudra.Gauri was so enraged by her father's attitude that she gave up her life by jumping into the sacrificial fire meant for the yagya.Later on,she took rebirth as Parvati-the daughter of Himalaya.Parvati did an austere penance to get Shiva as her husband.Ultimately her desire was fulfilled and she became the consort of lord Shiva.
The tithi of tritiya is very deeply attached with the worship of goddess Parvati because all the important events of her life(birth,marriage,etc.)took place on this day.This is the reason why tritiya is attributed to the worship of goddess Parvati.A woman who observe a fast on this day enjoys a blissful married life.One important ritual related with the austerity of tritiya is avoiding the usage of salt on this day.
LORD GANAPATI
King Prajapal then asked sage Mahatapa about the manifestation of lord Ganapati and about the significance of chaturthi in terms of Ganapati's worship.Mahatapa narrated the following tale- "Once,all the deities went to seek Shiva's help in sorting out a peculiar problem they were faced with- while they experienced all sorts of hurdles and problems in their work resulting into repeated failures in their work,the demons on the contrary accomplished all their work successfully without any problem. When lord Shiva learnt about their problem,he burst into laughter.Hardly had he stopped laughing than a radiant adolescent manifested himself from his opened mouth.The child was so divinely charming that Parvati,who was sitting beside Shiva looked at him without dropping her eyelids.When Shiva found her staring at the child he became jealous.Jealousy transformed into anger and Shiva cursed the child-'From now onwards your face will resemble an elephant and your belly will become large as a pot.In the name of yagyopavit you would have nothing but a snake hanging across your shoulder.'
The child was none other than Ganesh.Lord Shiva's anger did not subside even after having cursed Ganesh. He was still trembling in anger and was sweating profusely.Numerous Ganeshas manifested themselves from those sweat-drops and each of them had a head of an elephant as well as a large belly.Suddenly, lord Brahma appeared and requested lord Shiva by saying-'You should make this divine child,who has manifested from your mouth,the lord of all these Vinayakas.Thus,lord Shiva made Ganesh the lord of all the Vinayakas and blessed him-'You will be the first deity to get worshipped in any ritual.'
Chaturthi has deep association with the worship of lord Ganesh,as it was on this very day that he had manifested himself.Having prasad,prepared from sesame seeds and worshipping lord Ganesh on this day is believed to bring great auspiciousness.A devotee who worships lord Ganesh on chaturthi never experiences any kind of obstacle in his work.
NAG DEVTA
King Prajapal then requested Mahatapa to shed light on the origin of the serpents and the significance of 'panchami'.Sage Mahatapa replied-The serpents came from the lineage of Kadru-Kashyap's wife.Sage Kashyap had numerous progeny from Kadru-Vasuki,Anant,Kambal,Karkotak,Padma,Mahapadma,Shankh,Kulik,etc. When all these serpents started tormenting human-beings,lord Brahma cursed them that they would be annihilated during swayambhuva manvantar due to the curse of their own mother.
The serpents became terrified and promised to mend their ways.They then requested lord Brahma to give them a place to live in.Lord Brahma instructed them to go to three different netherworlds-Sutal,Vital and Patal.He also warned them that during Vaivaswat manvantar Janmejay would perform a grand yagya with the objective of destroying the wicked serpents but the virtuous among them would manage to survive.This particular incident had occured on panchami and hence it became the destroyer of all sins.A devotee who worships 'Nag'(serpent) on this day and offers milk will never be troubled by them.
KARTIKEYA
Describing Kartikeya's manifestation and how his worship got associated with the auspicious day of shashthi,sage Mahatapa told king Prajapal-Once,a fierce battle was between the deities and demons in which the deities got defeated.The reason behind their defeat was the absence was the absence of an able commander who could lead them.The deities went to seek the help of lord Brahma.Being unable to solve their problem,lord Brahma took the deities to lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva invoked 'Shakti' present within his body and thus manifested lord Kartikeya.He was named after the six 'Kritikas' who had nurtured him by feeding their breast milk.Lord shiva then made Kartikeya the commander of the deities on the auspicious day of shashthi.Under his able leadership,the deities finally managed to defeat the demons.
A devotee who worships lord Kartikeya on shashthi enjoys prosperity and gets all his desire fulfilled. A childless couple must worship on this auspicious day to get blessed with a son.
LORD ADITYA
King Prajapal asked Mahatapa-"The thought of divine radiance taking the form of human radiance bewilders me.Please clear my doubts."
Sage Mahatapa replied -"When the almighty God willed to manifest himself in other tangible forms,an effulgence emanated from his being resulting into the creation of 'Surya'(The Sun).The whole world became illumined with Surya's radiance and all the deities dwelling within the body of Almighty God expressed their gratitude.Initially,unbearable heat emanated from 'Surya',causing great uncomfort to the deities but later on Almighty God reduced it to bearable limit at the request of the deities.Surya had manifested himself on the auspicious day of 'saptami' hence this particular day became deeply associated with the worship of Surya.
ASHTA MATRIKAS
Continuing with his narration,sage Mahatapa said -"During ancient times,there lived a mighty demon named 'Andhakasur'.Andhakasur had become arrogant because of a boon of immortality received from lord Brahma. Being tormented by Andhakasur,all the deities went to seek lord Brahma's help.Lord Brahma took the deities to lord Shiva who agreed to kill the wicked demon-Andhakasur.
The battle commenced and a fierce dual fight broke out between Lord Shiva and Andhakasur.Shiva attacked Andhakasur with his trident.Stream of blood oozed out from the wound,but to Shiva's utter amazement each drop of blood falling on the ground resulted in into the creation of numerous Andhakasuras.In a short time the battle field was overcrowded with countless Andhakasuras.Now,Shiva's anger crossed all limits and he thundered loudly.Flames emanated from the mouth of enraged Shiva resulting into the manifestation of goddess 'Yogishwari'.Similarly,seven more goddesses manifested themselves from different deities- Vaishnavi from lord Vishnu,Brahmi from lord Brahma,Kaumari from Kartikeya,Mahendri from Indra,Yami from Yama,Varahi from lord Varah and Maheshwari from lord Narayan.All these eight goddesses came to be known as 'Matrikas' and lord assigned them the auspicious day for their worship.A devotee who worships these eight matrikas on ashtami are blessed.The use of 'bael'(wood-apple)fruit on this day has great significance.
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