The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we were amidst an interesting and an important discussion about the famed “Soorya-Vamsha”. In due course, we had witnessed one section of the long list of kings who were part of this great family tradition. It all starts from Bhagawan Brahma and then transcends all the way to King Ambareesha, about whom we’ve already discussed in detail. Subsequent to King Ambareesha was King Kakutsa, King Maandhaata, King Sagara, King Asamanjas, King Amsuman, King Dileepa and King Bhageeratha. We’ve witnessed how King Sagara wanted to perform a huge “Ashvamedha Yaaga” and how the plan got foiled up because the horse went and stood by Sage Kapilaachaarya. As King Sagara’s 60,000 sons go in search of this horse, they were burnt down by Sage Kapilaachaarya, because these sons wrongly concluded that Sage Kapilaachaarya had abducted the horse. Subsequently as King Amsumaan requests Sage Kapilaachaarya to give a re-birth to these 60,000 sons, Sage Kapilaachaarya suggests that he prays to Mother Ganga and sprinkles the holy water on to them, and with that, there is a chance for them to get up again! Accordingly, King Amsuman goes in for a penance to bring Mother Ganga to the world, but he couldn’t succeed. King Dileepa, who came as King Amsuman’s successor also tried his level best, but again, he couldn’t succeed.

Now it is all upto King Bhageeratha, who was the successor of King Dileepa. He now takes up his father’s penance and continues it further deeper. Impressed by King Bhageeratha’s deep penance, Mother Ganga answers him thus, “Oh Bhageeratha! I’m extremely moved and convinced by your penance, I know the reason for which you’re calling me. However, please note – If I’ve to lower myself into the earth, I would lash my waters at a great speed and intensity, in such a way that I might end up destroying the world! This is the reason why I hesitated to respond to the prayers of your forefathers too. If you can give me a solution for this, then I can come down to the earth’s surface, as per your wish!”

Upon listening Mother Ganga’s reply, King Bhageeratha was pleased and happy. He requested Mother Ganga to wait for sometime and now he commences a severe penance towards Bhagawan Shiva. King Bhageeratha requests Bhagawan Shiva for help in this regard. As King Bhageeratha requests thus, Bhagawan Shiva accepts it and requests Mother Ganga to flow into His dense hair on his head. This is why, Bhagawan Shiva is also referred to as “Gangaadhara” or “Jataadhara”. These beautiful names for Bhagawan Shiva originated because He is the one who holds Mother Ganga on the top of His head. As Bhagawan Shiva receives Mother Ganga into His head, Mother Ganga becomes a bit arrogant here. She comes in with lot of force. Upon seeing this, Bhagawan Shiva thinks thus, “Oh! Who is she to exhibit so much of arrogance? Look what I’m going to do to her now!” Thinking thus, Bhagawan Shiva ties his dense hair around and blocks Mother Ganga there itself!

As King Bhageeratha is desperately waiting for Mother Ganga to fall on the earth, he somehow understands that she has been stuck amidst Bhagawan Shiva’s hair! Again, King Bhageeratha continues his penance towards Bhagawan Shiva, requesting Him to release her. Upon Bhageeratha’s request, Bhagawan Shiva lets out one strand of His dense hair, and through that little strand, Mother Ganga comes down to the earth’s surface!

Readers should note here that all of these events unfold at the holy place called “Haridwar” in the borders of the north Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttharakand. The place where River Ganga originates today is referred to as “Bindusaras”, near to Badree Ashrama. It is one of India’s most sacred places of worship and we can see the crystal-clear water of Mother Ganga originating from a huge glacier called “Gangothri”. This huge glacier is itself worshipped as Bhagawan Shiva or Bhagawan Gangaadhara or Bhagawan Jataadhara. It is only at this Haridwar is King Bhageeratha sitting and doing all his penance.

Now as Mother Ganga falls down on the earth, she requests King Bhageeratha thus, “Oh Bhageeratha! Please hurry up! Take your chariot and start driving it along. I shall follow your chariot wherever it goes!” As King Bhageeratha drives his chariot fast, Mother Ganga follows him all the way. Thus we see that the River Ganga passes through innumerable places in North India and every place through which Mother Ganga passes by, are all extremely holy places! We can witness today too, the River Ganga passing through Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Patna, and finally passing through Hooghly near Kolkata in West Bengal, before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

In this process, the river passes through one ear of Jambu Maharishi and passes out through his other ear, and this is why Mother Ganga has the divine name called “Jaanhavi”! Since it was brought down by King Bhageeratha to the world, Mother Ganga is also referred to as Mother Bhaageerathi. Thus, Bhaageerathi, Jaanhavi, Alaknanda, etc. are all the sacred divine names of this holy river Ganges and if we chant these names itself, we would be eligible to attain Moksha! This is the significance of River Ganga and all our readers should make it a point that we visit all these places along this great river atleast once in our life time.

So for today, let us understand the significance of River Ganga and let us experience it’s beauty. We shall wait till the next episode to continue with the “Soorya-Vamsa” discussion. Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

 

The previous episode witnessed the culmination of the important “Ambareesha-Charitra”, wherein we experienced the significance of being an ardent devotee of Bhagawan, and also the importance of following a regular routine of spiritual practice. In due course, we also witnessed the key benefits of “fasting” and the reason why our ancestors have formulated the “Ekadashi” day of every month for fasting and cleaning up our body’s systems. Eventually, we also witnessed how Sage Dhurvaasa was rightfully shown his place by Bhagawan Vishnu and His all-powerful “Chakra”. We witnessed how the “Chakra” made Sage Dhurvaasa run for his life for trying to curse King Ambareesha, only to come back to King Ambareesha again and seek refuge! This was an important learning, not only for Sage Dhurvaasa, but for all of us as well.

We shall look at it in two angles – Firstly, if we are ardent devotees of Bhagawan, no curse from anybody would be able to stand in front of us! Secondly, if we’re intending to harm someone who is an ardent devotee of Bhagawan, we should be prepared to face what Sage Dhurvaasa faced! 😊 This is the reason why we repeatedly emphasize the point that it is better to keep ourselves away from any kind of conflicts or fights with anybody, for that matter – Be it a devotee or not. If for instance, we try and pick up a fight with some stranger, and if he / she happen to be an ardent devotee, we would never know! We’ve to face the wrath of harming Bhagawan’s devotee, just like how Sage Dhurvaasa faced! It is to be remembered always that Bhagawan doesn’t get angry much when someone abuses Him directly. Whereas, Bhagawan gets really angry when His ardent devotee is abused and harmed! We’ve seen this in our Ramayana episodes as well. Readers might remember that Bhagawan Rama never got angry when Ravana abused him to whatever extent he can. But when Ravana’s anger and abuse turned an inch towards Hanuman, who is Bhagawan Rama’s ardent devotee, all of us know what happened after that! Hence, the important learning for all of us here and also from the “Ambareesha Charitra” is that, we should refrain ourselves to the maximum extent possible from abusing someone unwantedly. Even if the situation compels us to do so, we should be able to remember this episode and try to refrain ourselves. This is where our self-control and discrimination capability come to the fore. If we’re going to get carried away by the situation and start verbally or physically abusing people, we’ve to be ready to do a “marathon run” for our life, as Sage Dhurvaasa did! 😊 Hence, we should understand this and do accordingly!

Moving on thus, readers should remember that we’re now discussing the “Soorya-Vamsha” in detail and King Ambareesha was part of this great “Soorya-Vamsha”. The next King to be part of this great tradition was King Kakutsa. Subsequent to King Kakutsa, it was King Maandhaata. King Maandhaata was in turn succeeded by King Sagara. Now let us witness King Sagara’s story in a brief. King Sagara had two wives and all three of them together were childless for a long time. Hence, King Sagara and his wives prayed to Bhagawan Vishnu for help. Accordingly, Bhagawan Vishnu gives them an option – Either they can have one child or many children! But the only trick here is that, if the option is “many”, all of these children would be totally brainless! Whereas, if the option is for “one child”, it might have the brain, but would be totally lazy by nature! Accordingly, one of the wives chose option one and she obtained 60,000 brainless children! The second wife opted for option two, and she obtained a child by name “Asamanjas”, who was totally lazy by nature! Even in our daily routine slang, we keep referring to people who are lazy thus, “Oh! Why is this guy like an Asamanjas by nature?” 😊

One day, King Sagara wants to conduct a huge “Ashvamedha Yaaga” and as a starting note for this great offering, he lets his horse (“Ashvam”) roam all around the country with the flag of his kingdom tied to it. According to the rule, the horse should run to all kingdoms of our Bhaarata Desha and come back unharmed and untouched. It is only then, can the important rituals of the “Ashvamedha Yaaga” commence. As King Sagara lets his horse run all over the country, to his dismay, the horse did not return back! Hence, he asked his 60,000 sons to undertake a “search operation” to find the horse and bring it back. Accordingly, the 60,000 sons (we already know that they are brainless) went everywhere searching for the horse, but they weren’t able to find it. Finally they went all the way into the “Paathaala Lokha” (Underground) and reached the place where the great Sage Kapilaachaarya was performing deep penance. We’ve already seen earlier that Sage Kapilaachaarya was also one of the incarnations of Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! Unfortunately, these 60,000 brainless people found the horse to be standing near Sage Kapilaachaarya! Brainless as they were, they concluded that Sage Kapilaachaarya was the one who had captured their horse! The fact is that, Sage Kapilaachaarya did not even know that the horse had come there by his side on its own! As these 60,000 people take their swords to kill Sage Kapilaachaarya, his penance gets disturbed, opens his eyes with anger and with that look itself, all the 60,000 people were burnt to dead on the floor!

Worried as he was, King Sagara sends his other son Asamanjas to look for his 60,000 sons! We know isn’t it? Asamanjas was a guy who was totally lazy by nature – He just goes around here and there and comes back to King Sagara empty-handed! Now this Asamanjas gets married and obtains a son by name “Amsumaan”. This Amsumaan was a noble king and he expedites the search for his 60,000 ancestors and the horse. After some searching, he finds out the truth and goes all the way to the “Paathaala Lokha”, only to find the horse and all the 60,000 people dead! King Amsuman seeks forgiveness to Sage Kapilaachaarya thus, “Oh Great Sage! I know that you’ve not captured the horse. If you permit, however, I shall take the horse with me and help my grandfather to complete the “Ashvamedha Yaaga” that he had started!” Sage Kapilaachaarya was happy and granted him permission for the same. However, King Amsumaan asks Sage Kapilaachaarya thus, “Oh Sage! I know that my 60,000 people have committed a blunder in trying to behead you! You too know that they were brainless. Being brainless was not their fault, isn’t it? So can you please do something to revive them back to life?”

As King Amsumaan request thus, Sage Kapilaachaarya replies back thus, “Oh Amsumaan! I cannot do this at the moment, as I’m in a deep penance. But there is a solution. You start an ardent prayer towards Mother Ganga. Probably she can help you by sprinkling her holy water on these people to bring them back to life!” Accordingly, King Amsumaan goes into deep penance to bring Mother Ganga down to the earth. But it was in vain. He was not able to do it! King Amsumaan in turn had a son by name Dileepa. King Dileepa Chakravarty was also a great king and he too tried his best to bring Mother Ganga to the earth, but in vain as well!

King Dileepa had a son by name Bhageeratha. King Bhageeratha went into penance mode to bring down Mother Ganga! So for today, let us stop with this, and we shall continue in the next episode. We shall witness whether King Bhageeratha was atleast successful in his mission of bringing Mother Ganga down to the earth! Stay tuned! 😊

 

We’re currently at a critical juncture amidst the “Ambareesha-Charitra”, wherein Sage Dhurvaasa tries to curse King Ambareesha for not serving him before breaking the fast. As the curse is ready to be bestowed upon King Ambareesha, Bhagawan Vishnu’s “Chakra” gets terribly angry on Sage Dhurvaasa for his atrocious act. The “Chakra” challenges Sage Dhurvaasa to run and protect himself first, before cursing King Ambareesha. Accordingly, the “Chakra” starts its chase and makes Sage Dhurvaasa run for his life! This run becomes a huge marathon for Sage Dhurvaasa as he runs all over the world, seeking refuge! As none entertains him, he makes his way to Kailasa, the divine Abode of Bhagawan Shiva. As Bhagawan Shiva too turns him down, Sage Dhurvaasa makes his way to Bhagawan Brahma, only to be in vain! Sage Dhurvaasa’s marathon continues further and he goes to Vaikunta, the divine Abode of Bhagawan Vishnu! Upon seeing Sage Dhurvaasa breathlessly running towards Him, Bhagawan Vishnu understands what was going on. He thus explains to Sage Dhurvaasa that he has tried to inflict a curse on His ardent devotee and this is never acceptable! In fact, Bhagawan Vishnu explains that He Himself is powerless in front of King Ambareesha’s ardent devotion and his strict austere spiritual practices. Hence, Bhagawan Vishnu advises Sage Dhurvaasa to go back to King Ambareesha and surrender to him, rather than going here and there and wasting time.

Now Sage Dhurvaasa is caught in two minds here – He had determined to curse King Ambareesha, but now it is to this same King Ambareesha that he has to go and surrender! How can a person surrender at the feet of an enemy? However, as all of them including Bhagawan Brahma, Bhagawan Shiva and Bhagawan Vishnu have washed off their hands, Sage Dhurvaasa doesn’t have any other option here, but to surrender to King Ambareesha himself! Thinking thus, Sage Dhurvaasa returns back to King Ambareesha’s palace. As King Ambareesha sees Sage Dhurvaasa running towards him, he immediately goes and receives him with great respect. Sage Dhurvaasa seeks unconditional apology to King Ambareesha by saying thus, “Oh Ambareesha! It is my mistake to have tried inflicting a curse on you. As you’re Bhagawan Vishnu’s ardent devotee, my curse would be rendered helpless in front of you and I’ve learnt my lesson today. So please forgive me and protect my life from Bhagawan Vishnu’s “Chakra””!

As Sage Dhurvaasa seeks apology thus, King Ambareesha turns towards Bhagawan Vishnu’s “Chakra” and explains thus, “Oh Divine Chakra! I think you should stop your chasing now. Sage Dhurvaasa is one of the greatest Sages, the world has ever seen. It is also my mistake to have broken my fast before he arrives. Hence, please forgive the great Sage and save his life!” As King Ambareesha orders thus, the “Chakra” gives up the chase and lets Sage Dhurvaasa free. From this incident, Sage Dhurvaasa learnt an important lesson here – “Never ever go near those people who are ardent devotees of Bhagawan! It is only if we go near them, would we be finding fault with them and eventually would end up cursing them, isn’t it? So from today, let us never go and poke into the business of Bhagawan’s ardent devotees!”

This is a very important learning for us also – If we’re trying to holding on to Bhagawan’s feet tightly, we would be safe from any kind of curse from anybody in this world. We shall be rest-assured that Bhagawan would protect us from all kinds of enemies in this world. We should realize this point and thus, take this opportunity to increase our devotion towards Bhagawan. We should take conscious efforts to increase our spiritual practices, in turn, increase our devotion towards Bhagawan!

Thus, with this note, we come to the end of the “Ambareesha-Charitra” and we shall wait till the next episode to commence the next important event, as part of the ninth “Skandha”! Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

We had witnessed in the previous episode, some major benefits that we might obtain by undertaking regular “fasting”. As we’ve witnessed, it is always important to give a break to our digestive system for alteast a day in a month. This would clear up all the wastes that get accumulated in the system and the break in the digestion process would automatically flush out all these toxins from our body. This would render the system clean and fit for the next day’s process to start afresh. Thus, fasting has enormous scientific benefits to our physical body. Recent researches have also found out that fasting regularly helps us to keep our blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure levels in their respective optimum ranges. Moreover, fasting also helps us regulate our general body metabolism and makes sure that we do not have unwanted health complications. Apart from the scientific benefits, there are enormous spiritual benefits that we gain as well. If we’re able to observe regular fasting, our mind slowly starts to get under control. In other words, our desires would start coming down, our craving for food would start decreasing, which would indirectly result in an increase of our “Vairaagya” or “Will-power”. Once our will-power increases, we would automatically gain the ability to handle any kind of situation that might arise in our personal and professional life.

Thus, it is important for all of us to understand all these significances of “fasting” and we should make it a point to try and follow the same. As we’ve witnessed, these are scientifically proved research findings and this is exactly what our ancestors have formulated as well – To observe a full-day fast without even drinking a single drop of water on the “Ekaadashi” day of every month (“Nirjala Ekaadashi”). Thus, this practice contributes to both or physical and spiritual upliftment at the same time.

Moving on with the “Ambareesha-Charitra” thus, as we’ve witnessed at the end of yesterday’s episode, King Ambareesha consumes a glass of water at around 9 AM on the “Dvaadashi” day and completes his fasting officially. However, he knows that Sage Dhurvaasa was on his way and that, he should be served with a good meal, which is also an important criteria to break the fast. As Sage Dhurvaasa makes his way back to King Ambareesha’s palace, he finds that King Ambareesha had already consumed “something” and has broken the fast before he came. With all the anger, (quite as usual), Sage Dhurvaasa demands an explanation to King Ambareesha’s act. Without having the patience to listen to King Ambareesha’s valid explanation, Sage Dhurvaasa was fuming in anger and raised his hand to curse King Ambareesha! Readers should be aware here that King Amabreesha was a great devotee of Bhagawan Vishnu, in such a way that Bhagawan Vishnu had once given His “Chakra” to King Ambareesha for protection. We can imagine how ardent a devotee would King Ambareesha had been!

As Sage Dhurvaasa raises his hands to deliver the curse, the “Chakra” became terribly angry! The “Chakra” replies to Sage Dhurvaasa with equal fury thus, “Oh Dhurvaasa! Do you know who is King Ambareesha is? Without investigating the cause of an incident, how can you give curses to people, just like that? Do you know how many people in this world are suffering because of your short-temper? Moreover, who the hell are you to deliver a curse on my ardent devotee? Now let me show the world, the power of this “Chakra” and what can it do!” Fuming thus, the “Chakra” starts from it’s dwelling place and starts to chase down Sage Dhurvaasa, as King Ambareesha is looking on!

Upon seeing the “Chakra” dreadfully following him, Sage Dhurvaasa starts to run for his life! He runs, runs and runs, and there is no respite from the powerful “Chakra”! Finally, Sage Dhurvaasa decides that he should go to “Kailaasa” – The Abode of Bhagawan Shiva for protection. Thus, as Sage Dhurvaasa reaches Kailaasa and seeks refuge to Bhagawan Shiva thus, “Oh Bhagawan Shiva! This “Chakra” is following me to put an end to my life! You’re the only one who can protect me from this!” Seeing Sage Dhurvaasa’s pitiable condition, Bhagawan Shiva was unmoved. He knew what had happened! Bhagawan Shiva replies back thus, “Oh Sage Dhurvaasa! Please understand that you’ve insulted Bhagawan Vishnu’s ardent devotee and this is nothing but the repercussion for your own mistake! Hence, I cannot do much in this case and it is upto you to save yourself!” As Bhagawan Shiva deserts him thus, Sage Dhurvaasa runs to Bhagawan Brahma and seeks refuge. Upon seeing Sage Dhurvaasa running towards him, Bhagawan Brahma assumes a “traffic police” job! 😊 He redirects Sage Dhurvaasa from himself, as he knows that he would be helpless in front of Bhagawan Vishnu’s powerful “Chakra”!

As Bhagawan Brahma also deserts him thus, Sage Dhurvaasa’s “marathon run” continues further! 😊 He now goes to the Vishnu Lokha itself and tries to seek solace! Upon seeing Sage Dhurvaasa’s condition, Bhagawan Vishnu replies him thus, “Oh Sage Dhurvaasa! What can I do here? If you would have insulted me in some way, I would have given a solution when you seek refuge under me. Whereas, you’ve insulted my “Bhakta” (Ardent devotee) and in this case, it is only my “Bhakta” who can save you from this suffering! Hence, go back to Ambareesha and surrender to him. He would protect you!”

We should note an important point here – If we have some issue with someone in this world, where do we run for protection? We normally seek Bhagawan’s intervention and run towards the temple, isn’t it? Will we have the guts to go back to that same person whom we had insulted before, to seek an apology? Our “ego” would stop us from doing it, isn’t it? Even though we might know that we are at fault for insulting the other person, we would never have the guts in us to go to that person , accept our mistake and seek an apology! This was exactly the case in Sage Dhurvaasa’s story as well! As Bhagawan Vishnu proposes to Sage Dhurvaasa that the only solution available here is to go and seek forgiveness to King Ambareesha, how does Sage Dhurvaasa approach this solution? Is he going back to King Ambareesha again? Or, is his ego going to get the better of him here? Let’s wait and find out in the next episode! Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed a key portion of the “Ambareesha-Charitra”, wherein King Ambareesha received Sage Durvaasa on the “Dvaadashi” day. It is to be remembered that King Ambareesha had fasted on the previous “Ekaadashi” day and is now ready to break his fast, by performing the rituals and by serving food to a guest (here, the guest is none other than Sage Dhurvaasa). Accordingly, Sage Durvaasa was also very happy to be King Ambareesha’s noble guest on an auspicious day. However, since he had travelled for a long distance, he wanted to take a shower. Thus, Sage Durvaasa goes to the river bank for his shower, but never returns back! King Ambareesha is waiting and waiting, but there’s no sign of Sage Durvaasa coming back! Worried as he was, King Ambareesha was caught in a “Catch-22” situation or an “Ethical Dilemma” or a “Dharma-Sankata” here. On one hand, if he doesn’t break his fast by 9 AM, it is going to be a fault on his part, with respect to the austerities. On the other hand, if he consumes food without serving the guest, it is again going to be a huge mistake! All of us know how short-tempered is Sage Durvaasa and if he gives a curse, it is going to be extremely severe. King Ambareesha knows this very well too, and is fearing the dire consequences if he doesn’t conduct himself to the likes of Sage Durvaasa.

As time passes by, Sage Durvaasa doesn’t return back at all! It’s already going to be 9 AM and time is clearly running out for the fast to be completed. Hence, King Ambareesha comes to a conclusion here – He would atleast consume a glass of water, which can signify the breaking of the fast. In other words, consuming water here, signifies that something has gone into his mouth. This would imply that his fast is officially broken. At the same time, water cannot be equated to food. Hence, it also implies that he hasn’t taken any food until his guest is served. Thus, King Ambareesha decides that when Sage Durvaasa arrives, the food can be served to Sage Durvaasa first, and then can be consumed by him.

From this decision of King Ambareesha, we can learn one important thing here – If we’re undertaking a fasting on the “Ekaadashi” day, we should not even drink water. This is called “Nirjala Ekaadashi Vratha”. If King Ambareesha is drinking water to break the fast, it automatically implies that he doesn’t even consume water during the whole of the “Ekaadashi” day. In the present day, many of us ask this question – “Oh! Today is Ekaadashi day and it’s a rule that we’ve to fast. So please let me know, which all food items can be consumed and which food items have to be avoided!” 😊 Look at the way in which we ask questions in the present day! The entire discussion here is that, we should not consume anything, including water during the “Ekaadashi” fast. But, we start the question by asking which all food items can be consumed! This is where all of us are today! We are not going to die if we’re fasting completely for a single day without taking any sort of food or water.

We should understand here that, this is a methodology formatted by our ancestors to maintain our physical health in a good shape. If we fast for a day completely, it has been scientifically proved that our digestive system recoups very nicely. If we happen to visit any big industrial area, almost every factory that employs heavy machinery, would shut down atleast once or twice in a month for “maintenance purpose”, isn’t it? During that time, the machine is oiled, repaired, etc. so that it is up and running again for the next 15-20 days. Just like how any machine in this world would need a break in between continuous operation, our physical body is also a machine designed by Bhagawan, and this machine also requires a break in the middle. This is why we have this practice of fasting once every fifteen days. By doing so, our body would rejuvenate and we would become extremely fresh in nature. We would be devoid of unnecessary diseases that happen because of improper digestion. For instance, we often keep complaining of indigestion, acidity, diarrhea, dysentery, etc. isn’t it? Why do we get all such types of problems? It is only because of our improper food habits. Also, we do not give the digestive system, a proper overhaul. There is a rule in which we should consume food too – Our food that we take every day should be comprised of 65% of solid food, 25% of water and the remaining 10% of air. We should never consume food to our full stomach level! This would create lot of digestive issues. Moreover, if we consume food till our throat, our body would become tired and lazy (“Thaamasa Guna”). We should thus be very careful with our food intake. Thus, if we maintain our food habits according to the prescribed level, along with the fasting practice once every fifteen days (On the “Ekaadashi” day), we would be totally devoid of any sort of acidity or indigestion problems. Today we take lot of medicines for all these problems as well. However, if we’re following this procedure correctly, why do we need to go to the medical shop at all? Hence, let us practice this from this moment itself!

Coming back to the event thus, King Ambareesha “breaks” his fast by drinking a glass of water and the moment King Ambareesha finishes his glass of water, Sage Durvaasa enters in! Upon entering, he straightaway casts a look at King Ambareesha and finds out that he had consumed something before he had come! Upon understanding thus, Sage Durvaasa gets extremely angry! Upon seeing Sage Durvaasa boiling with anger, King Ambareesha starts shaking with fear! What is going to happen next? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had set up the context for the all-important “Ambareesha Charitra”, wherein we had witnessed the family background of King Ambareesha. We had commenced the nineth “Skandha” of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana, wherein we had witnessed some important details of the “Soorya-Vamsha”. We’ve also seen in due course that this great Soorya-Vamsha is the one that gave birth to Bhagawan Rama, as it’s 35’th king. Thus, one of the earliest kings of the Soorya-Vamsha was King Ambareesha. He was a righteous king and believed that his people come first, rather than money and name. This is an important thing that all of us should note. As an able administrator, be it of the government, a corporate organization, etc. Of course, money is important but it is not the prime focus of any administration. Unfortunately, some people and organizations today are running behind money solely, forgetting people who slog day in and day out for the company. Earning the trust and goodwill of people associated, is of paramount importance, which is nearly forgotten in today’s “business world”, but however, King Ambareesha was an epitome of this important quality.

As King Ambareesha was dedicatedly carrying out his duties of the kingdom, he also had an important routine of fasting on the “Ekadashi” (11’th day of every month) and breaking the fast on the subsequent “Dvaadashi” day. King Ambareesha was steadfast in this practice – He used to serve a guest with food on the twelfth day and only then break his fast. As this was continuing for many years, one fine day, Sage Durvaasa makes his way to see King Ambareesha on the twelfth day of the month. This is the “Dvaadashi” day and King Ambareesha has fasted the previous “Ekaadashi” day and is getting ready to break his fast. Fortunately, he had a great guest in the form of Sage Durvaasa and he ran out of his palace to receive him with all the respects. Sage Durvaasa is also happy with the great respect and hospitality that King Ambareesha has given him. Upon his arrival, King Ambareesha explains to Sage Durvaasa thus, “Oh great Sage Durvaass! I’m so fortunate today to have you as my esteemed guest! As I observe fast on the Ekaadashi day, my regular practice is to break my fast on the Dvaadashi day by serving food to a guest. Today, your arrival as my guest has purified my practice to a great extent!” Upon hearing this, Sage Durvaasa was also happy and accepted King Ambareesha’s service.

However, here comes the trap – As Sage Durvaasa has travelled and walked all the way from where he had come, he was seemingly tired and fatigued. Hence, before accepting the meal from King Ambareesha, he wanted to refresh and rejuvenate himself with a bath. Hence he requested King Ambareesha that he has to go to the river front to bathe himself, and then would join in for the breakfast ceremony. As Sage Durvaasa requests thus, King Ambareesha couldn’t tell much, and he accepts the plan. Sage Durvaasa leaves for the river bank for his bath and customary spiritual practices for the day. However, as Sage Durvaasa goes, he goes and goes! He never returns back! King Ambareesha is waiting on and on. Time is running out. We’ve seen yesterday itself that according to the calculation of time, the fast should be broken by around 8 AM in the morning. However, it gets delayed, and atleast by 9 AM latest, this should be completed. King Ambareesha is getting tensed that the effect of the fasting is going to go in vain and that, the practices for the “Dvaadashi” day are also going for a toss.

Now King Ambareesha is in a fix here – He is caught up between two important activities that needs to be done. Firstly, he should serve a guest before breaking the fast on the “Dvaadashi” day. Secondly, the deadline of 9 AM (time) shouldn’t be missed for him to consume food and break his fast. If the deadline is missed, there is no use of observing the fast, the previous day. Now what does King Ambareesha do? Should he consume food or not? If he consumes food now, it would result in a great “Dosha” (Fault) that he has disrespected Sage Durvaasa! As we all know, Sage Durvaasa is an epitome of anger! The moment Sage Durvaasa comes to know that he has been disrespected, a curse is definitely going to be on its way! We might also know how many people have suffered due to Sage Durvaasa’s extreme curses! 😊 King Ambareesha knew this very well! However, on the other hand, if he doesn’t consume food and break his fast at this particular time, he is going to falter on his spiritual practice. So which way does he choose?

This is what we call in colloquial terms as “Dharma-Sankata” and in English, we call it as a “Catch-22 situation”! There might be two different options, both pertaining to Dharma only. But if we choose one path, it is going to result in demerits of not following the other! In the present day, we mistake the meaning of this phrase called “Dharma-Sankata”. For instance, we might end up in a situation thus, “Oh! I”ve to protect my family on one hand, and my job on the other hand. If I’ve to protect my job and family, I’ve to indulge in some unethical activities! What should I do? If I involve myself in unethical activities, I can earn quick money and save my family. Else, I’m doomed!” This is never a “Dharma-Sankata”! As per the definition, both the paths should be of “Dharma” only. But here, it is not the case isn’t it? Involving ourselves in unethical activities clearly pertain to “Adharma”. Hence, using this phrase called “Dharma-Sankata” for such situations is wrong and unwarranted!

Here, for King Ambareesha, one path of Dharma is to serve guests before taking food. The other path of Dharma is the “Dvaadashi” fast-breaking procedure. Both are important. If he leaves one for the other, it is going to result in him being at fault! Thinking for a long time thus, King Ambareesha comes to a conclusion. What was King Ambareesha’s conclusion and decision? How well did it go with Sage Durvaasa? Let’s witness this interesting part of the “Ambareesha-Charitra” in the next episode! Stay tuned! 😊

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the all-important “Matsya-Avatara” of Bhagawan Vishnu, wherein Bhagawan had incarnated in the form of a huge fish, to protect the Vedas, along with Satyavrata and the Sapta-Rishis, amidst a raging natural disaster (Pralaya). With the details of the Matsya-Avatara, Sage Sukhaachaarya concludes the eighth “Skandha” of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana. Now as we move on with the nineth “Skandha”, we digress a little bit from what we’ve discussed so far, with regards to the “Manu” dynasty and the various kings who came as part of this. We are now going to witness some important details of the “Soorya-Vamsa” (Dynasty of Bhagawan Soorya). We’re going to witness how it began and who are the prominent people who were part of this great “Soorya-Vamsa”. I shall explain this in a brief, with all the people who came as successive generations. Readers should take notes and remember the “family tree” correctly.

We’ve already witnessed in our earlier episode about some details of Bhagawan Bramha. It all starts from Bhagawan Brahma only, who is the universal creator. Bhagawan Bramha had a son by name Marichi. This Marichi gets married to a girl by name Daakshaayani. Kashyapa was born to this couple. This Kashyapa gets married to Aditi and their son was none other than Bhagawan Soorya (Sun God), who is also referred to as “Vivasvaan”. This Vivasvaan gets married to Sanya and obtains a son by name “Shraadha Deva”, who’s story was described during the recently concluded Matsya-Avatara. This Shraadha-Deva in turn marries a woman by name Shraddha, and obtains a son by name Ikshvaaku.

The moment we hear the name “Ikshvaaku”, all of us would remember one great personality in all of our Indian scriptures, about whom we’ve done our first project as part of this blog series as well – He’s none other than Bhagawan Rama himself! Yes! Bhagawan Rama comes under the dynasty of King Ikshvaaku. It is to be understood by readers that Bhagawan Rama was the 35’th king of this great Ikshvaaku dynasty, with the first king being King Ikshvaaku himself. This is the reason why we often say that Bhagawan Rama belongs to the “Soorya-Vamsa”. It is to be understood here from the family tree explained above, that King Ikshvaaku is a direct product of the Soorya-Vamsa and Bhagawan Rama follows this same family generation. Now, this Ikshvaaku too has children and it continues as the “Brishadva Charitra”. King Sariyaathi was subsequently born as part of the Ikshvaaku Dynasty. Subsequently Naabhaaga was born and it was to this Naabhaaga, King Ambareesha takes birth as his son.

This is a very important “Charithra” in the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana wherein, many important lessons are to be learnt and witnessed as part of this “Ambareesha Charithra”. We shall witness this “Ambareesha Charithra” in a bit of detail. If we’re able to understand the importance of the two days called “Ekadashi” and “Dvaadashi”, it is only because of King Ambareesha. He was a righteous and a selfless king, who believed that all the property that he possessed was all Bhagawan’s, and not his at any point in time. As a king, Ambareesha believed that his sole purpose was to protect his people, rather than amassing wealth, name and fame for himself. We can imagine how great a king was this Ambareesha!

King Ambareesha thus, had an important routine in his life – To fast during every “Ekaadashi” day, which is the eleventh day of every month. The subsequent day is “Dvaadashi”, the twelfth day, wherein he had a practice that he first offers food to a guest (Athiti) and only then he breaks his fast. Readers should remember the arithmetic behind calculating the duration of the day here. We’ve already discussed this in our earlier episodes as well, when we were discussing the divisions of time. According to the time calculation, a person who is fasting for the entire day of the “Ekaadashi”, should break his / her fast by around 8:30 AM the next day, which is the “Dvaadashi day”. This is the normal rule, as per the calculation of the “Naazhigai’s”.

After hearing this, we might immediately argue here – “Oh! My breakfast time every day is at 8:30 AM only! So what’s so different in this?” 😊 It is to be understood that Sage Sukhaachaarya and King Ambareesha are talking about the “fasting” schedule and not the daily food schedule! Nowadays, it is very rare to see people fasting on the “Ekaadashi” day! This arithmetic is only for those very few people who follow it! Also in the present day, doctors are advising that we split our diet into eight different slots! Normally we have three meals a day as a norm. But now, even that is increasing from three to eight! It’s amusing when we see such changes happening!

Anyway, now coming back to the story here, King Ambareesha thus has this important routine of fasting during the “Ekaadashi” day and subsequently breaking his fast on the “Dvaadashi” day by offering food to a guest who visits him. Once as King Ambareesha is going about this routine, something very unique happens! What is that unique experience which King Ambareesha encounters and how does he manage it? An interesting accord awaits us in the next episode! Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the next important incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu – The “Matsya Avatara”. We had set up the context nicely for an elaborate discussion on this event, wherein we witnessed how “Shraadha Manu”, also called “Satyavrata” was engaged in an interesting conversation and activity with a “mysterious fish”. Initially he found that fish amidst the river wherein he was performing his daily spiritual practices. When the fish came into his hands, it was a tiny one and requested his protection from bigger fishes that might swallow it. Emotionally moved by the fervent request of the little fish, Satyavrata brings it home and tries to put it into a small vessel. Eventually the fish starts to grow and had to be shifted subsequently to a bigger vessel, a bigger tank, a well, the river again, and finally the fish grows into a mammoth size and requests Satyavrata to leave it in the ocean.

As this is unfolding quickly, Satyavrata realizes that this is not an ordinary fish in any case. There is something that is going on, which is beyond his understanding. How can a small fish grow into a mammoth size within just a single day? Also, how can it grow immediately, the moment he puts it into a container or well or a river? Notwithstanding thus, Satyavrata asks the fish thus, “I sense something very different with you. I’m sure you’re not an ordinary fish. First of all, fishes do not talk, but you do! Secondly, how can a living being grow this fast, and even then, I find your growth to be intentional and not by the natural phenomenon! So tell me who you are, and what do you want to convey to me?” As Satyavrata asks thus, the fish starts its reply:

“Saptamedathanaadurdhvam mahanyetat arindhama!

Nimangranyabhyaathyam bhodhau trilokyam bhoor bhuvaadhikam!!”

The fish replies to Satyavrata thus, “Oh Satyavrata! Please realize that this entire world is going to be taken over by the ocean on the seventh day from today. There is going to be a huge natural disaster. At that point when the oceans start taking over the land, a huge boat would come towards you. I will also come towards you as a huge fish. Use the snake called “Vaasuki” as the rope to tie the boat on to my huge fins. Thus, you can get into the boat and along with you, take all the Vedas, the seven important Sages (Sapta-Rishis), and other important people on the boat. Please be patient till the ocean waters recede. I shall protect you for sure. You don’t need to worry about your safety!”

Upon hearing this from the fish, Satyavrata was stunned beyond words! He was shell-shocked! He never expected such an answer from the fish! As Satyavrata is speechless thus, the fish transforms itself quickly into Bhagawan Vishnu and stands in front of him! The message is now loud and clear! Bhagawan Vishnu wants to use Satyavrata to protect the Vedas and important Sages amidst a raging natural disaster. Upon worshipping Bhagawan Vishnu, Satyavrata gets himself prepared to face the huge ordeal.

As per Bhagawan’s words, on the seventh day, the disaster commences. There are shrieking sounds everywhere and the rains are starting to pour down! Winds are blowing at extremely high speeds! The ocean levels are rising, not withstanding the heavy intensity of rains and winds. It was like a super cyclone or a typhoon or a hurricane that we see today too in some parts of the world. Also, the waves in the ocean start pounding the coast like never before, just like tsunamis that we currently see in the present day. At one point, the ocean waves breach the coastline and the water enters inland. Slowly and steadily the ocean starts swallowing up all the landmasses and the rain continues unabated! Winds are blowing at an unimaginable speed!

It is at this time, people are running here and there for help and scouting for shelter, but in vain! Thousands of people lose their lives! Satyavrata too is patiently waiting for Bhaagwan’s words to come true. As expected, a big boat makes its way towards him, as the water level around him starts rising to alarming heights! Along with the big boat, a huge fish and the snake Vaasuki also make their way towards Satyavrata. The length of the fish was around 100,000 Yojanas! We can imagine how long the fish would have been! As instructed by Bhagawan, Satyavrata ties the Vaasuki snake to the boat and the fin of the fish, making the boat stable. Thus, Satyavrata gets on to the boat, and brings alongside, all the Vedas and the Sapta-Rishis. As all of them get on board the boat, Bhagwaan Vishnu elaborately describes the “Matsya-Puraana” to Satyavrata and Co. on the boat. This continues till the disaster comes to an end and all the waters recede back into the oceans. Satyavrata is saved, along with the Vedas and the Rishis!

Thus, Bhagwan Vishnu takes an incarnation of a fish (“Matsya”) to protect the world along with the Vedas, Satyavrata and the Sapta-Rishis from a raging natural disaster. With this, we come to the end of the “Matsya-Avatara” and also the eighth Skandha of Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana. So for today, let us worship Bhagawan Vishnu as Bhagawan Matsya-Moorthi and obtain His divine grace by enjoying the story of the Matsya-Avatara. We shall wait till the next episode to commence the nineth Skandha! Stay tuned! 😊

 

 

 

The previous episode witnessed the culmination of the Vaamana-Avataara wherein we understood some key take-aways from the likes of King Mahabali. As this incarnation comes to an end with Indra and Co. being re-instated with their kingdom of the three “Lokhas”, Sage Shukraachaarya moves on with the next important event. We’re still in the eighth “Skandha” of “Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” and this event that we’re going to witness now, will be the concluding part of this “Skandha”. As mentioned yesterday, this event is going to revolve around a person by name “Shraadha Deva”.

“Aaseeth ateetha kalpaante braamho naimitthiko layaha!

Samudropulapastaatra lokhaah bhooraadhayonrupaha!!

Nyaathvaa tadhaanavendrasya hayagreevasya cheshtitham!

Shraadha deva ithigyaathaha manuthve harinaah pitaha!!”

With the Vaaman-Avatara and the current event under discussion, the focus now shifts towards the southern part of India. While the Vaamana-Avatara was focused on Kerala, now we move into Tamil Nadu. In this state of Tamil Nadu, we’re now going to a famous city called Madurai. There is a river by name “Krita-Maala”, today famously known as River Vaigai. On the banks of this River Krita-Maala, there was this “Shraadha-Manu”, who had the name “Satyavrata”. As this Satyavrata is living his life at this place, one day he goes to the river bank to do his regular “Tharpana” (Spiritual Practice) in the evening. As he was performing the “Tharpana”, there was a small little fish that got into his hands.

“Tasyaa dheenataram vaakyam ashrutya sa maheepathihi!

Kalasaapshu nihiteneyam dayaalu ninya aashramam!!”

As the little fish enters into Satyavrata’s hands, it suddenly started to talk! Upon hearing a fish talk in human language, Satyavrata was surprised! The little fish talks to Satyavrata thus, “Oh Satyavrata! As you see, I’m such a small little fish, just taken birth! Please do not leave me again into this mighty river amidst the fast-flowing water. There are bigger fishes here, which would eat me off. Therefore, please help me out!” Upon hearing this, Satyavrata was moved! He asks the fish thus, “Oh little one! I don’t have any problem in helping you and ensuring your safety. Please tell me what should I do!” The fish replies back, “Oh Satyavrata! Why don’t you put me into your ‘Kamandala’ vessel and take me to your home? You can put me into a small tank at your place, where I would be safe and secure!”

Accordingly, Satyavrata takes the little fish into his vessel, takes it to his home and tries to put it into a nicely made tank, exclusively for that fish alone. But as Satyavrata tries to transfer the little fish into the tank, he is in for another surprise! Within the time that he walked back to his home, the fish has grown in size! It is not able to come out of the ‘Kamandala’ vessel. Now the fish replies thus, “Oh Satyavrata! I think this vessel nor this tank would be of sufficient size to house me. Perhaps you should put me into the well in your house.“ Accordingly thus, Satyavrata takes the fish to the well and drops it inside! Again, Satyavrata is in for a surprise! As he drops the fish into the well, it again grows quickly to a bigger size, which renders the well to be useless to hold it anymore. Again, Satyavrata puts the fish into another big tank, but in vain! Again the fish grows into a mammoth size, engulfing the whole tank!

Upon seeing this, Satyavrata couldn’t understand what is going on here! Hence, he takes the fish and puts it into the river again! Now, the fish grows into a huge whale-like size and engulfs the whole river too! This leaves Satyavrata stunned beyond words! He is clearly running out of options and doesn’t know what is going on around him. This is surely some message from someone who is all-pervasive and all-powerful. At one point, Satyavrata starts to doubt whether this is really a fish or something or someone else!

As Satyavrata looks on with awe and shock, the fish tells him thus, “Oh Satyavrata! Looks like even this river is not capable of holding my mammoth size. I think it’s best that you take me to the ocean and leave me there!” Now Satyavrata is clearly perplexed here! He doesn’t know whether to really honour these words of the fish. With all his past experiences with the fish, he was damn sure that even if he is going to leave it in the ocean, it is going to say that this ocean is also insufficient! What would he do then? Mustering up his courage thus, Satyavrata asks the fish thus, “I do not think that you are an ordinary little fish! You are somebody else! Please tell me who are you and what do you want from me! Why are you playing this game with me?”

As Satyavrata asks a series of questions thus, the fish begins to answer all of them one by one! What are the answers given by the fish? Who is this fish really? What does this fish want from Satyavrata? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

The previous episode witnessed the culmination of an important and an interesting incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu, known famously as Bhagawan Vaamana or Bhagawan Trivikrama. It is to be remembered by readers that so far, we’ve witnessed the incarnations of  “Kurma”, “Varaaha”, “Narasimha” “Hari” and “Vaamana”. This incarnation of Bhagawan Vaamana signifies lot of lessons for us to learn as well.

As we had witnessed yesterday, Bhagawan Vaamana grows into a mammoth size and measures all the three “Lokhas” of the world with just two of His feet of soil that He had asked to King Mahabali. As there was one more foot that was pending to be recovered, King Mahabali realizes that this little boy who came in front of him was none other than Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! Unlike other Raakshasas who we’ve so far seen (and are going to see) were getting angry and waging wars against Bhagawan, King Mahabali realized how fortunate he was, to give the entire world as a “Daanam” to Bhagawan Vishnu, who is the creator Himself! This is how King Mahabali, although being a Raakshasa, was very different from his other counterparts and this is also one of the reasons why Bhagawan Vishnu did not kill or harm Mahabali in any way. He was rather happy that King Mahabali was steadfast in his noble characteristic called “Daanam”, even though his Guru, Sage Shukraachaarya tried to stop him from doing it.

Appreciating him for this noble character and heart thus, Bhagawan Vishnu thus grants a wish to King Mahabali that he can visit his kingdom and people once every year and ensure that all of his people are very happy and contented. Upon knowing this, all his people were extremely happy and proud of their righteous king, and this is why even today, we see the festival called “Onam” being celebrated with lot of grandeur in the south-Indian state of Kerala. As part of this important festival, people welcome their beloved King Mahabali with beautiful floral designs, brightly lit lamps all over their homes, accompanied with a detailed lunch (“Sadhya”) with an enormous amount of food dishes being cooked! Even today, we have the all-important “Vaamana-Kshetra” in Kerala, where we can worship the very place where this entire event unfolded. Many of us might be familiar with the place called “Ernakulam” or Kochi in Kerala. Near to this Ernakulam city, there is a place called “Thirukkaatkara”, which is also one amongst the 108 “Divyadesams” of Bhagawan Vishnu. This Thirukkaatkara is the place from where King Mahabali was ruling the entire world, and it was this very place wherein Bhagawan Vishnu came in as the little Vaamana. Thus, Thirukkaatkara is a very important place in our spiritual map and we should make sure that we visit this place whenever we get time and obtain the divine blessings of Bhagawan Vaamana here.

Thus, we should learn from this event, the significance of “Daanam” as a characteristic. Whatever might be the situation, we should develop that quality of giving selflessly to those who are in need. Especially in testing times like these, in which all of us are stranded in various parts of the world, there are thousands and millions of people everywhere who are in dire need of food, money, etc. as they’ve lost their jobs and livelihood. All of us should make it a point to come forward and lend a helping hand to those people who are suffering. It is to be remembered that those people too have families and children, who have to be fed. We should thus invoke the noble character of helping others from King Mahabali and try to help as many people as we can during this tough phase of life. If not on a large scale, we can alteast try and lend a helping hand to our own people who are labourers, domestic workers, etc. in our house or society by offering them whatever little we can. At any instance, just because it is a lockdown period, we should not deny them their full month’s salary. We should give them their due share and ensure that they do not go into starvation.

More than just the money aspect, if possible, we shall even provide them with some essential items such as rice, dhal, and other important raw materials for preparing food at home. This would serve two purposes here – Firstly, they wouldn’t need to scout around to grocery shops, etc. to buy things, which might increase the possibility of them contracting the viral infection. By doing this offering to them, we shall ensure that they stay at home and maintain adequate “social distancing” norms as per the government’s advice and instruction. Secondly, by ensuring that these people stay at home, we shall contribute a bit to our nation by “breaking the chain” of this viral spread. If we’re keeping people at home, automatically the lockdown exercise undertaken by the government would gradually start bearing fruit. Hence, because of these two reasons, we should at this catastrophic juncture, try to invoke lessons of “Daanam” from King Mahabali’s life and implement them as much as possible. Rather than fretting about the current situation, we should take this as an opportunity to put many of the learnings into practice. We might not get a second chance again to serve people. So let us use this opportunity given by Bhagawan to the fullest extent possible, to serve as many needy people as possible.

Moving on thus, as Bhagawan measures all of the world and obtains it from King Mahabali, He reinstates all of it to Indra and the Devas. Thus, with this, Aditi’s wish was fulfilled. It is to be remembered by readers that Aditi, mother of Devas had performed the important “Payo-Vrata” only for this purpose.

With this, we come to the end of this important incarnation and the eighth “Skandha” of our “Srimad Bhaagawatha Puraana” continues with the next incarnation – “Matsya”. This is a very important incarnation wherein Bhagawan Vishnu is going to incarnate in the form of a huge fish to save the world from destruction. We now have to look into the story of the next “Manu” who was ruling the world, called “Shraadha Deva”. Who is this Shraadha Deva? What did he do? Why did Bhagawan incarnate again? Let’s wait till the next episode to commence a detailed discussion on these questions. Stay tuned! 😊