Showing posts with label Garuda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garuda. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Vatapi

A sage called Khaga once did severe penance to please Vishnu. He got what he wanted and returned to the mountain Rishyamukha. On the mountain lived a king called Rishya with his wife, Roopavati. The king died childless. The queen was stricken with grief. She was crying in the forest when her cries were heard by Garuda. He took the form of a human and seeing the queen was in love with her. He asked her who she was. She said she and her husband had come to the forest to pray for a child and in the process the king had died and she was now all alone.
Garuda said he would have a child with her. The queen asked for  hundred children. Garuda lived with her for twelve years. The king Rishya had another wife, Sushila. When she heard about this, she too begged for a child.
Soon both queens were pregnant and they gave birth to eggs. Sushila gave birth to twins - the eldest was blind and called Andhaka and the younger was called Jatayu. The other queen gave birth to a son called Kubala and ninety nine others. Kubala was made the king of birds.
Once the nagas attacked and fought Kubala. Kubala and his ninety nine brothers were killed in the fight.
Andhaka seeing this took refuge with the Nagas. The Nagas made him the king.
When Garuda came to know this he began killing the Nagas and was stopped by Brahma.
Soon Jatayu, the peaceful one had two sons, Sukha and Sarana. Andhaka had thousand sons, the eldest of whom was called Vatapi.
Vatapi made friends with the Nagas. Seeing this Sukha and Sarana prayed to Shiva and got boons. They realized that Vatapi would bring an end to their clan. So with the boons, they and fought and killed Vatapi.

This is how Dhritarashtra is acting and he will then go the way of Vatapi.

Thursday, 14 April 2016

Garuda fetches Indra for Krishna

Krishna kept the Parijata tree on Garuda, and along with Satyabhama and others climbed on top of Garuda. As they were about to leave, Sachi laughed.
Satyabhama asked Krishna if he knew why Sachi had laughed, even though they had to partake of the Parijata tree.
Krishna said Sachi's laughter was not to be taken into account. All beings in this universe are a part of me. When Sachi laughs at you, it is Krishna laughing at Krishna.
Satyabhama said You had said you will break the pride of Indra. Why did you not keep your promise.
Krishna said I could not against the word of Shiva. For me the love of the devotee is the most fulfilling of all things. If a devotee calls out to me, I forget everything. I forgave Indra for that.
Satyabhama said that means I am not dear to you.
Krishna said If this is how you feel, I will bring Indra to you.

Krishna then called Shiva and said : I have taken many avatars, many forms. When Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were ruling the heavens, I killed them and restored the heaven for Indra. When Bali captured the three worlds, I am Vamana, pushed Bali to the nether world using my feet and helped Indra.  When Ravana and Kumbhakarna attacked and captured Indra, as Rama I helped restore Indra's throne. I am no brother of Indra's. Tell Indra this and ask him to come and bow down before Satyabhama. If he does not listen, then I will give the heaven to someone else.

Shiva told Indra, and Indra could not control his anger. Knowing Indra was refusing to listen, Krishna asked Garuda to fetch Bali from the nether world. He would become the king of the heaven.

Garuda had a  soft corner for Indra. He said It made no sense to get a new king in the heaven in this cycle of the universe. Also, what would I tell Bali, if I went to fetch him. What I can do is, fetch Indra for you.

So saying Garuda left. He went to Indra and said Why are you oblivious of the fact that Krishna is Narayana and he is the one who is upholding this universe. Come with me to Krishna and bow down before Satyabhama.

Indra then became scared.

Garuda asked Indra to come with him quietly. Indra came and bowed down before Krishna and Satyabhama.

Monday, 11 April 2016

Krishna reaches heaven

Narada then said, Narakasura, the evil son of Prithivi (Earth) had stolen the earrings of Aditi, mother of Gods, along with many other valuables from heaven. Narada asked Krishna to first go and kill Narakasura.
Krishna, along with Satyabhama, went first where Naraka lived, and in a fight, Naraka was killed.
Sixteen thousand maidens had been held prisoner by Narakasura. Krishna freed them and then married all of them.
Then he returned the earrings of Aditi, and resumed his journey towards Indra's captital, Amaravati. In the garden, he saw the Parijata tree. Krishna asked Satyaki to fetch the tree. When Satyaki went there, he was confronted by the guards guarding the tree. Satyaki told them to tell Indra that they had come to get the tree.
The guards went to Indra and told him that a few people had come on top of Garuda and wanted to take away the parijata tree.
Angry, Indra with his thunderbolt in his hand, went to fight Krishna. Indra's wife. Sachi, said she would come along to see the fight.

Climbing on top of the elephant, his mount, accompanied by a friend, Jayadeva and his son Jayanta and his wife, Indra set forth for the place where Krishna was.

Sunday, 10 April 2016

Krishna pacifies Satyabhama

Satyabhama was lying on the floor, crying away. Hearing that Krishna was coming, Satyabhama started crying out louder in anger. She looked at Krishna and said a well wisher of Rukimini had come and started cursing Rukmini. Krishna said Why you do use such words against Rukmini?
Satyabhama then said Krishna had given the the Parijata flower to Rukmini and not to her. She was feeling insulted and would give up her life.
Krishna said Do not cry over one flower. I will get you the Parijata tree itself.
This pleased Satyabhama and she got up.
Krishna spent the night with Satyabhama.
In the morning, Narada came back. He said the Gods had refused to give the Parijata flowers away. He said the Gods had also insulted Krishna calling him a cowherd.

This angered Krishna and he decided to deal with the situation himself. He said Indra had become too proud and he needed to be taught a lesson. He said he would go to Indra and get the Parijata tree from there.

Krishna then sent for Garuda. He asked Garuda to take him to Indra to get the Parijata tree to Dwaraka. he got his mace and Sudarshana chakra and climbed on top of Garuda.
Satyabhama said she wanted to go with Krishna. Krishna agreed and also asked to of his followers, Satyaki and Kama to come along.

When Balarama heard this, he said he would come along also. Krishna asked Balarama to stay back and guard Dwaraka. 

Thursday, 31 December 2015

Garuda and Vishnu

Vishnu had been observing the antics of Garuda, He challenged Garuda. He flung his discus but the bird was not hurt. Garuda attacked Vishnu and hurt him badly with his beak and sharp claws. Stopping the flight, Vishnu said I have never seen one like you. I am pleased with your strength. Ask for a boon.
Garuda said if you are pleased with me, give me a position above you, on your flag. Garuda then said, he also wanted to give Vishnu a boon. Vishnu then said, he would like Garuda to be his vehicle.

Garuda then left with the pot of nectar for his mother. On the way, Indra confronted him and was about to hurl his thunderbolt at him. Garuda said Please do not insult your weapon. A thousand bolts hurled together will not hurt me. To give respect to you, I will tear off a feather from a wing and throw that at you.

Indra was amazed and asked for Garuda's friendship. He further wanted to know how strong he was. 
Garuda said One should talk of ones' own strengths. Only because you are asking me, I will tell you. I can fly tirelessly with all the worlds balanced on my wings. 

Indra then asked why Garuda was carrying the nectar away. Garuda told him about his mother's slavery. Hearing this, Indra said the Nagas are evil. You will not be able to tackle them easily and you will need to play with them. Garuda said when I hand over the nectar to the Nagas, my mother will be free, and then you can take away the nectar. Indra then asked Garuda to ask for a boon. Garuda said the Nagas have been the cause for this trouble. From today let them become my natural food.

Garuda flew on and invisible Indra flew along with Garuda.

Wednesday, 30 December 2015

Garuda

While this was happening, in the house, Vinata's egg hatched. The child that came out of the egg, grew in size instantly and stood up. It kept growing till its head nearly touched the skies. Gods were scared to see this. Who was this? The Gods went to the child and said, Son of Vinata, you are a holy soul. You are Garuda. Please do not scare us. You are the son of Kashyapa.
Satisfied, Garuda controlled his size. Garuda then brought forth his brother, who had been forcibly hatched by Vinata. He was Aruna. Garuda took him and placed him in the chariot of Surya. From now on, Aruna would serve as the charioteer of Surya.

Leaving Aruna, Garuda then went is search of his mother and he found her serving Kadaru. He bowed down before her.
Kadaru wanted Vinata to carry her to an island. The condition was that Vinata needed to carry her on her back. Garuda lifted the nagas on his back. While Vinata went towards the island, Garuda flew upwards towards the sun. The heat of the sun started burning the snakes. Seeing this Kadaru appealed to Indra to help her sons. Indra started the rains and Garuda was compelled to take the nagas to the island.
The nagas on the island would order Garuda to take them places, and treated him like a slave also. Hurt, Garuda went to his mother and asked the reason for this.
Vinata told her son about how she came to be Kadaru's slave.
Garuda went to Kadaru and wanted to know how his mother would be free. Kadaru said if she could be given the nectar of immortality, his mother would be free. Garuda went to his mother and said he would get the nectar and free her. Before he set for the journey, he said he was hungry. His mother told him to go towards the ocean and eat whatever he wanted. She also advised him not to touch anyone who was pure, holy or good.  Further, Vinata blessed him, She said he would not be destroyed by any weapons. He would be invincible. He would also be the ruler of all flying creatures.
Flying on, he saw his father, Kashyapa, meditating. He went and bowed down to his father, and wanted to know where he could something to eat.

Kashyapa said, Listen King of Birds, close by is a lake where an elephant and a tortoise are fighting for ages. Theirs is wonderful story. There were once two brothers - Vibhavasu and Supratik. They were sons of a rishi and had all knowledge. Some friends managed to get the brothers separated. Once they went apart, each demanded the other's territory. Supratik would pester his brother for a share and one Vibhavasu got angry. He cursed him saying I have given you all that is due to to you, but you still demand more. You are fit to live in a forest. Go dwell there.
Supratik said what I asked for was not unjust and your curse was not just either. Saying he cursed his brother to become a tortoise.

Ending his tale Kashyap said the elephant in the forest and the tortoise are not like any that you have seen before. Their size is huge. They just keep fighting everyday near the lake. Go eat them. Your hunger will be satisfied and your journey to get the nectar will also be successful.

Going close to the lake Garuda saw the two fighting. Catching each in one hand, Garuda started looking for a place where he could sit and eat them in peace. Any trees that he could sit on, could not stand his weight. He sat on a branch of a strong tree and that broke and began to fall towards the ground. Garuda noticed that the Balkhilya Rishis were meditating on that branch. Garuda grasped the branch in his mouth and with the elephant in one hand, and the tortoise in the other hand, Garuda flew to his father and wanted to know where he should place the branch. Kashyapa told him to go to the Himalayas where he could place the branch. Keeping the branch there, Garuda ate the elephant and the tortoise and then went in search of the nectar.

In the heavens, Indra was seeing bad omens. What was the cause of this, he asked his guru Brihaspati. The guru said this was an indication of a curse of Indrra,  that Garuda had come to take the nectar.

Indra asked his army to be ready.

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The sages that had been listening from Sauti so far, wanted to know why Indra had been cursed.