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.

Indra cursed by Balakhilya

Once Indra and the other Gods were carrying wood for their father, Rishi Kashyapa. On the way they saw the Balakhilya rishis. The Balakhilya rishis were the size of a thumb . These rishis were struggling to pull a piece of wood.
Seeing this, Indra started laughing.
Offended the Balakhilyas went and started a sacrifice. They wanted a being was stronger than Indra in strength, who was invincible and who was just. The Gods went to the Rishis asking why they wanted to create a second Indra. The Rishis said they had been humiliated by Indra and they wanted to avenge that.
Kashyapa and the other Gods asked the rishis to stop this. The rishis said they were not able to stop the process but they would be able to deviate the same.
At that time, Kashyapa's wife , Vinata, was meditating to get a child. Kashyapa asked the rishis to have the second Indra to be born from Vinata, as the lord of all flying creatures. Thus was born Garuda, in the form of a great bird.

When Garuda approached the heavens, the army of the Gods started showering weapons at him, but no none of the weapons could pierce him. They would fall off, the moment they touched him.
Garuda started flapping his wings and a huge dust storm was created. The Gods were blinded. Indra then asked Pawana, to clear the dust. The Wind God blew off the dust. They started showering weapons at Garuda again. Garuda now attacked them with his beak. The Gods fled.

Garuda then went to the place where the nectar was stored. He saw that surrounded by fire. He doused the fire by getting water. Beyond the fire wall, he saw discus. It was huge in size and had very shard edges. it was revolving very fast, in all directions. So fast was its pace, that even if a fly tried to pass, it would get cut into pieces. Garuda noticed that there was a small hole in the discus, the size of the eye of a needle. He suddenly made his size smaller than that hole, and travelling faster than the discus he entered the hole. He saw the pot of nectar, increased his size, smashed the discus and flew away the pot.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Curse of Vinata - Continued

When the two sisters saw the horse, it was evening. Kadaru asked her sister, can you guess the color of the horse? Vinata said it is white. Kadaru said no, it is black.
They kept arguing amongst themselves. Then Kadaru said one who lost the wager would serve as the slave of the other sister. Vinata agreed.
Kadaru in the dead of the night called her sons and told them what had happened. The nagas said it was not fair. All knew the horse was white. And Vinata was also like a mother to them and it would not be fair to deceive her.
Kadaru seeing her sons refuse cursed them to get destroyed in the snake sacrifice of Janamjeya.
The snakes then went to the horse and slowly crept over it so from a distance it looked that the horse was dark in color. Seeing the color of the horse, Vinata was forced to be the slave of Kadaru.

Mohini

Sometime later, Mohni started walking around. The other gods and asuras wanted to be close to her. Addressing all, she asked all to sit in two lines. One line would have the devas and one line would have the asuras.
Mohini said she would walk between the lines and would distribute the nectar amongst them. She said if the asuras did not mind, she would start with the devas and then come to the asuras with the nectar.
She distributed the nectar among the Gods and then drank the remaining herself.
Suddenly Surya and Chandra (Sun and Moon) saw that Rahu in the guise of a God and drunk the nectar. Hearing this Mohini, using the Sudarshan Chakra, cut off Rahu's head. As the nectar had gone down Rahu's body, the two parts of his body became immortal - the head being called Rahu and the rest of the body. Ketu.
After this, Mohini vanished with the pot of nectar. Knowing that they had been duped, the Asuras started fighting with the Devas.
The Devas were refreshed with the nectar, and the Asuras still tired, so the Devas won this battle.

The Sages hearing from Sauti wanted to know what happened to Kadaru and Vinata.

Hara Hari Together

The sages listening wanted to know if apart from the Devas, did the Asuras also get something from the Ocean.
Sauti continued.
When Dhanvantari came out of the ocean with nectar, the asuras snatched that from the Devas and ran away. They said everything that came up, the devas kept. Even they had been part of the churning and deserved something.
A quarrel started between the Devas and the asuras. All wanted the nectar that would give immortality.
Shiva who was there said instead of fighting they should get someone who would be able to divide the nectar amongst them evenly.
They began thinking of such a person.
Suddenly there appeared a beautiful woman. This was Vishnu in the form of a woman, Mohini. This form of Mohini was amazing to look at. Her beauty lit up the heavens. Everyone wanted Mohini.
Shiva could not control himself either. Spreding his arms he went to grab Mohini. Amazed Mohini said, Was this fit for a Yogi like Shiva? Shiva said O deer eyed one, who are you? Where have you come from?
Mohini started making fun of Shiva. You have ashes on your body, you wear animal skins, why should I introduce myself to you?

Shiva said I do not know you, so why do you make fun of me. I am yogi among all yogis. Mahamaya worships me. I am easy to please. Ganga resides on my head. With my eyes I have destroyed Kama.

Convinced, Mohini came towards Shiva with her hands outstretched.  And a wonderful thing happened.  The bodies got joined into one.  What the other devas saw was a wonderful sight. A half man, half woman form.
One half had matted hair, one had flowing hair.
Half a garland of bones, half a garland of flowers.
One half clad in ashes, one half with sandal paste.

Everyone watched spellbound, this ArdhaNarishwar form of Shiva and Vishnu.

Neelakantha

Hearing these words of Uma (Durga), Shiva had his bull prepared. Riding his bull, he reached the spot where the churning had happened. He was accompanied by Durga on her lion, Kartikeya on his peacock and Ganesha on his mouse.

Indra welcomed Shiva and said all the goods that risen from the ocean had been distributed and there was nothing else left.

Shiva got angry. At first he had been ignored and now he was being told there was nothing for him.

Seeing Shiva angry, the Gods were scared. They did not know what to say. Seeing this, the sage Kashyapa approached Shiva with folded hands. He said I will tell you about the churning.

Rishi Durvasa had a garland made from the flowers of the Parijata tree. He presented that garland to Indra, who was then riding the elephant, Airavata. Indra, thanking the sage, placed the garland playfully on the teeth of the elephant.

The elephant could not stand the perfume coming the garland and dashed it to the ground, in front of Durvasa.

Seeing this Durvasa cursed Indra. You did not respect my gift. Let all your wealth and prosperity be lost.

Lakshmi, who was wealth and prosperity vanished into the ocean. Without Lakshmi, the entire heaven was lifeless.

Ending his tale Kashyapa said, this was why we churned the ocean. We went to Vishnu who helped us get Mandara and Vasuki for the churning.

Kashyapa took Shiva to the churning spot where he showed him a wounded Vasuki lying there,

Shiva said for my sake, I want you to churn the ocean once more. Again the churning started.

Not able to bear the pain anymore, Vasuki began to emit poisonous fumes. No one could stand this, and all started fleeing.

The Gods then started praying to Shiva, asking for a way out from this.
With one gulp, Shiva gulped the poison and held it in his throat. With the effects of the poison his throat became blue, and from then onward Shiva got a name, Neelakantha.

The Gods were very grateful. Shiva then asked the Gods to take back Mandara from where it had been brought. They all tried but could not. Shiva then effortlessly lifted the mountain and placed it where it belonged. He freed Vasuki and all went back to their homes.