So as recently as three months ago, I heard these stories
and totally loved the moral that was behind them. They’re probably from some
scriptures but I don’t know about that.
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Story I:
Once there were three rishi kumars (sons of a saint)
who lived near a riverbank. They were very religious and did no harm to other
living things. Every morning, they woke up early and came to the river to
bathe. While they bathed, because of their righteous characters, their fresh clothes
would hang all by themselves in the air without a line. This is how it had
been. One day, while they were bathing in the river, a frog jumped out from the
river and an eagle flying over saw the frog. As is the nature of a flying eagle,
it dived down to catch its prey. The frog didn’t have a chance to jump back in
the water. And all of a sudden, two sets of clothes that were hanging in the
air, fell on the sandy riverbank. Three kumars looked at each other. As
they came out and got dressed, they started talking about this strange
incident. With quite a surprise, first one, whose clothes had fallen on sand, said,
“I wonder what just happened.” Second one, surprised too, said the same thing.
Third one asked them both, “so what were you thinking when the eagle attacked
the frog?” The first one said, “I wished for the eagle to not attack the frog. Watching
that poor frog struggle in the eagle’s claws was so sad.” The second one said, “I
wished for the eagle to catch the frog. It had been circling the skies since so
long, it must have been so hungry. I’m glad the eagle finally found some food
in form of the frog.” They both then asked the third as to what he thought. Third
one said, “it’s not for me to decide whether something is good or bad. I was
just an observer of the incident and it was out of my control to stop the
actions of either of them so I let the situation be and moved on with what I
was doing.” All three of them now knew why the clothes of the third rishi
kumar stayed hanging in the air without support.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Story II:
Once upon a time, there lived a courtesan at the edge of a
forest. Right across of her house, lived a sage. Everyday, completely different
kinds of people visited both of these houses. The courtesan respected the sage
for who he was and treated him so. The sage being the saatvik (of having
pure nature) person he was, couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, and sometimes
even detested her when he got tired of having her as a neighbor. Years and
decades passed like this. The courtesan wished for her life to be like of the sage
and the sage, along with trying to live his life normally, kept on thinking of
the bad things in the courtesan’s life. When their lives came to an end, and
they had to go to the better worlds, the sage was being taken to hell, and the
courtesan to heaven. And the reasons happened to be, that the sage, still being the simple
and pure person he was, could never stop thinking of the negatives in others’
lives and the courtesan, being the person who she was by profession, could only
think of the positives in the lives of others around her.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Both of these stories made me think. Think about how one
should be thinking about others and not judging anyone. May be none of these principles/ways
of life are practical and none of them could be applied in today’s life. I don’t know. It reminded me of a scene from Lagaan. These Hindi movies
have so many levels. Don’t they? It reminded me of the scene where Bhuvan, Guran,
Bagha, and Tipu are watching the match played by the English cricketers from
behind the bushes, and trying to learn the game. Elizabeth
finds them sneaking around, and walks over to meet them offering to teach them
the rules. The fly-in-the-beard incident happens, and then introductions start
between them. She says, “my name is Elizabeth.”
To this, Bhuvan says “Eli aur ka? …naam lo to sasuri jeebh tedhi ho jaaye…”,
and Guran adds, “achha naam hai, jo bhi hai achha hai (whatever it is, is good).” This is the
dialog that stuck. That's where the title of the post comes from. I just couldn’t help, but kept going back to it at numerous incidents in life. And new year 2012 was around the corner. I stopped making resolutions since a few years but thought of developing this as a habit. Whether it will happen as often as I'd like or whether it will stick, I don't know. Lets see. Trying to apply the morals of the two stories above and this attitude to life. It’s hard, but not
impossible. Practice, that too gradual, is definitely an option. Hoping this one sticks!
Today, I got to watch the Shishupaalvadh story in Shri Krishna.
Right at the beginning of Raajsooya yagya that King Yudhishthir is performing with his brothers and family and relatives, they are doing pooja of Shri Krishna and that's when Shishupaal starts insulting Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna had vowed to forgive 100 sins of Shishupaal to his aunt (Shishupaal's mother, sister of Vasudev) and after that he will kill him. So when the number of sins exceeds this count, Shishupaal is killed with Shri Krishna Bhagwaan's chakra. But even then, at the end Shishupaal claims moksha and Goddess Laxmi sends a "divya vimaan" (divine airplane) for Shishupaal.
Apparently, three births earlier, Shishupaal was Jay - a paarshad (gatekeepers) of Vaikunth (abode of Lord Vishnu) along with another paarshad Vijay. Whan sanatkumaar (sons of Lord Brahma) arrive at the entrance of Vaikunth, Jay-Vijay restrict them from entering Vaikunth. This is when they are cursed by the sanatkumaars to take birth as humans on earth.
Their first birth was as Hiranyaaksh and Hiranyakashipu and they were freed from that life by Lord Vishnu being born as Nrusinh bhagwaan. Then their second birth was as Raavan and Kumbhkarna and they achieved liberation with the help of Lord Raam. Then in their third birth, they came as Shishupaal and Dantavakra respectively. Shishupaal gets mukti by help from Lord Krishna. And Dantavakra is freed in the war he has with Lord Krishna when he attacks Dwarika.
At the time of Shishupaal-vadh, Bhishma pitamaha chants the following shlok:
Translation: With your blessings, a mute (speechless) gains speech (vaachaa) and a crippled is able to climb a mountain. O supreme blissful, Lord Maadhav, I salute You.
Shri Krishna even helps His enemies, His haters because they are making that effort to think of Him even in that form.
The whole world is pervaded by its ruler and controller [God]. Enjoy or accept that which has been set apart by Him. Do not desire another's wealth. - Ishaavaasyopanishad 1
Patience, forgiveness, austerity, non-stealing, purity, restraining one's senses, intellect, knowledge, truth and non-anger - these ten are teh characteristics of dharma. - Manu Smruti 6.92
In the universe, God alone is truth. Dharma can sustain irself only on this truth. This truth is the root of everything. There is nothing higher than this truth, and nothing higher to be achieved. - Vaalmiki Raamaayana (Ayodhyaakaanda 109.13)
Truth protects dharma. Repeating [what one has learnt] preserves knowledge. Bathing sustains beauty. Character preserves one's lineage. - Mahaabhaarata 5.34.39
Resigning all your dharma [duties] to Me, take refuge in Me alone. I shall deliver you from all sins; [so] do not worry. - Bhagvad Gitaa 18.66
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प्रसंऽगमजरं पाशमात्मना: कवयो विदु:। स एव साधुषु कृतो मोक्षद्वारमपाव्रुतम्।।
If a person maintains profound love towards the Ekaantik Sant of God just as resolutely as he maintains profound love towards his own relatives, then the gateway of moksha opens for him. - Shrimad Bhaagavata 3.25.20
Just as a sentinel guards the gates of a city or a charioteer a chariot, an intelligent person should take care of his body. - Charaka Samhitaa 5.103
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ચાર વેદ, પુરાણ, ઈતિહાસ, એ સર્વેમાં એ જ વાર્તા છે જે, 'ભગવાન ને ભગવાનના સંત એ જ કલ્યાણકારી છે.'
In the four Vedas, the Puraanas and the Itihaasa scriptures, there is but one central principle, and that is that only God and His Sant are the means to moksha. - Vachanaamrut Gadhadaa II-59
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ગમે તેવી મુશ્કેલીઓમાં પણ આપણે ટકી રહ્યા છીએ, તેનું કારણ કે આપણી પરંપરામાં શાસ્ત્રોના શબ્દો છે. આંતરિક શાંતિ અને સુખ માટે શાસ્ત્રોનું વાંચન રાખવું.
We have sustained ourselves through difficulties and challenges because of our scriptural tradition. For inner peace and happiness we must read our shaastras. - Pramukh Swami Maharaj
~~~~~*~~~~~
Source: Hindu Shaastras 2010 Calendar from BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
When Sayeshaasked me: "Kanan, Sheesh! How much gold will you take?? :D", the first thing that came to my mind was this story and so I took this as an opportunity to share this gem of a story.
It is not about how much gold I will take, it is about gold - the real and true gold of these times, our times.
The story starts when the noble King Parikshit, who is the son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjun, goes hunting one day. On his way to the forest, he meets Kaliyug, who has just descended to the earth because his time has come. Parikshit challenges Kaliyug to fight against him as he can not arrive when Parikshit is alive. Kaliyug replies back saying the movement of time can not be changed as it is the nature and since it was the end of 3rd epoch (yug) "dwaapar". He then adds that if Parikshit and Kaliyug can not coexist, then the time has come for Parikshit's departure.
Parikshit had taken a vow to protect his kingdom and people so he decides to fight against Kaliyug. Kaliyug asks the king for shelter and suggests that he be given some places to stay until the end of Parikshit's life, this way his vow will not be broken and the principles of nature will also not be broken. Kaliyug accepts to limit himself to certain boundaries until Parikshit's lifespan. He asks for shelter where he can stay/dwell.
The king gives Kaliyug four places to stay: gambling (juaa), alcohol (madyapaan), lust for a woman (par-stree-sang), and violence (heensa) as these places have untruth (asatya), intoxication (mad), lust (kaam), and cruelty (nirdaytaa). Kaliyug is disappointed and says these are very limited places and that he be given some more places to stay in. King then decides to let him stay in gold as there is greed (rajogun) in wealth (dhan). The king was wearing a golden crown so that is the first place Kaliyug decides to stay in.
Right after this, the tired, hungry, thirsty king arrives near Shamik Muni's aashram but finds him in meditation. Kaliyug riding on his crown does the king no good and he eventually loses his temper and misbehaves. He throws a dead snake around the Muni's neck and goes away from there. Shringi, Shamik Muni's son returns to the aashram only to see this humiliating gesture, an insult of his father and in anger, without knowing who has done this, he curses the king that in 7 days, the Takshak snake will bite him and he will die.
When Shamik Muni finds out about the curse, he gets very disappointed at his son's actions and scolds him for being irresponsible and for using his powers to hurt someone instead of helping. He tells how such actions and the death of such a king will bring bad times to the world. The times when the "vedic aryan religion (dharma) will seize to exist, improper/bad conducts (anaachaar) will increase and there will be an increase in confusion of castes, which will arise through intermarriages". He quickly rushes to the king to tell him what has just happened. The king welcomes the Muni respectfully and listens to him. When he finds out that he is going to die within 7 days, he goes to meet Shukdevji. A wonderful conversation takes place there. Since I listened to this in Hindi, I am writing it as it is. Also, I feel that translating would not do justice to the richness of this beautiful language. Here goes:
परीक्षित: हे ब्रह्मऋषि, आप योगीओ के परम गुरु है इस लिए मैं आप को अत्यंत महत्वपूर्ण प्रश्न करता हूँ। जो पुरुष मृत्यु के द्वार पर खड़ा हो ऐसे मरणासन पुरुष को क्या करना चाहिए?
शुकदेवजी: परीक्षित, यह प्रश्न जो तुम ने किया है, इस में लोक हीत भी छुपा हुआ है। क्यों की वास्तव में सभी मनुष्य मृत्यु के द्वार पर ही खड़े होते है, हाला की वोह इसे जानते नहीं है। तुम्हारा प्रश्न है की मृत्यु के द्वार पर आया हुआ मनुष्य क्या करे? हे राजन, इस का उत्तर सुनो... मृत्यु का समय आने पर मनुष्य घबराए नहीं। मृत्यु के आक्रमण से पहले ही वह वैराग्य की तलवार से शरीर की ममता को काट दे और ॐ रूपी प्रणव का मन ही मन जप करे। प्राणवायु को वश में करके अपने मन का दमन करे. बुद्धि की सहायता से इन्द्रियों को उनके विषयो से हटा ले, और मन से भगवन की मंगलमय मूर्ति का ध्यान करते करते प्रभु के श्री विग्रह में पूर्ण रूप से लीन हो जाए। तब मनुष्य को तुरंत ही भक्तियोग की प्राप्ति हो जाती है। इस लिए शास्त्रों ने कलियुग में सब से सहज एक ही साधन बताया है - भक्ति। इस लिए, हे राजन, मैं तुम्हे भगवत पुराण की कथा सुनाऊंगा जो भक्ति रस की ऐसी गंगा है की जो प्राणी एक बार उस में स्नान कर लेता है वोह फिर भक्ति रस की उस नदी से बाहर निकलना ही नहीं चाहता, उसी में डूब जाता है। वोही उस का मोक्ष है। तुम भगवन के परम भक्त हो इस लिए मैं तुम्हे वोही भगवत कथा सुनाऊंगा जिस में श्री कृष्ण की सगुण लीलाओ का वर्णन है। तुम्हारे अंत समय में कृष्ण-लीलामृत का सेवन ही सहाय होगा।
I had been wanting to type up the lyrics of this Ramayan Choupaayan ever since I listened to the track jai gauri maa of Vivah. Finally, was able to do it! (with a lot of typos and mistakes in the words, I am sure). In any case, simply fabulous! that's how I'd like to describe it.
Every time, I listen to this 1-hour long track that has the entire story of Raamaayan, it makes me feel happy and emotional; it also stumps me to realize what an ideal human-being should be like and inspires me to be more like Him.
Translation: japa (chanting of mantra) is the ultimate medium for success (of the ultimate goal of life - moksha); there is no doubt about this.
Here japaat siddhi is said three times to impress upon the message it conveys. That in life anything can be achieved with practice, here of doing the japa.
May everyone achieve that success in whatever they're seeking in life as we welcome this new year.
The noble king Parikshit is cursed, for a small mistake he has made, that on the seventh day Takshaknaag (serpent) will bite him and he will die. People around him are giving him suggestions on how to prolong his life. When someone reminds him to plead to Yamraaj, Parikshit says he is aware of that historic story when Ruru sacrificed half of his life to bring back Pramadwara, his fiancee’s life.
It happens so that long ago, the apsaraMenaka has a daughter with Vishrawavasu; who is raised by sage Sthoolakesha. When Pramadwara is grown up, the sage (who is like her father) decides for her marriage with sage Pramati’s son, Ruru.
But unfortunately, before the marriage can take place, a serpent bites Pramadwara and she dies. So much in love with her, Ruru also decides to give up his own life. When Ruru is on verge of committing suicide Yamraaj tries to convince him otherwise, but he doesn’t get convinced and says that life without Pramadwara would not be a life for him so he’d rather just die. So finally Yamraaj gives up and suggests to him that there might be a way to bring Pramadwara back to life. If Ruru gave her half of his life years, she would become alive again. Ruru does give up half of his life time for the love of his life, Pramadwara and she comes to life again and they live happily together the rest of their lives.
So here we have it, a story of a man fighting with Gods for the life of his wife-to-be. Since it is karva-chauth today, many folks want to know whether there are men out there doing things for women; the answer is yes, but course, it is rare. :) Hope you enjoyed reading this story.
vighneshwaraaya = the one who takes away obstacles varadaaya = the one who blesses us surapriyaaya = the one who is favorite of Gods lambodaraaya = the one who has big belly sakalaaya = whole jagdwitaaya = the one who does good of the world naagaananaaya = the one with an elephant head shrutiyagnavibhushitaaya = the one who beautifies Shrutis of Ved and Yagna gaurisutaaya = the one who is Son of Goddess Parvati gaNanaath = the one who is Leader (naath) of all the gaNas namo namaste = I respectfully bow to you
What do we learn from Lord Shri Ganesh? A lot and one of them is to respect our parents.
We all know of how when Shivji wanted to test the intelligence of His two Sons - Ganesh & Kartikey - he asked them to do parikrama (circumambulation) of the earth. When Kartikey went on to complete His parikrama on His peacock, Ganesh went around his parents Shivji & Gaurima praying them and did seven prarikramas. He completed the circumambulations before Kartikey did thus achieving blessings of His parents before Kartikey. They blessed Him.
He also has gotten His signature elephant head because of following orders of His Mother - Ma Parvati. When Shivji had returned from being away for years, He couldn't reconize His son and tried to enter the home and ended up fighting with Ganesh and beheading Him. Eventually when Ma Parvati came and saw Her son's condition, She requested Shivji to give Her son life. Shivji said whoever comes their way very first will be beheaded to give his head to Ganesh. An elephant came and Lord Ganesh became Gajaanan.
He lost his one tusk fighting to protect asleep Shivji against Parshuram who had come to visit His Guru (Shivji). Ganesh did not want a stranger waking His father up. They dueled and His right tusk was broken with Parshuram's axe. This is how He got the name of Ekdanta.
Here's to the God who inspires everyone! More modak/laddoos to all of us. :)
Pushpadant was a gandharvaraj and was named so because he had beautiful teeth like flower buds or pomegranate arils. He knew of a vidya that enabled him to disappear and venture around without being seen.
The king of Kaashi, Chitrarath, owned beautiful gardens in and around his palace where he had many beautiful flowers growing. To protect the gardens from thieves he had very tight security around. Over the time, the guards and the king discovered that someone was stealing their flowers without their knowledge. When the theft continued without any traces, the king increased the security in gardens and tried very hard to protect more flowers from being stolen. For a long time they couldn’t catch the culprit behind it. Finally the king asked advice of the wise Brahmins in his kingdom. After consulting the Brahmins, the king took a step that no one had imagined. The next morning the guards caught the extremely frustrated thief red-handed in the garden. It was Pushpadant. He was brought into the castle to confront the king. The king was quite upset at the burglary in his gardens and began to punish him. Pushpadant accepted the punishment and requested to the king to tell him more about how he was able to catch him. When asked by the king whether he knew what he was stepping onto in the garden at night while stealing, Pushpadant responded it was some kind of leaves. The king told him those weren’t any ordinary kind of leaves, but they were the bili (bilva patra) leaves. These were the ones that had once been used for pooja of the Shiva-linga in temple. Pushpadant realized that the reason for him forgetting his stotra mantra to become invisible was because he stepped on these bili leaves. He realized the power these leaves had when they had only touched the Shiva-linga. He understood the eternal power of Lord Shiva and instantly became his devotee. He left all his mantra vidya and decided to write this stotra we know as Shri Shivmahimna stotra.
There is no better stuti (prayer) than the Shivmahimna stotra in this world.
shri pushpadanta uvaca
mahimnah param te paramavidusho yadyasadrishi stutirbrahmadinam api tadavasannastvayi girah athavacyah sarvah svamatiparinamavadhi grinan mamapyeshah stotre hara nirapavadah parikarah
atitah panthanam tava ca mahima vanmanasayor atadvyavrittya yam cakitamabhidhatte shrutirapi sa kasya stotavyah katividhagunah kasya vishayah pade tvarvacine patati na manah kasya na vacah
madhusphita vacah paramam amritam nirmitavatas tava brahman kim vag api suragurorvismayapadam mama tvetam vanim gunakathanapunyena bhavatah punamityarthe'smin puramathana buddhirvyavasita
namo nedishthaya priyadava davishthaya ca namo namah kshodishthaya smarahara mahishthaya ca namah namo varshishthaya trinayana yavishthaya ca namo namah sarvasmai te tadidamitisarvaya ca namah
bahalarajase vishvotpattau bhavaya namo namah prabalatamase tatsamhare haraya namo namah janasukhakrite sattvodriktau mridaya namo namah pramahasi pade nistraigunye shivaya namo namah
krishaparinati cetah kleshavashyam kva cedam kva ca tava gunasimol langhini shashvadriddhih iti cakitamamandi kritya mam bhaktiradhad varada caranayoste vakyapushpopaharam
It was interesting to learn that Parshuraam was the guru of Bhishmapitaamaha, Guru Dronacharya, and Karna.
Karna went to Parshuraam to teach him the valuable knowledge he had. When asked whether he was a Kshatriya, Karna denied since he wasn't aware of the fact that he is indeed a Kshatriya. Eventually the incident with the bumble-bee revealed that Karna was a Kshatriya and not a brahmin. When Parshuraam was resting with his head in Karna's lap, Shri Krishna comes as a bumble-bee to bite Karna and reveal his secrets. The Guru refuses to teach Karna further.
So had Parshuraam had decided only to teach Brahmins or was it to non-Kshatriyas only, was Bhishmapitaamaha a brahmin?
