Saturday, February 28, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Two Forms of Laxmi and Four Forms of Vishnu
Devi Bhagavata. The Puranic Encyclopedia summarizes these legends.
1) The curse of Sarasvati. Sarasvati, Ganga and Laksmi were all, in the beginning, wives of MahaVishnu. The Lord loved all the three equally. One day all the four were sitting together when Ganga sent lustful glances at Vishnu which was immediately noticed by both Sarasvati and Laksmi. Sarasvaii got angry and rising up caught hold of the hair of Gangaand dragged her to the ground. Laksmi then caught hold of Saras¬vati to prevent farther assault but Sarasvati then poured all her rage on Laksmi and cursed her to be born as a plant on earth. Gangadevi could not bear this and she cursed Sarasvati to be born as a river on earth. Sarasvati retorted with a curse that Ganga also would be born as a river. When the whole tumult was over Vishnu called Laksmi to his side and said, "Oh Devi, do not worry. Things have happened as predes¬tined. You go and be born as the daughter of Dharma-dhvaja and grow up there. From there by divine grace you will be transformed into a plant sacred enough to make all the three worlds pure. That plant will be named Tulasi. When you will be thus living as Tulasi, a demon named Sankhacuda with part of my virile strength will be born and he will marry you. Then you can come back to me. The holy riverPadmavati will also be another form of your spirit."
2) The story of Dharmadhvaja. Who was this Dharma-dhvaja to whom was born Mahalaksmi as a daughter? In times of old there was a Manu called Daksasavarni who was extremely virtuous and a part of Vishnu. Des¬cending from Daksasavarni were Brahmasavarni-Dharmasavarni-Rudrasavarni-Devasavarni-Indrasavarni Vrsadhvaja. This last named was a great devotee of Shiva and because of his great affection for this devotee Shiva lived a whole period of a devayuga in the ashrama of Vrsadhvaja. King Vrsadhvaja by an edict prohibited the worship of any other deity than Shiva in his country. Even the worship of Mahalaksmi ordained by the Vedas during the month of Bhadra (September) became extinct. All Yagyas and worship of Vishnu came to a stop. Surya (Sun-god) got angry al this belittling of other gods than Shiva and cursed the King Vrsadhvaja that he would cease to be prosperous. Shiva did not like it and he went to punish Surya holding his trident in his hand. Surya was frightened and he approached his father Kasyapa. Kasyapa and Surya went to Brahma and acquainted him with all details. Brahma also was helpless in the matter and so all the three of them went to Mahavishnu. They prostrated before Vishnu and told him all. At that time Shiva also came there. Addressing all of them, Vishnu said "Oh. Devas, wilhin this half an hour twenty-one yugas have passed by on the earth. He about whom you have come to speak to me is dead and gone. Even his son Rathadhvaja is dead. The latter has two sons named Dharmadhvaja and Kusadhvaja. They are dull and splendorless now because of the curse of Surya and are now worshipping Laksmi." Saying thus Vishnu disappeared.
3) Birth of Tulasi. Dharmadhvaja and Kusadhvaja did penance to ropitiate Mahalaksmi. Kusadhvaja had a wife named Malavati. She bore a daughter named Vedavati. Sita, wife of Sri Rama, was a rebirth of this Vedavati. King Dharmadhvaja had a wife named Madhavi. Maha¬laksmi entered her womb as an embryo and after a hund¬red years Madhavi gave birth to a daughter. Even at the time of birth the child looked like a matured girl and was extremely pretty. She was therefore, called Tulasi, meaning matchless. (Tula= match). This Tulasi, abandoning all worldly pleasures, went to Badarikashrama and started doing penance there with the prayer that MahaVishnu should become her husband. She did penance for twenty-four thousand years sitting amidst fire in the hot season and sitting in water in the cold season and taking only fruits and water as food. Then she did penance for ano¬ther thirty thousand years eating leaves only, another forty thousand years taking air only as food and another ten thousand years without any food. At this stage Brahma appeared and asked her the object of her penance. She replied she wanted MahaVishnu to be her husband. Hearing this Brahma said thus: “Devi, you know the cowboy Sudama born of a part of Sri Krishna. That brilliant cowboy has now been born on earth, due to a curse of Radha, as a demon named Sankhachuda. He is matchlessly eminent and has once fallen in love with you seeing you at Goloka. You will become his wife and later you can become the wife of Narayana. At that time a part of your divine body will remain on earth as a plant named Tulasi. Tulasi will become the most sacred of all plants, dear to Vishnu, and all worship without using Tulasi leaves would be ineffective."
4) Marriage of Tulasi. Due to a curse of Radha, Sudama, the cowboy, was born on earth as a demon named Sankhachuda. He did penance sitting at Badarikashrama and obtained Vishnukavaca. Another object of his was to marry Tulasi. He obtained a boon from Brahma that his death would occur only when the Vishnu Kavaca was removed from his body and the chastity of his wife was lost. At that time Sankhachuda and Tulasi met each other in the forests and were married. Sankhachuda, brilliant and majestic, went about withTulasi in amorous sports creating jealousy even among the devas. His arrogance gave innumer¬able troubles to the devas and they along with Brahma and Shiva approachedMahaVishnu for a remedy. Vishnu then sent Shiva with his spike to kill Sankhachuda and he himself started to molest the chastity of his wife Tulasi. Sankhachuda took leave of Tulasito go and fight with Shiva. When Tulasi was thus left alone, MahaVisnu in the form of Sankhachuda
approached Tulasi and after some preliminary talks entered into sexual acts. Tulasifound some difference in the usual affairs and suspecting foul play jumped up to curse the impostor. At once MahaVishnu appeared in his true form and said "You have been doing penance for a lone time to get me as your husband. Your husband Sankhachuda was the chief of my Parsadas, Sudarna. It is time for him to go back to [the spiritual abode of] Golokaget¬ting himself released from the curse. By this time Shiva would have killed him and he would have gone to Goloka as Sudama. You can now abandon your body and come with me to Vaikuntha to enjoy life as my wife.Your body will decay and become a holy river named Gandaki; your hair will become the Tulasi plant, the leaves of which will be held sacred in all the three worlds." Tulasi then changed herself into the form of Laksmi and went to Vaikuntha with MahaVishnu. (9th Skandha, Devi Bhagavata).
http://frontinformation.blogspot.com/2011/08/jalandhar-and-tulsi.html
1) The curse of Sarasvati. Sarasvati, Ganga and Laksmi were all, in the beginning, wives of MahaVishnu. The Lord loved all the three equally. One day all the four were sitting together when Ganga sent lustful glances at Vishnu which was immediately noticed by both Sarasvati and Laksmi. Sarasvaii got angry and rising up caught hold of the hair of Gangaand dragged her to the ground. Laksmi then caught hold of Saras¬vati to prevent farther assault but Sarasvati then poured all her rage on Laksmi and cursed her to be born as a plant on earth. Gangadevi could not bear this and she cursed Sarasvati to be born as a river on earth. Sarasvati retorted with a curse that Ganga also would be born as a river. When the whole tumult was over Vishnu called Laksmi to his side and said, "Oh Devi, do not worry. Things have happened as predes¬tined. You go and be born as the daughter of Dharma-dhvaja and grow up there. From there by divine grace you will be transformed into a plant sacred enough to make all the three worlds pure. That plant will be named Tulasi. When you will be thus living as Tulasi, a demon named Sankhacuda with part of my virile strength will be born and he will marry you. Then you can come back to me. The holy riverPadmavati will also be another form of your spirit."
2) The story of Dharmadhvaja. Who was this Dharma-dhvaja to whom was born Mahalaksmi as a daughter? In times of old there was a Manu called Daksasavarni who was extremely virtuous and a part of Vishnu. Des¬cending from Daksasavarni were Brahmasavarni-Dharmasavarni-Rudrasavarni-Devasavarni-Indrasavarni Vrsadhvaja. This last named was a great devotee of Shiva and because of his great affection for this devotee Shiva lived a whole period of a devayuga in the ashrama of Vrsadhvaja. King Vrsadhvaja by an edict prohibited the worship of any other deity than Shiva in his country. Even the worship of Mahalaksmi ordained by the Vedas during the month of Bhadra (September) became extinct. All Yagyas and worship of Vishnu came to a stop. Surya (Sun-god) got angry al this belittling of other gods than Shiva and cursed the King Vrsadhvaja that he would cease to be prosperous. Shiva did not like it and he went to punish Surya holding his trident in his hand. Surya was frightened and he approached his father Kasyapa. Kasyapa and Surya went to Brahma and acquainted him with all details. Brahma also was helpless in the matter and so all the three of them went to Mahavishnu. They prostrated before Vishnu and told him all. At that time Shiva also came there. Addressing all of them, Vishnu said "Oh. Devas, wilhin this half an hour twenty-one yugas have passed by on the earth. He about whom you have come to speak to me is dead and gone. Even his son Rathadhvaja is dead. The latter has two sons named Dharmadhvaja and Kusadhvaja. They are dull and splendorless now because of the curse of Surya and are now worshipping Laksmi." Saying thus Vishnu disappeared.
3) Birth of Tulasi. Dharmadhvaja and Kusadhvaja did penance to ropitiate Mahalaksmi. Kusadhvaja had a wife named Malavati. She bore a daughter named Vedavati. Sita, wife of Sri Rama, was a rebirth of this Vedavati. King Dharmadhvaja had a wife named Madhavi. Maha¬laksmi entered her womb as an embryo and after a hund¬red years Madhavi gave birth to a daughter. Even at the time of birth the child looked like a matured girl and was extremely pretty. She was therefore, called Tulasi, meaning matchless. (Tula= match). This Tulasi, abandoning all worldly pleasures, went to Badarikashrama and started doing penance there with the prayer that MahaVishnu should become her husband. She did penance for twenty-four thousand years sitting amidst fire in the hot season and sitting in water in the cold season and taking only fruits and water as food. Then she did penance for ano¬ther thirty thousand years eating leaves only, another forty thousand years taking air only as food and another ten thousand years without any food. At this stage Brahma appeared and asked her the object of her penance. She replied she wanted MahaVishnu to be her husband. Hearing this Brahma said thus: “Devi, you know the cowboy Sudama born of a part of Sri Krishna. That brilliant cowboy has now been born on earth, due to a curse of Radha, as a demon named Sankhachuda. He is matchlessly eminent and has once fallen in love with you seeing you at Goloka. You will become his wife and later you can become the wife of Narayana. At that time a part of your divine body will remain on earth as a plant named Tulasi. Tulasi will become the most sacred of all plants, dear to Vishnu, and all worship without using Tulasi leaves would be ineffective."
4) Marriage of Tulasi. Due to a curse of Radha, Sudama, the cowboy, was born on earth as a demon named Sankhachuda. He did penance sitting at Badarikashrama and obtained Vishnukavaca. Another object of his was to marry Tulasi. He obtained a boon from Brahma that his death would occur only when the Vishnu Kavaca was removed from his body and the chastity of his wife was lost. At that time Sankhachuda and Tulasi met each other in the forests and were married. Sankhachuda, brilliant and majestic, went about withTulasi in amorous sports creating jealousy even among the devas. His arrogance gave innumer¬able troubles to the devas and they along with Brahma and Shiva approachedMahaVishnu for a remedy. Vishnu then sent Shiva with his spike to kill Sankhachuda and he himself started to molest the chastity of his wife Tulasi. Sankhachuda took leave of Tulasito go and fight with Shiva. When Tulasi was thus left alone, MahaVisnu in the form of Sankhachuda
approached Tulasi and after some preliminary talks entered into sexual acts. Tulasifound some difference in the usual affairs and suspecting foul play jumped up to curse the impostor. At once MahaVishnu appeared in his true form and said "You have been doing penance for a lone time to get me as your husband. Your husband Sankhachuda was the chief of my Parsadas, Sudarna. It is time for him to go back to [the spiritual abode of] Golokaget¬ting himself released from the curse. By this time Shiva would have killed him and he would have gone to Goloka as Sudama. You can now abandon your body and come with me to Vaikuntha to enjoy life as my wife.Your body will decay and become a holy river named Gandaki; your hair will become the Tulasi plant, the leaves of which will be held sacred in all the three worlds." Tulasi then changed herself into the form of Laksmi and went to Vaikuntha with MahaVishnu. (9th Skandha, Devi Bhagavata).
http://frontinformation.blogspot.com/2011/08/jalandhar-and-tulsi.html
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Dakshina
Besides Yagnas, any Sacred Karya-be it a Vrata, a Mangala charya, a devotional task of any description needs to be rewarded as Dakshina to Brahmanas concerned immediately; other wise the Punya Karma is stated to be a futile exercise and gets registered as an enrty into the stomach of ‘Bali’!
Dakshina Devi is stated to have materialised from the right shoulder of Devi Lakshmi as an important ‘Kala’ (feature) and is a formaliser and the fulfilling agent of any Punya Karya! Worship to Dakshina Devi by way of Dhyana by the Mula Mantra - Om Shreem Kleem Hreem Dakshinayai Swaha-followed by Padya, Arghya, Naivedya etc. would grant
- Vidya to Vidyaheen,
- Dhan to Dhanaheen,
- Bhumi to Bhumiheen,
- Bharya to Bharyaheen,
- Putra to Putraheen etc.
Source
Brahma-vaivarta Purana
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