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The Yagna

  The Yagna Sage Vasishta was having a meeting of the pundits, ministers, artisans and merchants of the great city of Ayodhya. They were all excited. Their king Dasarath was doing a yagna for their sake. Not just any yagna – he was performing the Ashwameda yagna for the benefit of his dynasty, his kingdom annd its people. The ceremonial sacrificial horse had already roamed around the various kingdoms for a year and returned to Ayodhya. Vasishta had decided that Sage Rishyashringa will officiate as the chief priest for the Ashwamedha yagna. Vasishta was at his organisational best. He was instructing the gathering. “We need to get thousands of bricks. We need to get temporary housing done for the visiting priests and sages, the Kings, their ministers and troops and sheds for their animals. All these lodgings should have enough food and drinks. The animals – elephants, horses and other animals – should have enough water to drink and a resting place away from the sun and rain.” “...
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Shiva's stamp on a gate in Madurai

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  Shiva’s Stamp on a gate in Madurai Kulapoodana Pandyan was ruling the Pandya kingdom with Madurai as his capital. He was a good ruler with devotion to the holy couple of Madurai - Lord Sundareshwara and Mother Meenakshi. While good to his own citizens, Kulapoodana Pandyan was not very fond of the Chola king of the kingdom north of his land. The one thing common amongst these two rival kings was their complete devotion to Lord Shiva. The Chola king had a beautiful Shiva temple in Kanchipuram itself. Like many people who aspire for things just outside their reach, Kadu Vetti Cholan had a desire. He wanted to visit Madurai and offer prayers to the Lord there. This desire was triggered by two things. The first one was the fact that the Lord ruled Madurai as its king. In that respect it was equal to Kashi. The second reason was that Madurai was the famous Rajata Sabai or the Velliyambalam where the divine dancer Nataraja (Lord Shiva) performed the Sandhya Thandava. This desire t...
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The Forgotten Tenth Man

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  The forgotten tenth man The need for a Guru is felt by most people at some point of time in their life. In Sanatana Dharma, we say गुरुर्ब्रह्मा   गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो   महेश्वरः   । गुरुरेव   परं   ब्रह्म   तस्मै   श्रीगुरवे   नमः   ॥१॥ Gurur-Brahmaa Gurur-Vissnnur-Gururdevo Maheshvarah Gurure va Param Brahma Tasmai Shrii-Gurave Namah This shloka means that Guru is the Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. Guru is the Supreme Brahman and to that Guru, we salute. The Sanskrit term Guru itself comes from Gu that means darkness and ru meaning the light to dispel the darkness. Guru is a person who guides a person from darkness to light. There are innumerable stories both in the Vedic and Puranic age, where kings and even avatars of Gods had deferred to their Gurus. There is an interesting story that brings forth this simple but powerful concept. Once in the village in the country of Mahishmati, there were ten friends. They wer...
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Yamuna becomes Kalindi

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  Yamuna becomes Kalindi We had seen earlier how our Puranas are not just stories but blessings. The blessings could be a mantra, a type of worship, a temple or a river. This is the story of river Yami (also known as Yamuna) mentioned in the Vamana Purana. The river Yamuna was white and pure and was gurgling happily down the plains. Yamuna was the daughter of Lord Surya and Sanjana and the sister of Lord Yama. She was a happy person, well loved by her father and was protected by her brother. Yamuna also known as Yami loved prancing through the plains and was proud of her milky white waters. So how did she become dark? Daksha Prajapati did not like his son in law, Shiva. Daksha had always felt that his daughter Sati was too beautiful and too good for an ascetic wearing tiger skin and carrying skulls. He felt that Shiva cheated him by coming uninvited to Sati’s swayamvara. Daksha could not do anything but give his consent as it was a swayamvara and every one was watching. Sati ...
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Kali Purusha is chastised

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  Kali Purusha is chastised (Bhagavata Purana) The Mahabharata was over. Normalcy had come back. The kingdom was full of widows, old people   and children as most men who were of a marriageable age had been sacrificed in the  war. King Yudhistira established a just rule that aimed at helping the people. After a few years, the old king Dritharashtra and his queen Gandhari expressed a desire to retire to the forest. The mother of the Pandavas also wanted to retire from worldly life. Although reluctant, Yudhishtira gave them his consent and they left the kingdom. Lord Krishna too had gone back to Dwarka and was ruling his country. Unfortunately, too much of prosperity had brought greed, arrogance and anger to the Yadava clan. Small quarrels became big and the tribes started killing each other. Balarama got distressed and walked into the ocean. Lord Krishna was killed while sleeping by a hunter who shot his arrow mistaking Krishna’s feet for a deer. Yudhistira and the o...
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The curse of the white elephant

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  The curse of the white elephant When we read our puranic stories many of us have a doubt. If God is supposed to be loving, why does he punish people? If the rishis are knowledgeable and learned, why do they curse people? We need to understand that many of these stories are told to us not to narrate what happened to one person or some people but to help us learn a lesson. Some of these incidents also turn out to be a blessing by which man kind gains something. Let us see one such incident. The forest was thick and dark. It was spring. Flowers of all variety were blooming in the smaller plants. The big canopy of trees made it difficult for sunlight to pierce through. In between all this thick vegetation, a dark elephant was wandering listless. Unlike other elephants in the wild, this one seemed to have a regal bearing. It was looking tired and sad. The elephant thought about its glorious past and regretted its current plight. Who was this elephant? It was none other than Aira...
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The Shiva Run

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  It is a practice to visit many Shiva temples on the night of Shivarathri. This practice perhaps helps us in keeping awake while at the same time. There is an interesting story in the Mahabharata that is related to this. The Kurukshetra war was over. The Pandavas after the initial period of depression and gloom over the death and destruction, started to enjoy the kingdom and the riches. Even though their victory was the result of blessings from the Gods and even with the help of the Gods, they had started to believe that they achieved it by their own prowess. Pandavas continued to respect and venerate Lord Krishna, who was their cousin and their guide and mentor. They had forgotten to thank Lord Shiva who had given the Pashupata Asthra, a very powerful weapon. Arjuna did not use this very powerful weapon thanks to the constant help he got from Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna observed the brothers getting arrogant and decided to teach them a quick lesson. Like every other lesson t...
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