BharatiyaStories

  Satyakama: The Seeker of Truth Chandogya Upanishad, 4.4 – 4.8 In Sanatana Dharma, knowledge seeking, debate and discussions is part of the fabric. We do not get angry when questioned about our practices. The other defining feature of the religion is the acceptance of knowledge from any and all sources. This is not now. A nice story from Chandogya Upanishad depicts this beautifully.   A young boy once came to Sage Haridrumata Gautama. He said “Guruji, I want to study under you. I would like to accept me as your student.” Gautama asked him for his family details and gotra. The boy was not aware of these details. He asked his mother but unfortunately, she also did not know. She was a poor woman and was only aware of her name that was Jabala. She had named her son Satyakama. Saying all this, Satyakama said, “Sir, I reveal myself to you as Satyakama Jabala. Is my name.”   In those days it was considered a requirement of every Guru to accept students who came for ...

  Hanuman and the nine planets   We had talked about Hanuman and Kali in one of our earlier stories. ( https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2025/04/hanuman-and-kali.html ). In that story we saw how Hanuman cleverly planned the death of Mahiravana. Mahiravana was a great warrior and his death was a big loss for Ravana’s side. Ravana was now getting worried about the outcome of the war. He consulted his palace astrologers. They consulted their palm leaves and told their king “Lord, there is a problem for you currently due to the alignment of the planets. If you can do some parihara or prayers, the effects can be reduced.”   This advice would have satisfied normal people. But Ravana was not happy. He thought “I am the lord of the universe. Why should I try to appease the planets. I will realign the planets to go to a place where they can be in my favour.” Since he was a man of action, he decided to take action immediately.   If anything, Ravana was not doing an...

  Hanuman and Kali   The battle was raging on. It started off as a battle of unequal armies. On the one hand, were a huge army of monkeys and bears. On the other side was the disciplined army led by Ravana and his brave and disciplined army. The army of monkeys had Lord Rama and the mighty Lakshmana as their leader. More importantly they had dharma on their side. Slowly, but surely the tide turned. The army of Ravana started losing. Important generals died and so did many brave soldiers. Ravana’s family, his sons – one by one people bravely fought but they fought an adharmic war. And they lost. Finally, Ravana sent for his son Mahiravana. Mahiravana, in addition to being a solider was a sorcerer. Mahiravana was a magician who ruled the underworld. (paatala loka). Mahiravana was also a great devotee of Goddess Kali. Mahiravana did great penance and sacrifices to please the Kali. Pleased with his devotion, the Goddess had given him many magical powers. Mahiravana knew ...

  Ajamila and the power of the name Narayana Ajamila was a brahmin who resided with his family in a village. He was respectful to his parents and loved his wife. He lived by studying the scriptures, teaching the boys in the village and by performing some religious functions for people. When misfortune strikes anyone, their mind also does not work in a proper way. That is what happened to Ajamila too. One day he had gone into the forest to collect darba grass. (Darba grass is used in all religious ceremonies as it is considered a good conductor of positive energy). There Ajamila saw a beautiful woman. She was new to the village. Ajamila wanted to marry the beautiful woman. He forgot his parents, wife and married the lady. Unfortunately, his new wife was not a good person. She was very greedy and demanding. She pestered Ajamila for jewellery, clothes and other things. Ajamila was till now earning a small amount through teaching and by helping others conduct religious ceremonies...

  Vayuputra Bajrangbali, Hanuman, Anjaneya – we call him by many names. But all it denotes supreme power and complete devotion to Lord Rama and humility towards all others. We celebrate him as the Ashta siddi Navanidhi ke dhata (the possessor of eight powers and nine types of wealth). How did he get all these powers – just by his parentage? His devotion to Rama or was there more to it. Let us see an interesting story of Hanuman as a child. Anjana devi was busy with her chores. Her naughty Anjaneya, who she was fond of calling Sundara, was playing outside. The birds were chirping and the sun was just rising on the horizon. It was early spring. The sun was a bright orange in the distance. Baby Hanuman was as ever curious. He was also hungry. He wanted to eat that right, red fruit. With one jump he tried to catch the sun not realising that Lord Surya was a ball of fire. That day happened to be the day of eclipse. Rahu with his snake like form was trying to eclipse the sun. Han...

  The Birth King Dasarath did the Ashvamedha yagna -a yagna is a yagna done by a king to establish himself as a ruler of many kingdoms. Sage Rishyashringa was called to officiate as the chief priest of the Ashvamedha. This was a complex yagna and Rishyashringa completed it perfectly. Pleased with this, Dasarath asked Sage Rishyashringa who officiated for the Ashvamedha yagna to do a Putrakameshti yagna for him to have sons. The Sage agreed and the Putrakameshti yagna was performed. From the yagna fire came a Yagna purusha with a huge golden vessel covered with a silver lid. The yagna purusha then directed Dasarath to give the blessed payasam (sweet dish) in the vessel to his chosen wives and disappeared. King Dasarath was very pleased. As directed by the divine messenger, he gave Queen Kausalya half the portion of the payasam. Then he gave half of the remaining half (1/4 th ) to Queen Sumitra. Of the balance 1/4 th left, he divided it between his other wife Kekayi and again ...

  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.” “...