Pandavs had lost the gamble which they played with Kauravs. According to the conditions of the gamble, they had to stay in forest for 12 years. During their stay in the forest Bheem, one of the the Pandav brothers, fell in love with a demon named Hidimba. He married her with permission of his mother Kunti. Ghatotkach was born out of their marriage. As Ghatotkach was born half demon he had extraordinary powers.
There is also a story of Karn connected with Ghatotkach. Indra had cheated Karn and had taken his heavenly armor and earrings as donation. In return he had given an arrow called Shakti to Karn. Karn could kill anybody with that Shakti. Lord Krishna invited Ghatotkach to fight in the Mahabharat war. Ghatotkach kept killing thousands of Kaurav soldiers everyday. Ultimately he started killing so many soldiers that Duryodhan requested Karn to use the Shakti on Ghatotkach. Though Karn had saved the Shakti to kill Arjun, he had to use the Shakti to kill Ghatotkach on the insistence of Duryodhan. When Ghatotkach died he increased his body with his demonic powers and killed thousands of Kaurav soldiers when he fell down. Thus Ghatotkach saved the life of Arjun and brought a lot of destruction on the Kauravs army.
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King Ambarish was a very devout king. He was the son of King Mandhata. King Ambarish was a great devotee of lord Vishnu. His story comes in Shreemad Bhagavad Puran.
It is said that once King Ambarish performed the ‘Dwadashi fast’ which required that the king must start the fast on Ekadashi and break the fast at the start of Dwadashi and also feed all the people. When the time of breaking the fast came near, Rishi Durvasa suddenly came to meet king Ambarish. King Ambarish asked rishi Durvasa to be his guest. Rishi Durvasa went to take a bath in the river Yamuna and it so happened that he did not return at the time of breaking the fast. The brahmins advised king Ambarish to break his fast in the absence of rishi Durvasa.
When rishi Durvasa returned and saw that king Ambarish had broken the fast, he became very angry. In his anger, he produced a ferocious demon to kill Ambarish. But as Ambarish was a great devotee of lord Vishnu, the Sudarshan chakra of Vishnu intervened and killed the demon. The chakra then started following Durvasa to kill him. In great fear, Durvasa went to Brahmaji and Lord Shiva to save him from sudarshan chakra. But they expressed their inability. Then Durvasa went to Lord Vishnu and asked him to stop his chakra. Lord Vishnu told Durvasa that the chakra could only be stopped by Ambarish and advised Durvasa to go to Ambarish and request him to stop the chakra.
Rishi Durvasa then approached king Ambarish and asked him for his forgiveness. King Ambarish requested the chakra to stop and not kill rishi Durvasa.
This story from Shreemad Bhagavad Puran teaches us that lord protects his devotee under any circumstances. If we keep our faith in God and if we are devoted to God, we will be protected at all times.
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Anandamayi Ma was born as Nirmala Devi in the village, Kheora of present-day Bangladesh in a traditional Brahmin family. She was given the name, Anandamayi by her disciple Bhaiji afterward. She was an incarnation of God. Most of her disciples refused to consider her an incarnation, rather they believed that she was God herself. This belief that she was herself god was very common amongst most of the people who met her.
Anandamayi Ma always used to be in a state of near samadhi since her childhood, and that is why her parents were worried about her. She was married to Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti at the age of about 13 years. Ramani Mohan Chakrabarti was later given the name Bholanath by her.
She went to live with her husband in Ashtagram when she was 17 years old. The marriage was never consummated because whenever thoughts of lust occurred to Bholanathji, Anandamayi Ma’s body would take different qualities, nearly looking like dead.
Anandamayi Ma was probably the only saint who was given ‘Diksha’ by her own Shakti in her self. She had no physical Guru.
When her true nature was realized, she stayed for some more years in East Bengal, and after that, she started her travel. She traveled throughout her life. Never staying at a place for more than 15 days. Her first stop was near Dehradun. From there, she traveled to many places all over India, and a large group of followers collected around her.
By the end of her physical life, about 30 ashrams were established by her disciples around the country.
Anandamayi Ma’s most significant messages were to do meditation, recite god’s name, do mantra chanting as per the instructions of Guru, and think of nothing but God all the time. She refused to become a guru of anyone. She asked everyone to search for their guru.
She emphasized that this world was a temporary stopover for everybody and the final destination was to merge oneself with God. She promised people that if they chanted God’s name continuously, one day, God would appear to them. She was always very smiling, and she had answers to all the questions put up to her by her devotees and disciples.
Anandamayi Ma left her body on 27th August 1982 in Dehradun. Her samadhi was constructed at Kankhal Aashram in Haridwar. A lot many people go to her samadhi to pray and travel to her different ashrams to do meditation and kirtan.
Amongst all her ashrams Anandamayi Ma had a special affection for her ashram at Vindhyachal Hill. She used to send all her main disciples to Vindhyachal.
Anandamayi Ma was a very simple lady. She used to wear white clothes, and she would walk very fast as if she was flying in the air. She had ready answers to every question. Most of the time, she was in a state of samadhi, and she had a habit of not staying in one place for a very long time. She used to travel from place to place, and she gave the benefit of her darshan to people around the country.
Her devotees have written many books, which are available online at shreeshreeanandamayeesangha.org website. Please visit the website and read the books to learn more about the leela of Anandamayi Ma on the earth.
To know more about Anandamayi Ma, please see her videos on the internet and read books written by her devotees. Listening to her question-answer sessions one would get clarity on all the spiritual issues.
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(Shlok) This shloka number 22nd of the 9th chapter of Bhagwad Gita says that those who totally depend only on me, that is the lord, the lord takes care of them. This is a very important shloka because not all of us believe that if we totally depend on the lord, he will take care of us.
Here is a small story about this shloka of Shreemad Bhagwad Gita.
In a village lived a poor brahmin. He was a great devotee of Lord Shree Krishna and used to read the Bhagwad Gita every day.
One day there was nothing to eat at his home. He was reading Bhagwad Gita sitting under a tree near his home and when he came to this shloka, he started wondering that I am a devotee of lord Shree Krishna and in this shloka, the lord promises that he will fulfill all my needs. But today there is nothing to eat at my home. Thinking this, he made a mark on this shloka in his doubt.
At that time, a small child came to his house with lots of food material. He told brahmin’s wife that brahmin had sent the food to his home. The child had a wound on his head, and it was bleeding. When the brahmin’s wife asked him about the wound, the child answered, “please ask your husband about this wound and the blood.”
After finishing his reading of the Bhagwad Gita, when brahmin returned to his home, he saw that his home was full of all kinds of food. He was very much surprised. He asked his wife as to who gave all this. His wife replied, “You must have forgotten. You only sent this food with a small child.” Brahmin said he had no money, so he could not have sent any food. Brahmin asked his wife to describe the child. His wife replied that the child looked very beautiful but had a wound on his forehead from where blood was coming out. She also told the brahmin that the child had said that the secret of the wound was with the brahmin himself. The brahmin immediately understood that Lord Krishna had himself come with the food, and the red mark was the mark he had made in Bhagwad Gita.
He could not believe that the lord was so merciful. Then, he and his wife both prayed to the lord and asked for forgiveness. Brahmin specially asked forgiveness for disbelieving this shloka of Bhagwad Gita.
This shloka teaches us that if we have complete faith in the lord and surrender ourselves totally to his mercy, he fulfills all our needs.
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The story of Devi and how she killed Mahishasur and was called Mahishasur Mardini was written by Rishi Markandeya in Markandeya Puran. It is part of Devi Shaptshati, which is in the Markandeya Puran.
The story is like this.
Once upon a time, there was a demon called Mahishasur. He was very strong, and he was called Mahishasur because his upper body was that of a buffalo. He was very powerful, and he defeated all the gods in war. He and his army took over the heavens and drew away all the gods. The gods were left with nothing and had to roam around the earth like ordinary beings.
To get help, the Gods approached Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva and prayed to them. Hearing about Mahishasur, both Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva got very angry. They gave their energy to produce a Devi with great power. All the Gods also gave their powers to her. The Gods gave their weapons to the Goddess too. A lion was also given to the goddess to ride.
The Devi was looking resplendent, sitting on the lion, and with the power of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and all other Gods, she was looking extraordinarily ferocious and beautiful.
The Devi called Mahishasur to fight with her. Their battle continued for many days, and in the end, Devi killed the whole army of Mahishasur and him.
This is why Devi is called Mahishasur Mardini. Many Hindus read Devi Shaptshati in shardiya Navratri. Especially in Northeast India, Devi Pooja is very popular.
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This story is about how lord Ganesha lost one of his teeth and became 'Ek Danta.'
This story is about how lord Ganesha lost one of his teeth and became ‘Ek Danta.’
As we all know, Rishi Parshurama killed all the Kshatriyas, or the warrior class from the earth 21 times, and after killing the Kshatriyas, he was called Parshurama by Lord Shiva.
Parshurama wanted to meet lord Shiva and mother Parvati after performing that feat. When he reached Kailash, he found lord Ganesha at the gate of Kailash. Lord Ganesha stopped Rishi Parshurama and told him that Rishi Parshurama could not meet Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati at that time because they were in their bedroom.
Rishi Parshurama told Ganesha he was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and could meet him anytime. But Lord Ganesha answered that it would be a great sin to meet anyone in his bedroom without taking his permission. At this, Parshurama started laughing, and he tried to force himself inside the gate.
Lord Ganpati got angry and he increased the length of his trunk and held Rishi Parshurama with his trunk. He started moving Rishi Parshurama all around the cosmos.
He showed the Vaikunth of Lord Vishnu and the Goloka of Lord Krishna to Parshurama. And then brought him back with a thud near the gate of Kailash. This made Parshurama angry, and he threw his Parshu at lord Ganesha. As the Parshu was given by Lord Shiva to Rishi Parshurama, Lord Ganesha wanted to respect it. Therefore he let his left tooth take the hit by Parshu. This broke his left tooth. A lot of blood oozed out. This way, lord Ganesha lost one of his teeth.
Listening to all this noise, Mother Parvati came out and saw Lord Ganesha and asked him what had happened. Lord Ganesha kept quiet, but when Parvati saw that Parshurama was holding his Parshu that was covered with blood and saw son Ganesha with blood flowing from his left tooth, which had been broken, then she got very angry with Parshurama. She wanted to punish Rishi Parshurama.
At that time, Lord Vaman came and explained everything to Parvati. He told her that as Ganpati was her son, Parshurama was also a great disciple of lord Shiva and so, equal to her son. Lord Vaman also said to her that the whole incident happened because of destiny and that she should forgive Rishi Parshurama and let peace prevail. So, mother Parvati became peaceful and let Rishi Parshurama go.
This story is about how lord Ganesha became ‘Ek Danta.’
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The decision of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, to discard her newborn son Karna is a complex and controversial issue. According to the Mahabharata, Kunti was an unmarried princess who had obtained a boon that allowed her to summon any god and have a child with them. She tested the boon and gave birth to Karna, but as an unwed mother, she was unable to keep him.
Some argue that Kunti was justified in her decision to abandon Karna, as she was a young and unmarried girl who would have faced immense social stigma for having a child out of wedlock. Additionally, as a member of the royal family, she may have been concerned about the potential impact of Karna’s birth on the stability of the kingdom.
However, others argue that Kunti’s decision to abandon Karna was cruel and unjust, as she was his mother and had a responsibility to care for him. They point out that Kunti could have found a way to raise Karna without revealing the circumstances of his birth, or could have sought the help of trusted advisors to help her care for him
Ultimately, the morality of Kunti’s decision is a matter of interpretation and debate, and it is up to each individual reader to come to their own conclusions about the actions of the characters in the story.
Ashtavakra Geeta is considered one of the most important texts of Advaita Vedanta. Ashtavakra was bent at eight places and that’s how he got this name.
When teenager Ashtavakra was told by his friend Svetketu that his father was drowned in a river on orders of King Janaka, he asked why?
Svetketu answered that a learned Brahmin Vandin defeated his father in an argument and, that was the reason why Ashtavakra’s father was drowned.
Hearing this Ashtavakra went to King Janak’s court and challenged Vandin for an argument to find out who was more knowledgeable? Nobody believed that Ashtavakra could win, but Ashtavakra defeated Vandin convincingly. King Janak then ordered that according to the conditions Vandin should be drowned.
Vandin informed all present that he was the son of Varun, god of water. Vandin also told all present that Varun needed learned Brahmins for a yagya. And, now that the yagya was finished all the Brahmins would return. Ashtavakra’s father also returned. Muni Ashtavakra has written a definitive text about Vedanta called Ashtavakra Geeta.
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King Bharat was a great King. He ruled his kingdom with great justice and compassion. When he grew old he gave up his kingdom and went to a forest to perform penance and achieve Jeevanmukt state. He built a small hut and started living there to perform penance.
One day while he was sitting there, he saw she deer running. A lion was chasing her. As the deer jumped through the river, she delivered a deer and also died because of fright. Bharat jumped and picked up the small deer child. From that day onwards he started caring for the deer all day. So much so that he forgot his penance and instead of thinking o Brahman, kept thinking of the deer.
He was born a deer in his next birth because at the time of his death he was thinking of the deer. In his next birth, he was born as a Brahmin. Because of the virtue of his earlier penance he remembered everything. He had decided to not involve in anything and keep his mind free of every care and thought. Because he looked careless about everything he was called Jada Bharat, or someone who understands nothing.
Once it so happened that the King of that place called Rahugan was traveling near the village of Jada Bharat. He was traveling to meet Sage Kapila to know about Brahman and the truth of life. One of the bearers of his Palaquin was sick so he was looking for another bearer. He caught hold of Jada Bharat and ordered him to act as the fourth bearer.
Jada Bharat was careful while walking to save the small insects on the ground. Due to his slow and uneven motion King was troubled and he shouted at Bharat saying that perhaps he was sick and old of his body and was unfit. Bharat replied saying that O King, what you say applies to my body and not to me because I am pure Brahman who has realized his oneness with the whole. Jada Bharat also told King Rahugan more about soul and body. Realizing that the bearer was a great being King came down asked for forgiveness from Bharat.
The King said that I was going to meet Sage Kapila to learn about the truth of life and it seems that I need not go there. You will be able to enlighten me here itself. Jada Bharat told King everything about Brahman and World and enlightened the King.
In this birth when Bharat died he merged with Brahman and got free of the world forever.
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Bhakt Surdas was a great saint and devotee of Lord Krishna. He was a 16th-century poet who was blind. The exact date of birth is not known and there are different opinions between scholars.
Bhakt Surdas wrote lot many poems describing the childhood of Lord Krishna. Among his poems, a poem called Main Navin Makhan Khayo is very popular among Hindus.
Surdas was a disciple of Vaishnav Sage Shree Vallabhacharyaji. He spent a lot of time in Srinathji temples constructed by Vallabhachryaji. He died in one such temple on the banks of Yamuna.
Surdasji wrote many books of devotional poems. Prominent among them is Sur Sagar. His poems are also found in Shri Guru Granth Sahib which is the spiritual guru of Sikhs. As Surdasji wrote in Braj basha, this language also got a lot of attention. Devout Hindus sing the poems written by Surdasji with great love.
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