Lost and Found: The Universal Biography of Two Swans

There was once a king named Puranjan. He had a friend whose name was ‘unknown.’ The king wandered all around the world in search of a city to dwell in. When however he failed to find a suitable place to live, he became somewhat disappointed. He had rejected all available cities as unsuitable for fulfillment of his many desires.

Thus wandering, he came to the south of the Himalayas and saw a city with nine gates, which possessed all the characteristics that a good city should have. It was surrounded by gardens, watchtowers, moats, windows etc and it had houses with crests of gold, silver and iron.

It was there that the king laid his eyes on a charming damsel of superb beauty. She was accompanied by ten servants, each of whom was the husband of a hundred ladies. The woman, in search of a suitable husband for herself, was protected on all sides by a five-hooded serpent. She was of an attractive dark complexion and was wearing a yellow colored sari. She had well-formed hips bound with a girdle of gold, and when she walked, the tinkling of her anklets made her seem like a goddess.

Bashful, she modestly attempted to cover with one end of her garment, her symmetrical, closely knit spherical breasts, which indicated the advent of youth.

The great hero Puranjan stood defeated, wounded by the affectionate arrows of her sidelong glances, fired from the bows of her eyebrows which made lively amorous movements. He addressed her in a sweet, winning voice:

"Who are you, Oh beautiful lady with eyes like the lotus petals? Whose daughter are you? Where are you coming from? O gentle lady, what do you desire to do on the outskirts of this city? Who are these ten servants of yours? Who is this eleventh great warrior commanding your ten servants? Who are these women with you and who is this serpent preceding you? Are you the goddess of bashfulness, Or Parvati, Saraswati or Lakshmi? Please show favor and live with me in this city, because the playful movement of your eyebrows and bashful loving smile is piercing my heart."

When the king thus cravingly solicited her, the lady greeted him with a smile, and said:

"O valiant monarch, we do not know who is our progenitor. Nor do we know our or your family name. I only know that we are all here in this city today, and don’t even know who has made this city. These men and women with me are all my friends and this snake stands guard when I go to sleep. I am glad that you have come. God bless you. Whatever sensual pleasures you desire, I will secure for you with the help of my kinsmen. Therefore, please occupy this city with nine gates, enjoying for a hundred years all the pleasures I will secure for you. Oh mighty warrior, which girl will not accept a husband as famous, good looking and loving like you? Which woman would not be tempted to cling to your soft, circular serpent like arms? Indeed, you seem to wander around the earth only to relieve the mental anguish of husbandless women like me."

Hence, the couple entered into a mutual agreement, and enjoyed various pleasures there for a hundred years. Thus the king was beguiled, and with his mind given totally over to sense gratification, did exactly what his queen did. For example, when she would drink wine, he too would get drunk and intoxicated, when she ate, he too ate, when she he sang, he too sang, and when she wept, he too shed tears.

Exuding Innocence (No Monkey Business)

In this way, the king, captivated by the queen, totally identified himself with her, and lost his original nature, and though unwilling, simply imitated the acts of his queen helplessly, like a domesticated monkey kept for amusement.

The Symbolism Behind this Narrative:

Each of us is actually Puranjan. Every living entity is supposed to be the king of its own body since it has the full freedom to use the body as it likes. We usually engage our body for sense gratification only. One who identifies himself solely with the body, not realizing that he is actually the spirit soul living within it, such an individual, enamored by the dictation of the senses, is a materialist, devoid of inner knowledge. A materialistic person utilizes his senses according to his whims, much as a king mistakes his royal position for his personal property and misuses his treasury for sense gratification.

Nonetheless, he has a friend whom he does not know. Deluded by the blinding glare of our desires, we forget that we have an eternal friend in god, present as the Super Soul, situated within the heart of everybody. Actually, we think of ourselves as "masters," however, we are not masters, but eternal servants of god. When, under the influence of our innumerable desires, we abandon the shelter of god, we have to but wander around in numerous births and bodies, until we come to the human form, which can serve as a vehicle for both gratification of the senses or salvation.

The walls are nothing but the skin protecting our bodies. The high parts of the body like the nose are compared to towers. The wrinkles and depressions on various parts of the body are the moats and canals; the eyes represent windows, and the eyelids protective gates. The three metals – gold, silver and iron – signify the three modes of nature – sattva, rajas and tamas respectively.

The tempting, beautiful woman represents intelligence (buddhi), searching for a suitable husband (jiva). This indicates that intelligence cannot operate without consciousness. The two symmetrical and taut breasts, placed side by side symbolize the twin attributes of attachment (raga) and aversion (dvesha). The intelligence tries hard to hide the fact that it these two emotions which govern each and every of its impulse.

The ten servants are the ten sense organs (five for working; and five for knowledge). All the ten senses work under the aegis of the mind – the eleventh mighty warrior. The hundreds of women the senses are married to are none other than the numerous desires plaguing each of the sense organs. The five-hooded serpent symbolizes the five vital airs (pranas) sustaining the body.

The king believes the ladies’ attempt to cover her bosom as a sincere attempt at modesty and thus addresses her as the "goddess of bashfulness." However, the most beautiful part of this symbolic narrative occurs when he thinks her to be either the goddess Parvati, Lakshmi or Saraswati. This is but the three-way unfolding of our desires.

Goddess Parvati

We sometimes wish to obtain a beautiful wife, for which Goddess Parvati needs to be worshipped.

Saraswati: Goddess of Learning and Art with Peacock

At other times we want to become learned, for that there is Goddess Saraswati,

Goddess Lakshmi

and for material prosperity of course, there is Devi Lakshmi. All the enquires made by the king in this single sentence point out to his bewilderment, not knowing in which direction his intellect should take.

In the world, whether one is a man or a woman, one wants to enjoy. A man wants to enjoy a beautiful woman, while a woman wants to enjoy a powerful man. Every living being who possesses this desire is a purusha (dweller in the city (pura)), the enjoyer. Superficially it appears that the woman is the enjoyed and the man the enjoyer, but internally, everyone is an enjoyer.

The king’s enquiry regarding the woman’s origins is the eternal enquiry of the embodied soul put to the intellect, but the intelligence is unable to fathom its own origins. She frankly states that she knows nothing about where she has come from. When the jiva identifies itself totally with the buddhi, does this not become the existential position of all of us?

Indeed the soul confines itself to a body only because of the residual desires (vasanas) of the jiva, and the buddhi gives him the proper direction in which he can gratify his senses to their best capacity. This is the maximum it can do.

King Puranjan represents the ordinary living being and the woman signifies the intelligence of the ordinary being. Combined, the living entity enjoys his material senses and the intelligence supplies all the paraphernalia for his enjoyment.

What Happened Next?

Leading a life of indulgence devoted to each other, the king, bound in the embrace of his young wife, forgot all about the inexorably rapid course of time. Overwhelmed by ignorance, the king considered his queen to be the highest objective of his life (purushartha), and forgot all about his real transcendental self. His mind thus clouded with passion, his youth passed away as if in half a moment.

Puranjan begot through his queen a large number of sons and daughters, all of whom he married off to suitable spouses. Each of his offspring then gave birth to numerous of their own and thus the king’s clan multiplied manifold, filling the whole earth. With each of his near and dear ones, the king formed a bond of attachment and possessiveness.

Then came that period of life, which is not welcomed by those who are attached to the fulfillment of physical desires.

There was another king named Chanda-vega (swift aggression). He had a force of three hundred and sixty soldiers (days in an year), paired to each of whom were as many female soldiers (nights). The two battalions daily took rotations to plunder the city of Puranjan, which was so full of objects for material enjoyment. The serpent guard resisted the aggression, and fought single handedly the opposing army of 720 soldiers. When however, the snake gradually began to lose its strength, Puranjan along with his relatives became anxious.

The Story of the Daughter of Time – Kala Kanya

There was a certain daughter of kala (time), who was once touring the three worlds for a husband. However, nobody welcomed her proposal. Due to her misfortune, she came to be known as Dur-bhaga – ‘the unfortunate one.’

She finally approached the king of ‘fear’, and proposed to him. The latter however realized that the daughter of time was none other than old age, and if he courted her, he would grow old and weak himself.

The king of ‘fear’ thus made her his sister, and told her that since no one in this world would mate with her willingly she would not now have to restrict herself to one individual, but rather attack and partake each and every individual as a suitor; in other words, the whole manifested world would now be her playground.

The king of ‘fear’ then instructed his brother named ‘fatal fever’ to accompany them, and the three of them, along with their formidable army (physical and mental ailments), then entered city of Puranjan, through all the available gates.

The city being thus devastated, Puranjan, who had become excessively attached to it underwent numerous agonies. Now clasped in the arms of the daughter of time (rather than his beloved wife), bereft of his splendor, king Puranjan found himself deprived of his powers. He found that at this stage his capital city was nearly razed and that his sons, grandsons and servants had become disrespectful, and his wife had become affectionless towards him. All relationships he had cherished throughout his life now stood exposed, and reduced to their core, revealed their essence-less nature.

Even then the miserable king still hankered after the long-lost physical pleasures. Just then arrived the ‘fatal fever,’ and burned down the entire city (meaning the high temperature of Puranjan’s body). In those last moments the tired serpent defending the city was trembling with severe agonies and wished to escape from the city much like a snake in the hollow of a burning tree. The last thoughts of the wretched Puranjan were as follows:

"When I have departed to the next world, how will my wife, ever so anxious for the welfare of her children, live without me? She is so devoted to me that she does not eat until I have taken my own food. She gets afraid when I am angry and when reproached by me, she keeps quiet in fear. When I am on a wrong path, she brings me to the correct one, when I am away from home for many days she becomes emaciated because of sorrow."

As he had brooded over his virtuous wife at the end moment of his life, he became a woman in the next birth, and became a virtuous wife himself, having children and descendants of his own. When the husband of this woman died, she (Puranjan) wept bitterly. Just then, her ‘unknown’ friend came near and questioned her, saying:

Swan Couple

"Dear friend who are you? Who is this man you are lamenting for? Don’t you know me? I am the same friend with whom you used to move about before. You left me when you went in search of earthly pleasures. Overpowered by the woman who was the mistress of the dwelling you forgot your own divine companion. You are not the wife of this man nor anybody’s husband. Actually, you and I are both swans. I am you, and you are none other than me. Those who are wise never perceive even the slightest difference between the two of us."

Conclusion:

Krishna's Gita Updesha

The Bhagavata Purana says that all men in this world were women in their previous births, and vice versa. Each died thinking about the opposite sex. That is how the world is, so there is no point in considering anyone higher or lower than the other. Superiority has nothing to do with the sex of a person. It is not the name, religion, or sect which makes anybody superior or inferior, because the essence of everybody is the Supreme Soul, which is to be remembered always, to regain our original nature as swans soaring freely in the boundless realms. Actually god is always there working with (and for) us, but remains unknown. For example, we eat food, but it is god who digests it. Krishna says clearly enough in the Bhagavad Gita: "I live in all living beings as the fire of life digesting the food eaten by them." (15.14)

When we attach ourselves too much to the illusory world of maya, thinking it to be our ‘essential’ nature, this obsession dominates our thoughts so much so that like Puranjan above, the ordinary mortal dies worrying about others. 

Actually, nobody needs to worry about anybody, but rather one needs to dwell on one’s own self, which is none other than the Universal Soul, and thereby are united two long lost friends.

(The story of Puranjan occurs in detail in the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana Book IV, Chapters 25-39)

---

References and Further Reading:

• Devi, Shrimati Dayakanti. Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (With Word to Word Meaning in 8 Volumes): Allahabad, 1993.
• Dogre, Shri Ramachandra Keshav. Shrimad Bhagavat Rahasya (Collection of Discourses): Delhi
• Goswami, C.L. and Shastri, M.A. Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (English Translation in Two Volumes) Gorakhpur, 2005.
• Prabhupada, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Srimad Bhagavatam (43 Volumes): Mumbai.
• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda (tr). Shrimad Bhagavata Purana (2 Volumes): Gorakhpur, 2004.
• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagavata Vimarsha (Collection of Discourses in Two Volumes): Mumbai, 2003.
• Saraswati, Swami Akhandananda. Bhagawatamrit (The Elixir of the Bhagwat) Mumbai, 2005.
• Tagare, G.V. (tr). The Bhagavata Purana (5 Volumes (Annotated))Delhi, 2002.
• Tejomayananda, Swami. Shrimad Bhagavata Pravachan (Discourses on The Shrimad Bhagavata Purana): Mumbai, 2006.

Source : http://www.exoticindia.co.in/article/jiva/

******************************************************

A STORY OF GODESS VAISHNO DEVI

A Story of Goddess VAISHNO DEVI

The story is about seven hundred years old. Two kilometers away from present Katra town, is a village named Hansali. This picturesque-place surrounded on all sides by trees and brooks, pre­sents an thrilling view of nature. In the midst of this atmosphere a sound was reverberating in the mountains of Trikuta....

"I don't know hymns; I don't know how to adore thee; I don't know formal worship; I don't know even your shape; Neither I know the method of meditation nor the postures of meditation story all my sins and help to attain, whatever I deserve."

"Victory to you,, Oh mother Bhavani," said Pan­dit Shri-Dhar. His throat choked, tears rolled down the cheeks, sweat drops appeared over his forehead; lips quivered. Shri-Dhar asked mother, "You are the greatest of great. You are knower of known and unknown. Why don't you accept' my prayers? What are the short-comings in my wor­ship? Oh, goddess! Be benign unto me. Pardon my sins or else tell me in person that why children can't adore my home? How can my line of progenitors continue without my descendants?" Pan­dit Shri-Dhar was talking as if to him with emo­tion and devotion. His whole body was shivering & suddenly a murmuring sound came beneath the fallen dry leaves.

"Chhan, Chhan, Chhan...".

Sound of Pazeb (Anklet) filled the air. Pandit ji looked in the direction of leaves and the rays of blazing sun fell on his face. The whole atmosphere looked blissful. Shri-Dhar was aghast. He saw here. & there, but couldn't find anyone. He took it as his own hallucination and offered the flowers of wor­ship and left for his village. He had to conduct girl worship ceremony.

The girl worship ceremony started. Six small girls were sitting in line with folded legs. Suddenly Panditji's eyes fell on a ravishing face, full of beauty and splendor. Panditji was amazed and bewitched. It seemed as if hundreds of suns were blazing on her face. It was so innocent, as if thousands of lotuses had blossomed. This girl had never been spotted in the village earlier. Her clothes were red in color and she was wearing an anklet.

The girl put her feet in the front of Pandit Shri­Dhar. He started to wash her feet. Then he wor­shipped all the seven girls and served flowers. Later he served food and gave 'Dakshina' (offering in cash) to them. All the girls, except the divine shaped girl, left. Panditji was about to ask her some questions, when the divine goddess, in the form of girl, said to him, "I have come to you for an important job." On hearing this from small girl the devotee was overwhelmed.

The girl said, "You convey to people in the vil­lage and around, that you are holding a feast in the name of god." Before Panditji could ask her any­thing, the girl disappeared. Shri-Dhar was perplexed. Who was that girl? She should have been a divine girl. Then Shri-Dhar became anxious about holding of 'Bhandara', the feast in the wor­ship of god. He thought that he could invite everyone but who would arrange the eatables and other material required for it? He thought he could not conduct the feast (Bhandara). He thought that the mysterious girl may have been divine & wanted to examine his devotion. He resolved to in­vite people from the village and near-by places & left his home to invite all the people including 'Bhairav Nath'.

Bhairav Nath enquired of Panditji, if he could fulfill the requirements of so big a congregation. He warned him of bad consequences in case of fai­lure. He reminded him that once; Lord Indra was cursed by their guru for not being able to satisfy the appetite of guru and his disciples. He said to Panditji, "Our guru ji can burn the whole village by his curse in anger. So you think before deciding to invite us. You are committing a great blunder by calling us on feast." Panditji folded hands and said, "Sir, you are a great sage, saint and seer. By good luck, I have been able to see you. I have al­ready invited the people from far & nearby places. I have requested you to visit my home deeming it to be my duty. Although I know that I can't per­form such a big holy feast (Bhandara) yet I have to perform it.

"Why?” enquired yogi; "Holy sage, that girl has ordered me to perform it," said Shri-Dhar. "Which girl"? Again the yogi enquired "Fantastic! a small girl will arrange holy feast for such a huge group of holy saints". The saint turned towards his guru & said, "Sir, listen the words of Panditji. He says that a small girl wants to feed all of us and also the whole village." Guru Gorakh Nath replied," What harm is there to take the test? We should go and see ourselves, who this girl is?" The guru raised his hands and said to Shri-Dhar." We accept your invitation. We will arrive tomorrow in time.

Shri-Dhar got dead-tired by visiting the houses of people in villages and fell asleep at night. In the morning, he got worried about the arrangements for 'Bhandara'. People started to pour in.

It was noon. Sun was blazing high in the sky. Shri-Dhar was sitting out side his hut on a raised earthen platform. He was lost in worry as nothing had been arranged. Meanwhile the sound of saint’s arrival could be heard from a distance. Holy saint, Gorakh Nath, was proceeding towards the hut, accompanied by huge group of devotees.

The whole village hummed with activity and people thronged towards the hut. Some said that Panditji has got himself entrapped. Others thought that whole village will be put to disre­pute, because of Panditji's folly. Even ladies began to murmur.

Suddenly, the sky was overcast with clouds and for a moment it was almost dark and later bright sun appeared again and darkness disappeared. Surprisingly a divine girl, wearing red apparel and a trident in hand, appeared in front of Shri-Dhar. Nobody could know, from where, the girl ap­peared.

The divine girl said, "Panditji, leave your wor­ries. Everything will be arranged. You get up and ask the holy men to get into your hut and eat food." Shri-Dhar got up and requested the saints to grace his hut.

Guru Gorakh Nath said, "How can I sit in your hut with my three hundred and sixty disciples? For us, open space, outside the hut, will be suita­ble. Your hut is too small. Panditji, please arrange to serve the foods, outside the hut." Shri-Dhar re­plied, "Sir, the girl has invited you inside the hut." Guru ji proceeded to hut and his disciples followed him one by one. All the people got accommodated inside the hut and there was still some room left. People of the village sat outside. Bhandara started. The divine girl started to distribute food from mystic pot (Kamandal). Panditji became happy while others were surprised. Everyone got food of choice. Numberless foods of varied tastes were distributed and people ate to their heart full.

On seeing this, Gorakh Nath and Bhairav-Nath admitted in their conversation that the girl had some supernatural powers. They decided to probe about her antecedents. The girl reached near Bhairav Nath, serving food. He said to the girl, "You have served food to everybody as per their choice. Now serve me also food of my choice." The girl replied, "Your holiness, what do you want?" Mother knew everything. She wanted to play a sport with her child in the same way, as a mother .plays with a baby or as a baby plays with his toys. So in spite of knowing everything about Bhairav she wanted him to spell it out.

Bhairav said, "Bring for me meat and drinks (wine)." The girl replied, "Sir, please do not forget that you are sitting in a Brahmins hut and this au­spicious feast is vegetarian. So please ask only those foods which are vegetarian." Bhairav stood by his choice. He wanted to test the powers of this amazing girl. Discussions started over this issue and Bhairav lost temper. He tried to catch hold of the hand of girl. The girl (goddess) disappeared. Bhairav, also, was not an ordinary human-being. He went into samadhi (Intense meditation) and saw by his spiritual powers that the girl is moving towards Trikuta Mountains. His quest increased. He wanted to know the whereabouts of the girl, her source of power and the mystery surrounding her. He became restive and as such sought per­mission from his Guru, to follow the girl and to know her abode. He told him that he wanted to know the secret of her powers and their source. Guru Gorakh Nath allowed Bhairav to pursue the girl and wished him good luck.

Bhairav left for Trikuta hills. He saw, in medita­tion, the path taken by the girl and followed her.

Meanwhile Pandit Shri-Dhar became restless just like a fish out of water. The divine girl had left the hut since last two days. He was continuously gazing towards the unknown. He stopped eating, drinking and talking. It seemed as if the jug of water had been snatched from the hands of a thirsty man. The day passed in this way and night set in. He fell asleep.

While sleeping Panditji felt, as if, someone is pressing his hand on his head. The soft touch of hand gave him relief and he opened his eyes. To his astonishment, he found Durga goddess riding a lion, adorned with ornaments, trident in her hand and many other-weapons gracing her dazzling and sparkling personality. Panditji reverently bowed down his head and sang hymns in the worship of mother. Mother enquired of Panditji, "Why did you stop eating and drinking? How can you worship with an empty belly? Come, I will show you my abode." Shri-Dhar followed mother with folded hands. It seemed, as if everything was mov­ing mechanically. He started riding up the hill. Then they reached near a cave. They entered the cave. The mother showed him her abode in the cave. The devotee was jubilant on witnessing it. Tears rolled down his cheeks in reverence. He bowed down his head and worshipped the god­dess mother. Then they came out of the cave. The moment he ejected-out of cave the bright light fell on his eyes and Shri-Dhar awoke from his sleep. It was dawn. The Sun had come out scattering red rays in streaks in the sky. Shri-Dhar got up from the bed.

Panditji was very happy. The scenes witnessed during dream were still fresh in his mind. The pic­ture of mother astride a lion in full glory, was caus­ing a commotion to him. He remembered every bit of path, place, the goddess in 'Pindi' shape, the beautiful cave, the mountains falling on the way etc.



Nine months passed by. Bhairav Nath was loit­ering on the mountains in search of mystic girl. He sat in meditation several times and tried to know the whereabouts of the girl through mystic pur­suits but he failed. Although he knew that the di­vine girl is hidden somewhere on the same moun­tain yet he could not locate her. The path, she fol­lowed, was not clear. Earlier, he had seen a 'Lan­gur Veer' (monkey) with a red flag in hand with the girl. Then he saw the girl hitting a stone with an arrow and water gushed out of that stone. Bhairav reached near that place and again sat in meditation. He saw the girl standing at the moun­tain top. Bhairav went to that place and found the foot-print (marks) on the stone. Then he could not locate the girl for nine months. His innate desire for the search of girl, increased to the extent of mad­ness.

One day his eyes fell on a hermit. Bhairav en­quired of hermit, "Sir, have you seen any girl here?" The hermit replied, "Perhaps you are not aware, that goddess Maha Devi lives here. Who else can stay here?" Bhairav asked, "Where can the girl, whom I am searching, hide for nine months? Is it not possible that she is hidden in the cave?" Saying so, he started to enter a narrow cave beneath the hermit.

The hermit stopped Bhairav. He stood in front of the cave mouth and said, "Oh fool! The girl, whom you think as ordinary human being, is all powerful goddess 'Adi Kumari' * . It is good for you to return back."

It is said that when evil times are to be-fall on a man, his intellect fails. Bhairav Nath also acted in the same manner. The more he was forbidden by the saint, the more he became stubborn about en­tering the cave. He thought how a girl could re­main hidden in cave for nine months. A cave can­not -become a womb (Garb-Yoni). He vowed to enter the cave. Mother goddess was witnessing the mental agony and turbulence of Bhairav. In fact, it was her own sport (Lila). She could annihi­late Bhairav in a spur of moment, but she wanted to continue the play a bit more.

On seeing Bhairav entering the cave, she tore open a path behind the cave by her trident and came out. The goddess went ahead, while Bhairav followed her. At last the goddess reached near the beautiful cave on Trikut Mountains. Goddess asked Bhairav to return back and stop following her, but Bhairav refused. So the goddess kept 'Veer-Langur' (monkey) as a guard on cave-mouth and entered in the cave. Bhairav also started to enter the cave. However Langur-Veer stopped him. He said to Bhairav, "Mahamaya has forbid­den me from allowing anyone to enter into the cave. So please take leave." Bhairav got agitated and asked Langur, "Who are you to stop me? I am Bhairav-Bali. I can go to any place." On saying this Bhairav snatched 'Gada' (club) from Langur and started hitting him. The two fought battle royal for a long time, till Langur fell down. Bhairav threw him away and entered the cave. Goddess saw him entering and took the shape of fierce 'Chandi' god­dess and killed Bhairav by her sword.

Probably the play of goddess had come to an end. When a child plays with a toy and it doesn't move according to his choice, he may break it. He is the master of toy. In similar way, Maha Devi broke the toy (a creation of her own Maya). The sword of goddess tore through the body of Bhairav so ferociously, that the head of Bhairav fell on the mountain peak. This place, in these days, is called as Bhairav- ghati.

Bhairav Nath was not an ordinary human being.

He was a spiritual saint. His head separated from the body, but the consciousness still remained. He felt sorry for his conduct. He repented and im­plored to goddess, "Oh! the mother of’ creator, foundation of universe, I am not sad for having lost my life, as my end has come at the hands of mother of creation. I will get 'Moksha' (Liberation). But mother, please pardon me. I was ignorant of your girl-form. Great mother, if you won't pardon me, then the whole world will consider me as a great sinner and abhor me.

On listening the prayers of Bhairav, the mother took pity on him. She gave him a boon and said, "After my worship, people will be worshipping you also. Your soul will be liberated. The devotees will visit your shrine after pilgrimage to my abode. The devotees, who pay obeisance to you, will also get their desires fulfilled. As per this boon, the pil­grims of holy Mata Vaishno Devi shrine later visit the temple of Bhairav Baba. The place, where the Bhairav's head fell, houses a temple in the name of Bhairav.



Meanwhile, Shri-Dhar had become impatient after having holy 'darshan' of goddess mother in holy cave in a dream. He started to march towards Trikuta Mountains on the same path as he had witnessed in dream. Sometimes he used to forget the path but immediately a picture of the path would come in his eyes. In this way, he went on searching the cave and ultimately reached the cave mouth. He became joyous and entered the cave. There he saw mother goddess in 'Pindi- Rupa'. Shri-Dhar prayed holy mother with hymns and oblations. He worshipped mother with deep reverence. He made a daily routine of worshipping 'Pindis' and serves the mother in several ways. The unswerving faith and devotion of Shri-Dhar pleased the mother goddess and she appeared in front of her devotee and gave him a boon of four sons. The mother blessed Shri-Dhar and said, "Your future progeny will worship me for long times to come and they will be blessed with happi­ness, wealth, health and velour." Since that day, Shri-Dhar and his descendants have been wor­shipping the mother. After this event Shri-Dhar spread the message far and wide and the cave be­came popular amongst masses. People come in millions to visit the holy cave and get their desires fulfilled.

Jai Sai Ram~~~

"लोका समस्ता सुखिनो भवन्तुः
ॐ शन्तिः शन्तिः शन्तिः"

" Loka Samasta Sukino Bhavantu
Aum ShantiH ShantiH ShantiH"~~~

May all the worlds be happy. May all the beings be happy.
May none suffer from grief or sorrow. May peace be to all.

Source : http://forum.spiritualindia.org/story-t20669.0.html

******************************************************

SAGE JANAKA MAHARAJ AND ASTAVAKRA RISHI

SAGE   JANAKA  MAHARAJ   AND   ASTAVAKRA   RISHI

ASTAVAKRA RISHI

Janaka Maharaj & Astavakra Rishi

Secrets of the Undiscovered Self 
By Krishna Rose based on the teachings of Gurudeva, Narayana Goswami Maharaja

We Are Pure Spirit Souls

A long time ago there lived a powerful sage named Astavakra Rishi. The sage was curved in eight parts of his body, and when he walked his movements were quite peculiar and awkward. He was very ugly and people often laughed at the sight of him. Although externally he was awkward and crooked, internally his heart was pure because he had realized his eternal transcendental identity. He knew and realized the difference between the body and the soul.

Once, Astavakra Rishi was invited by the great king Maharaja Janaka to attend an assembly of saintly persons. As he entered the assembly, everyone present began to laugh at him. Hearing them, Astavakra Rishi also began to laugh. The members of the assembly were surprised and said to each other, “We are laughing at him, but he is laughing even more loudly than us. Why is this?”

Janaka Maharaja rose from his throne and asked Astavakra Rishi, “Why are you laughing so loudly?”  The sage replied, “I thought I was coming to join an assembly of saints and sages, but instead I have stumbled into a convention of shoemakers. A shoemaker’s interest is in leather and skin, and I see that all of you are just looking at my skin. Your interest is in seeing if someone is beautiful or ugly, healthy or disabled, young or old. Your minds are absorbed in these temporary things. You are not seeing my soul as saintly persons would. It is simply illusion to place importance on the external, temporary body while being oblivious to the eternal soul dwelling within.”

Janaka Maharaja’s heart was deeply penetrated by Astavakra Rishi’s words. He realized that the sage was a liberated soul, and fit to sit on the throne. He very lovingly placed him on his own throne, bowed down to him, and accepted him as his instructing spiritual master.

We Are Not These Bodies

Here, my Gurudeva, Narayana Maharaj has given the story of Astavakra Rishi as a great example of our situation in the current day also.  It seems like most of society is preoccupied with the external appearance of our own selves, as well as that of others.  It is one of the main reasons for discontent in relationships and marriage.  The man or woman becomes agitated by beauty of one kind or another and wants to enjoy elsewhere, thinking this will be bring more happiness.  The body is not the true self. This body came to us at the time of our birth, and will leave us at death.  It is likened to a car.  An ugly older style car or a beautiful shiny sports car, nevertheless a vehicle for the soul to move about this world in.  When the car no longer works, we step out of the vehicle and buy a new one.  So the soul steps in and out of the vehicle of the physical body.

The mind is also part of the material body and is different from the soul. It experiences temporary mundane emotions as real, thus causing much anguish and only a little pleasure. We are individual souls, not these bodies or minds.  The mind is likened to a computer.  The computer gives us messages every day on e-mail.  We open some, and delete others.  These are likened to the thoughts we have.  Some thoughts we like and we dwell on them for some time, others we ignore like spam mail.  Through meditation on the self we can withdraw ourselves from the constantly working mind, which distracts us from the truth of who we are.

These bodies are mortal; all the doctors and scientists of this world cannot prevent old age and death. One day we will become old, our beauty and power will disappear and after some time we will die. We will have to give up everything we have worked so hard to accumulate during this lifetime. Nothing in this world will save us from this inevitability.  The ancient scriptures of India, the Vedas, say, “God is one. Everything in this world is merely an expansion of His power, or energy.” We are like the Supreme in that we have been created in God and Goddesses image, but unfortunately we have turned away from our inherent natural devotion to Them, and have therefore forgotten who we are.   We think that these material bodies are our real selves. We spend our days collecting money and securing positions, thinking that these things will make us happy.

We Are Part and Parcel of the Supreme Self

The Vedas instruct us, “Don’t live in darkness; move toward the light.” “Light” refers to knowledge of our true spiritual form, in relationship to the Supreme Lord of whom we are minute parts and parcels.  The Supreme Lord is known in the Ancient Vedas as Lord Krishna.  God has many names, all of them are worshipable and transcendental. Every name of God and Goddess can give us transcendent experience.  Krishna means the all-attractive beautiful One, the reservoir of complete pleasure, knowledge and eternal existence. He has many manifestations and they are all non-different from Him. He is the supreme person we generally call God, Allah or Jehovah. To serve Him in our spiritual form is this light that is spoken of, for our spiritual bodies are made of that light.  Nevertheless, these bodies made of light have a form with which we can have a personal relationship with the Divine.  Jesus said “Love God with all your heart and all your soul”.  This devotion and relationship with the Divine brings full and eternal happiness.

“Darkness” refers to the state of spiritual ignorance. To be in darkness or ignorance means to be attached to objects related to this body and to have a sense of possessiveness toward the things of this world. Everyone in this world wants to be completely happy and no one wants to suffer. We can see, however, that despite people’s endeavors to attain happiness since time immemorial, they have not been truly successful. Medicines, trains, airplanes and now computers have been invented with the intention of creating convenience and happiness, and new forms of entertainment have been designed for this purpose. But has all this given anyone lasting inner happiness? It is especially thought that accumulating wealth can buy happiness, but who has ever become permanently happy by becoming wealthy?

There is, however, a transcendental science, a spiritual scientific process that leads one to eternal happiness and puts an end to one’s cycle of birth and death. That science is called Bhakti-yoga, or pure devotion to the Supreme. By performance of Bhakti-yoga we attain everlasting happiness.  The process of performing pure devotion to God and/or Goddess allows one to realize the true self in relationship with the Divine, and one naturally attains true inner happiness.

If you really want to love all beings, first love God and Goddess. That love will automatically be distributed to all beings and in this way everyone can be happy. This is true love and affection. In that realm of love even tigers and bears can be calmed and quieted. Great sages of the past who resided in dense forests were never attacked by tigers or other wild beasts. If we can attain that love for the Supreme, we can truly love all others.

The Nature of the Supreme Self

In order to be attracted to love that Supreme Being, we first need to know who He is, what His nature is, and what His attractive qualities are.  One who can create entire universes cannot be formless or without attributes. He must have all varieties of power and opulence. All the forms we see in this world have come from Him, so how can He Himself be formless? The Bible says that God has created man in His own image, and this is also confirmed in the Vedas.

He is so large that complete universes are contained within Him. Simultaneously, He is so minute that He resides in each and every atom – in every atom of air, in every atom of fire and in every atom of water. He is everywhere and He can hear everything.  He is the same God for the Christians, for the Muslims, for the Hindus and for all others. There are not different Gods. He is the same God Jesus told us to love and the same God Mohammed spoke of. Just as there is one sun and one moon for this entire world, there is one God for all people. There is only one God, but He appears differently according to individual vision.

All forms and incarnations of God are His manifestations and are non-different from Him.  Some, being more complete, are more powerful; and some are less powerful – just as the full moon is always the same moon, perceived as full, new or quarter etc. In reality the moon is always full, but we see it waxing or waning. He sometimes manifests in this world personally, and sometimes He sends His associates here to distribute pure knowledge. In this world all souls are His eternal servants, but we have forgotten Him since the beginning of creation. He sometimes descends, therefore, and performs very sweet and powerful pastimes to attract us and engage us in His service.

No one doubts the existence of the sun, so why should one doubt the existence of the creator of the sun or thousands of suns? That personality can create millions upon millions of worlds in a moment, and He can also destroy them. He comes to this world only to save us from suffering, by establishing a relationship with us and by engaging us in His loving service. There is no other way to become happy in this or any other world. There is only one God, and ignorance of our eternal, individual relationship with Him is the only cause of our unhappiness. We need not fear serving Him, thinking it to be like serving someone of this world where the master gains and the servant loses. It is not like that in the realm of spiritual love. One receives great happiness in serving Him, a very relishable love and affection that is even more than one receives by serving one’s wife, husband, children, society and so on. There are oceans of love and affection in Krishna’s transcendental realm.

The Process of Self-Realization

In the previous ages great sages used to see Him by meditating upon Him. In this present age it is not possible to meditate so deeply, because our minds are unsteady and flickering. Such meditation can be achieved, however, by chanting His name, and by this process we can realize His mercy and actually see Him. The Vedic literatures recommend that to attain pure love of God in this current age, one chant the Names of God and/or Goddess.  There are many mantra’s and chants circulating the world, and all Names of God are whole and complete.  There is one special mantra which is called the Maha Mantra.  It is called Maha, because it is considered the most merciful of all Mantras.  The reason being it has both God and Goddess within it.  Most mantras contain either the Names of God, or the Names of the Goddess.  A Maha-Mantra, is literally translated from Sanskrit as the greatest, most mercy filled mantra.  A Maha-Mantra is one that contains the Names of both God and Goddess together within it.

When we chant these Names, the forms of God and Goddess enter into our heart and sit upon the throne within, receiving our devotion and prayers.  People of all faiths call out to that one God, who is very beautiful, charming, powerful and merciful.  Mantra can be chanted on beads, or by mind, internal or spoken outloud and of course sung!  There are no rules for chanting these names.  These Names will make ones life fulfilled and happy.  Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus’ all around the world take beads in their hands and chant Holy Names in a repetitive manner.  Take the mantra and try chanting it on beads in a quiet moment, and speak each Name fully, taking in the fullness and Holiness of every syllable.  Start by chanting one full circle of japa from bead one to bead 108.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna  Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama  Rama Rama Hare Hare

You should know what these Names mean.

Hare is one of the Names of the Goddess Sri Radha, Krishna is one of the Names of God.  Rama is also another Name of God.  So in this mantra we pray to both God and Goddess for Their love and mercy.

• Krishna Rose is a singer and performer of devotional music and a teacher of Bhakti Yoga.  Her music can be heard and purchased at www.KrishnaRose.com.  This article is written from the teachings of her Gurudeva, Narayana Goswami Maharaja

Source : http://www.krishnarose.com/articles_secrets_of_the_undiscovered_self.html

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@