DIVINE INFORMATIONPART 2-20 Varaha Purana part 37
Posted by:"DILIP KUMAR RAVINDRAN" [email protected] prdili Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:31 pm (PST) THE MEANS OF VISHNU REALIZATION Once, SageAgastya narrated the following tale to King Bhadrashva-- One day, Narad went to Lord Vishnu and asked about themeans by which a devotee could realizehim. Lord Vishnureplied--Those who worship me by chanting the mantras of either 'Purushsukta'or 'Vaidik Samhita' can certainly realize me. Those who perform oblationaccording to the rituals of 'Pancharatra' can also have my divine glimpse. But,the rituals of Pancharatra yagya can be performedonly by the brahmins. All the rest ofthe castes can realize me by devotion, chanting my name and making pilgrimage to holy places. "Sage Agastya while giving discourse to king Bhadrashwa also predicted that sinners would outnumber thevirtuous ones in Kaliyuga and said--"People would abandon their respective 'dharmas' and the caste system wouldbecome extinct." LORD VISHNU--THE ALMIGHTY GOD Once, Sage Agastya had organised a grand yagya in which he had invited all the deities and sages. Lord Vishnu,Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva also wentthere. Agastya waspuzzled as to who was the most superior among all three of them. He asked Lord Shiva in this regard. Lord Shiva replied--Onewho is worshipped by performing oblation- One who is the source of this universeand into whom it ultimately merges; is none other thanLord Janardhan. So he should be worshipped first of all. He is the only one who expresses himself in threeforms--Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh. Rajoguna is predominant in lord Brahma alongwith some quantities of Satvaguna andTamoguna. Lord Brahma has manifested from the naval of Lord Vishnu. Tamoguna is the dominant qualityin me(Rudra)with little bit of satva and rajo gunas. Narayan is the embodiment of pure satva guna. In satya yuga, He isworshipped by the means of meditation. During Treta yuga, HE is worshipped bythe means of oblation. During Dwaparyuga, HE is pleased by nothing but the rituals of Pancharatra. During Kali yuga, people willworship HIM by various means. Lord Shiva's revelations had completelysatisfied Sage Agastya. SAGEGAUTAM CURSES THE BRAHMINS There were many sages present at the yagya organizedby Agastya. Some of them asked LordShiva as to why he had created some scriptures which appeared so confusing to human beings. Lord Shiva revealed to them that he had done so to protect the brahmins fromthe curse of Sage Gautam. Then he narrated the incident as it hadhappened --- During ancient times, Sage Gautam did an austerepenance in Dandakaranya forest. Lord Brahma became pleased andgave him some divine seeds capable ofproducing eternal crops. Gautam then went to Saptashring mountain and made his hermitage there. Hesowed the seeds and became pleasantlysurprised when he sawrice grains sprouting up within few moments. He lived there happilywith his disciples. In course of time, the whole country was struck by famine except the place where Gautam had his hermitage. One day, few sages arrived at Gautam's hermitage.Gautam treated them with all the respect. These sages enjoyed the hospitalityof Gautam and stayed at his hermitagetill the famine phase was over. Then they decided to go back to theirrespective native places. When they sought Gautam's permission, he requestedhim to stay for few more days. The sages then decidedto use deceitful means for taking Gautam's permission.They created a superficial cow with the help of their illusionary powers and left it nearthe hermitage of Gautam. Gautam was very pleased to see that cow. He eulogized it by sprinkling water on it. Hardly had he finished his actthan the cow died. All those wicked sages arrived there and cursed Gautamfor killing an innocent Cow. They told him that they could never live alongwith a person who had killed a cow. Gautam then requested thoseimpostors to tell about the means bywhich he could become absolved from the heinous sin he had committed. Thesages told him that the cow would become alive once Ganga water was sprinkled on its body. Gautam once again did a tremendous penance to pleaseLord Shiva. When lord Shiva appeared, he requested him to give a lock of hishair. Lord Shiva agreed to give a lockof his hair to Gautam. Gautam then went to the spot where the cow's body was lying. He sprinkled some water emanating from the hair. The illusionary cowdisappeared within a moment and in itsplace was created a river. Right then, the sapta rishis arrived there and blessed Gautam.Meanwhile, Gautam realized that a wickedprank had been played on him by those wicked sages. He cursed those wicked sages that they wouldbecome bereft of the knowledge of Vedasand also that they would no longer be entitled to perform the Vedic rituals. The Sapta rishis requested Gautam to have mercy onthose unfortunate brahmins. Gautam then declared that his curse will come trueonly in Kaliyuga and those brahmins willnot be affected by his curse in all the remaining three yugas. The Sapta rishis came to me andinformed me about whatever hadhappened to those unfortunate brahmins. I created 'Shiva Samhita' from my breath which is similar toVedas as far as the importance ofrituals are concerned. Idid this for the benediction of the brahmins. I know that brahmins would fallfrom grace during Kaliyuga.People would give little respect to the Vedas and create their own scriptures.Confusion would be prevalent and people would discover false religions. . VarahaPurana part 38 Posted by: "DILIP KUMAR RAVINDRAN"[email protected] prdili Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:01 pm (PST) PRAKRITI AND PURUSH Once, Lord Shiva while describing about the incident when he had a divine glimpse of Lord Narayan, told Sage Agastya -- 'Purusha' is none other than Lord Narayan himself andPrakriti is the medium through which he manifests his powers. I have been fortunate to have a divine glimpse of this Purush. LordBrahma after having created me, instructed me to create. But, I did not knowhow to create. So, I decided to dopenance and went into the ocean. In the ocean, I saw anentity that was no morethan the size of a thumb. He was purush himself and I immediately recognizedhim. I started meditating on the form of that almighty--Purush. Suddenly, eleven more entities emerged before me.They were all very radiant and the water had become hot on account of the heatemanating from their bodies. I asked them as to whom they were but they did not give any reply and went outof my sight. The next moment, I saw an extremely handsome man.I asked him about his identity and alsoabout the eleven entities whom I had seen few moments ago. Those entities were the eleven Aadityas and had gone to help Lord Brahma in the process ofcreation. Then he said--I am Narayana--the omnipresent lord. I amblessing you with 'divine vision' so that you can see my divine appearance.' When I fixed my glance at Narayan I was amazed to seethe same thumb-sized Narayana standingbefore me. But, now He was no longer having the size of a thumb. On the contraryhe had expanded his body to such an extent that He appeared like a giant. Ialso saw Lord Brahma sitting on a lotus flower emanating from his navel. Ieulogized HIM with complete devotion. HE blessed me and said--'You are eternal and nothing isbeyond your knowledge. You will be worshipped by the deities. I shall take twelve incarnations in the coming erasand shall worship you in each of myincarnation. ' Having said this, Lord Narayana disappeared. This washow I saw the divine form of the'Purush'--Lord Narayan. BHUWAN-KOSH& THE ISLANDS All the sages listened with rapt attention to thedescription Lord Shiva made of theAlmighty Narayan. But, they had few more queries in store, so they asked Lord Shiva-- "O Lord of Uma! Please tellus about the expanse of the Earth- the situation of mountains and the prominent islands." Lord Shiva replied--"Bhuloka is situated on thesurface of the Earth, whilethe earth itself is based on Almighty's chest. With the desire of creating the three basic gunas---Sat, raj andTama, the Almighty Narayan createdwater first of all and went into 'yoganidra'. Then a lotus flowermanifested from HIS navel on which was seated Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma then created his manasputras- -Sanak,Sanandan, Sanatan and Sanatkumar all of whom were enlightened souls. Then LordBrahma created sages like Dakshaetc. Daksha's daughterShatarupa was married to Manu from whom she had two sons--Priyavrata and Uttanpad. Priyavrat hadten sons--Aaghnighna, Agnibahu, Medh, Medhatithi, Dhruva, Jyotishman, Dyutiman,Havya, Vayushman and Savan. He had dividedthe earth into seven islands andpresented them to each of his seven sons. Aaghnighna became the king of Jambudweepa whereasMedhatithi,Jyotishman, Dyutiman, avya, Vayushman and Savan became the rulers of Shakadweepa, Kraunch dweepa,Shalmalidweepa, Gomeddweepa, Plakshd-weepa and Pushkar dweepa respectively. " "Savan hadtwo sons--Dhat and Mahaveeti, whowere the rulers of 'Dhatki' and 'Kaumudprovinces respectively. Similarly Dyutiman had three sons--Kush, Vaidyut and Jeemutvahan.Jyotishman had seven sons--Kushal, Manugavya, Peevar, Andhra, Andhakarak, Muniand Dundubhi. Kush had seven sons--Udbhid,Venuman, Rathapal, Manu, Dhriti, Prabhakar and Papil." Medhatithi too had seven sons--Nabhi, Shantmaya,Shishir, Mukhodam, Nandshiva, Kshemak and Dhruv. Nabhi's wife was Merudevi, who had given birth to Rishabh. Rishabh was the father ofBharat upon whom the area lying south ofHimalaya mountain is named." "Sumati wasthe son of Bharat. Bharat, afterappointing Sumati as his successor wentinto the forest to do penance. The names of some prominent kings coming from the lineage ofSumati were Tej, Satsut, Indradyumna, Parmeshthi, Pratiharta, Nikhat, Unmeta,Abhav-Udgata, Prastota, Vibhu,Prithu, Anant, Gaya, Naya, Virat, Mahavirya and Sudhiman." "Sudhiman hadone hundred sons. This way the population continued to grow. The four yugas--Satya yuga, Treta, dwapar and Kali occur ina cyclic order. Each of the latter follows theformer. A manvantar comprises of 71 chaturyugas. " Posted to Google groups by R. Gopalakrishnan on 19-11-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. 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