DIVINE STORIES 07-2022-04 Dear friends,
I have started posting a few divine stories. Hope thesestories could be refreshing. These werestored in memory device earlier after reading from different websites. There are variations in these stories as heard popularly. Gopala Krishnan 18-7-22 1 The Story of Bakaasura The evil minded Duryodhana built a lac palace and invited thePandava brothers with their mother Kunti to stay there. Duryodhana had plannedto set the whole palace on fire to kill them. With thehelp of Vidura, Bhima came to know of that plan and he escaped carrying hisbrothers and Kunti. They reached atown called Ekachakrapura and they lived in a Brahmin's house disguised asbrahmins. Oneday as usual Yudhisthira and others went out for Bhiksha. Bhima and Kuntistayed back at home. They suddenly heard someone crying. They saw that the Brahminand his wife were crying. Bhima and Kunti were shocked. On asking for thereason the Brahmin's wife said, "Whatshall I say about our misfortunes? Just outside this town lives a rakshasacalled bakaasura. He was killing people indiscriminately. The village people joined together and requested bakaasura thathe stop the indiscriminate killing. In return they promised that theywould send one person with cartload of food and 2 bullocks from each householdin that village by turns. Tomorrow is our son's turn. You know that we have only one son and if he is killed we do notknow how we will live." sobbed the lady. Onhearing this story Kunti felt very sad and she said immediately, "See,you have only one son but I have five sons I can send one of them. So, tomorrow your son need not go but Bhima will go instead"she suggested. TheBrahmin was horrified and said, "I will never agree to such a proposal.You are guests in our house and guests have to be treated as Gods. Howcan I ever send out an athithi (guest) to die?" Kuntipersuaded them and said, " We are your guests and it is our duty to shareyour sorrow. Bhima is strong. He will be a good match to Bakaasura. Hemay kill him and free the villagers of this menace forever. Even if he is killed I will have four sons. You do not have toworry." Bhimaalso persuaded the Brahmin couple to agree to Kunti's suggestion. He was veryconfident that he would kill the Bakaasura and he was very excited at theprospect of getting cartload of delicacies to eat while going to Bakaasura. Accordinglythe next day Bhima went with a cartload of food. Aterrible fight took place between him and the Bakaasura and the Bakaasura waskilled. Thevillagers were very happy and they praised Bhima and Kunti. To repay thehospitality and love of the Brahmin couple Kunti was ready to sacrifice her ownson. 2 Thoughtfulness is Wisdom Among the renowned seven sages Gautama was one. He was a great Tapasvin. He hadten thousand disciples to whom he provided food and shelter. But he used to getinto a rage even over minor faults. Once unknowingly his wife Ahalyacommitted a small mistake, which made him furious. He called his son Chirakari and ordered him tokill her. Givingthis command he went deep into the forests. Ahalyawas the most beautiful lady Brahma had created. Indra wanted to marry her and he approached Brahma. Brahmawanted her to complete her scriptural studies and then decide on her marriage.Accordingly Brahma sent her away to the sage Gautama. Gautama taught her allthe scriptures and by then she attained marriageable age. Brahmaappreciated the Sage Gautama’s purity as he maintained complete self-control ashe taught her. So he agreed to give Ahalyain marriage to him. In due courseAhalya gave birth to THREE sons. The first son Sadananda later mastered all scripturesand was the guru of King Janaka. The second son Sarathvanda was the father of Kripacharyaaof Mahabhaarata fame. The third son Chirakari was great thinker. He would ponder deeply on anyissue before acting on it. Hewas in 2 minds and so could not come to a decision for many days. Aftersometime Gautama’s anger subsided. He started to regret his rash action. He wondered whether Chirakari wouldhave already carried out his action. Much worried, Gautama returned hurriedly to the Ashrama. He noticedChirakari still brooding over what to do. AsChirakari begged forgiveness Gautama replied, “The question of forgiveness doesnot arise. I am glad that you did not kill her immediately. If you had, I too would have surely died now. You get the meritof saving both our lives.” Gautama also praised Ahalya to have such a son asCHIRAKARI. Mynote- Though I knew about chirakari, theinformation about the other two sons is new to me. 3 Vasistha and Vishwamitra Kausika was the king of Kanyakubja. Once while returning with hisarmy after a hunt he visited the hermitage of Sage Vasistha. Sage Vasisthainvited him to partake food and rest. King felt hesitant as he wondered how thesage could feed and put up his large army. Vasisthaassured that it would not be a problem. Vasistha had a cow by name Nandini. It had the power to give whatever one asked of it. Indra, theking of Gods had gifted it to Sage Vasishtha, recognising his spiritualgreatness. That day, Vasishtha and his wife entertained the King and hisretinue to a sumptuous feast with the help of the wish fulfilling powers of Nandini. TheKing was astonished to see the abilities of the cow. He immediately desired topossess this cow. Accordingly he requested Vasishtha that the cow would be moreuseful to kings rather than to the sage. SageVasishtha replied, “King, this cow has been presented to me by Indra. This cowhelps me to feed hundreds of students studying here and also the innumerableguests who visit this ashram.” The King offeredcrores of cows in return for Nandini but the sage refused. KingKaushika got angry. He told the sage that he would take the cow by force.Accordingly he told his soldiers to capture the cow.Seeingthe soldiers coming to catch her, the cow Nandini ran to Vasishta to know theproblem. Thesage replied, “ I will never wish to give you up. The king is trying to takeyou by force. You please resist.” When Nandini heard this, she gave a huge roar. At once, fierce warriors emerged from her body and they chasedthe King’s soldiers. The soldiers ran away in fear. TheKing felt very insulted. He felt bad that in spite of his strength and army hewas not able to capture Nandini. He thought that this must be due to thegreater spiritual power of the sage. Pondering thus, he decided that he shouldalso acquire that power. Accordinglyhe gave up his kingdom and retired to forests to do severe tapas. Lord Shivagranted him divine weapons. Armed with this he again attacked Sage Vasishtha’shermitage. Unable towithstand this attack all the inmates ad the animals began to flee in terror. SageVasishta saw this and took up his brahmadanda and he came out of his Ashrama,while Kaushika continued to rain his weapons on Vashishtha. Butall his weapons were powerless before Sage Vasishta’s brahmadanda. Even the king’s Agni Astra became powerless before brahmadanda.Kaushika got enraged and shot any other divine weapons at the Brahmadanda butthey all met the same fate. Now Kaushika understood the spiritual greatness ofsage Vasishta. He took recourse to spiritual practices to become a brahmarishi. Heengaged himself in most severe penance. He pursued his spiritual practicesuntil he overcame lust and anger. By long meditation he acquired sattvicqualities. His nature became serene, as he did not bear enmity towards others. Hebecame a great sage. He then came to be known as Vishwamitra the friendof the whole world. Vasishtha was happy to see this great transformation. He hailed him as aBrahmarishi. My note- Inother versions the name of the cow is Kamadhenu. 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