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Monday 22 February 2016

Yudhisthira in Mahabharat- Son of Dharmaraja

According to the Hindu Epic, Yudhisthira was the eldest son of Pandu. He is known for his humble behavior . Yudhishir is that character of Mahabharata whose difficulty lies in the utter ease and certainty of his behavior. This character of Mahabharata lived his life according to the rule book of the society.

Wife of Yudhisthira in Mahabharat

The first wife of yudhisthira as we know is Draupdi, hence the king of Indraprastha has also one wife, the name is Devika, She was the daughter of Govasana

Skills - Soft-Spoken. Spear-fighting, Linguist , Chariot Racing etc.

Things that Describes the Character of Yudhisthira

His being the eldest grandson of Vichitraveerya had approximately enrooted in the minds of Bheeshma, Kripacharya and Vidhur that he should be the lawful recipient.

When Dhritarashtra was faced the dilemma of choosing his recipient than he proved his bravery by the wise decision-making that was approved by all the prudent in the incite.

Dharmaraja-Yudhisthira

When the king Dhritarashtra offered him the half of Hastinapur he accepted it without any hesitation, only for the peace of the family. He knows that he deserved the full kingdom, he did not desire for anything more than what was offered.

During the time of padava's exile, The king of Gandharava captured Duryodhan than Youdhister sent Bheem and Arjun to help him, than both brothers resued Duryodhan from the Gandharavas.

In the last day of the war, Yudhishthir was selfless towards the Kauravs and continued to suggest that if Duryodhan kept his word even at the last instant, he would stop the war of Mahabharat.

Yudhisthira was a virtuous spirit, the most mature and kind of all his brothers. His qualities are something everyone should try and follow. Yet, in a fit of hubris and voracity, he lost his kingdom, his wealth, brothers and wife. The thing which we can learn from this character of Mahabharata is "justice is ineffective unless harmonizing with prudence".

Monday 11 January 2016

Kripacharya: the immortal character of Mahabharat

Kripacharya

Kripacharya is another notable character of Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was mostly known for his teaching and expertise in martial art. He was a good archer as well. Kripacharya was very close to Bhishma and Vidur. Kripacharya was one of the seven Chiranjivis. His initial name was Kripa but he worked as a teacher therefore he was known as Kripacharya.

Kripacharya

Birth of Kripacharya

Once there was a great sage Gautam and he had a son name Sharadwan. Sharadwan was very brave and excellent archer as well. His publicity spread all over the world in a very short span of time. Once Sharadwan started meditation of lord Shiva, due to Sharadwan this act leader of gods Indra got tensed and he send a beautiful lady Nampadi to divert Sharadwan’s meditation. After seen Nampadi Sharadwan become over exited and his sperms withdraw automatically. Sperm drop of Sharadwan fell into a weed and this weed split into two parts. From these two weed parts a boy and girl were born. The boy was Kripa and girl was Kripi.

Young age of Kripacharya:

Kripacharya and his sister Kripi was adopted by Shantanu. Shantanu was the king of Hastinapur and Bhishma was the son and care take of Hastinapur. Kripacharya was as great archer as his father Sharadwan. Kripacharya impressed Bhishma by his expertise in martial art and Bhishma appointed him as military guru of Pandva’s and Kaurava’s. Later on due to several political responsibilities Kripacharya gave resignation as a teacher and Dronacharya appointed in place of him. Kripacharya’s sister Kripi was married to Dronacharya.

Kripacharya during war of Mahabharata:

Kripacharya was one of the Maharathis who fought against Panduva’s. Kripacharya never wanted war he always believe that Pandava’s demands are fair. Before going to battle field Kripacharya decided that he will never kill any Pandava’s. After the dead of Karna, Dhruyodhana appointed Kripacharya as army chief. As Bheem killed Dhuryodhana in battle field, the war ended at that instant.

After ending of Mahabharata war only eighteen great warriors remain in earth and Kripacharya was one of them.

Thursday 7 January 2016

Veda Vyasa: Writer of Mahabharat

Veda Vyasa

Veda Vyasa is an ancient Hindu sage who is also known as Krishna Dvaipayana. According to Hindu Mythology there are seven persons in earth who are immortals and Veda Vyasa is one of them. Veda Vyasa was is the writer of Hindu epic Mahabharata and also a character in it. Veda Vyasa is the most prestigious Hindu teacher and Hindu celebrated Guru Purnima festival in memory of him. Veda Vyasa was considered as the incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu. Vyasa’s father name was Parashara and his mother name was Satyawati.

Birth of Veda Vyasa:

There is an interesting story behind Veda Vyasa’s birth. Veda Vyasa was the son of the great sage Parasara and Satyawati. Satyawati was the daughter of a fisherman. Satyawati worked as a boat woman for their survival. Once, sage Parasara used her boat to cross the river, during this trip Parasara fall in love with Satyawati. Later Satyawati got married with Shantanu. Shantanu was the king of Hastinapur. Bhishma was the son of Shantanu’s first wife Ganga. Satyawati was the stepmother of Bhishma.

At the very initial stage of his life, Veda Vyasa gave up his family and decided to go forest for meditation. Veda Vyasa gave a promise to his mother Satyawati that whenever she will call him he will appear in front of her.

Veda Vyasa and Ambika, Ambalika, Parishrami:

According to Mahabharata, Vichitravirya was the king of Hastinapur, and he had two wives first one was Ambika and second one was Ambalika. Satyawati was the mother of king Vichitravirya. Vichitravirya had no children to continue his legacy. There was Bhishma who works as a mentor of Hastinapur.

Unfortunately Vichitravirya died without having a child and this situation like a curse for Hastinapur because there is no one to rule Hastinapur. One day Satyawati and Bhishma decided to call up sage Veda Vyasa.

Veda Vyasa did pregnant Ambika, Ambalika and their maid Parishrami by Niyoga process. Ambika bore blind child Dhritrastra Ambalika bore pale coloured Pandu and Parishrami bore intelligentVidur. Veda Vyasa was the grandfather of Pandu’s and Kaurava’s.

Veda Vyasa and Sanjay:

Veda Vyasa and Sanjay

Before the war of Mahabharat blind Dhritrastra expressed his desire to watch this war. Veda Vyasa offered divine eyes to Dhritrastra by the help of them he canwatch this battle but Dhritrastra refuse to take these eyes. Finally Veda Vyasa decided that Sanjay is the rightperson for those divine eyes. Veda Vyasa gave the power of divine eyes to Sanjay and Sanjay narrate all story of battle ground to blind Dhritrastra.

Veda Vyasa and his books:

Veda Vyasa mostly known for his book Mahabharat. Veda Vyasa also known as a compiler of vedas. He also wrote Bhrama Shutra.

Monday 4 January 2016

3 Stories You Should Know About Durvasa Rishi

Durvasa : The Rishi of Rage

Durvasa is one of the most prominent character of Hindu epic Mahabharat. Durvasa was very powerful and intelligent sage of his time. He was respected by everyone and everywhere. Durvasa was the person who responsible for the birth of Pandavas. Sage Durvasa was predominantly famous for his anger.

Birth history of Durvasa Rishi:

There were several myths about the birth of sage Durvasa. Some of the Hindu anecdotes say that Durvasa was the result of quarrel between lord Shiva and Lord Bharma and some say, Durvasa was the born with the blessings of Lord Shiva. However the great sage Atri was the father of Durvasa and Anusuya was the mother of Durvasa. Durvasa had two other brothers as well, named Soma and Dattatreya. According to Hindu mythology Soma had some portion of lord Bharma and Dattatreya had some portion of lord Vishnu.

Shakuntala and Durvasa:

Shakuntala (mother of Bharat), once she was daydreaming about her love Dushyanta, and forgot to welcome sage Durvasa. This incident ignite the fire of anger in sage Durvasa’s mind and he cursed Shakuntala that her lover will forget her. After sincere apology of Shakuntala, Durvasa said that if the ring which was gifted by Dushyanta to Shakuntala, will present in front of Dushyanta, then Dushyanta will recognize Shakuntala. Infect Dhusyanta was the king of Hastinapur. Shakuntala and Dushyanta birth a child named Bharat. Bharat was the most powerful and brave king of Hastinapur. And He was the forefather of Kaurava’s and Pandava’s.

Durvasa and Kunti:

Durvasha-giving-Boon-to-Kunti

According to Hindu epic Mahabharat once Durvasa visited Kuntibhoja’s kingdom. Kuntibhoja knew about Durvasa’s nature. He deployed his daughter Kunti for the service of sage Durvasa.
Kunti was unmarried at that time. Kunti served Durvasa in extremely well manner. Due to great service of Kunti Sage Durvasa taught her the method, by which she can calls any god to beget children by them without disturbing her virginity.

Durvasa and Pandava’s

When Pandava’s spending their exile period Duryodhana pleased sage Durvasa with the help of his uncle Shakuni. Duryodhana convinced Durvasa to visit his cousin Pandava’s hut with their disciples.

However Duryodhana knew that Durvasa is very short tempered and he also knew that Pandava’s are not able to serve Durvasa and his disciples as well.

When Durvasa visited Pandava’s hut they already took their food and there is nothing left in food. Durvasa ordered Pandava’s that he is going for bath with his disciples and they will take food after it. Due to this incident Dropadi who was the common wife of five Pandava’s get nervous and he reminds lord Krishna for their help. Lord Krishna appears there immediately and short out the all worries.

Saturday 2 January 2016

Pandu: The Father of Pandavas

Prelude: Pandu is the mysterious and interesting character of Mahabharat who died before the war of Mahabharat but seeds of that war fertile in his time period. Pandu was the father of five sons who further known as Pandavas but Pandu was not their biological father.

Story behind Pandu’s birth

Pandu was son of Ambalika who was the queen of Hastinapur. Ambalika’s husband was king Vichitravirya who had been died before the birth of Pandu and his two others brothers. At that time Hastinapur was running without its king and prince. There was only Bhishma who take care of all administrative work of Hastinapur. To short out this problem Ambalika’s mother in low Satyawati and Bhishma who was the mentor Hastinapur decided to call sage Vedavyasa for help.

Infect Ambika and Ambalika were two sisters and both were wives of king Vichitravirya and Parishrami was another lady who were serves them as their maid. Bhishma and Satyawati requested sage Veda Vyasa to pregnant both of wives of Vichitravirya though Niyoga method. Sage Veda Vyasa looks very ferocious at that time due to this Ambika shut her eyes during Niyoga process and she delivered a blind child named Dhritrashtra, Ambalika kept open her eyes but she became pale after seeing sage and she delivered a pale child who was Pandu. Ambika and Ambalika both forced their maid Parishrami to go in front of sage but Parishrami face sage fearlessly and she delivered a very intelligent child named as Vidur.

Pandu and his kingdom

There is another very interesting story behind Pandu’s crown ceremony. However blind Dhritrashtra was elder than Pandu and he has first right on the crown of Hastinapur but Pandu got that crown and post of king as well. Now, this is the most important and sensational incident of that period, which works as base of feeling helplessness and guilt in Dhritrashtra’s mind. Bhishma decided that due to blindness of Dhritrashtra, Pandu is the suitable candidate for king of Hastinapur.

As the time passes Pandu became sharp archer and expert in martial art. Pandu won several territories under the guideline of Bhishma and he became very famous and successful in very short time.

Pandu, Pandu’s wives and curse:

Pandu had two wives first one was Khunti who was the daughter of Kuntibhoj and second one is Madri who was the sister of prince Shalya.

Once upon a time Pandu went forest for hunting. As we know he was master archer. He also knew how to operate an arrow according to sound only. During hunting Pandu listened a sound in forest and he thought that this is the sound of an animal he operate his arrow towards this sound direction and this arrow hit the chest of sage Kindama who was in posture of love with his wife at that time. Before dying sage Kindama cursed Pandu that as he try to make love with his wife we will die as soon.

Redemption of Pandu:

After this accident Pandu decided to go forest with his wives to spend rest of his life. He handed over his kingdom to blind Dhritrashtra. Pandu took permission from his grandmother Satyawati from his both mothers Ambika and Ambalika and his mentor Bhishma and went to forest.

Once, after a long spell he saw his wife Madri and he felt that Madri looks too beautiful and exotic. There was sense of love generates in Pandu’s heart and he decided tobecome intimate with Madri and he forgot about Kindama’s curse. This mistake was the last mistake of Pandu’s life and he died immediately.

Monday 28 December 2015

Shakuni : The king of Kandhara

Shakuni is one of the most important key player and main antagonist in Hindu epic Mahabharat. Infect Shakuni was the character who ignite the fire of hate and rivalry in Dhuryodhan’s heart. Shakuni was the prince of Ghandhar kingdom and Ghandhari was his sister. Dhuryodhan was the eldest son of Ghandhari and Dhritrastra hence Shakuni was maternal uncle of prince Dhuryodhan.

Shakuni was born in Ghandhar and his father’s name was Subala who was king of Ghandhar. Uluka and Vrikaasur were two sons of Shakuni. Shakuni and his whole family was great devotee of lord shiva. There are several stories behind why Shakuni hate Hastinapur kingdom specially Bhishma. Bhishma was the chief mentor of Hastinapur.

Shakuni Mama

According to Hindu Epic Mahabharat Dhritrastra was the king of Hastinapur and he was blind by birth and there were lot of difficulties for his marriage due to this problem. Meanwhile Bhishma bring the marriage proposal of blind king Dhritrastra for shiv devotee and Shakuni’s sister Ghandhari. Ghandhari was agreeing for this proposal but Shakuni was unhappy with his sister Ghandhari’s marriage to blind king. This whole incident made a wrong and deep mark in Shakuni’s heart and Shakuni promised himself to destroy Hastinapur and Bhishma as well.

After entering in Hastinapur Palace Shakuni start poisoning his nephew Dhuryodhana’s mind. Shakuni had always a keen intention how to generate differences between Pandavas and kaurava. Pandavas were cousin of Kaurava. Shakuni had deep disrespect for Pandavas. He took wrong advantage of Dhuryodhana’s ambitions. He tried several schemes to kill Pandavas but every time Pandavas saved their selves due to scholar Vidur and Bhishma.

Shakuni advised Dhuryodhana to mix poison in Bhim’s food, he hire Purochana to kill Pandavas in burning house he indirectly forced hermit Dhurvasa to curse Pandavas. Shakuni never leave any single trick to kill Pandavas but every time he failed due to some reasons.

Finally Shakuni convinced Yudhisthir and Dhuryodhana for a game of dice. Shakuni was the master in the game of dice.Shakuni got boon from his father that he will never defeated by anyone in dice. Shakuni took part in dice game from the behalf of Dhuryodhana. This game is the most dramatic part of Mahabharat which led the foundation of war. Yudhisthir who took participate in dice game from Pandavas sidelost everything to Dhuryodhana even himself and his wife with his four other brothers. Other punishments for that defeat were twelve year of exile and one year of disguise.

After coming from exile and disguise Yudhisthir demanded his kingdom from Dhuryodhana but he refused. Finally Mahabharat take place due to Dhuryodhana’s intransigence. Shakuni was the person who every time changed and divert the mind of Dhuryodhana by dreaming him to become king of Hastinapur. Due to Shakuni’s deceptive schemes, war of Mahabharat was occurring in the battle field of Kurushetra.

Shakuni knew Pandavas are more powerful in comparison of Kauravas so he tried to convince kings of other kingdoms to fight with their side.During Kurushetra war Shakuni killed Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu by breaking war rules. Shakuni was master in martial art too. He fought bravely in battle field. On the eighteenth day of Kurukshetra war Shakuni was killed by youngest brother of Pandava’s Sahadeva.

Does God Exist?

Many people in the world do not believe in God because they say physical scientific evidence has not been found that can prove His existence. But the evidence is all around you. Some evidence lies within each one of us. We know that we can feel love or hatred, joy or sorrow etc. Nothing that scientists and engineers have constructed so far possesses any such feelings. Moreover, we all believe that we possess free will i.e. the ability to make choices every moment of our lives (albeit within constraints). Machines cannot possess such freedom of choice. All actions of machines are based on their design, programming and inputs. Machines do not even possess a consciousness. They neither exhibit fear nor make any attempt to protect themselves if you destroy them

Thus, life possesses something that goes beyond anything that has been found in purely material and physical constructions. What is this extra, mysterious thing that gives us the ability to possess feelings? Here we may rely on the collective wisdom of mankind from ancient times. Many wise persons have declared that humans possess a soul that is not subject to physical laws in the same way as physical things and that things such as feelings and even consciousness of beings arises from this mystic source. They go on to declare that even though our physical bodies perish at death, the soul does not. It merely migrates off to other existences. Eastern religions declare that a soul may be born again and again through reincarnation.

Existence Of God

Once a human accepts the fact that he or she possesses an imperishable soul then the question arises as to where this soul came from. Our physical bodies are due to our physical parents. However the same parents cannot be the parents of our soul because our soul has existed before birth and will continue to do so after death. In future life times it may take on other bodies with different parents. Everything comes from something and we may like to know the source of our souls. Once again the wise ancients come to our aid. According to them the source of our soul is the universal source - God, One may view God as father or mother since our soul arises from this single source. To say that science can not detect these things is not enough to deny them. Science as yet knows little about dark matter or dark energy but deduces them from the effects. The soul and God is similarly deduced.

Most of us love our fathers and mothers and we know that they love us too. If God is our eternal father then He too must love us, and if we love Him too it can only enhance our relationship with Him. Not to believe in Him is to ignore Him. Many question why there is sorrow and trouble in this world if we have an eternal, all-powerful God as our parent। The answer to that can be found if we view our relationship with our physical parents. When we were young and at an age they could have imposed their wishes on us in all things, they often allowed us the freedom to have our own way. The consequence of exercising this freedom at times produced trouble and our parents permitted that willingly, though sadly as a learning experience. God, too as the universal source, our eternal father, has provided us the freedom to choose and to suffer the consequences from time to time. If we were to exercise our choices according to His advise then we can avoid suffering and sorrow. How are we to know what is God’s advice? This is where developing a relationship with our eternal father and understanding the fundamental workings of life comes in.

The scriptures or saintly persons can be our guides too (if they are sincere ones) since their aim as messengers of the universal law is to alleviate human suffering. They declare that conduct which involves greed, lust, anger, lying, stealing etc. produces pain and sorrow. We indulge in such behavior at times because of a temporary advantage or gain. In the long run though, evil consequences follow. In contrast, truthfulness and loving behavior produces happiness. Animals are not able to rise above basic instincts of lust and violence because they are unable to reason. They must then depend entirely on God’s mercy to evolve. However with human birth comes the ability to reason and thus hasten our evolution through conscious effort and practice. It would be a pity if we miss this opportunity and continue to get tossed about in miserable existences.

God as a father of all the souls of all life forms in this universe must maintain his family with not just a loving eye but also a just one. It is because of this we reap what we sow through the principle of retribution, divine justice, karma or whatever you wish to call it depending upon your cultural background. This principle helps life to evolve and also maintains an overall balance in the universe, otherwise the individual doings of beings could alter the destiny of the universe as a whole. Good actions produce happiness in this life as well as subsequent ones and bad actions the reverse.I recall a saintly piece of prose, which went on to describe the conversation between a saintly person and God. The person questioned God that whenever he walked on the sand he saw a second set of footprints and was assured that God was beside him. However in some of the most difficult moments of his life he found that there was only one set of foot- prints and wanted to know from God why it was so. In this composition God answered, that was when He carried him. Even though we may ignore God he never ignores us coming to our aid during the most distressful times in our lives just as a loving parent grabs the wheel from a child's hand when the car is headed for disaster. If we do the same and help others in times of distress whenever we have the opportunity and ability to do so then that must surely be pleasing to our eternal Father. When we do something nice for our human parents it expresses our gratitude to them. When we do something nice for other humans, animals or nature we express our love for Him.

In modern times many have turned away from God because they have been disappointed in man-made religions. It is all right to turn away from a religion that does not please us but that should not mean turning away from God. If one is turned off by the manner in which food is served in restaurants it should not imply that we should turn away from food. One may find many independent sources to learn more about Him besides His many delightfully illustrated books that are all over the forests, fields of wild flowers, trees and mountain streams.

You could learn a bit about Him from this blog too, but only a little because this blogger is still learning about Him and only knows a little, that too approximately. No finite mind may know Him fully. He alone knows Himself fully. But we need not worry about this. After all we hardly knew our human parents fully too yet loved them while resting assured that they too loved us when we were infants. For the Almighty lord we are far smaller than infants, how so ever grown-up or important we become for other humans.

He is ever engaged in sending forth security, warmth and love all around the universe. He is the provider of the water we drink, the air we breathe, sunshine and everything else besides. If we miss his presence at times it is because we now take Him for granted and because our attention is focused elsewhere. One need not conform to the practices of any religion if it does not please one to have a loving relationship with God who is present everywhere. God because of His infinite nature cannot have a defined and finite form such as those of living beings, therefore we have to feel Him rather than see him. However in certain religions they believe that if a disciple wishes to develop a relationship with God he may visualize God as possessing a definite form and attributes. This is all right as long as one does not forget that the chosen form and attribute is only a point of focus on infinity, a matter of convenience, just a facet of the Infinite. There is nothing else besides Him in all of the universe except the erroneous thoughts of the life forms that dwell within the universe and actions born of those thoughts. When our thoughts are in harmony with Him, our actions are marked by Love, Truth and Simplicity.