Indian Moral Stories

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 06:25 AM

It is my tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti. Please feel free to comment on these stories.

Thanks,
Rashmi Rekha (RR)

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 06:26 AM

Be happy with what you have

Materialistic pleasures were never the goals of Indians. People used to be satisfied with what they had and within what they had, used to help others. Their hearts were filled with pure love, friendship and bhakti. The story of Sudaama, the best friend of Lord Krishna, stands as an outstanding example for this.

Sudaama and Krishna Bhagavan were good friends. The friendship started at their gurukulam with Shri Saandeepa. As always duty takes more priority than everything. Hence, after completing their studies they had to part. However, neither Krishna nor Sudaama could forget each other. Sudaama, knowing who Krishna really was, also had true devotion for him. Sudaama never was interested in earning lot of money or other such aihikechchas. Once after many years, not able to bear the separation from Krishna anymore, sets off to meet Krishna.

On hearing the news of his friend’s arrival, Krishna runs to the city gates to receive Sudaama personally. Krishna, the paramaatma, hugs Sudaama several times and they break into tears with uncontrollable aanandam. Krishna takes Sudaama to his palace and makes him sit comfortably on the shayanaasanam of Krishna and Rukmini Devi. Krishna, whose feet Brahma himself washed to produce the holy waters of Ganga, washed the feet of his friend, together with Rukmini, with utmost care. Then the Lord of the worlds, purifies himself, his queens and the palace with the paada jalam of the great scholar, Sudaama. Though Sudaama was very poor and did not even have money to eat food, he did not even think about it while he was with Krishna. Krishna took the atukulu brought by Sudaama for him and commented that it was one of his best ever meals. Both of them talked a lot, till their hearts were full and finally Sudaama returned to his house with a full heart, thoroughly satisfied with the Lord’s sweet words.

(Ofcourse, the sthiti kaaraka of the worlds, Krishna, blesses him with all worldly pleasures too…)

Morals in the story:

Money, property and other pleasures are Kshanabhanguraas and as a person keeps satisfying them, they will only increase. Hence, like Sudaama, one needs to be content with what he has. Even given a chance to ask anything from Krishna, he did not choose to ask him!
The nature of pure friendship is exposed by Krishna and Sudaama. Krishna, being the lord of the universe, washed the feet of his friend and purifies himself with the paada-jalam. Sudaama, though was extremely poor, never asked Krishna for wealth and make friendship a business.
Notice that only a guru is one who makes a person meet God. This is reflected clearly in the story. It is because of Saandeepa that Krishna and Sudaama knew each other and met each other again.
Krishna making his friend sit on his shayya, talk with him what Rukmini and he talk intimately and receiving Sudaama at the gates of the city show how intimate & sincere friendship must be.
The kind of respect one must give to an Atithi and a scholar is well brought out by Krishna.

Message:

Self-contentment gives a man the power to control any of his attraction towards the wrong path. If a person is not self-satisfied, he will always have ever increasing greed. Even control over the universe would not give him satisfaction.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:01 AM

Draupadi, an ikon of a true Indian woman

Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupada, appears from the yagnyaagni as a full grown, in the bloom of her youth. One can observe that it is always Paramaatma who takes birth and avataaras (“Paritraanaaya sadhunam …”). However, always Yoga-Maaya (or Shakti) never takes birth, she just appears. It is the same case with Sita devi, Rukmini devi, Draupadi, Maatulungi etc. The following piece of story of draupadi shows the boundaries of following Dharma. May be none can be better!
Ashwatthaama, the chiranjeevi, does a daaruna krutyam after the Mahaabhaaratam. Unusual to his nature, He, without even little daya, beheads the sleeping babies of draupadi — the upa-paandavas. Draupadi realizes what happened. All her 10 sons, who were little baalakas, who were sleeping, who never did any kind of harm to Ashwatthaama and who cannot even react to the harm committed to them were lying in a pool of blood. Draupadi breaks down to tears and weeps in great sorrow. Arjuna very sad himself, consoles Her and says it does not look nice for a Veera maata to cry like this. He says that He will immediately avenge the act and kill Ashwatthaama. On killing him, she can take bath standing on his head. Immediately Lord Krishna and Arjuna set out on their Hanumadhdhvaja ratham to catch the fleeing Ashwatthaama.

Seeing that Arjuna is closing by his ratham and that his horses are a little exhausted, Aswaththaama sees Brahmaastra as the only way to save himself. Though not knowing the way of retrieving the astra, he immediately uses Brahmaastra on Arjuna, after stopping the ratham, doing aachamanam and purifying himself. Lord Krishna orders Arjuna to use Brahmaastra to counter Ashwatthaama’s. Arjuna also purifies himself, does achamanam, does a pradakshina to the Almighty and uses Brahmaastra. The two astras, one like Agni and the other like sun, fight each other and in no time the worlds start to burn under the influence of the astras. Krishna, the protector of the worlds, immediately orders Arjuna to take back both Astras, as only a Brahmachaari can take back a Brahmaastra!
Arjuna takes back both the Brahmaastras, showing clearly what a perfect Brahmachaari he was. Arjuna, who was the friend of the Askalita Brahmachaari Lord Krishna, obviously knows the shastras and the ways to maintain his Brahmacharyam, though married. Arjuna ties Ahswaththaama and takes him to Draupadi, like a Yagnya pashu is taken to the Yagnya shaala. The acts of Draupadi in this following episode make even Krishna praise Krishnaa (Draupadi) for her Dharma.

On seeing the killer of all her sons being brought by Arjuna, Draupadi, of the beauty of her nature out of compassion, does a namaskar to him and says as per the Vedas in the absence of the Guru, Guru-putra takes his place, so she is doing a namaskaar to Drona!It was unbearable for her having him brought being bound and she said: “Release him, for he is a brahmana, our Aacharya. Do not make his mother, Drona’s wife, cry the way I do in my chastity shedding tears constantly in distress over a lost child”.

Yudhishtira, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Saatyaki, Krishna and other queens supported the statements of Paanchaali as they were in accord with the principles of Sanaatana Dharma, of justice, merciful, without duplicity and glorious in equity. Krishna, amazed by the Dharmya vartana of Draupadi, praises her very much. However, Bhima also raised a valid point that a person who by nature has daya is a brahmana, is Ashwatthaama, who mercilessly killed the baalakas, worth being called one? Saying “surely death is the only punishment for such a person”, Bhima proceeds to kill Ashwatthaama, but the Lord, with His chaturbhuja’s stops Bhima and says the following with a smile:

“The Guru-putra, a braahmana must not be killed – this both is by Me, certainly prescribed to be carried out abiding by the rules.” However, Arjuna has to keep to the truth as promised while pacifying his wife, and also act to the satisfaction of Bhima and Himself (by punishing the bad). So they remove the divya mani on the head of Ashwatthaama and remove his hair, as, for a veera, tonsuring is equivalent to killing him.

Morals in the story:

The Dhramya vartana of Draupadi is well portrayed in the story. This shows us that, even at the time of great stress, sorrow, difficulty, one never must deviate from the path of truth, Dharma.
Even though Ashwatthaama was great, in his momentary anger he committed an unpardonable crime. One must be very careful and need to think what is right and what is wrong before acting. This is what the pandavas do in the later part of the story, with the help of Krishna. They, though Kshattriyas, were not overwhelmed by revenge. They acted according to the words of Krishna, who is Dharma in human form.
The importance given to keeping up one’s word is protrayed well. Arjuna promises Draupadi to kill Ashwatthaama, but according to Dharma is must not be killed. So they do an equivalent act of killing.
The importance of cleanliness is also displayed. Both Ashwatthaama and Arjuna purify themselves, do aachamanam before chanting the mantras for Brahmaastra. They do this even when they were in such a great press for time.
The power of Brahmacharyam is well shown through this story. Arjuna, who knew the Shatras, was a brahmachaari and hence could not only take back his, but Ashwatthaama’s astra too.
The heart of a mother is well exposed when Draupadi comments “Do not make his mother, Drona’s wife, cry the way I do in my chastity shedding tears constantly in distress over a lost child“. She knows the pain of loosing children, so did not want another mother to experience it!

Message to present society:

Being Kshatriyas, people with lot of Shauryam, Paandavas thought so much (analyzing what is Dharmam, what is adharmam) before avenging their son’s death. Now-a-days even films show people mercilessly killing each other in the name of revenge.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:03 AM

Seva to parents alone is enough!

Every person by birth becomes rini for parents — without whom the very existence on this earth would not have been possible, devatas — for all the panchabutas, rains, nature etc. and rishis — for giving us puraanas, shastras etc. Of these, the runam of parents cannot be paid back easily and is virtually impossible. Hence one needs to atleast do seva to them, listen and adhere to their words and give them a lot of respect. This is the least one can do to them. Our puraanas also show that one can attain moksha just by doing seva to parents.

Once upon a time, there used to live a great Bhakta of Krishna. He had a wife, who deserved to be his ardhaangi. However, they had a son, Pundarika, who had all kinds of vyasanas. In the attraction for a mere vaaraangana, he drives his parents out of his house, does not love his wife and finally looses all his money. The vaaraangana, whose love he thought was eternal, left him once his money was over. In the sorrow of being apart from the vaaraangana, he walks into a forest and finally reaches a lonely kutir of a great person by name, Kukkuta muni. He sees the following wonder when he reaches the place:

Three very ugly looking old females, suffering from terrible diseases, will be cleaning the ashram. After doing all the cleaning required, they go inside the kutir and to his surprise, three very beautiful, young women with the tejas of sun come out. Out of his usual attraction to women, he goes and holds the hand of one of the women and immediately she turns ugly like before. The woman tells Pundarika “because people like you take dip in our holy waters everyday, we get these ugly forms and have to bare with such dreadful diseases. We are Ganga, Yamuna and Sarawathi. Everyday we clean the kutir of Kukkuta muni and have his darshan to relieve the loads of paapas you maanavas leave with us and get back our divya shariraas.” She again has darshan of Kukkuta muni and all the three leave the place (They wondered why a common human, that too a bad person, was able to see them in human form at the first place).

Pundarika, just to see what is there inside, goes into the kutir. He sees nothing great — no jewels, no big furniture nothing. He sees a person totally immersed in pressing the legs of his father. The person was totally engrossed in it and the only other thing he had in mind was the thought of Lord Shiva.Seeing Kukkuta muni, Pundarika asks him many questions about the woman etc., but sees that the muni gave back no reply, since the muni was totally engrossed with the seva to his father. Not able to bear the rejection, out of ahankaar, he tries to kick the muni and immediately falls on the ground loosing both his legs. Pundarika cries for help and the muni gets disturbed by his cries and attends to his help. Pundarika begs the muni to pardon him and the muni immediately pardons him. Pundarika realizes all the mistakes he has done in his life and asks the muni for prayaschittam. The muni says that there is nothing that can help him except the seva to his parents and even a bhrashta can achieve moksha by serving his parents. Immediately Pundarika, pulling himself with his hands, sets off in the search for his parents, whom he drove away from his house. He truly and whole heartedly repents for his mistakes and continues his journey to his parents.

He does not think about food, water, his bleeding legs, the only thing he has in his mind is to search for his parents, beg them to pardonhim and do their seva. He does not care about thorny paths, heat of the sun, steep mountain cliffs etc. and continues his journey. When he falls off a cliff, Lord Krishna used to catch him safely and let him move on. At all stages,Pundarika’s heart was filled only with the want of doing seva to parents, and hence Krishna bhagavaan used to help him all along. Finally, he reaches the kutir of his parents and falls on their feet. He begs them to pardon him for being so cruel to them and pleaded them to grant him the chance of doing their seva. The parents immediately pardon Pundarika and Pundarika again gets back his legs. From that day onwards, he always used to be busy doing seva to his parents and always think of Krishna paramaatma in his mind.

Unable to bear the separation from his bhakta, one day Lord Krishna comes to see Pundarika. He waits at the door of Pundarika’s kutir and calls for him. Pundarika sees Krishna, the paramaatma for whose darshan even great munis spend their entire lives in tapas, standing at his door. But Pundarika was at that time pressing the feet of his parents, who were asleep, with legs in his lap. Krishna asks Pundarika to come and take Him inside. Pundarika, seeing the Lord becomes very happy, but asks Him to wait a bit, since he cannot stop seva to his parents and he will come after taking their permission. Lord Krishna waits at the door and by being touched by his lotus feet, Indra who was lying in the form of a stone because of the curse of Lord Shiva, takes back His original form and leaves to Indraloka.

Meanwhile Pundarika’s father wakes up and asks him what happened. Pundarika says that Lord Krishna had come but he was unable to receive him. Immediately Pundarika’s father runs to receive the Lord, but does not see Him. He then asks Pundarika to call Krishna. Krishna appears immediately on the call of Pundarika and blesses moksha for Pundarika, his wife and his parents. Krishna also stays permanently at the house of Pundarika to bless bhaktas and it became the well known kshetram of Pandarpur. The kshetram is so ancient that the legs of the Pandarnath’s idol are half eroded just by the touchings of bhaktas!

Morals in the story:

1. Only because Pundarika did true seva to his parents, did Krishna wait for him at his door and immediately come when called by Pundarika. This shows the importance of being obedient to parents ans doing their seva.
2. Seva of parents is the most basic thing that the Indian culture prescribes. A person going against the word of his parents will not be liked by God.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:04 AM

Think twice before you act

Long ago, there used to live a very great King by the name Nruga, the son of Ikshvaaku. He gave as many goodaanams as there are grains of sand on the earth, stars in the heavens, or drops in a rain shower. He gave the best quality kapila varna cows, decorated with pure golden hooves and horns, along with their calves. He gave them to the most learned braahmanas, whose families were in need, were young and possessed of excellent character and qualities, who were dedicated to truth, famous for their austerity, vastly learned in the Vedic scriptures and saintly in their behaviour. He performed many other such great daanams for the needy. In addition, he performed many yagnyas and executed various pious welfare activities.

Once, a cow owned by a learned braahmana wandered away and entered the herd being given as daanam by Nruga. Unaware that he was giving a cow that did not belong to him, he gave it to one other needy braahmana. When the owner of the cow saw his cow being taken away, he said "The cow belongs to me!" and the other said "No! It was given to me by Nruga."

Nruga comes to know about this and offers each one of them a thousand cows of highest quality and asked them to save him from this difficult situation. However, both the braahmanas go away leaving the cow.
Yamadharmaraaja, after King Nruga leaves his physical body and comes to Yamaloka, asks Nruga "do you wish to experience the results of your paapam first, or those of your punya? Indeed, I see no end to the greatest daanams you have performed, or to your consequent enjoyment in the urdhva lokas. However, you made the sin of stealing a cow from a braahmana". Nruga chooses to face the consequences of his paapam first and immediately falls as a huge chameleon in a well. Since he always had bhakti towards the Lord and performed uncountable number of great daanams, he always remembered who he was, and what mistake he committed. He used to repent for his mistake and spent a very long time alone in the well, always doing Bhagavat-dhyaanam.

After a very long time, once when Shri Krishna, Saamba, Pradyumna, Chaaru, Bhaanu, Gada and other boys were playing, out of thrist they goto the well where Nruga was living. Out of pity, Shri Krishna takes him out of the well. The touch of the Lord of the universe made Nruga get a divya tejaswi form, with radiating kiritam and ornaments and tejas of Sun. On being asked by Shri Krishna, the Sarvagnya, the reason for the chameleon form, Nruga tells him his unfortunate story. He does a stotram to Lord krishna, does a pradakshinam, takes leave from the Lord and before the eyes of everyone flies to urdhva lokas in a divya vimaanam.

Morals in the Story:

1. Even for a great person like Nruga, one mistake, which he did unknowingly, made him experience the result of his paapam. Thus one should be very careful not to commit any kind of sin even unknowingly and lead a very ideal life.
2. Some or the other time, one must experience the results of his paapa or punya. However, if one surrenders himself to the God, He will lift you from the samsaaram and in the end give you kaivalyam, as Krishna did to Nruga.
3. Since Nruga never forgot remembering the Lord and the Lord was impressed by his great acts, Krishna granted him urdhva lokas in the end. So the end result for a good person will always be good.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:06 AM

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -1

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa, the Parandhaama, as part of His divya līlas, killed many rākṣhasas and other evil people. Many of the rākṣhasas had some or the other durguṇas in their previous janma and hence took birth as rākṣhasas and were destroyed by Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. Many times we read the stories of destroying these rākṣhasas but rarely we come to know the durguṇas why they were needed to be destroyed. This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out these durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same.

The stories have very deep meanings which are beyond the scope of Moral Stories. One can learn — What durguṇa leads to what mistake, how it must be controlled etc., if each story (taken from Garga Bhāgavatam) is analyzed very carefully with the help of elders.

Śakaṭāsura Bhañjanam:

In the Nandavrajam, Yaśodā invited many for celebrating the janmadina mahotsavas of Lord Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. After abhiṣhekam, they did beautiful alankāras to the Baby — Kastūrī tilakam, ear rings, chandra hāram, suvarṇa kankaṇas etc.

They gave the Nandanandana nīrājanas and made him sleep on a small svarna śayya, under the shade of a śakatam (cart). The puṇyastrīs were busy with their work and suddenly they stopped hearing the tiny cries of the Lord. Śakaṭāsura, sent by Kamsa, came in vāyurūpam and tried to push the śakaṭam on the Paramātma. The Baby touched the śakaṭam during His play and it flew high into the air, along with huge kṣhīra, dadhi bhāṇḍas that were kept on it. They fell on the Śakaṭāsura and his head broke into a thousand pieces! Vraja kāntas came running to see if Śrī Kṛṣhṇa was safe. The Paramātma was playing with Himself like a usual Baby. The Gopabālas told the Vraja kāntas that Śrī Kṛṣhṇa kicked the śakatam and it flew into the air. Immediately the vanitas removed dṛṣhṭi for Śrī Kṛṣhṇa, made bhūsurottamas to give mangala-āśīrvacanas and put Śrī Rāma Rakṣha to the Baby.

Śakaṭāsura's Caritra:

Hiraṇyalocana's son was Utkaca. He was a krūra. It was just his nature to be very harsh and not compassionate.

Once he uprooted all the Vṛkṣhas in the āśramam of Lomaśa maharṣhi (for no reason!!). The maharṣhi became angry and said "The way a snake removes its old skin, the same way you leave this body". The rākṣhasa fell on the ṛṣhi's feet and asked for kṣhama. The maharṣhi said "by the divya sparśa of Kṛṣhṇa Paramātma, you will be freed from your śāpam". He further explained to Utkaca "Usually one cannot eacape from Kālam and his own Karma. The only way is through Bhagavat-kṛpa."

Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Krūratvam

Message for present society:

This story also shows that one must not only have daya on fellow humans and animals, but also to plants. According to our śāstras, if one uproots one Vṛkṣham for human consumption, then four must be planted before doing so. Ofcourse its the responsibility of that person only to bring those up too. However man due to his Krūratvam, for his own selfish needs removed many trees and now started facing the consequences. Atleast from now on let us leave some space in our houses for plants (ones which give flowers, fruits or shade, not crotons ofcourse).

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:08 AM

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -2

This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same.

Tṛṇāvarta Bhañjanam:

Bāla Kṛṣhṇa was sitting on the lap of Yaśoda. A dānava by name Tṛṇāvarta came in the form of a tornado. Suddenly the Baby became as heavy as a mountain and Yaśoda put the baby on the ground, not able to carry the Bālaka. Huge air storm came and blew off the tops of many kuṭīrs. Sand dust filled Yośoda's view and the Baby was missing. All the Gopikas started to search for Śrī Kṛṣhṇa.

Bāla Kṛṣhṇa went into the sky along with Tṛṇāvarta and mounted his back. He became so heavy that the dānava could not anymore bear the weight. The dānava was trying to smash the Baby onto the ground. Small Kṛṣhṇa squeezed his throat and the dānava fell on the ground and lost his life. The Baby started playing on the dānava's mṛta deham. The Vrajavanitas brought Śrī Kṛṣhṇa back to Yaśoda safely and made her very happy. She removed dṛṣhṭi for the Paramātma, made Vedāśīrvacanas to be given and did many Go-Bhū dānas. She told Śrī Kṛṣhṇa to stop doing mischief and made him sleep on a svarṇa āṇḍolikā, in between silk gilpas (cushions).

Tṛṇāvarta's Caritra:

Sahasrākṣha used to rule the Pāṇḍudeśam. He was a Bhagavat-bhakta, but a strī-lola. In his kāmāndhatvam, even noticing that Dūrvāsa maharṣhi came, he did not do yathāvidhi namaskāras to him. The maharṣhi gave a śāpam to become a rākṣhasa. Sahasrākṣha later fell on the maharṣhi's feet and asked for śāpāntaram. The maharṣhi said "you will get Kaivalyam because of Śrī Kṛṣhṇa's pāda-sparśa."

Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Kāmāndhatvam.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:09 AM

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -3

This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same.

Vatsāsura Bhañjanam:

Balarāma and Śrī Kṛṣhṇa were growing day-by-day. They got the age where they could take the cows out, along with other Gopālas. Kālindī nadī sands was their fauvorite vihāra-sthalam. Balarāma used to wear a nīlāmbaram and Śrī Kṛṣhṇa a pītāmbaram. Paramātma with His madhura veṇu gānam taught the Gopālas and the Gomātas the Sāmaveda-sāram. Everyone who hear the venugānam used to experience Brahmānandam. All of them used to play, eat together. Kṛṣhṇa used to decorate the Gopālas and satisfy all their surprising new new childish vāñchas. Aaha! What immense puṇyas must they have done to have Śrī Kṛṣhṇa as their sakha!

Vatsāsura, sent by Kamsa, once mixed with the cow-herd that the Gopālas were protecting. Paramātma kept observing him. Vatsāsura slowly slowly approached near Śrī Kṛṣhṇa and kicked him with his legs. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa caught the asura by his legs, rotated him in circles and smashed him against a tree (Velaga Cettu). The tree broke down and a tejaH puñjam left the asura and joined in the Paramātma.

Vatsāsura's Caritra:

Murāsura's son was Pramīla. Once he took the guise of a brāhmaṇa and approached Vasiṣhṭha maharṣhi and asked the maharṣhi to give him the Nandinī dhenu. Nandinī identified the kapaṭa nāṭakam of Pramīla and gave him a śāpam "become a calf with asura svabhāvas". On pleading the dhenu for kṣhama, She said that when Śrī Kṛṣhṇa kills you, you will attain mokṣham.

Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Kapaṭam, Kuṭilatvam.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:11 AM

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -4

This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same.

Bakāsura Bhañjanam:

Immediately after vastāsura vadha, this episode happened. Bakāsura, one big heron, came to the Yamunātīram where Śrī Kṛṣhṇa and Gopālas were protecting the cows. It was as big as Kailāsa Parvatam. Its garjanam was like that of the ghana meghas. Seeing it the Gopālas were frightened. With its beak, which was as strong as a diamond, it swallowed Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. The Gopāla bālas began to cry seeing this.

Immediately Devendra used His Vajrāyudham. Brahma threw His daṇḍam. Nothing happened to Bakāsura! Parameśvara broke one of its wings. Vāyudeva's Vāyavyāstram could do nothing! Yamadharmarāja hit it with His daṇḍam. The daṇḍam broke! Surya deva's thousand arrows did not work! Bakasura did not care about Candra's Nīhārāstram! Agnideva's Aagneyāstram burnt Bakāsura's chest. Varuṇa deva hit it with His Pāśa.

Bhadra Kāli threw Her Gadā daṇḍam. Bakāsura fell unconscious. With Kumāra Svāmi's Śakti āyudham, Bakāsura's leg broke. Bakāsura with one leg and wing flew and chased away many Devatas and came back to the same place!

Maharṣhis were doing Śrī Kṛṣhṇa's dhyānam. Paramātma shouted so loud from inside Bakāsura that his stomach expanded and he had to forcibly bring out Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. Bakāsura started poking the Paramātma with his beak.

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa then caught him and tore his beak apart. Bakāsura was killed and Devatas rained puṣhpa vṛṣhṭhi. Bakā's tejas entered the Kṛṣhṇa Paramātma. Gopālas immediately hugged the Lord and felt happy that He was safe. They reported the entire episode to Yaśodā devi.

Bakāsura's Caritra:

Bakāsura was the son of Hayagrīva rākṣhasa. His then name was Utkala. He had immense balaparākrama's. He once defeated Devendra and became Svargādhipati for 100 years.

Once Utkala went to the shores of Sindhū Sāgara, near the Aaśramam of Jājili maharṣhi. He started fishing for fun. Maharṣhi saw him and said "Jīva himsa is a mahāpāpam". Utkala was a murkha. He did not believe the words of the maharṣhi. He did not stop killing the fish. Maharṣhi became angry and said "become a baka with asura lakṣhaṇas". He pleaded the maharṣhi to forgive him for his mistake. Jājili maharṣhi gave abhayam saying "through the hands of Śrī Kṛṣhṇa you will be killed and then you will get śāpavimukti".

Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Himsa.

Rashmi Rekha · 13-01-2013, 07:13 AM

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -5

This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same.

Aghāsura Bhañjanam:

Aghāsura was Bakāsura's eldest son. Sent by Kamsa, he came to bite the Paramātma with his Bhīkara viṣham. He had the form of a huge snake and was waiting near Yamunātīram. He kept his mouth open with his upper lips near meghamaṇḍala and the lower lips on the Bhūmaṇḍala. Thinking that the mouth of Aghāsura was a cave, with the confidence that Paramātma was with them, the Gopālas and cows happily entered the cave to explore it. Aghāsura was waiting for the Paramātma to enter him.

Śrī Kṛṣhṇa also entered it and immediately Aghāsura closed his mouth. Because of the bhīkara viṣha-vāyu all the Gopālas and the cows fell dead. Paramātma closed the navarandhra's of Aghāsura such that his stomach expanded and burst. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa came out. He brought back the lifes of all the cows and Gopāla just by His Saṅkalpam.

Aghāsura's Caritra:

Aghāsura was the son of a rākṣhasa by name Śaṅkha. He was strong and handsome. He was very young. His svabhāvam was to always do paraninda. Once he saw Aṣhṭāvakra maharṣhi and laughed saying "Why do you have some many curves in you body.." Maharṣhi became angry and gave śāpam that you will become a sarpam. When Aghāsura pleaded the maharṣhi for kṣhama, the maharṣhi said "When Śrī Kṛṣhṇa enters your stomach you will get mokṣham".

Just by doing Bhagavat-nāma-smaraṇa itself people get mokṣham. If Paramātma Himself enters the stomach will he not? (he will.)

Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Paraninda.

13-01-2013, 06:25 AM	#1
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Indian Moral Stories It is my tribute to the great Bharatiya Samskruti. Please feel free to comment on these stories. Thanks, Rashmi Rekha (RR)

13-01-2013, 06:26 AM	#2
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Be happy with what you have Materialistic pleasures were never the goals of Indians. People used to be satisfied with what they had and within what they had, used to help others. Their hearts were filled with pure love, friendship and bhakti. The story of Sudaama, the best friend of Lord Krishna, stands as an outstanding example for this. Sudaama and Krishna Bhagavan were good friends. The friendship started at their gurukulam with Shri Saandeepa. As always duty takes more priority than everything. Hence, after completing their studies they had to part. However, neither Krishna nor Sudaama could forget each other. Sudaama, knowing who Krishna really was, also had true devotion for him. Sudaama never was interested in earning lot of money or other such aihikechchas. Once after many years, not able to bear the separation from Krishna anymore, sets off to meet Krishna. On hearing the news of his friend’s arrival, Krishna runs to the city gates to receive Sudaama personally. Krishna, the paramaatma, hugs Sudaama several times and they break into tears with uncontrollable aanandam. Krishna takes Sudaama to his palace and makes him sit comfortably on the shayanaasanam of Krishna and Rukmini Devi. Krishna, whose feet Brahma himself washed to produce the holy waters of Ganga, washed the feet of his friend, together with Rukmini, with utmost care. Then the Lord of the worlds, purifies himself, his queens and the palace with the paada jalam of the great scholar, Sudaama. Though Sudaama was very poor and did not even have money to eat food, he did not even think about it while he was with Krishna. Krishna took the atukulu brought by Sudaama for him and commented that it was one of his best ever meals. Both of them talked a lot, till their hearts were full and finally Sudaama returned to his house with a full heart, thoroughly satisfied with the Lord’s sweet words. (Ofcourse, the sthiti kaaraka of the worlds, Krishna, blesses him with all worldly pleasures too…) Morals in the story: Money, property and other pleasures are Kshanabhanguraas and as a person keeps satisfying them, they will only increase. Hence, like Sudaama, one needs to be content with what he has. Even given a chance to ask anything from Krishna, he did not choose to ask him! The nature of pure friendship is exposed by Krishna and Sudaama. Krishna, being the lord of the universe, washed the feet of his friend and purifies himself with the paada-jalam. Sudaama, though was extremely poor, never asked Krishna for wealth and make friendship a business. Notice that only a guru is one who makes a person meet God. This is reflected clearly in the story. It is because of Saandeepa that Krishna and Sudaama knew each other and met each other again. Krishna making his friend sit on his shayya, talk with him what Rukmini and he talk intimately and receiving Sudaama at the gates of the city show how intimate & sincere friendship must be. The kind of respect one must give to an Atithi and a scholar is well brought out by Krishna. Message: Self-contentment gives a man the power to control any of his attraction towards the wrong path. If a person is not self-satisfied, he will always have ever increasing greed. Even control over the universe would not give him satisfaction.

13-01-2013, 07:01 AM	#3
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Draupadi, an ikon of a true Indian woman Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupada, appears from the yagnyaagni as a full grown, in the bloom of her youth. One can observe that it is always Paramaatma who takes birth and avataaras (“Paritraanaaya sadhunam …”). However, always Yoga-Maaya (or Shakti) never takes birth, she just appears. It is the same case with Sita devi, Rukmini devi, Draupadi, Maatulungi etc. The following piece of story of draupadi shows the boundaries of following Dharma. May be none can be better! Ashwatthaama, the chiranjeevi, does a daaruna krutyam after the Mahaabhaaratam. Unusual to his nature, He, without even little daya, beheads the sleeping babies of draupadi — the upa-paandavas. Draupadi realizes what happened. All her 10 sons, who were little baalakas, who were sleeping, who never did any kind of harm to Ashwatthaama and who cannot even react to the harm committed to them were lying in a pool of blood. Draupadi breaks down to tears and weeps in great sorrow. Arjuna very sad himself, consoles Her and says it does not look nice for a Veera maata to cry like this. He says that He will immediately avenge the act and kill Ashwatthaama. On killing him, she can take bath standing on his head. Immediately Lord Krishna and Arjuna set out on their Hanumadhdhvaja ratham to catch the fleeing Ashwatthaama. Seeing that Arjuna is closing by his ratham and that his horses are a little exhausted, Aswaththaama sees Brahmaastra as the only way to save himself. Though not knowing the way of retrieving the astra, he immediately uses Brahmaastra on Arjuna, after stopping the ratham, doing aachamanam and purifying himself. Lord Krishna orders Arjuna to use Brahmaastra to counter Ashwatthaama’s. Arjuna also purifies himself, does achamanam, does a pradakshina to the Almighty and uses Brahmaastra. The two astras, one like Agni and the other like sun, fight each other and in no time the worlds start to burn under the influence of the astras. Krishna, the protector of the worlds, immediately orders Arjuna to take back both Astras, as only a Brahmachaari can take back a Brahmaastra! Arjuna takes back both the Brahmaastras, showing clearly what a perfect Brahmachaari he was. Arjuna, who was the friend of the Askalita Brahmachaari Lord Krishna, obviously knows the shastras and the ways to maintain his Brahmacharyam, though married. Arjuna ties Ahswaththaama and takes him to Draupadi, like a Yagnya pashu is taken to the Yagnya shaala. The acts of Draupadi in this following episode make even Krishna praise Krishnaa (Draupadi) for her Dharma. On seeing the killer of all her sons being brought by Arjuna, Draupadi, of the beauty of her nature out of compassion, does a namaskar to him and says as per the Vedas in the absence of the Guru, Guru-putra takes his place, so she is doing a namaskaar to Drona!It was unbearable for her having him brought being bound and she said: “Release him, for he is a brahmana, our Aacharya. Do not make his mother, Drona’s wife, cry the way I do in my chastity shedding tears constantly in distress over a lost child”. Yudhishtira, Arjuna, Nakula, Sahadeva, Saatyaki, Krishna and other queens supported the statements of Paanchaali as they were in accord with the principles of Sanaatana Dharma, of justice, merciful, without duplicity and glorious in equity. Krishna, amazed by the Dharmya vartana of Draupadi, praises her very much. However, Bhima also raised a valid point that a person who by nature has daya is a brahmana, is Ashwatthaama, who mercilessly killed the baalakas, worth being called one? Saying “surely death is the only punishment for such a person”, Bhima proceeds to kill Ashwatthaama, but the Lord, with His chaturbhuja’s stops Bhima and says the following with a smile: “The Guru-putra, a braahmana must not be killed – this both is by Me, certainly prescribed to be carried out abiding by the rules.” However, Arjuna has to keep to the truth as promised while pacifying his wife, and also act to the satisfaction of Bhima and Himself (by punishing the bad). So they remove the divya mani on the head of Ashwatthaama and remove his hair, as, for a veera, tonsuring is equivalent to killing him. Morals in the story: The Dhramya vartana of Draupadi is well portrayed in the story. This shows us that, even at the time of great stress, sorrow, difficulty, one never must deviate from the path of truth, Dharma. Even though Ashwatthaama was great, in his momentary anger he committed an unpardonable crime. One must be very careful and need to think what is right and what is wrong before acting. This is what the pandavas do in the later part of the story, with the help of Krishna. They, though Kshattriyas, were not overwhelmed by revenge. They acted according to the words of Krishna, who is Dharma in human form. The importance given to keeping up one’s word is protrayed well. Arjuna promises Draupadi to kill Ashwatthaama, but according to Dharma is must not be killed. So they do an equivalent act of killing. The importance of cleanliness is also displayed. Both Ashwatthaama and Arjuna purify themselves, do aachamanam before chanting the mantras for Brahmaastra. They do this even when they were in such a great press for time. The power of Brahmacharyam is well shown through this story. Arjuna, who knew the Shatras, was a brahmachaari and hence could not only take back his, but Ashwatthaama’s astra too. The heart of a mother is well exposed when Draupadi comments “Do not make his mother, Drona’s wife, cry the way I do in my chastity shedding tears constantly in distress over a lost child“. She knows the pain of loosing children, so did not want another mother to experience it! Message to present society: Being Kshatriyas, people with lot of Shauryam, Paandavas thought so much (analyzing what is Dharmam, what is adharmam) before avenging their son’s death. Now-a-days even films show people mercilessly killing each other in the name of revenge.

13-01-2013, 07:03 AM	#4
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Seva to parents alone is enough! Every person by birth becomes rini for parents — without whom the very existence on this earth would not have been possible, devatas — for all the panchabutas, rains, nature etc. and rishis — for giving us puraanas, shastras etc. Of these, the runam of parents cannot be paid back easily and is virtually impossible. Hence one needs to atleast do seva to them, listen and adhere to their words and give them a lot of respect. This is the least one can do to them. Our puraanas also show that one can attain moksha just by doing seva to parents. Once upon a time, there used to live a great Bhakta of Krishna. He had a wife, who deserved to be his ardhaangi. However, they had a son, Pundarika, who had all kinds of vyasanas. In the attraction for a mere vaaraangana, he drives his parents out of his house, does not love his wife and finally looses all his money. The vaaraangana, whose love he thought was eternal, left him once his money was over. In the sorrow of being apart from the vaaraangana, he walks into a forest and finally reaches a lonely kutir of a great person by name, Kukkuta muni. He sees the following wonder when he reaches the place: Three very ugly looking old females, suffering from terrible diseases, will be cleaning the ashram. After doing all the cleaning required, they go inside the kutir and to his surprise, three very beautiful, young women with the tejas of sun come out. Out of his usual attraction to women, he goes and holds the hand of one of the women and immediately she turns ugly like before. The woman tells Pundarika “because people like you take dip in our holy waters everyday, we get these ugly forms and have to bare with such dreadful diseases. We are Ganga, Yamuna and Sarawathi. Everyday we clean the kutir of Kukkuta muni and have his darshan to relieve the loads of paapas you maanavas leave with us and get back our divya shariraas.” She again has darshan of Kukkuta muni and all the three leave the place (They wondered why a common human, that too a bad person, was able to see them in human form at the first place). Pundarika, just to see what is there inside, goes into the kutir. He sees nothing great — no jewels, no big furniture nothing. He sees a person totally immersed in pressing the legs of his father. The person was totally engrossed in it and the only other thing he had in mind was the thought of Lord Shiva.Seeing Kukkuta muni, Pundarika asks him many questions about the woman etc., but sees that the muni gave back no reply, since the muni was totally engrossed with the seva to his father. Not able to bear the rejection, out of ahankaar, he tries to kick the muni and immediately falls on the ground loosing both his legs. Pundarika cries for help and the muni gets disturbed by his cries and attends to his help. Pundarika begs the muni to pardon him and the muni immediately pardons him. Pundarika realizes all the mistakes he has done in his life and asks the muni for prayaschittam. The muni says that there is nothing that can help him except the seva to his parents and even a bhrashta can achieve moksha by serving his parents. Immediately Pundarika, pulling himself with his hands, sets off in the search for his parents, whom he drove away from his house. He truly and whole heartedly repents for his mistakes and continues his journey to his parents. He does not think about food, water, his bleeding legs, the only thing he has in his mind is to search for his parents, beg them to pardonhim and do their seva. He does not care about thorny paths, heat of the sun, steep mountain cliffs etc. and continues his journey. When he falls off a cliff, Lord Krishna used to catch him safely and let him move on. At all stages,Pundarika’s heart was filled only with the want of doing seva to parents, and hence Krishna bhagavaan used to help him all along. Finally, he reaches the kutir of his parents and falls on their feet. He begs them to pardon him for being so cruel to them and pleaded them to grant him the chance of doing their seva. The parents immediately pardon Pundarika and Pundarika again gets back his legs. From that day onwards, he always used to be busy doing seva to his parents and always think of Krishna paramaatma in his mind. Unable to bear the separation from his bhakta, one day Lord Krishna comes to see Pundarika. He waits at the door of Pundarika’s kutir and calls for him. Pundarika sees Krishna, the paramaatma for whose darshan even great munis spend their entire lives in tapas, standing at his door. But Pundarika was at that time pressing the feet of his parents, who were asleep, with legs in his lap. Krishna asks Pundarika to come and take Him inside. Pundarika, seeing the Lord becomes very happy, but asks Him to wait a bit, since he cannot stop seva to his parents and he will come after taking their permission. Lord Krishna waits at the door and by being touched by his lotus feet, Indra who was lying in the form of a stone because of the curse of Lord Shiva, takes back His original form and leaves to Indraloka. Meanwhile Pundarika’s father wakes up and asks him what happened. Pundarika says that Lord Krishna had come but he was unable to receive him. Immediately Pundarika’s father runs to receive the Lord, but does not see Him. He then asks Pundarika to call Krishna. Krishna appears immediately on the call of Pundarika and blesses moksha for Pundarika, his wife and his parents. Krishna also stays permanently at the house of Pundarika to bless bhaktas and it became the well known kshetram of Pandarpur. The kshetram is so ancient that the legs of the Pandarnath’s idol are half eroded just by the touchings of bhaktas! Morals in the story: 1. Only because Pundarika did true seva to his parents, did Krishna wait for him at his door and immediately come when called by Pundarika. This shows the importance of being obedient to parents ans doing their seva. 2. Seva of parents is the most basic thing that the Indian culture prescribes. A person going against the word of his parents will not be liked by God.

13-01-2013, 07:04 AM	#5
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Think twice before you act Long ago, there used to live a very great King by the name Nruga, the son of Ikshvaaku. He gave as many goodaanams as there are grains of sand on the earth, stars in the heavens, or drops in a rain shower. He gave the best quality kapila varna cows, decorated with pure golden hooves and horns, along with their calves. He gave them to the most learned braahmanas, whose families were in need, were young and possessed of excellent character and qualities, who were dedicated to truth, famous for their austerity, vastly learned in the Vedic scriptures and saintly in their behaviour. He performed many other such great daanams for the needy. In addition, he performed many yagnyas and executed various pious welfare activities. Once, a cow owned by a learned braahmana wandered away and entered the herd being given as daanam by Nruga. Unaware that he was giving a cow that did not belong to him, he gave it to one other needy braahmana. When the owner of the cow saw his cow being taken away, he said "The cow belongs to me!" and the other said "No! It was given to me by Nruga." Nruga comes to know about this and offers each one of them a thousand cows of highest quality and asked them to save him from this difficult situation. However, both the braahmanas go away leaving the cow. Yamadharmaraaja, after King Nruga leaves his physical body and comes to Yamaloka, asks Nruga "do you wish to experience the results of your paapam first, or those of your punya? Indeed, I see no end to the greatest daanams you have performed, or to your consequent enjoyment in the urdhva lokas. However, you made the sin of stealing a cow from a braahmana". Nruga chooses to face the consequences of his paapam first and immediately falls as a huge chameleon in a well. Since he always had bhakti towards the Lord and performed uncountable number of great daanams, he always remembered who he was, and what mistake he committed. He used to repent for his mistake and spent a very long time alone in the well, always doing Bhagavat-dhyaanam. After a very long time, once when Shri Krishna, Saamba, Pradyumna, Chaaru, Bhaanu, Gada and other boys were playing, out of thrist they goto the well where Nruga was living. Out of pity, Shri Krishna takes him out of the well. The touch of the Lord of the universe made Nruga get a divya tejaswi form, with radiating kiritam and ornaments and tejas of Sun. On being asked by Shri Krishna, the Sarvagnya, the reason for the chameleon form, Nruga tells him his unfortunate story. He does a stotram to Lord krishna, does a pradakshinam, takes leave from the Lord and before the eyes of everyone flies to urdhva lokas in a divya vimaanam. Morals in the Story: 1. Even for a great person like Nruga, one mistake, which he did unknowingly, made him experience the result of his paapam. Thus one should be very careful not to commit any kind of sin even unknowingly and lead a very ideal life. 2. Some or the other time, one must experience the results of his paapa or punya. However, if one surrenders himself to the God, He will lift you from the samsaaram and in the end give you kaivalyam, as Krishna did to Nruga. 3. Since Nruga never forgot remembering the Lord and the Lord was impressed by his great acts, Krishna granted him urdhva lokas in the end. So the end result for a good person will always be good.

13-01-2013, 07:06 AM	#6
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -1 Śrī Kṛṣhṇa, the Parandhaama, as part of His divya līlas, killed many rākṣhasas and other evil people. Many of the rākṣhasas had some or the other durguṇas in their previous janma and hence took birth as rākṣhasas and were destroyed by Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. Many times we read the stories of destroying these rākṣhasas but rarely we come to know the durguṇas why they were needed to be destroyed. This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out these durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same. The stories have very deep meanings which are beyond the scope of Moral Stories. One can learn — What durguṇa leads to what mistake, how it must be controlled etc., if each story (taken from Garga Bhāgavatam) is analyzed very carefully with the help of elders. Śakaṭāsura Bhañjanam: In the Nandavrajam, Yaśodā invited many for celebrating the janmadina mahotsavas of Lord Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. After abhiṣhekam, they did beautiful alankāras to the Baby — Kastūrī tilakam, ear rings, chandra hāram, suvarṇa kankaṇas etc. They gave the Nandanandana nīrājanas and made him sleep on a small svarna śayya, under the shade of a śakatam (cart). The puṇyastrīs were busy with their work and suddenly they stopped hearing the tiny cries of the Lord. Śakaṭāsura, sent by Kamsa, came in vāyurūpam and tried to push the śakaṭam on the Paramātma. The Baby touched the śakaṭam during His play and it flew high into the air, along with huge kṣhīra, dadhi bhāṇḍas that were kept on it. They fell on the Śakaṭāsura and his head broke into a thousand pieces! Vraja kāntas came running to see if Śrī Kṛṣhṇa was safe. The Paramātma was playing with Himself like a usual Baby. The Gopabālas told the Vraja kāntas that Śrī Kṛṣhṇa kicked the śakatam and it flew into the air. Immediately the vanitas removed dṛṣhṭi for Śrī Kṛṣhṇa, made bhūsurottamas to give mangala-āśīrvacanas and put Śrī Rāma Rakṣha to the Baby. Śakaṭāsura's Caritra: Hiraṇyalocana's son was Utkaca. He was a krūra. It was just his nature to be very harsh and not compassionate. Once he uprooted all the Vṛkṣhas in the āśramam of Lomaśa maharṣhi (for no reason!!). The maharṣhi became angry and said "The way a snake removes its old skin, the same way you leave this body". The rākṣhasa fell on the ṛṣhi's feet and asked for kṣhama. The maharṣhi said "by the divya sparśa of Kṛṣhṇa Paramātma, you will be freed from your śāpam". He further explained to Utkaca "Usually one cannot eacape from Kālam and his own Karma. The only way is through Bhagavat-kṛpa." Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Krūratvam Message for present society: This story also shows that one must not only have daya on fellow humans and animals, but also to plants. According to our śāstras, if one uproots one Vṛkṣham for human consumption, then four must be planted before doing so. Ofcourse its the responsibility of that person only to bring those up too. However man due to his Krūratvam, for his own selfish needs removed many trees and now started facing the consequences. Atleast from now on let us leave some space in our houses for plants (ones which give flowers, fruits or shade, not crotons ofcourse).

13-01-2013, 07:08 AM	#7
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -2 This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same. Tṛṇāvarta Bhañjanam: Bāla Kṛṣhṇa was sitting on the lap of Yaśoda. A dānava by name Tṛṇāvarta came in the form of a tornado. Suddenly the Baby became as heavy as a mountain and Yaśoda put the baby on the ground, not able to carry the Bālaka. Huge air storm came and blew off the tops of many kuṭīrs. Sand dust filled Yośoda's view and the Baby was missing. All the Gopikas started to search for Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. Bāla Kṛṣhṇa went into the sky along with Tṛṇāvarta and mounted his back. He became so heavy that the dānava could not anymore bear the weight. The dānava was trying to smash the Baby onto the ground. Small Kṛṣhṇa squeezed his throat and the dānava fell on the ground and lost his life. The Baby started playing on the dānava's mṛta deham. The Vrajavanitas brought Śrī Kṛṣhṇa back to Yaśoda safely and made her very happy. She removed dṛṣhṭi for the Paramātma, made Vedāśīrvacanas to be given and did many Go-Bhū dānas. She told Śrī Kṛṣhṇa to stop doing mischief and made him sleep on a svarṇa āṇḍolikā, in between silk gilpas (cushions). Tṛṇāvarta's Caritra: Sahasrākṣha used to rule the Pāṇḍudeśam. He was a Bhagavat-bhakta, but a strī-lola. In his kāmāndhatvam, even noticing that Dūrvāsa maharṣhi came, he did not do yathāvidhi namaskāras to him. The maharṣhi gave a śāpam to become a rākṣhasa. Sahasrākṣha later fell on the maharṣhi's feet and asked for śāpāntaram. The maharṣhi said "you will get Kaivalyam because of Śrī Kṛṣhṇa's pāda-sparśa." Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Kāmāndhatvam.

13-01-2013, 07:09 AM	#8
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -3 This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same. Vatsāsura Bhañjanam: Balarāma and Śrī Kṛṣhṇa were growing day-by-day. They got the age where they could take the cows out, along with other Gopālas. Kālindī nadī sands was their fauvorite vihāra-sthalam. Balarāma used to wear a nīlāmbaram and Śrī Kṛṣhṇa a pītāmbaram. Paramātma with His madhura veṇu gānam taught the Gopālas and the Gomātas the Sāmaveda-sāram. Everyone who hear the venugānam used to experience Brahmānandam. All of them used to play, eat together. Kṛṣhṇa used to decorate the Gopālas and satisfy all their surprising new new childish vāñchas. Aaha! What immense puṇyas must they have done to have Śrī Kṛṣhṇa as their sakha! Vatsāsura, sent by Kamsa, once mixed with the cow-herd that the Gopālas were protecting. Paramātma kept observing him. Vatsāsura slowly slowly approached near Śrī Kṛṣhṇa and kicked him with his legs. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa caught the asura by his legs, rotated him in circles and smashed him against a tree (Velaga Cettu). The tree broke down and a tejaH puñjam left the asura and joined in the Paramātma. Vatsāsura's Caritra: Murāsura's son was Pramīla. Once he took the guise of a brāhmaṇa and approached Vasiṣhṭha maharṣhi and asked the maharṣhi to give him the Nandinī dhenu. Nandinī identified the kapaṭa nāṭakam of Pramīla and gave him a śāpam "become a calf with asura svabhāvas". On pleading the dhenu for kṣhama, She said that when Śrī Kṛṣhṇa kills you, you will attain mokṣham. Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Kapaṭam, Kuṭilatvam.

13-01-2013, 07:11 AM	#9
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -4 This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same. Bakāsura Bhañjanam: Immediately after vastāsura vadha, this episode happened. Bakāsura, one big heron, came to the Yamunātīram where Śrī Kṛṣhṇa and Gopālas were protecting the cows. It was as big as Kailāsa Parvatam. Its garjanam was like that of the ghana meghas. Seeing it the Gopālas were frightened. With its beak, which was as strong as a diamond, it swallowed Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. The Gopāla bālas began to cry seeing this. Immediately Devendra used His Vajrāyudham. Brahma threw His daṇḍam. Nothing happened to Bakāsura! Parameśvara broke one of its wings. Vāyudeva's Vāyavyāstram could do nothing! Yamadharmarāja hit it with His daṇḍam. The daṇḍam broke! Surya deva's thousand arrows did not work! Bakasura did not care about Candra's Nīhārāstram! Agnideva's Aagneyāstram burnt Bakāsura's chest. Varuṇa deva hit it with His Pāśa. Bhadra Kāli threw Her Gadā daṇḍam. Bakāsura fell unconscious. With Kumāra Svāmi's Śakti āyudham, Bakāsura's leg broke. Bakāsura with one leg and wing flew and chased away many Devatas and came back to the same place! Maharṣhis were doing Śrī Kṛṣhṇa's dhyānam. Paramātma shouted so loud from inside Bakāsura that his stomach expanded and he had to forcibly bring out Śrī Kṛṣhṇa. Bakāsura started poking the Paramātma with his beak. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa then caught him and tore his beak apart. Bakāsura was killed and Devatas rained puṣhpa vṛṣhṭhi. Bakā's tejas entered the Kṛṣhṇa Paramātma. Gopālas immediately hugged the Lord and felt happy that He was safe. They reported the entire episode to Yaśodā devi. Bakāsura's Caritra: Bakāsura was the son of Hayagrīva rākṣhasa. His then name was Utkala. He had immense balaparākrama's. He once defeated Devendra and became Svargādhipati for 100 years. Once Utkala went to the shores of Sindhū Sāgara, near the Aaśramam of Jājili maharṣhi. He started fishing for fun. Maharṣhi saw him and said "Jīva himsa is a mahāpāpam". Utkala was a murkha. He did not believe the words of the maharṣhi. He did not stop killing the fish. Maharṣhi became angry and said "become a baka with asura lakṣhaṇas". He pleaded the maharṣhi to forgive him for his mistake. Jājili maharṣhi gave abhayam saying "through the hands of Śrī Kṛṣhṇa you will be killed and then you will get śāpavimukti". Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Himsa.

13-01-2013, 07:13 AM	#10
Rashmi Rekha Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Re: Indian Moral Stories Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas -5 This series of stories on Śrī Kṛṣhṇa līlas try to bring out some durguṇas, commonly found in people, and thus warn us to be away from the same. Aghāsura Bhañjanam: Aghāsura was Bakāsura's eldest son. Sent by Kamsa, he came to bite the Paramātma with his Bhīkara viṣham. He had the form of a huge snake and was waiting near Yamunātīram. He kept his mouth open with his upper lips near meghamaṇḍala and the lower lips on the Bhūmaṇḍala. Thinking that the mouth of Aghāsura was a cave, with the confidence that Paramātma was with them, the Gopālas and cows happily entered the cave to explore it. Aghāsura was waiting for the Paramātma to enter him. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa also entered it and immediately Aghāsura closed his mouth. Because of the bhīkara viṣha-vāyu all the Gopālas and the cows fell dead. Paramātma closed the navarandhra's of Aghāsura such that his stomach expanded and burst. Śrī Kṛṣhṇa came out. He brought back the lifes of all the cows and Gopāla just by His Saṅkalpam. Aghāsura's Caritra: Aghāsura was the son of a rākṣhasa by name Śaṅkha. He was strong and handsome. He was very young. His svabhāvam was to always do paraninda. Once he saw Aṣhṭāvakra maharṣhi and laughed saying "Why do you have some many curves in you body.." Maharṣhi became angry and gave śāpam that you will become a sarpam. When Aghāsura pleaded the maharṣhi for kṣhama, the maharṣhi said "When Śrī Kṛṣhṇa enters your stomach you will get mokṣham". Just by doing Bhagavat-nāma-smaraṇa itself people get mokṣham. If Paramātma Himself enters the stomach will he not? (he will.) Durguṇam to be unlearnt: Paraninda.