Friday, April 27, 2007

The Garuda

Garuda is one of principal animal deities in the Hindu Mythology Kashyap, Garuda's father, had two wives: Kadru, the elder, and Vinata, Garuda's mother, the younger. There was great rivalry between the two wives.. Once, they had an argument over the color of the horse Uchchaisravas, produced during the churning of the Milk Ocean just after the time of creation. Each chose a color and laid a wager on her own choice. The one who lost would become the other's slave. Kadru proved to be right and, as part of the agreement, imprisoned Vinata in the nether regions, Patala, where she was guarded by serpents. The serpents are, according to another myth, the sons of Kadru herself. Garuda, on hearing of his mother's imprisonment, descended to Patala and asked the serpents to release Vinata. They agreed to do so and demanded as ransom a cup of amrita (ambrosia). So Garuda set off for the celestial mountain where the amrita was kept. Before he could get to the amrita he had to overcome three hazards set up by the gods to guard the celestial drink. First, Garuda came upon a ring of flames fanned by high winds. They roared and leapt up to the sky but Garuda drank up several rivers and extinguished the flames. Next, Garuda came upon a circular doorway. A very rapidly spinning wheel with sharp spikes on the spokes guarded it. Garuda made himself very small and slipped through the turning spokes. Lastly, Garuda had to defeat two fire-spitting serpents guarding the amrita. He flapped his wings rapidly and blew dust into the eyes of the monsters and blinded them. Then he cut them to pieces with his sharp beak. So Garuda finally reached the amrita and started to fly back with it to the nether regions but the gods anticipated his purpose and gave chase. Indra, king of the gods, struck him with his thunderbolt but Garuda proved a superior warrior and defeated the gods and continued unscathed on his journey to Patala. When the serpents got the amrita they were overjoyed and released Vinata. . Also, since the celestial drink was very strong, their tongues were split and that is why, to this day, serpents have forked tongues. Garuda got his mother back but he became an inveterate enemy of the serpents, the sons of his mother's rival Kadru. Also the serpents, the Nagas, symbolized evil and that automatically invoked Garuda's hatred.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Shani -The lame planet

At the time when Ravana's son was about to born all the planets were in favourable position except Saturn who was about to change the position.Ravana , a person of immense occult power, commanded Saturn to come and stay in the 11th House of his son, Indrajith, the 11th House being the best house for Saturn to be in. Saturn, with his innate laziness, came and stayed at the 11th house but put his foot in the 12th ( the worst house for Saturn to be in ). An enraged Ravana cut off his leg and the entire mass of blood and bones went and stayed at the Ascendant ( Lagna ) as Gulika !!!
It is believe that person having saturn in 12House of horoscope is more prone to feet injury

Birth Of Shani

Suryadev(son of Brahma) was married to Sangya.Sangya was the daughter of Vishwakarma. Yama, the God of death and the river Yamuna and Vaiswat Manu are believed to be the childern of Sun & Sangya.Sangya finding it unbearable to live with the harsh glare of Surya's light, created her own replica and named her as chaya and asked her to behave as Surya's wife and perform all the duties and savour the privileges of a wife. She made her promise that under no condition would she reveal to Suryadev that she was not Sangya and promised to help her when needed.

Sangya went back to her father Daksha. When Daksha saw that his daughter coming back, he advised her that she better live with her husband only. The dejected Sangya did not follow her father's advise and instead transformed herself into a mare and resided in the Himalayas and started penance.

Chaya performed the role of dutiful wife. Shani was the son of Chaya & Sun. Surya did not have any doubts about Chaya. One day Sun observe that Chaya didnit treat the Yama & his siblings lovingly. This raises doubts in his mind.Chaya confessed that she was a 'shadow' of Sangya and that Sangya had gone to the Himalaya for penance. On listening he dejected chaya. This cause the enemosity between Sun & Saturn.
It is said that when he opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse, which clearly denotes the impact of Shani on astrological charts (horoscope).

Lord Hanuman & Shani Devta

Saturn descended on Hanuman when he was busy building a bridge over the ocean to help Rama and his army cross over to Lanka. Hanuman requested the planet to postpone his visit till he had successfully assisted Rama in regaining Sita. But Saturn was adamant and Hanuman had to bow against the will of nature. He suggested that Saturn sit on his (Hanuman's) head as his hands were engaged in serving Rama and his legs were too lowly for Saturn.

Saturn happily settled on Hanuman's head and the mighty Hanuman continued with his work, piling heavy boulders and stones on his head in an apparently casual manner and carrying them to the construction site. After a while Saturn found it impossible to bear the load of the heaped boulders any longer and wished to climb down. Hanuman insisted that he complete his mandatory seven-and-a-half years but Saturn pleaded for release saying that the seven-and-a-half minutes he stayed on Hanuman's head felt like seven-and-a-half years anyway. Thus speaking Saturn took leave of Hanuman and since then worshippers of Hanuman rest assured that the unavoidable ill effects of Saturn's sade-sati (seven-and-a-half year's stay) can be whittled down by a true devotion to Hanuman.

Shani ki drishti

When King Ravana succeeded in getting the control over all the nine planets, he installed them face downward on the nine steps that led to his throne. Each morning, he would step on their back to ascend his throne, causing insult and anguish to them. One day the sage Narada came to Ravana, and upon seeing the state of the nine planets asked Shani, how as the mightiest and the most terrible of the planets, he can bear this insult? Shani replied that because he is laying face downward he is helpless, if only he can cast his gaze on Ravana, matters would change. After Narada was shown around the magnificent palace of Ravana the proud king wanted his opinion. The wise sage replied that everything was excellent at the palace of Ravana, except for one. That was, how can Ravana get the pleasure of subduing the nine planets when they are lying face downward? It is better if they were to lay face upward so that when Ravana stepped over their chests, he could get the pleasure of seeing their discomfort on their faces. This suggestion appealed to the mighty king and he quickly ordered his staff to turn the nine planets around on their backs. As soon as that was done, Shani's gaze fell on Ravana and his reason abandoned him. Within a few months he kidnapped Sita, the wife of Lord Rama that led to Lord Rama's invasion of his kingdom. Ravana and his entire family was killed, all this during the seven and half year cycle of Shani.