14 Ratan

During the war between Gods and demons,churning of ocean took place from which 14 precious things were produced.They were as follows
1. Halaahal-A Poison which is consumed by Lord Shiva
2. ‘Parijat’ , a tree in the Paradise of Lord Indra
3. Airavat- a multi-tusked elephant for again Lord indra
4. Kamadhenu-a cow which provides desired objects
5. Uchchaihsravas-the white horse for Lord Indra
6. Sankha the conch of Lord Vishnu used for victory
7. Chandra-The moon
8. Laxmi- goddess of wealth
9. Rambha- the apsara (celestial beauty) for heaven
10. Kaustubh Mani-Lord Vishnu took it and placed it in his neck.
11. Kalpavriksha - a tree fulfilling one’s wishes
12. Dhanwantari- the physician for all Gods.
13. Varunee Devi-Godess of wine
14. Amrit
This great war was started on Ekadashi of Krishna Paksha of Kaartik month and ended on amavasya

Holika

Holika was the sister of Hiranyakashipu, the king of the demons. His son Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. His devotion towards Lord vshnu irritates his father regularly. All his attempt to convince his son failed.Finally he decided to kill him. He ordered his sister, Holika to perform this duty. Holika had a boon that if she wore a piece of special cloth on her head then even a fire could not detroy her. To fulfill her duty she took Prahalad in her lap and wore that special cloth over her head and both sat in the fire. But miracle happened. All of a sudden strong wind started to blew.As a result that protected cloth flew from his head and it fell upon Prahalad’s head. In the absence of that protective cloth she burnt alive and the fire could not able to harm Prahlad .On Holi eve a pyre made of cow dung, representing Holika, is prepared and set fire in special muhurat. This is a legend behind holi. This night is also important for tantric kriyaas.Intrestingly 8 days before holi is considered as “Holashtak” which is considered as malefic period. No auspicious work is done during that period. So, the festival of holi has a lot of meanings

Exchange of Curses

Radha was so attached with Lord Krishna that she became too much possessive. One day she came to know that Lord Krishna has a affinity towars another gopi called Vrinda.This was untolerable for Radha. She rushed to Lord Krishna in fury. When she was about to utter a word to Lord Krishna, there came Sridama, one of the fast friend of Lord Krishna. But Radha was unstoppable. She started scolding to Lord Krishna. But Sridama could not bear the insult of his friend and warned Radha to stop and threatened her to be prepared to get a curse from him . This added a fuel to the fire. Radha backfire on Sridama and said “It is my curse that you have to take birth in a low family and have to suffer acute poverty”. Now it was the turn of Sridama to respond. He replied immediately and said “Now I am cursing you that for 100 years you will not able to meet Lord Krishna”. This exchange of curse came true later. It is believed that Radha was with Sri Krishna for the first eleven years of Sri Krishna’s life. Then Krishna left Brindaban and stayed in Mathura and other places for one hundred years.

21 Durvas

While offering prayers to Ganesha, one should offer Dhurvas as it is one of its favourite .There is a legend behing it. Once upon a time there was a demon known as "Analasur". The hindi meaning of his name is fire demon. He was famous with his name because he had the ability to spit flames. The demon used to trouble all the Gods. He was becoming more and more powerful by each day. A stage came when the Gods had no answer to his immense power.They failed miserably. They left with only one option.As a result they approached Lord Ganesha for the help.Ganesha had a long battle with the demon that went for a years. At the end, Ganesha swallowed the demon. But since the demon was made of flame, the intense heat generated which was unbearable. Various Gods turned to the rescue of Ganesha, prescribing their own methods, but to no avail. The sacred water from Vishnu's lotus was administered to Him. This gave the Lord some respite, although he was still in pain. The snake of Lord Shiva was then tied around his waist. This also helped but the pain still persisted. Lastly, 21 durvas were given to him and the Lord was finally cured. Since then , 21 durvas are offered to the Lord is considered as ausoicious.

Curses of Lord Ganesha & Tulsi

Lord Ganesha has the boon that he will be worshipped first in any auspicious occasion. During pooja all sorts of sacred flowers, fruits and sweets are allowed except Tulsi leaves. Though Tulsi is considered as very auspicious but due to involvement of curse it is prohibited to use tulsi leaves at the time of pooja. Once Lord Ganesha was engaged in deep meditation As Ganesha was doing pooja, there came Tulsi. The moment she saw Ganesha, she fell in love with him and requested him to take her as his wife.But Lord Ganesha had turned down the offer and said that he had no intention of marriage. This irritated Tulsi. She took it as her insult. In her fury she cursed Lord Ganesha saying that “you will certainly get married against you wishes”. On hearing this Lord Ganesha cursed her back in revenge saying,”You would be possessed by a demon in marriage, and then under a curse from the saints become a plant”. On hearing this curse, Tulsi felt sorry and prayed Ganesha. This pleased Lord Ganesha and he said, “Tulsi!, you will be regarded supreme among the plants. Whosoever worships the lord Vishnu with your leaves as offering would achieve liberation in heaven, but you will always be unacceptable by me. ” Later under Lord Ganesha's curse she became the wife of the demon king called Shankhachuda. She lived with him as his beloved wife, but then her husband was killed in a battle between Gods and demons and she turned into a plant of holy basil. Since Tulsi is dear to Lord Vishnu that is why Tulsi is held so sacred and grown into temples and houses offered in worship to Lord Vishnu. Also tulsi leaves are placed into the mouth of a dying person and when a Tulsi plant dies, it is immersed into a holy river, but it never offer to Lord Ganesha .