The great Architect

The following day after Diwali is devoted to Lord Vishwakarma. All kind of workers of all kind worship Lord Vishwakarma on this day . He is the divine architect of the universe according to Hindu mythology. He is also known as “Architect of Gods”. As per Vedas he is supreme master of Sthapatya Veda( The science of architecture & mechanics ). He constructed the holy city of Dwarka, the palace for Pandavas at Khandavprastha, lanka of Ravana and many other equipments for Gods. He was the son of Yogsidha(sister of Devguru Brihaspati) and Prabhas(the 8th vasu).His daughter was sanjna who was married to Surya. As per classics, his daughter could not able to bear the heat of sun, so Lord Vishwakarma curtail 1/8 part of sun’s radiance. With that curtailed part he prepare the weapons of gods. As per another legend, once King Indradyumna requested lord Vishwakarma to carve a deity from a log. He took the responsibility. On a condition that he would not be disturbed while he was carving the deity and start working in closed room . But King was too anxious. He opened the door and found the deity half-finished as the deity had no arms and legs. As per promise Vishwakarma disappears at once. Still at Jagannath puri, the incomplete deity of created by Lord Vishwakarma is installed at the temple.

Costly Exchange

As per Hinduism the 5 subtle elements are called “Panch Tatva”. Agni or fire is one amongst them. It the fire which carries all the sacrifices made at havan or yagya to Gods. Agni is considered as god. All the auspicious ceremonies are performed with the presence of fire as a deity. Agni appears before us in three forms, as the sun, the lightning in the sky and the fire on earth. Agni is also the link between man and god because he receives all divine oblations. Agni is the eldest son of Brahma. His wife is Swaha and has three sons, Pavak, Pavmaa and Suchi and through them as forty-six grandsons. Thus Agni has Forty-nine members as his descendants. As per classics Agni is reddish in color, has three flaming heads, three legs and seven arms. A garland of fruits adorns his neck and his vehicle is the ram. Once Agni had indigestion due to over eating of yagya material regularly. This created panic amongst the sages because no yagya could have been performed without fire. To regain the strength fire god has only one option to burn the Khandav forest. But it was the home of king of snakes, Takshak. On the other hand Indra,the God of rains was friend of Takshak. So all the attempts of agni to burn the forest went in vain due to Indra who causes rains during all the attempts made by agni. So Agni decided to met Arjun and lord Krishna for the help. In return Agni promise to gave Arjun a bow called “Gandiv” and a box containing everlasting arrows.Agni strated his work. In few minutes the whole forest engulfed in fire. Luckily Takshak was away but his family was at home. Indra sent rains to rescue the family of Takshak. Fierce battle took place between Arjun and Indra. At the end Arjun emerges winner. Somehow the family of Takshak managed to escape, but he swore revenge. So it was takshak who killed the grandson of Arjun, Parikshit later. In this way Agni regain it’s lost power at the cost of loss of Parikshit,the grandson of Arjun.

Curse to Karana

Karana,the son of Surya was up bring by the charioteer, Adirath. He could not afford the education of his child. Even Dronacharya rejected him to teach. This hurts Karna a lot. He wanted to learn the archery to prove his talent of Kshatriya. In search of teacher he reached the ashram of Lord Parshuram. He misrepresented the fact that he was not a Brahmin. Sage Parshuram accepted Karna as his student. One day when his learning was completed he went to forest with his teacher. Sage Parshuram wanted to rest a while. He rested with his head in Karna’s lap. When Sage was in deep sleep, a poisonous insect bite Karana. He didn’t uttered a word and bore the acute pain. He didn’t wanted to disturb his Guru. From his deep wound warm blood fell on Sage Parshuram which caused him to woke up.He was shocked to see his student’s determination because it was not possible for any Brahmin to bear such pain. On asking Karana revealed the secret that he was not a Brahmin. Sage cursed him that all his education will disappear in the hour of its utmost need. So in the battle of Mahabharata, this curse proved to be cause of death of Karana when all of a sudden he forgot all his skills and lost his life to Arjuna. Otherwise he was superior to Arjuna in all respect.

Mark of Lord Rama

When the construction of the bridge was going on at Rameshwaram by lord Rama to attack the kingdom of Ravana, a little squirrel was also there in the team work. All of a sudden lord Rama noticed the squirrel running here and there. He saw that the squirrel rolled on the sand and then ran at the construction site to shake off the sand from its back. The squirrel was doing the same work without stopping with chanting the lord Rama’s name all the time. When asked, the little squirrel replied that she was helping to build the bridge to save Sita. On hearing such touching words Lord Rama took the squirrel in his hand and patted her back with his fingers. With his fingers Lord Rama drew 3 lines on her back. Since then the squirrel has the mark of three stripes on its back.

Wrong test

Kunti was daughter of Shursen,who was grandfather of lord Krishna. Vasudeva was her brother. Her father gave kunti to his childless brother Kuntibhoja. She had a great time at the house of kuntibhoja. Once Sage Durvaasa visited the palace of Kuntibhoja. He was deeply impressed by the services of Kunti. Before leaving the palace Sage Durvaasa asked her to demand any boon from him. She replied that grant her something which could be helpful to her in the future. Sage Durvaasa grant Kunti a special mantra. But this was not the end of story. After getting this mantra she remained in the state of anxiety for many days regarding the working of mantra. One day she decided to test the mantra. The rule for the mantra was that a person who recites that mantra with a particular image of god in mind, the same God will appear. In the early morning she woke up and recite the mantra while looking towards rising sun. The result was shocking. God Surya appears immediately before her. The radiance of sun was unbearable for Kunti. She requested him to return. But this was against the rules of nature because Sun god could not returned without blessing her. He blessed her a son and returned back to surya lok. But Kunti was unmarried at that time. so due to fear of defamation, she abandoned the child in a basket in a river. This was the turning point in the life of kunti. Later the same abandoned child was famous as “Karna”, who in terms of power and skill he was better than Arjun