The legend of Paarijaat tree

One day Sage Narad visited Lord Krishna’s palace and presented divine flower from “Paarijaat” tree to him which he got from heaven. Lord Krishna gifted it to his wife Rukmani.When this news reached Satyabhama,the second wife of lord Krishna, she felt disappointed and demanded the Paarijaat tree for herself. This tree had a great divine powers which was planted in the garden of Indra at Amravati in heaven.Since this divine tree was in custody of Indra, so it was not easy for Lord Krishna to bring it to earth from the heaven. Indra knew the divine powers of Paarijat tree, so he refused to gave the tree to Lord Krishna.As a result fierce battle took place between Indra and Lord Krishna. On intervention of gods, Indra decided to gave the tree to Lord Krishna. But he cursed the tree that it will never bear any fruit.He brought it back to his kingdom. In order to please his both wives he planted the tree in such a manner that its flowers fell on Rukmani’s garden and the tree planted in Satyabhama’s garden. In this way Lord Krishna manage to overcome the great dilemma.Even today this tree bears no fruits and it is used during the pooja of Lord Krishna. There is another legend associated with this tree that once there was a princes called Paarijat, who wanted to marry Surya dev, the sun god.But he refused to marry her.This broke her heart and she committed suicide. From her ashes a tree emerge called “Paarijaat”. The unique feature about this tree that flowers blossoms only during the night time in the season. At the time of sunrise when the first ray of sun falls on the tree, it sheds its flower as a replica of her shedding her tears of sepration from the sun god.

Panch Mahayagya

There are 5 sacrifices or the duties which has to be performed by a brahmin everyday. These rituals are called "Panch Mahayagya" which means 5 great sacrifices. These rituals are very essential for spiritual development in life.These 5 rituals are as follows
1)Dev-yagya
2)Pitra-yagya
3)Bhuta-yagya
4)Manushya-yagya
5)Brahma-yagya.
The Devyagya means prayer to God.This can also be done by making offerings to fire called homa. The Pitra-yagya is offerings to forefathers to get their blessings. They are so important that there effects can be seen in the life in the form of “Pitra-dosham”, if it is not done under certain conditions. One should never forget to perform the “Tarpan” ceremony for the ancestors at teeraths(pilgrims). This ceremony signifies offering water to the departed souls of ancestors.Offerings made to animals and birds and plants constitute Bhoota-yagya. In Manushya yagya, offerings are made to guests. It is believe that guest is considered at par with God. As per saying if guest leave the house disappointedly, then he will walk away with all the punyas of the host leaving behind his sins. So,utmost care has to be taken in entertaining the guest. The brahma yagya can be performed by following the path shown by our sages and our scriptures. One should study our scriptures.