Gotra- Ek Pehchaan

Gotra mean a name given to lineage . All Hindu ceremonies require a statement of the gotra. It is very important to pronounce the “Gotra” while performing sanskaars. A Gotra relates to the original seven Rishis called “Saptarishis” and Sage Agastya making the total 8. The sapta rishis were Gautama, Bhardwaja, Vishwamitra, Jamadagni, Vasistha, Kashyapa, Atri. In olden times, every gotra had a definite task to perform. Certain sacrifices require priests of a specific gotra only. All members of a particular gotra are believed to possess certain common characteristics by way of nature or profession. Currently there are 49 established Hindu gotras which evolves from eight sages. The members of a gotra however need not necessarily be blood relations. There is a difference between “gotra” and “Kula”. A kula is a group of people following similar rituals.One can change its Kula, based on his faith on ista devatha. In society it is prohibited to perform marriage between persons belonging to same gotra. The idea behind this concept to prevent transfer of genetic disorders to next generation. Also marriages between certain gotras are also not allowed.For Example marriages between persons of the Vasishtha and Vishvamitra gotras are not permitted. The reason is that these two sages were opponents and their descendants are traditional enemies . So the concept of gotra has the logic.

The true devotion

One day Sage Narada visited Lord Vishnu and and said that he wanted to know who was his favorite devotee Actually Narada was staunch devotee of Lord Vishnu and this made Narada boastful and he was expecting praise from Lord Vishnu.. But Narada was shocked when he heard that Lord Vishnu referred a farmer on earth as his favourite devotee. Narada decided to test the devotion of the farmer. He visited farmer's house early morning and noticed that the farmer after feeding cows and short prayer went to field for work. In the evening the farmer returned and again after the short prayer and spending time with family went to sleep. Sage Narada was puzzled that how this farmer could be the devotee of Lord Vishnu who remember HIS name just twice a day.Narada returned to Lord Vishnu about HIS basis of judgement. Lord Vishnu said that before the answer there was one task which Narada had to do. He gave gave a bowl of oil and told him to walk around earth and returned without dropping single drop of oil.Narada followed and went ahead.But while walking he was too engrossed and careful that no drop of oil should be fall on earth. He returned. Now , Lord Vishnu asked Narada how many times did he remember his name while doing task. Narad replied that he was too concentrating on task and it was not possible for him to utter HIS name. Lord Vishnu answered that farmer was also loaded with responsibilities but still he managed to take some time for remembering HIM  . This was clear message to Narada who felt ashamed of himself.Lord Vishnu explained, “Those who remember me while doing their duties are dearer to me than those ignored all responsibilities and chant my name day and night.”

Sage Markandey

Sage Mrikandu and his wife were childless. They both prayed Lord Shiva to beget a son. Pleased with their penance , Lord Shiva appeared and blessed them to ask for boon. Sage expressed his desire to have a son. Lord Shiva gave them choice between a son with high intelligence with a short life span or a son of low intelligence with a long life span. The couple chose the first option. The couple blessed with a divine son. They named as Markandey. He possessed unusual intelligence and mastered all the vedas in a very short span. As the time progressed, parents were more worried because the time of death of their son was fast approaching. Finally they told Markandey about the truth that he would going to die at the age of sixteen. Markandey did not get afraid to hear this. Instead he started praying Lord Shiva with great devotion. At the age of sixteen, when the time of death came, Lord Yama came to take his soul to his abode, Yamlok. Markandey embraced the Shivalingam . Yama was in dilemma because he could not take the Shivlinga along with the soul of Markandey.When he tried to drag him forcefully, Lord Shiva appeared and stopped Yama to take his soul. He blessed Markandey to be immortal and also gave him "Mahamrityunjay Mantra" to conquer the untimely death. Since the Lord Shiva got it name "Kaalantak" means 'who kill the death". It is belive that this event happened at Thirukkadaiyur (TamilNadu). It was Sage Markandey who created the holy book named as "Markandey Puraan". From here the "Durga Saptashati" was derived.

Birth of Atharva Veda

The four sages Sanak,Sanandan,Sanatan,Sanat were learned brahmins. They were the sons of Lord Brahma. They were very proud of their father, Brahma because he was the creator of the holy books , Vedas. They were aware of three Vedas,- Rigved,Yajurved, and Samveda and considered that the whole knowledge is complete in three books.On the other hand Sage Atharva approached Lord Shiva to get approval of his knowledge which he gathered from the universe using his divine powers. Lord Shiva, impressed by his creation and blessed Sage Atharva that his book of knowledge would constitute the list of Vedas and will be called as ‘Atharvaveda’. When this news reached the sons of Lord Brahma, they protested as according to them the other three Vedas was a complete set of knowledge and there was no need of fourth Veda. They argued Lord Shiva and challenged his authority to certify fourth veda.  . Finally it was decided that whether to certify fourth Veda or not depends upon the result of debate. Goddess Saraswati was appointed as judge. The four Sages fired too much and too complicated questions to Lord Shiva and there were very confident of their victory as they underestimated Lord Shiva. But Shiva, who is the Lord of all the supreme knowledge, answered each and every question . The Sages accept their defeat gracefully and asked for forgiveness. Since then Artharva Ved was added to the list of Vedas , making the total four.  The Sages went to their brother Prajapati Daksha who was bitter rival of Lord Shiva. On listening about the defeat of his four brothers, he cursed them to be small child. After that the four sages turned into small children. Since the sages were very learned , so they thanked their brother for the curse because after becoming kids their urge for learning more would be greater.

Shabri- The blessed devotee

 Shabri was born in a tribal family. Since childhood she was a great devotee of Lord Rama. When she reached marriageable age,she was surprised to see his father arranging animals to be serve in marriage feast.Se could not able to tolerate this act and she escaped and reached the ashram of Sage Matang. she served at  the ashram with great devotion. When the Sage Matang was about to leave his mortal form, he blessed Shabri that one day Lord Rama would visit this ashram to bless her.She was overwhelmed and from that day she spent every minute in the waiting of her god.Everyday she plucked the berry fruit from the forest and tasted it. If she found the fruit to be sweet then she stored them for Lord Rama and rest she discarded. Her devotion was pure. Many years passed. Shabri was now too old . One day her wait was over when Lord Rama visited her ashram. This was the ultimate moment for which she was waiting for.She was overjoyed and welcomed Lord Rama by washing his feet. She offered berry fruit to him. But before the offer again she tasted each fruit and she gave only sweet fruit to him.Even Lord Rama had tears in his eyes to see her devotion.On the other hand Lakshman was not happy as Shabri offered unworthy fruit after tasting. Lord Rama explained to Lakshman that the berries are offered with true devotion and nothing in this world could be as good as these berries. He blessed Shabri .She reached the ultimate height of spirituality which was difficult for even great sages.

Descent of Gangaji

In Solar dynasty there was a powerful king whose name was Sagar. He had 2 wives Sumati and Keshini. From Sumati he had 60,000 sons and from Keshini he had a son Asamanjas.Once he had performed Ashwamegha yagya to prove his power. This was a major threat to Indra. He decided to play a trick. He stole the horse of Sagar and tied it in the ashram of sage Kapil who was in meditation at that time. When the sons of Sagar came to knew about the horse they attacked the ashram of sage Kapil. But Sage burnt them into ashes from his divine power. This was a setback for the king Sagar. His grandson Anshuman visited Sage Kapil. The sage returned back the horse and said to Anshuman that for the salvation of the lives of his ancestors it is necessary to bring the Ganga river to the earth from the heaven. Despite all his tapasya Anshuman could not able to please lord. Even his son, king Dilip failed. Now, the son of kind Dilip, Bhagirath was determined to bring Ganga to earth. With his determination Lord Brahma pleased and agreed to send river of devlok, Ganga, to earth. But there was a catch because the flow of Gang was so intense that it was not possible for the earth to bear the pressure of the current of Ganga. Finally Bhagirath requested lord Shiva for the help. He agreed to accept the descending Ganga on his head. Bhagirath led Ganga to the ashram of sage Kapil. On reaching there all the souls of the forefathers of Bhagirath got salvation. From that day the river got it’s name “Bhagirathi”.Ganga ji descend on earth on Jyestha month,Shukla Paksha,dashmi tithi,wednesday,hasta nakshatra,Vyatipaat Yoga,Moon in virgo,sun in taurus. This day is celebrated as Ganga Dusheraa

The Great sacrifice

Sage Dadhichi was the son of Atharvana Rishi.He had a very secret knowledge called “Madhu Vidya” which could help him to achieve the ultimate height in spirituality. When Indra came to know about this, he was terrified and cursed him that if he tried to taught any one else then he would behead him. At the same time the twin Gods Ashwini kumars expressed their desire to learn this vidya.They were aware of the curse of Indra. They shared the plan with Sage Dadhichi. As per plan, the ashwini kumars cut the head of Sage Dadhichi,and preserve it for future and replace it with the head of horse. They manage to learn that divine science. When Indra came to know about it, he chopped the head of sage Dadhichi. Immediately, the ashwini kumars replaces the head of sage. Indra thought himself to be invincible after this event. He was unaware that another threat to his kingdom was growing. A demon,Vritrasur attacked the indralok,the abode of Indra .So,Indra was dethroned. Vritrasur had a boon that he could not be killed from the ordinary weapon. Only a weapon made from the bones of a sage could have killed the Vritrasur. But the question was, who will sacrifice his life. As a last resort Indra visited the ashram of sage Dadhichi again but with different motive. He narrated his demand to Sage. After listening sage Dadhichi happily agreed to sacrifice his life. With his yogic power he left his body for the gods to collect the bones. Indra made the special weapon called vajra from them. With this the gods battled with Vritrasur. In the end the gods won. It was the sacrifice of sage Dadhichi which helps gods to regain their kingdom.

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