Tulsi-Ek Shakti

In the Hinduism, Tulsi(a plant,basil) is very dear to Lord Vishnu. It is believe that one who worship lord Vishnu with Tulsi leaves, is dear to lord Vishnu. That is why Tulsi is also known as “Vishnu priya”.The month of Kaartik is very important for tulsi pooja. On ekadashi tithi of kaartik shukal paksh devotees celebrates the marriage ceremony of Tulsi with lord Vishnu. This is called Tulsi vivah. Lord Vishnu granted boon to Tulsi that a place is considered to be the most sacred pilgrimage where exists the holy Tulsi plant. It is believed that the lord of death does not dare to enter a place, where exists a holy basil plant. If one take bath with water, in which basil leaves have been mixed, gives virtues similar to that of all the pilgrimage. The deities and all the places of pilgrimages have their dwelling places in whole of the basil-plant. Even the soil underneath the holy basil plant is of such great importance, that if it is applied on the forehead, all the sins of a man gets destroyed. Wearing a string of beads consisting of basil-seeds makes a man free from the fears of death. Medically it is proved that the Tulsi plant is helpful in curing many diseases. Some important consideration has to be kept in mind while doing Tulsi pooja.There are some days during which it is prohibited to pluck or water Tulsi leaves. They are Sundays,Amavasya,Dwadashi,Sakraanti(Transit of sun into new sign). The leaves should be collected before the prohibited time.

24 Incarnations of Lord Vishnu

According to Puraans there are 24 Avtaar(incarnations) of Lord Vishnu  

1. Sanat kumars Avtaar

2.Vaarah Avtaar

3.Narad Avtaar

4.Nar Naaraayan avtaar

5.Kapil Avtaar

6.Dattatrey Avtaar

7.Yagya Avtaar

8.RishabhDev Avtaar

9.Prithu Avtaar

10.Matsy Avtaar

11 .Kurm Avtaar

12 .Dhanvantari Avtaar

13 .Mohini Avtaar

14. Narsingh Avtaar

15. Vaaman Avtaar

16. Parshuraam Avtaar

17. Vyaas Avtaar

18. Ram Avtaar

19 .Balram Avtaar

20. Krishna Avtaar

21. Buddha Avtaar

22. Hayegreev Avtaar

23. Hans Avtaar

24. Kalki Avtaar

Lord Shiva as Chandrashekhar

At the time of marriage of Lord Shiva(Mahadev) with goddess Parvati, when mother of Goddess Parvati , Menavati,saw the Lord Shiva as the bridegroom of her daughter she was fainted as it was against her expectations. He was wearing   tiger skin with serpent around his neck and his body was covered with ashes.When Menavati gained consciousness ,she refused to let Parvati marry Shiva. Parvati took Menavati's permission and met Mahadev. She persuaded Mahadev to attain graceful form. Lord Vishnu appeared at this time. He himself promised to be a brother of goddess Parvati and took the responsibility to groom Mahadev. Lord Vishnu used his divine powers to make Lord Shiva to be appear as the most handsome person in entire universe. When the grooming processed completed, Lord Shiva appeared in divine form. Even Lord Vishnu who was amazed to see the divine form of Lord Shiva said  that this form of Lord Shiva will be known as "Chandrashekhar" and it will be the most beautiful form even among all His incarnation.

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.”

Adhik Maas- the month of spiritual importance

Hindu calender is based upon lunar movement which has 354 days where as Gregorian calender which is based upon movement of sun has 365 days(approx) . To accomodate this difference exactly after 32 months and 16 days (approx) an additional month is added in lunar calender which is called  Adhika  maas. The word 'adhik' means 'more' and 'maas' means 'month'. To put it another way,we know that the sun transit into next zodiac sign after 30 days (apprx). The lunar month in which no solar transit occur would be 'adhik maas'. It is considered very auspicious from the point of view of religious significance. This month is termed as "Purushottam Maas" or " Mal Maas". In hindu religion, every month has a ruling deity. The sages assigned the name "Mal Maas" to this extra month which means unclean month. Because of being an unclean month, naturally no festival would take place during this month.This was very disheartening for the 'Adhik Maas", so he reached Lord Vishnu.HE had pity on him and assigned Adhik Maas to Himself and it was named as Purushottam Maas. Lord Vishnu blessed him " Whosoever shall  worship me during the month of Purushottam, will be specially blessed " Adhik Maas got very happy to hear this and never got sad after that.
It is believed that the Adhik Maas Vrat is capable of excusing all the sins of the followers.Since then  fasting, recitation of mantra, readings of scriptures, Lakshmi-Narayan is worshipped with Sodashopachara puja and charity done in this month is considered as auspicious. Eating of other's food and taamsik food is forbidden. All the auspicious activities related to sanskaars as well as sale and purchase of new articles are suspended till the whole month is over. The first day of this month is more significantly important.

Power of Devi Anusuya

Anusuya was the wife of Sage Atri. She was famous in all the three world for his devotion and chastity. Sage Narad visited goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi ji and Parvati ji and praised Anusuya. The three goddess disliked it and decided to test Anusuya. They send their consorts to earth. Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva in the guise of sage visited the hermitage of Anusuya when sage Atri was not present and asked for the alms on a condition that she had to give them alms without wearing clothes. This caused dilemma for Anusuya because if did not give the alms to sages then it would be a sin. She used her divine powers and sprinkled water on the three sages as a purification act and turned them into three infants. Now infants were crying as they were hungry. Anusuya came forward and gave breastfeed to three infants as a mother. On the other hand, Goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi and Parvati were worried about her husbands as they had not return to their abode. The three goddess visited Anusuya and she found the three infants were playing in the lap of mother Anusuya. They asked about their husband to Anusuya. She replied that they  are there in her lap as her children. the three goddess accepted their mistake and asked for forgiveness and to release their consorts. In the mean time Sage Atri returned to hermitage and witnessed the whole episode. Both Atri and Anusuya turned the three infants back to their original form. The three gods woke up  and asked Atri and Anusuya to demand any boon from them. Anusuya demanded that the trinity,Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva , to be born as her son. Later Anusuya gave birth to Lord Dattatrey who was composite incarnation of Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva.

Garuda Ganga

Enroute to Badrinath, there is a place where Garuda,the eagle(the vehicle of Lord Vishnu) prayed for many years to remove his sin. The river passes through this place is called Garuda Ganga. The placed is so sacred that  r the journey of  Badrinath commences only after worshipping of Garuda at this place. In other words its a gateway to Badrinath.Also every  rock  found in this river is considered sacred and used as worship. This is the only river that flows northward direction to merge with sacred river Alaknanda.As per legend once Lord Shiva visited Lord Vishnu. He saw that Garuda had caught his snake,Vasuki, who was wandering. To save his life the snake yelled for the help.Lord Vishnu intervened and commanded Garuda to let the snake go. But the Garuda answered with pride that if he would not allow him to eat the snake then Lord Vishnu would not be able to use him as his vehicle because he would be in the state of hunger. Lord Vishnu understood that Garuda is answering in his pride. He said that he could eat snake as a meal if  he able to bear the weight of his little finger on his back. This was the most easiest task for Garuda. When Lord Vishnu kept his little finger on the back of Garuda, he found it too heavy to move even for an inch.Garuda collapsed due to load. Garuda asked for the forgiveness for his sin. Lord Vishnu asked him to pray at the bank of river to get rid of his sin. So Garuda followed the command of his master. After the completion of prayer Lord Vishnu blessed him that every stone here at the bank of this river is blessed and the river would be known as " Garuda Ganga" .Also the this place would be the starting point of Badrinath region.

The Legend of Shishupal

Shishupal was the cousin of lord Krishna. He was born with three eyes and four arms.
This was the major concern for the mother. She approached Lord Krishna for the help along with the Shishupal. When lord Krishna held the Shishupal  in his lap, all of a sudden the Shishupal become normal as his extra eye and pair of arm vanished. The mother was very happy but at the same time she remembered warning given by the sage that the person who will be responsible for the Shishupal’s normalcy will also be the cause of his death in future.Mother of Shishupal begged Lord Krishna for the mercy. Krishna promised to forgive Shishupal’s 100 sins only. The time progressed. Shishupal became young. His friend was Rukmi. He wanted to marry his sister Rukmini, who was incarnation of goddess Lakshmi. But Rukmini wanted to marry Lord Krishna. This was the major cause of Shishupal’s rivalry with Lord Krishna. Once Yagya was organized by Yudhishter in which he invited all the mighty kings. When Yudhishter was about to welcome Lord Krishna, Shishpal started insulting Lord Krishna. In a moment he became unstoppable. On the otherhand Lord Krishna was counting every sin Shishupal was making by abusing him. When the total reached 100, Lord Krishna invoked his Sudarshan Chakra and killed Shishupal.In his previous birth Shishupal was King Ravana of Lanka who was again killed by another incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Rama.

The Story of Garlic

During the war between demons and gods for the divine nectar, one of the demon manage to steal the pot of nectar(amrit). At this crunch time when gods were on the verge of defeat, Lord Vishnu appeared and killed that demon with his divine weapon "Sudrashan Chakra" which cuts his head . But that demon had drank nector and by the time he was killed the nectar had reached till his throat. As the blood drops from his body fell on his ground , at the same place a strange plant grew up, which was a garlic plant. This plant acquired two strange properties. Due to effect of nectar , garlic has a lot of medicinal value and it is considered as very good from health's point of view. On the other hand , due to demonic influence , it has a very negative effect on our psychological health and thought process. This is the reason the use of garlic is prohibited during pooja ceremony due to its negative effect(Taamsik energy) on contrary to pooja which has positive effect(saatwik energy). Still it is believe that a person who ate garlic/onion in previous 6 months before his death does not get salvation!!

Previous Birth of Ravana

Lord Brahma created 4 sons from the power of his mind. They were called as "Sankadi". Once they decided to met Lord Vishnu at his abode. The abode of Lord Vishnu had 7 gates. The successfully cleared the six gates, but when the came across the last 7th gate, they were stopped by the two gate keepers, Jaya and Vijaya. They did not allowed them to enter the abode of Lord Vishnu. After a long debate the ,four saints, Sankadis were upset and cursed Jaya and Vijaya for their arrogance that the two would be reborn as demon on earth for hundred births. Jaya and Vijaya prayed Lord Vishnu for intervention to have mercy. But it was too late . On seeing Lord Vishnu, the 4 saints agreed to mitigate the curse. So instead of 100 births, they reduced the curse for three births. In the first birth Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiranyaksha and Hirankshyapa. In the second birth they born as Ravana and Kumbhakarana and in the final birth as Dantavakra and Shishupal. In all the births they were liberated by Lord Vishnu.

Akshay Navami

In the Kaartik month,shukla Paksha and Ashtmi tithi is considere best for charity.Many legends are associated with this day. It is believe that on this day
1) Surya Dev(the Sun God) worshiped goddess Durga to acquire its properties because of which he is lighting the whole world.
2) Bharat met Lord Rama after 14 years.
3) It is considered auspicious to eat food under the Amla tree.this ritual is associated with good health.
4) Satya yug also began on this day.
5) The amla fruit is considered as divine fruit of Lord Vishnu.This is the ripening time of this fruit.
6) Amla tree is manifistation of goddess Lakshmi.

Curse of Sage Bhrigu

During the fight between gods and demons, at one stage gods overpowered demons. Sensing the massive defeat ,the demons reached the ashram of Sage Bhrigu who was not present at that time. His wife greeted the demons as they were came for the help and she promised to provide shelter to demons. On the other hand, Indra who was chief of gods came to know about the hideout of demons. Indra reached the ashram and threatened demons to surrender before him. But wife of Sage Bhrigu stood in between them and drove Indra away. Indra rushed to Lord Vishnu for the help. To assist Indra he went to ashram where the demons were hidden. Again, the wife of Sage Bhrigu came to rescue demons. Finally, Lord Vishnu killed her with his Sudarshan Chakra in order to ensure win for gods. At this point Sage Bhrigu returned to ashram and shocked to see the dead body of his wife. When he came to know that it was Lord Vishnu who was responsible for the death of his wife, he cursed Lord Vishnu that he too would have to suffer the pain of separation from his wife on earth like him . Lord Vishnu accepted the curse with dignity. Due to curse he was born as Lord Rama(an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) and had to suffer the grief of separation from his wife Sita.

Sri Sunder Narayan Temple

This is one of the oldest temple in the Nashik. It is situated at the edge of the Ahilya Bai Holkar bridge. It is the only temple in the world where Lord Vishnu is present along with goddess Tulsi and goddess Lakshmi. Goddess Tulsi was Vrinda, the queen of demon Jallandhar in the previous birth. The demon had a boon that he will remain immortal till his wife remain chaste(Pavitra). It was necessary to kill the demon to save the earth from his havoc. So, Lord Vishnu appeared in front of Vrinda in disguise form of her husband Jallandhar. By mistake she could not able to reveal the identity of Lord Vishnu. Thinking him as her husband , she touched him. So her promise to remain pure was broken. When she realized her mistake she cursed Lord Vishnu to turned into a black stone called Shaligram. After this curse the complexion of Lord Vishnu turned into black. Lord Vishnu rushed to the bank of Godavri river and took a holy bath. Instantaneously, he regain his divine complexion.

My guide told me the unique feature of this east facing temple. On 21st March when day and night are equal, the first ray of the rising sun fall on the feet of deity

The curse of Vedvati

King Kushadhwaj was a powerful king and he was true devotee of Lord Vishnu. His wife gave birth to a daughter. At the time of birth the little girl was chanting the vedic mantras(prayer). This was a good omen for an extraordinary child. As a result her parents named her as “Vedvati”. Like her father she was also a true devotee of Lord Vishnu. She performed very tough tapasya(meditation) to please Lord Vishnu. As she grow older and older , she became adamant that she would marry to only Lord Vishnu. All the efforts of her parents of guiding her to marry some other king on earth went in vain. After the death of her parents , she preferred to stay in the forest and did meditation just to have a glimpse of lord Vishnu. Once the King Ravana, the ruler of Lanka visited her hermitage. He was stunned by the beauty of Vedvati and proposed her to marry him. But Vedvati rejected his offer. The angry King Ravana insulted her and destroyed her tapasya. She cursed Ravana that in her next birth she would become the cause of his death .She could not bear the insult , so she immolated herself . The vedvati reborn as Sita in the next birth. Due to all her merits which she acquired in previous birth she married to Rama(an incarnation of lord Vishnu). Later , Sita(vedvati , in previous birth) became the cause of destruction of the vast empire of King Ravana!

Nar & Narayan

In badrinath Dham there are two peaks behind the temple named as Nar & Narayan. In a previous incarnation the duo were supposedly born as the sages Nara and Narayana,and who performed great penances at the holy spot of Badrinath. Nara and Narayana were the avtar of Lord Vishnu. The twins were sons of Dharma and his wife Murti (Daughter OfDaksha) or Ahimsa..These two sages take avatars on earth for the welfare of mankind .There was an demon named Sahasra Kavacha. He had got boon of having 1000 Kavachas(armours).He had a boon that it will take 1000 Years to break each Kavacha, and the one ,who would break a Kavacha, would instantly die.Hence, first Narayana pennaced for 1000 Yrs and Nara fought 1000 Years with ShahasrKavacha and after 1000 Years, Nara was able to break his one Kavacha. As Nara broke the Kavacha,he died. But Narayan due his penance of 1000 Yrs could get back life of Nara and Narayan starts fighting and Nara starts penance for the next 1000 years.Nara and Narayana alternatively penace and fight for 1000 years and the cycle continued. At last, when they both were able to break 999 Kavachas. ShahasraKavacha hides himself behind the Surya with his last Kavacha due to fear that he would be killed by Nara and Narayana then. At this time, there was Pralaya(destruction) on earth due to the change of the Yuga. Thus ShashtraKavacha escapes death. In Dwapar Yuga,he was reborn as Karna with Kavacha and Nar and Narayan as Arjun and Krishna respectively.