Describing about the superiority of Lord Vishnu among the trinity Gods’ Sage Vashishtha narrated the following tale–During ancient times, Swayambhuva manu had once gone to Mandarachal mountain to perform a yagya. Many scholars and learned men had come to attend that yagya. Very soon, they got into a debate as…
Once, goddess Parvati expressed her desire to know about all the incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Lord Mahadeva replied– Lord Brahma had created numerous Prajapatis like Bhrigu, Marichi, Atri, Daksha, Kardam, Pulastya, Pulaha, Angira and Kratu. Marichi was the father of Kashyapa. Sage Kashyapa had four wives–Aditi, Diti, Kadru and Vinta.Aditi…
People of Ayodhya lived peacefully during Sri Rama’s reign until one fateful day when they were struck by a bad news–Sri Rama had abandoned Sita after a Washerman leveled an unfair charge against her character. Such was the greatness of Sri Rama that opinion of each and every individual was…
Describing how a brahmin should earn his livelihood, Lord Brahma said to Narada–Alms, which a brahmin gets without making any demand for it, is called Vritta. ‘Unchhavritti’ is even better than Vritti and it means collecting foodgrain which are scattered in places like fields, granary, market-place etc. A brahmin should…
Describing about the qualities of an ideal brahmin, Sage Pulastya said— Once, Narada had asked Lord Brahma as to who was worthy of receiving Vishnu’s blessings. Lord Brahma had told Narada that Lord Vishnu showered his blessings on those who engaged themselves in the service of brahmins. A brahmin should…
Bhisma requested Sage Pulastya to reveal Why Lord Vishnu had to take incarnation as Vamana. Sage Pulastya replied— Once, during Satya Yuga, the demons had defeated the deities and driven them out from their abode–heaven. The mighty demon, Bashkali was their leader. He had become immortal an account of a…
Bhisma requested Sage Pulastya to describe how all the Marudganas came into existence. Pulastya replied— All the sons and grandsons of Diti had perished in the battle fought between the deities and demons. Diti—the mother of daityas (demons) wanted to take revenge, so she started doing a penance at the…
Bhisma expressed his desire to know about the manifestation of goddess Lakshmi. Pulastya replied– Once, after being defeated by the demons, the deities went to Lord Vishnu and sought his help. Lord Vishnu instructed them to collect all the medicinal herbs, and put them in the Ksheersagar, so that after…
On being asked by Bhishma about the origin of the four prominent castes, Sage Pulastya said— Lord Brahma created the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas from his mouth and chest respectively. Similarly, Vaishyas and Shudras manifested from Lord Brahma’s thigh and feet respectively.Lord Brahma had created his ‘manasputras’ with the objective…
Pulastya says—Lord Brahma, the embodiment of Lord Vishnu has a lifespan of one hundred years. His lifespan is also called ‘Par’, and half of its period is known as ‘Parardha’. One ‘Kashtha’ consists of 15 Nimesha while a Kala consists of 30 ‘Kashthas’. A muhurta consists of 30 Kalas. The…
Having revealed the contents of all the Puranas to his son Ugrashrava, Sage Lomaharshan instructed him to go to ‘Naimisharanya’ and spread it among the sages doing penance over there. There is an interesting tale how this sacrosanct forest of Naimish derived its name — Once, the sages sought Lord…
GREATNESS OF SHIVALINGA–PILLAR OF FIRE– OMKAR According to Suta, if a person is incapable of following the above mentioned three activities i.e. Shravana, Kirtan and Manan then he should worship the Shivalinga. Even by doing this he can attain liberation from all the bondages of the world. Describing about the…
VICTORY OF NARADA OVER ‘KAMA’ Once upon a time a Narada was performing a penance in the cave of Himalaya mountain. Indra becoming fearful sent Kamadev to obstruct his penance. But Kamadeva was unsuccessful in his attempt as the place where Narada was doing penance was the same place where…
SAGES ENQUIRE Viddyeshwar Samhita which is classified into twenty five chapters, has a narration in its first chapter which goes as follows- Once upon a time, the sages were performing a yagya at Prayag kshetra. Sage Suta came to know about this and arrived there. All the sages were very…