This austerity commences on the fifth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-kartik and lasts for a year whereby a devotee observes fast on the fifth day (bright half) of the every month that follows. It is related with the worship of lord Vishnu and Sheshnag. A devotee…
As the name implies, this austerity clears all the obstacles faced by a man. It commences on the fourth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-falgun and lasts for four months whereby a devotee observes fast on the fourth day (bright half) of every month that follows. One…
This austerity commences on the third day of the bright half of the Hindu month-falgun and lasts for a year whereby a devotee observes fast on the third day (bright half) of every month that follows. According to the tradition a devotee can either worship ‘Shiva-Parvati’ or ‘Sri Hari- Lakshmi…
This austerity is related with the worship of Sri Krishna and Balarama. It commences on the second day of the bright half of the Hindu month-kartik and lasts for a year whereby a devotee observes fast on the second day (bright half) of every month that follows. While worshipping Balarama,…
This particular austerity is a form of ‘nakta-vrata’, which means observing fast for the whole day and breaking it in the night. The austerity commences on the first day of the bright half of the Hindu month- aghan and lasts for a year. Rituals include worshipping Agnideva- an embodiment of…
This particular austerity on the first day of the Hindu month-margashirsh. It is related with the worship of lord Vishnu and the rituals have some special characteristics- having one meal on the eleventh day of the month (ekadashi), donating barley to brahmins, worshipping the idol of goddess Prithvi on ‘ekadashi’,…
Lord Buddha is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The austerity begins on the eleventh day of the bright half of the Hindu month-Shravana. On this day lord Vishnu is worshipped with appropriate rituals and by making offerings of various articles like flowers, fruits, incense, etc. The following…
This particular austerity is observed in the Hindu month of Kartik. The rituals commence by worshipping various organs of lord Narayan amidst the chanting of different mantras which are as follows- om sahastra shirse namah – head 2. om Purushay namah – arms om vishwa rupine namah – throat…
This austerity is related with the worship of lord Padmanabh- an epithet of lord Vishnu and is observed on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-ashwin. One important charecteristic of the ritual is that all the organs of lord Padmanabh is worshipped. The idol is placed…
A devotee should commence this austerity by observing a fast on the eleventh day of the bright half of the Hindu month-bhadrapad and break it on the following day-dwadashi. He should worship lord Kalki with appropriate rituals. As per the norms of the rituals, the idol of lord Kalki is…
This austerity is related with the worship of lord Parshurama who is also famous as Jamdagnya. It is celebrated on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-vaishakh. Before commencing the rituals, a devotee should purify himself by taking a bath and then worship an idol of…
Vamana dwadashi is celebrated on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month- chaitra. A devotee should observe a fast and worship lord Vamana by saying the following prayer- “O Lord! Vamana- the dwarfish incarnation of the almighty Vishnu, who took incarnation on the auspicious day of…
This austerity is observed on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-phalgun. A devotee should observe fast on this day and worship lord Nrisimha with appropriate rituals. This particular austerity is capable of absolving a man from all his sins.
Varaha dwadashi is celebrated on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month-magh. This was the day on which Prithvi had been rescued by lord Varaha- the incarnation of lord Vishnu. An idol of lord Varaha is installed on a pot filled with water and worshipped with…
This particular austerity is dedicated to the worship of lord Kurma- the incarnation of lord Vishnu. It is celebrated on the twelfth day of the bright half of the Hindu month ‘pausha’. The austerity which commences on the tenth day itself when a devotee is supposed to purify himself by…
Matsya-dwadashi is celebrated on the twelfth day of Hindu month-Margashirsh. On this auspicious day a devotee should worship lord Matsya- the incarnation of lord Vishnu with appropriate rituals and give charity to brahmins. Prithvi was the first one to observe this particular austerity while she was being abducted to rasatala…
Describing the incident which enabled King Priyavrata to attain to heavenly abode Lord Varaha told Prithvi- “Swayambhuva Manu lived during the first kalpa. He had two sons- Priyavrata and Uttanpad. Priyavrata was extremely virtuous by nature. In course of time, he relinquished his throne and after distributing his kingdom among…
There are possibilities of numerous obstacles being faced by a man who practices yoga like laziness, disease, carelessness, lack of concentration, confusion and sorrow etc. While practicing yoga, one must try to keep himself free from such demerits. After becoming liberated from these flaws a man can easily attain six…
―But what about mritasanyjivani?‖ asked the sages. ―You haven‘t told us how Shukracharya came to acquire this wonderful knowledge.‖ Lomaharshana told them the following story. The gods and the demons fought all the time and the demons were sometimes worsted in these encounters. Shukracharya consoled the demons. ―Do not worry,‖…
In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. There was only darkness and the divine essence (brahman). It is impossible to describe the brahman, it has no traits that can be described. When the time came for creation to start, the brahman removed the darkness and divided itself…
Once, Lord Shiva arrived at Mahakal forest with a skull in his hand. All the trees and vegetation were delighted to find him in their midst. They requested lord Shiva to remain their forever. Lord Shiva told them that it was not possible for him to stay there forever but…
Once, on being asked by Narada about the importance of Chaturmasya, Lord Brahma said–‘Chaturmasya is the period of four months during which Lord Vishnu is believed to take rest in Ksheer-Sagar. So quite naturally, all the oceans, rivers and ponds are believed to attain divinity due to the presence of…
One being asked by the sages about the rituals which gives salvation, Vayudeva told them that by having devotion towards lord Shiva, a man can achieve all the pleasures of the world and even attain salvation. Vayudeva also told them about Pashupat Vrata and the benefits derived from it. The…
In the beginning, there was nothing in the universe. There was only darkness and the divine essence (brahman). It is impossible to describe the brahman, it has no traits that can be described. When the time came for creation to start, the brahman removed the darkness and divided itself into…
Maitreya says- “O sage! Now I wish to hear the description of the lineage of Priyavrata who was the son of Swayambhu Manu.” Parashar says- Priyavrata was married to the daughter of sage Kardam. They had two daughters and ten sons. Three of his sons- Medha, Agnibahu and Putra knew…
The lunar dynasty was in danger of dying out. Dhritarashthra’s life story is an illustration of just how weak dharma (truth, righteousness, religion) had become on earth. Dhritarashthra was the king under whose rule the great Mahabharata war would be fought. Evil could not be reversed as the great royal…
Candrangada’s story has another myth nested within it of a curious gender transformation. The Puranic mythmakers did not portray a supreme god or goddess remedying the situation in this case, as they so often did. In fact, neither sages nor the divine mother (Parvati) seemed able to reverse this permanent…
Sanatkumar says: “O Narada! A fast on Ekadashi (eleventh day) in both the phases of a month pleases Sri Hari and fulfills all the desires. On the eleventh day of each phase, one should not dine. Those who dine on the eleventh day commit severe sins. Salvation from sins like…
Sanatkumar says: O Narada! I am now narrating about another fast. It is Haripanchak fast and is rare in all the worlds. It destroys all the sorrows of the devotee, fulfills his all desires and helps him attain the four goals of life. It is observed for five days in…
Once, Andhak brothers jokingly told him that, since his real parents were somebody else (Shiva and Parvati) therefore he was not fit to rule them. Though they had told this in good humour, yet Andhak was very much saddened by their remark. He relinquished his throne and went to a…
Further down the line, there was a king named Trayaruna. His son was Satyavrata. Satyavrata was exceedingly strong. But such was his desire for riches, that he committed many sins. His father Trayaruna therefore decided to banish him. Trayaruna‘s chief priest was Vashishtha and the sage also supported the king‘s…
The sages requested Lomaharshana, ―Please tell us how the sacred Vedas came to be divided.‖ Lomaharshana recounted the following story. When dvapara yuga arrived, Brahma noticed that people were becoming evil and were no longer paying sufficient attention to the Vedas. They were gradually deviating from the righteous path. Brahama…
The earth is made up of five elements (bhuta). These are earth, wind sky, water and energy. There are seven regions in the underworld (patala). These are known as atala, sutala, vitala, gabhastala, mahatala, shritala and patala. The ground in atala is dark in colour; in sutala it is pale;…
Vasudev, the son of Shoorsen was married to Devaki, the daughter of Devak. On that occasion of their marriage, Devaki’s cousin Kansa was driving their chariot. At that time, a celestial voice declared that the eighth son of Devaki would kill Kansa. Kansa in the excitement was ready to kill…
King ambarish story – Sukhdev says, ” Parikshit, Sharyati was the king Nabhag. His son was Nabhag. He was a great devotee of his parents. As a result of his service for his parents, Nabhag was very much comfortable. He had a son Ambarish who was a great devotee of…
The sages thanked Vayudeva for giving the knowledge of Jnana Yoga. The next day, they took bath in river Saraswati and performed their worship and rituals. After that they proceeded towards Kashi. At Kashi after taking their bath in river Ganga they had a darshan of lord Vishwanath. They saw…
There was a king named Satyarath who ruled over Vidarbha. Once he was attacked by a neighbouring king. Satyarath was killed in that battle. His wife somehow managed to save her life by hiding in a forest. The queen was pregnant at that time. At the shore of a pond…
At one point, the process of creation got saturated and no increase took place in the number of living beings. Then, with a desire of continuing the creation, Lord created nine sages from His thought. Then he produced nine daughters and handed them over as the wives to those nine…