One day, thousands of years ago, in Vaikuntha, the realm of Vishnu, the Lord was resting on Adishesha. As he looked down, he saw that forces of evil overwhelmed Bhoomidevi; the innocent suffered, wickedness prevailed. The Lord of the Universe, in all His mercy decided that enough was enough; it was time to incarnate again. For flesh and blood, he chose Devaki – the sister of a tyrant called Kamsa and her husband, the gentle Vasudeva. Kamsa already wise to the fact that Devaki’s eighth offspring will cause his end, imprisoned the couple and challenged destiny. Over the years were born six children, each mercilessly killed by their uncle; the hapless parents were mute witnesses. The seventh child was whisked away, and entrusted to Vasudeva’s second wife; he was Balarama, an incarnation of Adishesha himself. It was the eighth night of the waning moon, the month was Shravan, the star Rohini; the skies thundered and showered forth torrents of rain, welcoming baby Krishna. Vasudeva’s shackles broke free, the gates of his prison opened, he carried the baby-laden basket, across the swollen Yamuna. In the dead of night he reached Gokul, Nanda’s house, the destination; Yashoda, Nanda’s wife was resting after child-birth. Vasudeva having exchanged the babies, hurried back with Nanda’s baby girl. The infant’s cry alerted Kamsa’s guards, he stomped angrily to the prison but, before he could smash the child, lo behold! she escaped, warning Kamsa that his killer was safe elsewhere. Thus did Lord Vishnu, like in every Yuga, assume an avatar, this time , as Krishna, to uphold good, to destroy evil, to protect the virtuous, to establish dharma. Poet: Pratibha Shenoy (Bangalore) … [Read more...]
Naga Panchami
The worship of nature has been a practice in India since ancient times. Our ancestors without making a big show out of it were more aware of the environment than we are today. It would be quite hard to find anything that they did not worship. Fire, air, water, trees, animals, birds –they revered everything. Today we too worship all of these but we restrict ourselves to homas and pujas. Most of us have absolutely no qualms about environment pollution, are not concerned about preservation of trees and have no sense of ecological balance. Be that as it may, one of the many gods worshipped in India is the powerful and much feared Naga Devata – the cobra. This god’s curse was and still is considered as the cause of many a woe and misery. If one doesn’t get married, doesn’t have children, contracts an incurable disease – all are attributed to ‘naga-dosha’. It is considered that the person has done something to incur the wrath of the Snake-God. Amends have then to be made by some elaborate ritual or puja to appease the god. One day is specifically assigned to the worship of the Naga. This is the fifth day in the month of Shravana and is known as Naga Panchami. This festival is supposedly to commemorate Lord Krishna’s victory over a serpent called Kalia but it is the serpent god who is worshipped on this day. The story goes like this. Kalia was a dreaded snake which had made the river Yamuna his home. His poison had spread all over the river making life difficult for the people there. The child Krishna took upon himself to get rid of Kalia. He danced upon the multi-hooded Kalia and the serpent was forced to leave the place and take refuge elsewhere. A strange custom is offering milk which is not a snake’s natural food. This is probably because the Naga is considered a god and the milk is an offering to the deity. In temples there is usually a separate enclosure for the nagas, and the naga idols there are bathed with milk on this day. Anantha, Vasuki, Takshaka, Karkotaka and Pingala are the five snakes that are worshipped on the day of Naga Panchami. The regard … [Read more...]
