Image by Hyougushi from National Museum, Delhi
In Hindu religion, Garuda is a Hindu divinity, usually the mount (vahana) of the Lord Vishnu. Garuda is depicted as having the golden body of a strong man with a white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak and with a crown on his head. This ancient deity was said to be massive, large enough to block out the sun. Various names have been attributed to Garuda - Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka, Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and others. The Vedas provide the earliest reference of Garuda, though by the name of Śyena, where this mighty bird is said to have brought nectar to earth from heaven. The Puranas, which came into existence much later, mention Garuda as doing the same thing, which indicates that Śyena (Sanskrit for Eagle) and Garuda are the same. Garuda wears the serpent Adisesha on his left wrist and the serpent Gulika on his right wrist. The serpent Vasuki forms his sacred thread. The cobra Takshaka forms his belt on his hip. The snake Karkotaka is worn as his necklace. The snakes Padma and Mahapadma are his ear rings. The snake Shankachuda adorns his divine hair. He is flanked by his two wives ‘Rudra’ and ‘Sukeerthi’ or (Sukirthi). Garuda flanked with his consorts 'Rudra' and 'Sukirthi' can be seen worshipped in an ancient Soumya Keshava temple in Bindiganavile in Karnataka. The story of Garuda's birth and deeds is told in the first book of the great epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, when Garuda first burst forth from his egg, he appeared as a raging inferno equal to the cosmic conflagration that consumes the world at the end of every age. Frightened, the gods begged him for mercy. Garuda, hearing their plea, reduced himself in size and energy. Garuda's father was the creator-rishi Kasyapa. He had two wives, Vinata and Kadru, who were daughters of Prajapathi Daksha. Kasyapa, on the pleadings of his wives, granted them their wishes; Vinata wished for two sons and Kadru wished for thousand snakes as her sons. Both laid eggs, while the thousand eggs of Kadru hatched early (after steaming the eggs to hatch) into snakes, the hatching of two eggs of Vinata did not take place for a long time. Impatient, Vinata broke open one egg, which was half formed with the upper half only as a human and was thus deformed. Her half formed son cursed her that she would be slave for her sister (she was her rival) for a long time by which time her second son would be born who would save her from his curse; her first son who flew away and came to prominence as Aruna, the red spectacle seen as the Sun rises in the morning, and as also charioteer of the Sun. The second egg hatched after a long time during which period Vinata was the servant of her sister as she had lost a bet with her. When the second egg hatched, a fully grown, shining and of mighty sized bird form emerged as Garuda, the king of birds. Garuda was thus born. One day, Vinata entered into and lost a foolish bet, as a result of which she became enslaved to her sister. Resolving to release his mother from this state of bondage, Garuda approached the serpents and asked them what it would take to purchase her freedom. Their reply was that Garuda would have to bring them the elixir of immortality, also called amrita. It was a tall order. The amrita at that time found itself in the possession of the gods, who guarded it jealously, since it was the source of their immortality. They had ringed the elixir with a massive fire that covered the sky. They had blocked the way to the elixir with a fierce mechanical contraption of sharp rotating blades. And finally, they had stationed two gigantic poisonous snakes next to the elixir as deadly guardians. Undaunted, Garuda hastened toward the abode of the gods intent on robbing them of their treasure. Knowing of his design, the gods met him in full battle-array. Garuda, however, defeated the entire host and scattered them in all directions. Taking the water of many rivers into his mouth, he extinguished the protective fire the gods had thrown up. Reducing his size, he crept past the rotating blades of their murderous machine. And finally, he mangled the two gigantic serpents they had posted as guards. Taking the elixir into his mouth without swallowing it, he launched again into the air and headed toward the eagerly waiting serpents. En route, he encountered Vishnu. Rather than fight, the two exchanged promises. Vishnu promised Garuda the gift of immortality even without drinking from the elixir, and Garuda promised to become Vishnu's mount. Flying onward, he met Indra the god of the sky. Another exchange of promises occurred. Garuda promised that once he had delivered the elixir, thus fulfilling the request of the serpents, he would make it possible for Indra to regain possession of the elixir and to take it back to the gods. Indra in turn promised Garuda the serpents as food. At long last, Garuda alighted in front of the waiting serpents. Placing the elixir on the grass, and thereby liberating his mother Vinata from her servitude, he urged the serpents to perform their religious ablutions before consuming it. As they hurried off to do so, Indra swooped in to make off with the elixir. The serpents came back from their ablutions and saw the elixir gone but with small droplets of it on the grass. They tried to lick the droplets and thereby split their tongues in two. From then onwards, serpents have split tongues and shed their skin as a kind of immortality. From that day onward, Garuda was the ally of the gods and the trusty mount of Vishnu, as well as the implacable enemy of snakes, upon whom he preyed at every opportunity. Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda
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Gajendra Moksha or The Liberation of Gajendra is Puranic legend from the 8th Skandha of Bhagavad Purana, one of the most sacred books in Hinduism. It is one of the famous exploits of Lord Vishnu. In this moving episode Lord Vishnu came down to earth to protect Gajendra, the Elephant from the clutches of Makara, the Crocodile and awards him moksha or salvation. Gajendra is then said to have attained the similar four-armed form (Sarupya Mukti) of God and goes to Vaikuntha with Lord Vishnu. This story was narrated by Sri Suka to Emperor Parikshit, upon request. There was once an elephant named Gajendra who used to live in a garden called Rtumata which was created by Varuna. This garden was situated in the beautiful mountains of Trikuta in ancient India. Gajendra ruled over all the other elephants in the herd. On a hot day, he proceeded with his herd to a lake to cool off in its fresh waters. Suddenly a crocodile living in the lake attacked Gajendra and caught him by the leg. Gajendra tried for a long time to escape from the crocodile's clutches. All his family, relatives and friends gathered around to help him, but in vain. The crocodile wouldn't simply let go. When they realised that ‘death’ has come close to Gajendra, they left him alone. He trumpeted in pain and helplessness until he was hoarse. As the struggle was seemingly endless and when the last drop of energy was also sapped, Gajendra called to god Vishnu to save him, holding a lotus up in the air as an offering. It is believed that Gajendra's foot was held by the crocodile for over a thousand of years. Hearing his devotee's call and a prayer, Lord Vishnu rushed to the scene. As Gajendra sighted the Lord coming, his Sudharshana Chakra separated the crocodile's head from its body and Gajendra prostrated before the Lord. Vishnu informed Gajendra that he, in one of his previous births, was the celebrated King Indradyumna, a Vishnu devotee, but due to his disrespect to the great Sage Agastya, he was cursed and had to undergo this life. Because Indradyumna was a chosen one, Lord Vishnu had him born as Gajendra and made him realize that there is something called, "Kaivalya" which is beyond Svarga and Urdhva Loka. Indradyumna could attain Moksha finally when he (as Gajendra) left all his pride and doubt and totally surrendered himself to Vishnu. The prayer made by Gajendra on this occasion became a famous hymn in praise of Vishnu called the Gajendra Stuti. Gajendra stuti is the famous hymn shuklambaradaram vishnum shashivarnam chaturbhujam| prasanna vadanam dhyayet sarva vighnopashantayet|| Gajendra, in his previous life was a great devotee called Indradyumna who was also a great king. One day, Agastya, a great sage came to visit the king but Indradyumna sat heavy on his seat, did not rise up to receive the Rishi with the respect. A fuming Sage Agastya noticed that the great King, despite the greatness of his good deeds, still has traces of Ahamkara in him and elucidated to the King that in his next birth, he would be born as an elephant in which he would be taught the hard way that self is to be renounced and surrendered to the Lord. The crocodile in its previous birth was a Gandharva king called HuHu. Once Sage Devala came to visit him. The two were taking bath and Sage Devala was offering prayers to Surya (the Sun god) when Huhu pulled the sage's leg for fun. The enraged sage cursed the king to become a crocodile in his next life. The repentant HuHu asked for pardon. The Sage proclaimed that though he cannot reverse the curse, the crocodile would be liberated from the cycle of birth and death only when Lord Vishnu himself in his full form visits the Earth upon invocation by a holy soul. Thus the two souls were redeemed from their curses, the results of their "Puraakritam". King Indradyumna immediately attained Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Vishnu far higher than Swarga. This is referred to as Saroopya Mukti, or the liberation of receiving a spiritual body exactly like that of Nārāyaṇa. The tale of Gajendra forms an integral theme in the Vaishnavism religion and has huge symbolic value with Gajendra as the man, Huhu as sins and the muddy water of the lake as Saṃsāra. Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gajendra_Moksha |
SourceAll the stories are either heard from someone or read from some book or sourced from internet. Archives
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