Different Stories by Atma-tattva Prabhu

Contents:

The power of the maha-mantra

The origin of the four sinful activities

Analogy by Astavakra Muni about remaining in Maya

Analogy by Romasa Muni about the nature of the material world

Austere devotee of Lord Rama and his Sita-Rama Deities

Maharaja Sibi, the eagle and the pigeon

Jarasandha's birth

Ravana goes to Bali for help

Hanuman and Bhima

Siva's wedding with Parvati

Adam and Eve

Hanuman meets Ravana

Vinata and Kadru

Agastya Muni, Ilvala and Vatapi

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The power of the maha-mantra ----------------------------

When the Kazi was trying to stop the sankirtana movement, he was sending his men out to give trouble to the devotees. When they would come back and report to the Kazi they would say, "We saw those Hindus, and they were chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. And we came up and we said, 'Stop chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' But they kept on chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." And the Kazi said, "All right, I can understand their chanting, but why are you chanting?" And they answered, "We don't know, something just happened to us. We can't get it out of our minds. Ever since we heard this Hare Krsna mantra, we just can't stop!" MORAL: The Maha-mantra goes right to the soul.

The origin of the four sinful activities ----------------------------------------

The four sinful activities (eating meat, intoxication, illicit sex, gambling) are actually considered to be forms of madness. There is a very old story concerning one very old yogi named Cyavana, a great mystic. He was once approached by two demigods who were known as the Asvini-kumaras. They approached him because Indra was refusing them their share of sacrifices. In those days people used to sacrifice to demigods, and those sacrifices would be accepted by the demigods as their food in the form of amrta or nectar. Indra wasn't letting the Asvini-kumaras take their rightful share of the amrta, so they came to Cyavana Muni, who was a great, powerful yogi, and they requested, "Please do something so that Indra will give us our share." So Cyavana Muni created a demon called "Madha" or "Crazy." Madha attacked Indra and gave him a real rough time. Indra was forced to submit, in order to defeat Madha he had to surrender to Cyavana Muni. "All right," he said, "I'll give them their share of the nectar, don't worry." And then Cyavana allowed Indra to defeat the demon, and Indra did this with his Vajra, a thunderbolt weapon. He cut the demon into four pieces, and because that demon was a mystic creation, those four pieces separated and pervaded human consciousness. Rather than just falling onto the ground as bloody lumps, they transformed into subtle influences on consciousness. And these four parts of the demon Madha, or "madness personified" became meat-eating, intoxication, illicit sex and gambling. These are the symptoms of madness. And when a human takes up these activities, his consciousness becomes distorted.

Analogy by Astavakra Muni about remaining in Maya -------------------------------------------------

One time Astavakra Muni came to the court of King Janaka. People began to laugh because of his weird bodily shape. But King Janaka observed all the etiquette of a receiving a saintly person. Astavakra Muni sat on the throne, and the king sat at his feet and began inquiring. Especially he asked, "Why is everyone remaining in Maya?" So then Astavakra Muni jumped from the throne and embraced one of the pillars in the throne room, yelling, "Help! Help!" Everyone thought he had gone mad, until he explained, "This is the position of the deluded souls. They want help but they don't want to let go of sense gratification."

Analogy by Romasa Muni about the nature of the material world -------------------------------------------------------------

Just after the demigods had been successful in a battle with the demons, Indradeva decided to make some renovations to his home. He called Visvakarma, the architect of the demigods, and began to instruct him how he wanted the palace to look. After some time Visvakarma became very anxious to get back to his home, and so he prayed to Brahma to make some arrangement, as Indradeva was keeping him there for a long duration. Brahmaji then prayed to Lord Visnu, and Lord Visnu made an arrangement to come to the court of Indra along with the sage Romasa Muni. Romasa Muni appeared there carrying an umbrella. The Lord arranged that he would have a conversation with the muni while Indra was listening. When Visnu looked at his chest he saw that although it was covered with hair, there was a bald patch in the middle. The Lord inquired from the sage, "Tell me great sage, what is the reason for this curious phenomenon on your chest?" "At the end of every cosmic annihilation," the muni replied, "one Indra dies, and when one Indra dies one of these hairs falls out. When all the hairs have fallen out, then I will be able to go back to Vaikuntha." "And what is the reason for this umbrella," Visnu further inquired. The sage answered, "I see no necessity for making any sort of permanent home here, because my stay in the material world is short. I simply carry this unbrella. This is my home." Indra then understood that there was no use in making any permanent plans in this material world, and so he released Visvakarma.

Austere devotee of Lord Rama and his Sita-Rama Deities ------------------------------------------------------

During the time of Lord Ramacandra, there was a brahmana who took a vow refusing to accept breakfast until he saw Lord Ramacandra. Sometimes due to business, Lord Ramacandra was absent from His capital for a full week and could not be seen by citizens during the time. Because of his vow, the brahmana could not even take a drop of water during that week. Later after 8 or 9 days, when the brahmana could see Lord Ramacandra personally, he would break his fast. Upon observing the brahmana's rigid vow, Lord Sri Ramacandra ordered His younger brother Laksmana to deliver a pair of Sita-Rama deities to the brahmana. The brahmana received the deities from Sri Laksmanji and worshipped them faithfully as long as he lived. At the time of his death he delivered the deities to Sri Hanumanji, who for many years hung them around his neck and served them with all devotion. After many years, when Hanuman departed on the hill known as Gandha-madana, he delivered the deities to Bhimasena, and Bhimasena brought them to his palace, where he kept them very carefully.

Maharaja Sibi, the eagle and the pigeon ---------------------------------------

While Maharaja Sibi was on the earth he became very famous as a protector of surrendered souls and a donor of charities. The king of heaven once took the shape of a pigeon-hunter bird (eagle) and Agni, the fire-god, took the shape of a pigeon. The pigeon, while being chased by the eagle, took shelter on the lap of Maharaja Sibi, and the hunter eagle wanted the pigeon back from the king. The king wanted to give it some other meat to eat and requested the bird not to eat the pigeon. The hunter bird refused to accept the king's offer, but it was settled later on that the eagle would accept flesh from the body of the king of the pigeon's equivalent weight. The king began to cut flesh from his body to weigh in the balance equivalent to the weight of the pigeon, but the mystic pigeon always remained heavier. The king then put himself on the balance to equate with the weight of the pigeon, and the demigods were pleased with him. The king of heaven and the fire-god disclosed their identity, and the king was blessed by them.

Jarasandha's birth ------------------

Jarasandha was a very powerful king of Magadha, and the history of his birth and activities is also very interesting. His father, King Brhadratha, was also a very prosperous and powerful king of Magadha, but he had no son, although he married two daughters of the king of Kasi. Being disapponted in not getting a son from either of the two queens, the king, along with his wives, left home to live in the forest for great austerities, but in the forest he was benedicted by one great rsi to have a son, and he gave him one mango to be eaten by the queens. The queens did so and were very soon pregnant. The king was very happy to see the queens bearing children, but when the ripe time approached, the queens delivered one child in two parts, one half from each of the queens' wombs. The two parts were thrown in the forest, where a great she-demon lived, and she was glad to have some delicate flesh and blood from the newly-born child. Out of curiosity she joined the two parts, and the child became complete and regained life. The she-demon was known as Jara, and being compassionate on the childless king, she went to the king and presented him with the nice child. The king was very pleased with the she-demon and wanted to reward her according to her desire. The she-demon expressed her desire that the child be named after her, and thus the child was surnamed Jarasandha, or "one who has been joined by Jara."

Ravana goes to Bali for help ----------------------------

During the fight for Lanka, Ravana was feeling that he wasn't going to win. So he went down to the lower planetary systems where Bali has his abode. He was thinking, "I'm not winning this battle, so let me get the help of Bali, the King of the demons." So he went way down to the bottom of the universe where Bali is, and he tried to get in. But when he was trying to get in, there was a guard who kept stopping him. Every time he tried to get in, the guard would stop him. Ravana had many mystic powers, so in many ways he was trying to use his mystic powers to get in. So finally at the last moment he got in. He went to see Bali. Bali said, "What are you doing here?" Ravana replied, "There's a tough fight up there. I'm fighting this ordinary human being." Bali said, "But you're a great raksasa. How could you have trouble fighting an ordinary human being?" Ravana replied, "I don't know, but this person is displaying so many mystic powers, He has a huge army of monkeys and bears, so I'm having difficulty." Bali said, "You fool, that's Lord Ramacandra! He's the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He's not an ordinary man." Ravana said, "What are you talking about? He's just an ordinary mortal. He's just a foolish person. All I need is a little help from you and I can defeat Him." And as much as Bali tried to preach to him, he couldn't understand the glories of Lord Ramacandra. Bali said, "You'd better give up the fight now, because if you don't, you're going to lose everything. My My advice to you is that you give Sita back to Ramacandra and stop the fight to save your life and your family and everything else." But even with so much preaching, still Ravana couldn't accept. So in order to try and impress upon him the greatness of the Lord, Bali said, "Come take a walk with me." So they walked outside of the kingdom, and they saw a huge mountain. And the mountain was made of boulders of diamonds. "Look at this," Bali said. "I'm going to give this to you. But I will only give it to you if you can lift it first." So Ravana was trying, but he could just barely get it off the ground. Ravana was very powerful, but he couldn't lift this mountain of diamonds. So Bali said, "Now step back a bit and take a better look at it. What does it look like?" So Ravana said, "It looks something like an earring, and earring studded with many beautiful diamonds." So Bali said, "Yes, that's right. This is the earring of Hiranyakasipu. During the fight between Hiranyakasipu and Lord Nrsimha, this earring fell down here. In your previous birth you were Hiranyakasipu, and the Lord killed you. You were much more powerful than you are now. You can't even pick up this earring that you used to wear. Now Visnu has come again, and He will surely kill you." But even after that example, Ravana couldn't understand. He left, he went back to the fight and as we know he was defeated. MORAL: No matter how much the demons hear the glory of the Lord, they never understand.

Hanuman and Bhima -----------------

Draupadi was walking with the Pandavas, and she saw a flower. "Oh this flower is very nice." This means, "I want it." That's how a woman will say sometimes. They'll just say, "Isn't this nice," but they actually mean, "Go get it." So Draupadi said that also, she said, "Oh this flower is very nice." So then Yudisthira Maharaja said, "We are on pilgrimage here, and we are living here in the palace very nicely by the mercy of Kuvera. We already have so much facility, so don't get attracted to this flower. This will cause trouble." Draupadi said, "No, I simply said it was nice, that's all." So then Bhima said, "I will get it." Yudhisthira said, "No, no, no. What will she do with this flower? To whom will she show it? She's the only woman here, and the whole idea of woman getting something is to show it to other women, `you don't have it, I have it.' Since there is no other lady around, why will you get it?" Draupadi said, "No no no. This is a very nice flower. And Bhima is strong. He has nothing to do, otherwise how will he use his strength? Let him have some engagement." So Bhima climbed over the rocks, and he was walking. After alking for a long time, he saw an animal, a monkey. This monkey was very old, and his tail was lying across the path. And there was a big banana garden, with bananas half the size of Bhima, heavenly banana garden. So Bhima was looking at these banana trees, and he was having some exercise by pulling these banana trunks and eating bananas. So this tail was lying on the road, and ksatriyas, brahmanas and higher class people do not cross over animal bodies. Crossing over animal bodies is inauspcious, and crossing over human bodies is insulting, and crossing over Vaisnavas bodies is very bad. So Bhima was think ing, "I shouldn't cross over this space," so he looked at the monkey and said, "Move your tail from here." So the monkey said, "Who are you?" "I am Bhima the Pandava, and I am very powerful. So please move your tail." The monkey said, "I am so aged. I came here because of all the bananas, so I can just sit and eat the falling bananas. I'm too old to move. Can you please move my tail?" So Bhima said, "Hm! Alright." When Bhima went to touch the tail he found it to be more hard that the Himalayan mountain. Then he put two hands there and tried to lift it, he couldn't even raise it a hair's breadth from the earth. It was so heavy. "What is the strength you have in your tail? Obviously you are no ordinary monkey. You say you cannot move because you are so old, but then I cannot even lift your tail. So who are you? Please tell me." "You are my brother," he said. "I am Hanuman. I am your older brother." So then Bhima said, "I have heard that you became as big as the universe. I want to see that." "If I do that now," Hanuman said, "The earth will break. The earth was strong enough in Treta-yuga that I could stand on it in that big form, but now if I do that it will break." "At least show me part of that form," Bhima said. "Ok," Hanuman said, "I will start growing, and when things get distrubed, then you tell me and I will stop." And then Hanuman started growing to the size of the universe, and then big pieces of rock started falling from Meru, and the earth was tilting, and ocean was rising, so Bhima said, "Stop there! Don't grow any more." Then Hanuman gave a benediction to Bhima, that whenever Bhima would perform a big task on the battlefield, then Hanuman will roar. He will stay in the flag of Arjuna, and whenever Bhima would take an elephant and throw it on another elephant, Hanuman would go "Aaaaaargh!" That would make 100 charioteers on the other side die of a heart attack, It would be such a ferocious sound.

Siva's wedding with Parvati ---------------------------

Himaraja, the king of the Himalayas and his wife, Menaka, they had no children. So they were praying, and Narada Muni came and told them, "Pray to the wife of Lord Siva, and she will come and be your daughter." Then they were doing Siva worship, worshipping Uma. So when Sati left her body, as she was a yogini, by her own direction she transported her soul to the womb of Menaka. From there she was born as a daughter and was known as Parvati. Parvata means "mountain." His name was Parvatraja. So Parvatraja's daughter was Parvati. Then Narada Muni came and instructed Parvati that she should go to the Kailash mountain and worship Lord Siva to get a good husband. In karma kanda, if you worship Lord Siva you get a good husband, and if you worship Uma, Parvati, you get a good wife. Parvati worshipped Lord Siva, but the Lord was not easily coming in front of her, so she had to do great meditation, and so much tapasya that the whole world was burning. Brahma went to Lord Siva and said, "This girl is waiting to have your darsana, so you should accept her as your wife." Siva came, and they got married. Siva wanted to make sure that the father-in-law was not going to get in any mental scene. So Parvatraja wrote to him that such and such day has been fixed for the marriage, so you please come. So Siva said, "I am bringing one boy with me." Parvatraja said, "It will be a great insult, because I have cooked so many items for the marriage, so you should come with a lot of people." Siva said, "No, no, I am just coming with one small person." He was very small, but his name was Kundodara. Kunda means "lake" and udara means "stomach." So Kundodara means "Lakestomach." He was a small boy. He couldn't wear anything because his stomach was so big. No hair on the head, bald. So Siva brought him. "Don't think I am a poor man, or I am just a useless fellow. The last father-in- law thought that." So when they arrived, Parvatraja was very disappointed. He turned to Narada Muni and said, "Do you see this? He is coming with a small baby, and I have cooked so much. What shall I do?" Narada Muni replied, "Don't underestimate Kundodara. You don't know what he is." Siva was dressed up with nice crown, and nice ornaments. He is known as Kamesvara, the controller of lust. Narada Muni said, "This is the first time I have seen you dressed so nicely with ornaments." "I only like snakes," Siva replied, "But these people don't understand me, so I have to put on ornaments." So he asked Parvatraja, "Is there any food? My servant is very hungry." Parvatraja called one of his assistants and said, "Bring him a plate of prasad." So Siva was sitting with Kundodara in the big hall, and then at the other end of the hall they brought a big plate of fruits and cookies and nice cakes. When they were bringing it, Kundodara saw it and it disappeared. Everything disappeared, including the plate. Siva said, "Be careful Kundodara. Don't eat the people." Parvatraja was amazed. "You mean to say he ate all that?" Kundodara got up and he was making some funny sounds, because that little food had made him more hungry. "Food! Food! Food!" Parvatraja said, "Bring him some more." But Siva replied, "No, no, just take him to the kitchen. Why bring it?" Kundodara was brought in there, and he stood there and looked at the preparations, and he opened his mouth, and everything went inside. Everything. Siva then asked for something, but there was nothing left. Parvati was so happy, because this time it was going good. So then Siva said, "Now you want me to bring the others?" Parvatraja said, "Now I don't know how to feed my own guests." Siva said, "That is no problem. Bring them in." They all sat down, and then Siva looked at them with the amrta-drsti, nectarean sight. "Whatever item you want, you think of it." So they were sitting there thinking of different items and they were coming in front of them, unlimitedly. Siva just looked at them, and then it was just coming and coming, but you are always thinking some thing. "This gulabjamun was good," and then a big mountain of gulabjamuns was coming. They were complaining, "Stop this feast! We are getting fried with this feast." Parvatraja told Siva, "You had better stop before they get sick." So Siva withdrew his amrta-drsti. And then he told Parvatraja, "So we don't need any palace, we don't need any stockroom, because my wife is the total material energy and I am controlling her, so don't think I'm poor." So they had a marriage, and after the marriage Parvatraja brought them to the end of the palace, and he told them "Goodbye," and as soon as Parvati and Siva were out of the palace, Siva's body was again covered with ashes and snakes, and his eyes were half closed. Narada Muni commented, "This is the opulence of Lord Siva. All these things are at his disposal, but he doesn't care."

Adam and Eve ------------

The king Yayati went to the fourth son and asked him, "I want to be young. You give me your youth, and take my old age." "Possible," the son said. "If it is possible," his father said, "then please do it." "After all," the son continued, "this body is coming from you, you gave me this body. This body belongs to you. You can do whatever you like with it." So the king was very happy. He gave him his old age and took his age. He enjoyed for some time, but after some time he got fried, frustrated. So then he gave the youth back, and took back his old age. That son he established as his descendant on this planet. And then, the other sons he kicked out. "You don't deserve to be my sons, because you have no love and affection for me." So these three sons, they went out, and they travelled long long distances, and they went to places where uncivilized human beings were, and when they went there because they were coming from civilized areas, they looked like gods. There were some very untrained people. When they went to those areas, they were treated as good as God. So they went to three different corners of the world. From there, they started ruling the other people because they were better than them. But because of being disconnected from the original land, they became very degraded. Otherwise they were belonging to varnasrama culture. Because they became very degraded, there was no intellectuals, they were no administrators or business class of men, there was not even proper laborers. Everyone became very low class. But among them, in that line, there sometimes used to take birth some great yogis, because the soul would get transplanted from one side of the earth to the other side. One such yogi was Adama. Adama is the sanskrit way of pronunciation. So this Adama was a yogi, and his wife's name was Hemavati, and in the other books Hemavati is called Eve. Another name for her was Havyavati, as she appeared in a fire sacrifice. Those people had some black magic, and they created a sacrifice. In that sacrifice, they took all the sinful reactions of their kings, the whole uncivilized dynasty of kings, and they offered it in the fire. From the fire, two things appeared, a girl and a fruit. This girl was Hemavati or Havyavati, and the fruit will be explained later. So Havyavati was married to Adama, and Havyavati, she appeared in a fire, and even though it was ignorance fire (black magic) she became an ascetic. Both of them were ascetics, so they didn't wear any cloth. Without wearing any cloth, they were always meditating in their heart upon God, they were great yogis. The other people, who were degraded noticed that they are not dressed, and they are always absorbed in something, so they kicked them out of their civilization. To them, they appeared to be crazy. God seated in their heart, spoke to Adama. "In the south-eastern corner of this country, I have created a garden for you. Come and live here." So Adama and Eve were not the first created man and woman. When they went to this garden, what happened was that the age of Kali was coming and already influencing so many people, so he wanted to start a whole new civilization, a Kali-yuga civilization, and he was wondering how to do it. So Kali-yuga purusha took the form of a snake, and this fruit which came out of the fire was in the space in different places, and it was chasing Adama and Hemavati. Wherever they went the fruit followed. They went to the the garden, so the fruit went to the middle of the garden and stuck on top of the tree. That tree and the fruit had no connection, it was just like a bulging on the tree, an unnatural fruit. So God told Adama, "You can eat any fruit, but not that fruit." That was the combination of all the sinful reactions fallen kings that had been kicked out by Yayati. So this fruit he prohibited. So they just ate any other fruit, they were wearing no cloth, and they were sadhus. So as they were walking around eating fruits, the snake came one day and told Havyavati, "Do you know why God told you not to eat that fruit?" "Because it is a forbidden fruit," Hemavati said, "We should not take it. God told us." "Did you ever think why you shouldn't take it?" the snake asked. "Why think? God is saying, so we follow." The snake said, "No no no. If you eat this fruit, you will become God. That is why. He doesn't want a competitor, that's why." "Oh no," Havyavati said, "Don't say this. This is wrong, this makes me feel bad." "No," the snake coaxed, "listen to me. If you eat this fruit, you will become God." "Then why don't you eat it and become God?" Hemavati asked. "I will eat it," said the snake, "But if you and your husband take, then I can take and we can all become God, and then we will kick God out." So then Havyavati thought, "This is a good scheme. Why don't we do it?" She went to her husband and told him, "If you eat this fruit, you will become God." "What? No! I will never touch that fruit. God told me not to eat this fruit!" "You're so primitive," she told him. "Why not make some advancement? You shouldn't be so orthodox." So he went for it. How this happened is also another thing that the bible does not explain. Though they were both wearing no dress, they were always absorbed in meditating on God in that garden. But that snake went and influenced the mind of Adama, and Adama called Havyavati one day and said, "I want to look at the beauty of your body, and I want to enjoy your body." She was shocked. "What? We don't do this, we are ascetics! This is meant for those uncivilized people, that is why we are alone here in this garden." She made an argument, and he said, "No no, I want to, I want to." This happened in between. So the snake was testing the man, but he wasn't successful, so then he went to the woman and told her about the fruit. He was trying to find a customer. So Adam and Eve had already discussed that, and then this time Havyavati came to Adama and said, "If you want to see my body and enjoy it, then you eat this fruit and I will show you my body." "All right, you give me the fruit." So then they both ate the fruit, and very quickly the snake disappeared, because he knew that he would be punished. So what happened was that God came, and called, "Adama, where are you? Hemavati, where are you?" But they were hiding behind the trees. They had become conscious that they were wearing no clothes, so they were covering themselves. They were ascetics, but they became very body conscious after that. By their combination, a whole genealogical table starts. That is all there in the Bhavisya Purana.

Hanuman meets Ravana --------------------

Ramacandra sent Hanuman as a messenger, and Ravana was talking to him on a big seat, eighteen steps going up, and he was sitting on top of it. "Hey, you monkey! Who are you?" Hanuman replied, "I am a messenger." Ravana was insulting him. And then Hanuman said, "Hey, stupid fellow! You have ten heads and not one brain! You give me a seat. I am a messenger, I am coming from another king." "You want a seat?" Ravana said. "Ha ha ha!" Hanuman replied, "If you won't give me a seat, then I will take one myself." Then he extended his tail and circled it and went way way up, and he was close to the clouds. He was looking down at Ravana. "Ha ha ha, demon!" Ravana was awestruck. He had to look up.

Vinata and Kadru ----------------

There is the story of two sisters, Vinata and Kadru. They were two co-wives of Kasyapa Muni, among many other wives. He is one of the important prajapatis. Vinata and Kadru, they were sisters who grew up together, and there was always a sort of family rivalry between the two, they were always competing. They always wanted to outdo the other. Kasyapa Muni said to his wives one day, "So now we have to increase progeny, so what kind of living entities would you like to give birth to, as we have to populate the universe? Then Kadru wanted to give birth to snakes, and Vinata wanted to give birth to birds. Then Kasyapa assented and fulfilled their desire. Now what happened was that Kadru very quickly became mother of a whole huge brood of nagas, the celes tial serpents. Not ordinary snakes, these have magical powers and many hoods and jewels on their heads. They could assume different forms. Vinata on the other hand, simply had two big eggs, huge eggs, and they wouldn't hatch. It was going on for hundreds of years, she was keeping these two eggs, waiting for something to come out of them. And there was her sister with all her snake-children. Wherever she would go she would always have a huge swarm of these very beautiful jewelled snakes all going behind her. Vinata was envious of her sister. After about five hundred years of waiting for the eggs to hatch, then she thought, "There must be something ready by now," so she broke open one of the eggs herself. What came out was a half-formed lump. It was kind of half-formed person. The head and the arms were there, but the lower half was still unformed, and he was very angry. "Why did you break the shell of my egg? Now my body is half formed." Then he cursed her, "For this you will become the slave of your sister, and you will only be delivered by my brother who will come out of the other egg." He went off. What happened was that there was a horse that used to come by, a white horse that belonged to the sun. In those days of course, the early days after creation, there were so many wonderful things going on, so this beautiful white horse which flew through space here and there and could fly from planet to planet, he sometimes used to come down to where Kadru and Vinata were staying, and he would gallop around, and drink from the pond and eat some grass, and then go flying off somewhere else. Usually daily he would come. So a plan formed in Kadru's mind that she could make Vinata her slave to serve her every whim. So she said, "Let's make a bet between us upon what the real color of that tail is, the tail of the horse," because they were only seeing the horse from a distance. "Now, the one who loses the bet and guesses the wrong color, has to become the slave of the other." Vinata said, "Yes, that sounds good." So then Kadru said, "What color do you think the tail is?" and Vinata replied, "It's white of course." Kadru said, "No, I think the tail is black." Vinata was thinking, "Now Kadru will become my slave, because any fool can see that this horse has a white tail, because it's all white." Kadru said, "So we'll wait till tommorrow, we'll go to the lakeshore and wait for the horse to come, and then we'll come closer and we'll see what color the tail is." So they waited, and they saw the horse appear, and the horse was galloping here and there in the bushes, and they came very close. And they looked around the bushes and when they saw the horse, the tail was black. Vinata was astonished, "How come when we see the tail from a distance it is white, and now when we come up close the tail is black?" Anyway, she had to become the slave of her sister. What had actually happened is that Kadru had asked her snake children, "When the horse comes tomorrow, you attach yourselves to its tail." The snakes were all black, so by hanging there from the tail, it looked like the horses tail was black. In this way she cheated her sister. Thus, by her destiny, Vinata became the slave of her sister, and she was having to do all services. Because of their sisterly relationship, for her this was very intolerable, but what could she do? Then finally after a long time, the other egg cracked open, and out of that egg came Garuda. Garuda is of course the carrier of Visnu, and he was a great Vaisnava. Vinata was of course very happy to have such a son, but at the same time she was suffering because of being the slave of her sister. Garuda could see that, and he asked her, "Mother although you now have a son, why is it that you are still unhappy?" So then Vinata explained the whole story of how she became the slave of her sister. Then Garuda said, "So ask her under what condition you will become free of slavery." So when she asked, Kadru said, "Only if I get nectar from heaven, which I feed to my sons that they become immortal. Then she will become free." So she told this to Garuda, and Garuda said, "All right, then I will get that nectar." So then there is a whole wonderful adventure how he flew to heaven, and on the way to heaven in the Himalayan mountains he met his father Kasyapa, who was in meditation, and then Garuda said, "Father, I'm very hungry now. I've flown halfway to heaven." Kasyapa pointed out, "You go to one lake there is a big tree, and the lake is at the base of the tree, and you'll see a big elephant and a big turtle. These two have been fighting for thousands of years, and you can eat both of them." So Garuda went there, and sure enough he saw a huge elephant and a huge turtle. These were celestial animals, so they were huge, weighing many tons. He just picked them both up, and he flew up into the tree. This was also a huge huge tree, and he sat on the branch, but his weight combined with the elephant and the turtle cracked the branch and the branch began to fall. Garuda of course flew off the branch but then he heard some alarmed voices from the branch, and he looked, because he was a bird and could see things immediately, and he saw that hanging upside down from the bottom of the branch were 40,000 little sages, only as big as the thumb. Valakhilyas, they're called. They were doing austerities in this way, hanging upside down from the branch, and they were calling "Help!" as the branch fell. So Garuda swept down and saved the branch, he stopped it from crashing into the lake. These sages were very grateful that Garuda had saved them, so then they blessed him, and the result of this blessing was that he could meet Lord Visnu. Lord Visnu appeared there. In this way, the eternal relationship was revived, and Visnu blessed Garuda, "You may be my carrier, and I will always have you on my flag too." So when Garuda got to heaven, they were having a big party. There were dancing girls, and musical performance and drinking and feasting and laughing and joking, and everyone's intoxicated. Then suddenly on the horizon there comes this huge bird, Garuda, swooping in, "Whoosh!" and his wings were beating so powerfully that everything was becoming upset, all the tables and chairs were turning over, and the demigods' helmets were blowing off, the apsaras' saris were blowing away and they were running off the stage, and Garuda was making a screeching sound that makes everyone block their ears, so loud. They were keeping the nectar in a very special pot. A celestial pot, very wonderful with jewels and made from precious metals, and a very wonderful shape. Around the pot were two big snakes coiled around it, and they were guarding. Very ferocious snakes, and if anyone tries to come they bite them. Around these snakes was a wall of fire, and then around the wall of fire there was a big disc, something like Sudarsana, a discus weapon that's always turning, like a power saw, and anyone tries to get near it they get cut off. So Garuda just flew right to it, and with his powerful beak, wings and claws he was breaking the disc and putting out the fire, he was eating the snakes, just so fast. The demigods were amazed. Then he picked up the pot and just flew off. The demigods were already drunk, and they were taken by surprise, and then they started shouting, "Let's get him! Let's get him!" Then they started firing their arrows and getting in their chariots and taking off after him and pursuing him, and everyone was shooting, all the different astras and mantras and there were explosions going off everywhere, weapons flying. And Garuda just kept flying, all these things were going on around him, but he just didn't care. And then finally Indra took his Vajra. All these other weapons had no effect on Garuda, it was like throwing flowers on him, they just bounced off. So Indra fired his Vajra weapon, his lightning weapon at Garuda. This is such a powerful weapon, it's made from the bones of the sage Dadhici who gave up his body because he was so unattached to the world. When the devas came they said, "We can only defeat Vrtasura when we have a weapon made from your bones, so you have to give up your body." Dadhici said, "Yes, why not? I don't care about this body." So it was a powerful weapon, and when it hit Garuda he thought, "Oh, this weapon does have some power, doesn't it? This is Indra's own weapon made from the bones of Dadhici. I should show that I respect such a weapon." So Garuda himself let one feather drop from his wing, just to show that, "That was something, that one." Garuda therefore has the name Suparna, very strong and fine wings. When Indra saw this, he thought, "Well, this bird, whoever he is, is not an ordinary living body. No one can be so powerful. He certainly can not be a demon. He must be a devotee of Lord Visnu. I am also a devotee of Lord Visnu, all the demigods are." So then Indra came in front of Garuda and said, "Stop, stop! Let's be friends." Indra and Garuda became good friends, and then Indra asked, "Why are you taking this pot of nectar?" When Garuda explained the situation, Indra became overwhelmed, because he thought, "Such a great soul! He's taking this nectar, and it's not even for himself. He wants to give it to these nagas, so that his mother can become free from bondage." Indra loudly said, "There is no other living entity in this universe who would do like this. Anyone else who had the power to steal the nectar, the first thing they would do is drink it themselves. And you've done all this wonderful activity and you're not even desiring to enjoy the result. You are certainly not an ordinary bird. You must be a pure devotee of Lord Visnu. I offer all my respects to you. Now, you should not give this nectar to those nagas, then they will become immortal and will cause us all kinds of trouble, because those nagas are denizens of the lower regions. They will simply become puffed up, and create all kinds if trouble in the universe." So then they made a plan. Garuda brought the nectar back, and he set it on a mat of darbha grass. This is sacred grass which has a very sharp edge to it. If you run your thumb across it you can cut the skin and bleed. So he set the beautiful pot on this mat of grass, and he called the nagas and Kadru, their mother, and announced, "I've brought the nectar from heaven." They were overjoyed, and then he said, "But, you have to take bath before you can touch this, because it is a sacred substance." So then the nagas all hurried to the river to take bath, and Kadru went with them to supervise their bathing, as she was their mother. In the meantime, Indra appeared with an identical pot, but it was filled with poison. He just changed pots, and then he went back to heaven. So then Kadru came back with all the nagas, and Garuda said, "So as I promised I brought you the nectar, so now you must release my mother." "Yes yes, no problem. Now let's enjoy the nectar." Vinata was released, and then Kadru was serving the nectar, which was actually poison, to all of her children. And that is why, today, the snakes are poisonous. Moreover, when she was serving it, some drops were falling on the darba grass, and so all of the snakes were licking the grass, and by licking the grass their tongues were cut in two, and that's why snakes have forked tongues also. They drank poison instead of nectar, and they liked it, so they were cheated. In this way Vinata was delivered from her bondage, having had the association of such a wonderful person as her son, Garuda.

Agastya Muni, Ilvala and Vatapi -------------------------------

There's a story of Agastya Muni. Agastya Muni was a great sage, one of the saptarsis, so he's certainly very intelligent. He was one day walking through the forest in the Himalayan mountains near his asrama, and he saw in one tree many many little people hanging upside down in a tree, and they were crying. This was an astonishing sight. "Who are you?" And they all said, "We are your forefathers, your pitris. And we are hanging in this tree because you are not performing your karma properly." Agastya Muni said, "Well what karma am I supposed to perform, because I am a sannyasi, a rsi." "You may be a sannyasi," the said, "but you are not fully realized." They were telling him that he was not Krsna conscious, because he was a Brahman rsi, so he knows very well that he's not his body but he's not fully realized. "What should I do?" And they replied, "Well the thing is that you've been going on as a sannyasi, thinking that you don't have to do any karma, but you have neglected us." In the karma-khanda system you're supposed to send your dead relatives to the moon planet which is called Pitriloka or Candraloka. This is done by an offering called sraddha. Sraddha offerings are done in Varanasi and also in Gaya, two famous places. It means one takes prasad of Lord Visnu which is fed to a brahmin, they are called sraddha brahmins, and they eat this and they take a bath in the Ganga. By bathing, all the energy of this food rises up to the moon, and the forefathers can take it. It is also put out for birds, who come and take this food, and the energy is transferred. This offering must be done 7 times each year. That means he is fixed on the moon planet for a long time. But then there are also other relatives who've been there for a long time, and their position has to be renewed, so the sraddha offering is practically a regular duty for karma-khandis. "You do not do this," they told him. "And neither are you self-realized." These forefathers had fallen down from the moon planet, and were just hanging around. "All right, so what do I have to do?" They said, "You have to get married and have a son. You can go on with your sannyasa duties after you've had a son, and then you engage your son in performing sraddha." "All right," the Muni said, and then he went to one king and begged, "Please give me your daughter. I need a wife for a son." The king said, "I don't have a daugher." Agastya Muni said, "What's wrong with you? You're also not doing karma-khanda properly, you're supposed to have daughters for the sages and great personalities. But anyway, I can't wait around for you to have a daughter." So then he just called all the essence of beauty from all around the universe by his mystic power, and they all came together right there in that palace room as a baby girl. "Here's your daughter. She'll grow up in 7 days. You take care of her, I'll be back at the end of the week. The king raised this girl, she was a full grown young lady after 7 days, and Agastya Muni came, took her as his wife and brought her to his Himalaya asrama. Because he was a sage, he had a very simple approach to life, so he brought her there and showed her around, "Here's the place. Now, we have to have a son." She said, "Wait a minute. I'm a princess. I may have been only in my father's palace for seven days, but in those seven days I've gotten used to being a princess and living this kind of life. Now you bring me to this hole-in-the-wall asrama, and you tell me we're going to raise a son here. No. Of course, I am your wife, so I will serve you as a brahmacarini. If you want me to live here in this way, then I can do it, but I will also be completely renounced. What is the point of raising children in this kind of condition? If you want me to be a mother then you have to make some facility." So then he said, "All right, you stay here. I'll go and make some arrangement for all of this." The only way he knew how to get wealth was to beg from kings. So he went to one king, and requested, "I need money." The king replied, "Yes I will be very happy to give you a donation. Here's my treasury book. You look in there, and you'll see the expenditure and the income. Whatever profit you find you can have. Agastya added up the figures, and he found that this kingdom was being poorly managed. There's no profit. "You don't have any profit." "What can I do?" the king said. So then Agastya Muni went to another king, but he got the same response. The third king he went to said the same thing. Agastya Muni said, "Now wait a minute. It looks like I could be going for a hundred years like this, and end up with just 10,000 king disciples and no money." So then he asked the king, "You must know someone who's got money, money that he's not using for any good purpose." The king said, "Yes I do know. There are two demons who live in the forest by the names of Ilvala and Vatapi. They run a kind of motel in the forest. Travellers go there and they offer them a room for rent. So they go and inquire about a room, and the two demons say, `Yes, come in and sit down. We'll give you a nice room to stay in. Are you hungry?' `Yes, I am.' `So then we'll cook something for you first of all.' `Oh, very nice. Good hospitality.' `Yes, this is why we've become so successful in this business.' So they would go into the kitchen, and Ilvala would chop up his brother Vatapi, and cook him. Then he would bring out the cooked brother on a big plate and set it down. `This is goat flesh from the sacrificial offering.' (In those days animal sacrifice was a part of the Vedic culture, although those most advanced would practice ahimsa.) "This is goat flesh offered in sacrifice." "Oh, very nice," and they would eat. After eating everything on the plate, Ilvala would ask the guest, "So you're full now?" "Oh yes, I'm very full." Then Ilvala would say, "Vatapi, come out." Then inside the stomach Vatapi's body would come back together, and he would come bursting out of the person's body, and the person would of course be dead. Then they would rob him of all his wealth, and they would throw the body out the back in the swamp. This was their program. In this way they were collecting alot of money, and they were just living in the forest, not really doing anything with the money. So Agastya Muni and his four king disciples came there disguised as travellers, and Ilvala and Vatapi welcomed them with big crocodile smiles, "Yes, come in, sit down. Are you hungry?" "Oh yes," they replied. "Then just one moment," and they went into the kitchen. Agastya turned to the four kings and said, "Now when he brings out food, you tell him you're fasting, and because I'm your guru you derive all your energy from me. So they should just feed me." So Ilvala came out with a big plate, and when offered the kings said, "No no no. You just give to guru maharaja, we are living by his power only. Just feed him." "That's very nice," Ilvala thought, "and when Vatapi bursts out they will also die, because they live by his power. Accha." So then Agastya Muni ate the whole plate, and after he ate he rubbed his belly and said to himself, "Vatapi, be digested." Then Ilvala came and said, "So, you are satisfied?" "Yes, very much thank you." And then Ilvala said, "Vatapi, come out!" and nothing happened. Again he called, "Vatapi, please come out." Still nothing happened. The kings were laughing. And one of them said, "Ilvala, this is Agastya Muni," and when he looked he saw that Agastya Muni's eyes were burning red and looking right at him with anger. He became very afraid. "This is Agastya Muni, he has digested your brother, and he is quite capable of digesting you also. So you'd better surrender to him." So Ilvala bowed down at Agastya Muni's feet. "What can I do to be saved from your wrath?" And he said, "You can give me all this illicitly collected wealth." So Ilvala gave it to him. And then Agastya Muni, following the laws of karma, he said to his four disciples, "Actually, this is yours, because this was a police action." In other words, the four kings came as policemen and found out the criminals, so the seized possessions belonged to the state now. It came under the possession of the kings, and when the kings claimed the wealth, then Agastya Muni said, "Now I am here asking for a donation," so the kings gave it to Agastya as a donation. Then Agastya took it back to his Himalayan asrama, and there was so much wealth that it filled the whole valley outside the asrama. "Take a look at this," he said to his wife, and she became very happy. So they had a son, and because Agastya Muni was very expert in having children that grew up quickly, this son grew up immediately so Agastya could go. He grew up, Agastya Muni taught him to do sraddha, and then Agastya Muni again took sannyasa. The wife was being looked after by the son, the son was doing sraddha, and Agastya Muni went off to do his austerities.