Thursday, 4 January 2018

Vasudeva

"Yudhishthira said, 'O foremost one of Bharata's race, do thou relate to me all the duties of the household mode and tell me all that a man should do in order to attain to prosperity in this world.'

"Bhishma said, 'O Bharata, I shall, in this connection, recite to thee the old story of Vasudeva and the goddess Earth, The puissant Vasudeva. O excellent prince of Bharata's race, after hymning the praises of the goddess Earth, questioned her about this very topic that thou hast enquired about.'

"Vasudeva said, 'Having adopted the state of a householder, what acts should I, or one like me, perform and how are such acts to fructify in good?'"

"The goddess Earth said, 'O Madhava, the Rishis, the deities, the Pitris, and men should be worshipped, and sacrifices should be performed, by a householder. Do thou also learn this from me that the deities are always pleased with sacrifices, and men are gratified with hospitality. Therefore, the householder should gratify them with such objects as they desire. By such acts, O slayer of Madhu, the Rishis also are gratified. The householder, abstaining from food, should daily attend to his sacred fire and to his sacrificial offerings. The deities, O slayer of Madhu, are gratified with such acts. The householder should daily offer oblations of food and water, or of fruits, roots and water, for the gratification of the Pitris, and the Vaiswadeva offering should be performed with rice boiled, and oblations of clarified butter unto Agni, Soma, and Dhanwantari. He should offer separate and distinct oblations unto Prajapati. He should make sacrificial offerings in due order; to Yama in the Southern region, to Varuna in Western region, to Soma in the Northern region, to Prajapati within the homestead, to Dhanwantari in the North-eastern region, and to Indra in the Eastern region. He should offer food to men at the entrance of his house. These, O Madhava, are known as the Vali offerings. The Vali should be offered to the Maruts and the deities in the interior of one's house. To the Viswedevas it should be offered in open air, and to the Rakshasas and spirits the offerings should be made at night. After making these offerings, the householder should make offerings unto Brahmanas, and if no Brahmana be present, the first portion of the food should be thrown into the fire. When a man desires to offer Sraddha to his ancestors, he should, when the Sraddha ceremony is concluded, gratify his ancestors and then make the Vali offerings in due order. He should then make offerings unto the Viswedevas. He should next invite Brahmanas and then properly regale guests arrived at his house, with food. By this act, O prince, are guests gratified. He who does not stay in the house long, or, having come, goes away after a short time, is called a guest. To his preceptor, to his father, to his friend and to a guest, a householder should say, 'I have got this in my house to offer thee today!' And he should offer it accordingly every day. The householder should do whatever they would ask him to do. This is the established usage. The householder, O Krishna, should take his food last of all after having offered food to all of them. The householder should worship, with offerings of Madhuparka his king, his priest, his preceptor, and his father-in-law as also Snataka Brahmanas even if they were to stay in his house for a whole year. In the morning as well as in the evening, food should be offered on the ground to dogs, Swapachas, 1 and birds. This is called the Vaiswadeva offering. The householder, who performs these ceremonies with a mind unclouded by passion, obtains the blessings of the Rishis in this world, and after death attains to the heavenly regions.'"

"Bhishma continued, "The puissant Vasudeva, having listened to all this from the goddess Earth, acted accordingly. Do thou also act in the same way. By performing these duties of a householder, O king, thou shalt acquire fame in this world and attain to heaven after death!'"

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m13/m13b062.htm

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

Gayatri

Dhritarashtra asked Sanjaya of soul worthy of praise,--saying,--

'O Sanjaya, these kings, these lords of earth, so brave and taking delight in battle, are for smiting one another with weapons of diverse kinds, being prepared to lay down their very lives for the sake of earth. Incapable of being restrained, they are, indeed, smiting one another for increasing the population of Yama's domain. Desirous of prosperity connected with the possession of earth they are incapable of bearing one another. I, therefore, think that earth must be possessed of many attributes. Tell me all these, O Sanjaya, Many thousands, many millions, many tens of millions, many hundreds of millions, heroic men have come together at Kurujangala. I desire to hear, O Sanjaya, with accurate details, about the situation and dimensions of those countries and cities from which they have come. Through the potency of that regenerate Rishi Vyasa of immeasurable energy, thou art endued with the lamp of celestial perception and the eye of knowledge.

"Sanjaya said,--'O thou of great wisdom, I will recount to thee the merits of earth according to my knowledge. Behold them with thy eye of wisdom. I bow to thee, O bull of Bharata's race.

Creatures in this world are of two kinds, mobile and immobile. Mobile creatures are of three kinds according to their birth, viz., oviparous, viviparous, and those engendered by heat and damp. Of mobile creatures, O king, the foremost are certainly those called viviparous. Of viviparous creatures the foremost are men and animals.

Animals, O king, of diverse forms, are of fourteen species. Seven have their abodes in the woods, and seven of these are domestic.
  1. Lions, 
  2. tigers, 
  3. boars, 
  4. buffaloes, and 
  5. elephants as also 
  6. bears and 
  7. apes, 
are, O king, regarded as wild.
  1. Kine, 
  2. goats, 
  3. sheep, 
  4. men, 
  5. horses, 
  6. mules, and 
  7. asses,--these seven amongst animals are reckoned as domestic by the learned. 

These fourteen, O king, complete the tale of domestic and wild animals, mentioned, O lord of earth, in the Vedas, and on which the sacrifices rest. Of creatures that are domestic, men are foremost, while lions are the foremost of those that have their abode in the woods. All creatures support their life by living upon one another.

Vegetables are said to be immobile, and they are of four species viz., 
  1. trees, 
  2. shrubs, 
  3. creepers, 
  4. creeping plants existing for only a year, and 
  5. all stemless plants of the grass species. 

Of mobile and immobile creatures, there are thus one less twenty; and as regards their universal constituents, there are five. "Sanjaya said,--'O great king, all things in the universe, in consequence of the presence (in them) of the five elements, have been said to be equal by the wise. These elements, are 
  1. space, 
  2. air, 
  3. fire, 
  4. water, and 
  5. earth. 
Their (respective) attributes are sound, touch, vision, taste, and scent. Every one of these elements possesses (in addition to what is especially its own) the attribute or attributes of that or those coming before it. The earth, therefore, is the foremost of them all, possessing as it does the attributes of all the other four, besides what is specially its own, as said by Rishis acquainted with truth. There are four attributes, O king, in water. Scent does not exist in it. Fire has three attributes viz., sound, touch, and vision. Sound and touch belong to air, while space has sound alone. These five attributes, O king, exist (in this way) in the five principal elements depending on which all creatures in the universe exist. They exist separately and independently when there is homogeneity in the universe. 2 When, however, these do not exist in their natural state but with one another, then creatures spring into life, furnished with bodies. This is never otherwise. The elements are destroyed, in the order of the one succeeding, merging into the one that proceeds; and they spring also into existence, one arising from the one before it. All of these are immeasurable, their forms being Brahma itself. In the universe are seen creatures consisting of the five elements.


Twenty-four in all, these are described as Gayatri (Brahma) as is well-known to all. He who knows these truly to be the sacred Gayatri possessed of every virtue, is not liable, O best of the Bharatas, to destruction in this world. Everything springeth from the earth and everything, when destroyed, mergeth into the Earth. The Earth is the stay and refuge of all creatures, and the Earth is eternal. He that hath the Earth, hath the entire universe with its mobile and immobile population. It is for this that longing for (the possession of the) Earth, kings slay one another.'"

shatananda

Family

  1. Nimi – Nimi was son of King Ikshwaku and grandson of Manu.
  2. Mithi – Founder of Mithila and the first Janaka.
  3. Udavasu
  4. Nandivardhana
  5. Suketu
  6. Devarata
  7. Brihadratha
  8. Mahavira
  9. Sudhriti
  10. Dristaketu
  11. Haryasva
  12. Maru
  13. Pratindhaka
  14. Kirtiratha
  15. Devamidha
  16. Vibudha
  17. Mahidhrika
  18. Kirtirata
  19. Maharoma
  20. Swarnaroma
  21. Hrasvaroma
  22. Seeradhwaja – Father of Sita.

The list of Janaks has been compiled from Valmiki Ramayana.

Janaks after Ramayana

  1. Bhaanumaan
  2. Shatadyumn
  3. Shuchi
  4. Oorjnaamaa
  5. Kriti
  6. Anjan
  7. Kurujit
  8. Arishtnemi
  9. Shrutaayu
  10. Supaarshwa
  11. Srinjaya
  12. Kshemaavee
  13. Anenaa
  14. Bhaumarath
  15. Satyarath
  16. Upagu
  17. Upagupt
  18. Swaagat
  19. Swaanand
  20. Suvarchaa
  21. Supaarshwa
  22. Subhaash
  23. Sushrut
  24. Jaya
  25. Vijaya
  26. Rit
  27. Sunaya
  28. Veetahavya
  29. Dhriti
  30. Bahulaashwa
  31. Kriti

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