Sage Bhrigu (Bhrigu Maharshi)

Sage Bhrigu (Bhrigu Maharshi)

Introduction to the story of Sage Bhrigu:

 We came across the great Sage Bhrigu when we were recounting how the sage Chyavana was born to Him through his wife Puloma. We also recounted briefly how Sage Bhrigu tested the Trinity. Now let us know  Prajapati, Manasputra of Lord Brahma.

In the beginning, when Brahmaji was asked to create, He was alone. So, He started creating mentally and the sons thus created like Vasishtha, Atri, Narada etc. came to be known as Manasaputras of Brahma. Thus it is clear that in the highest spiritual planes, the thought itself is enough for the thought form to take shape into a material body. This power, this energy, Shakti, is glorified as aspects of Divine Mother in Sri Lalitha Sahasranama Stotra (IcchaShakti, JnanaShakti, KriyaShakti).

Maharshi Bhrigu was one of the Manasputras (born by a wish) of Lord Brahma (It is said that he was born from the heart part). Sage Narada, Vasishtha, Atri, Gautama etc. were others. Bhrigu is considered as one of the Nine Brahmas. He was married to Khyati (the daughter of Daksha), Puloma (daughter of Kardama) and Usana. Two sons, Dhata and Vidhata and a daughter Shri were born to Khyati. Maharshi Bhrigu is also called Prajapati (creator) as he was created by Lord Brahma to help him in the process of creation of the universe. Chyavana was his son from Puloma as we have seen.

Sri Lakshmi, his daughter became the consort of Shri Vishnu. Since She is the daughter of Bhrigu, She is called Bhargavi (Bhargaveem, Bilva Nilayaam, Vararohaam, Yasaswineem, Vasundharaam, Udaaraaangaam, Harineem,. Hemamalineem…goes the Daridrya Mochana Stotram). Similarly Sukracharya, the preceptor of Daityas is another son of Bhrigu born to Usana and hence is known as Kavi, Bhargava etc. We will try to catch up more about these great sages in future.

Maharshi Bhrigu had accomplished many Yagnas and had helped others to accomplish them. With his powers, he fulfilled the wishes of people for begetting sons. During the two months of Shravana and Bhadrapada, he made the chariot of the Sun God as his abode.

Cursing of Vishnu

When the battle ensued between the Devatas and the Daityas, the Devatas led by Indra had the upper hand. Daityas went to their Guru, Sukracharya and sought his help. He left for severe Tapas (penance) to please Lord Siva and get the MritaSanjivini Mantra Siddhi. During his absence, the Daityas sought refuge in Usana, the mother of Sukracharya. She assured them protection and she came out of her cottage and using her powers froze the devatas. Once they became immobile, they became easy targets for the Daityas and were subjected to various tortures by the Daityas. The Devatas prayed to Lord Vishnu to protect them and get them out of the predicament. Vishnu understood that the curse on Devatas could not be annulled unless Usana was killed. But Usana being a lady was not to be killed as per dharma. However, Vishnu realised that unless she tried to harm Him, He could not kill her without violating the dharma. (No first strike principle!). Vishnu disguised Himself as a ferocious beast and tried to scare Uasana. Usana saw through the disguise of Vishnu and said to Him: “Vishnu, I am doing my duty of protecting my children and You are supposed to be impartial and protect dharma. You have now become biased and this Adharma cannot be left unpunished. I am going to curse you. You and Indra will be reduced to ash!” Before these words were spelt out, Vishnu killed Bhrigu’s wife with a sharp arrow and separated her head from the torso. Once Usana was killed, her powers also left and Devatas became free. Sage Bhrigu cursed Vishnu to take birth on earth and go through the cycles of birth and death and thus suffer like us. He brought his wife back to life with his powers. Vishnu accepted the curse of the sage as He accepted the curse of Sage Durvasa. Vishnu stood in an invisible form between the sage and Ambareesha, Vishnu’s staunch devotee and took the curse on Him when the sage was cursing Ambareesha.

Bhrigu tests the Trinity and declares Vishnu as the Best

When a big Yagna was planned and the question of deciding who among the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva should be considered the best and made the Chief of the Yagna, all the sages requested Bhrigu to decide. He agreed and went first to Satya Loka, the abode of Brahma. Brahma was busy with His work of creation and did not receive the sage properly. Bhrigu, who shared the Rajo Guna from His father Brahma, also did not greet Him or pay His respects to Brahmaji. Sage Bhrigu did not hesitate to curse Him! From Satya Loka.

Bhrigu went to Kailas where Siva and Parvati were busy with the cosmic dance. Siva ignored Sage Bhrigu and did not stop His dance. Bhirgu got furious and cursed Siva too. Another version is that Siva wanted to embrace Sage Bhrigu but Sage Bhrigu did not accept because He felt Siva’s conduct was not vedic (Siva is also called Vama Deva) and followed some left hand practices, Vamachara. So, Siva got angry and ran after Sage Bhrigu with His trishul and was about to kill him, but was pacified by Mother Parvathi.

 Bhrigu left Kailas and reached Vaikuntha. Sri Vishnu was relaxing with His consort and Bhrigu got angry and kicked Vishnu on His chest. Now see the Leela of Vishnu. He immediately got up and bowed to the sage and started pressing the feet of the sage Bhrigu. He apologised to the sage for not noticing his arrival and also the feet of the sage would have been hurt by the impact of His chest, which is hard like a diamond and because of the many ornaments. Bhrigu was pleased with the satvik nature of Vishnu and came back to the rishis and proclaimed Vishnu as the best.

Bhrigu Maharshi kicked Vishnu on His chest, He apologised, seated the Maharshi on a throne and pressed the feet and removed an extra eye of the Sage in one of his soles (Sage Bhrigu was rather proud of that eye). Immediately the spiritual eye of Bhrigu opened and he realised his mistake and also praised Vishnu for His satvik qualities and declared to the assembly of the sages that Vishnu is greatest. Lakshmi got very much annoyed and left Vaikuntha saying that Her residence was defiled and She could not stay in that place. She left Vaikuntha and came to earth and stayed at Kolhapur. She felt the pangs of separation and started doing tapas to Siva to regain Vishnu. Vishnu, in the meantime, left Vaikuntha because that place lost all sheen and glory when Lakshmi left. He came down to the earth to Tirupati / Tirumala area. The present temple of Sri Venkateswara (Srinivasa) is because of that. 

Sage Bhrigu helps King Yavanashwa to beget a son

King Yavanashwa did not have children and approached Sage Bhrigu for help. The sage got a Putra Kameshti (an Ishti is a special Yagna and Putra Kameshti means an Ishti performed for begetting sons) performed and gave a vessel containing the holy water to the king and asked him to give it to the queen. In the middle of the night, the king developed a severe thirst and drank the water by mistake (by destiny). When the sage came to know of it, he told the king that the laws of destiny were inviolable and he had to now bear the son himself! (Recently, a man gave birth to a child through the intervention of modern science – may be our ancestors knew the secrets involved!). The king carried the fetus for a hundred years (this indicates the long life span of those times and presumably all biological processes were also slower. Shakuntala carried Bharatha for 3 years). The baby thus born is Mandhata, one of the six Chakravarthies. More about him later…

Sumukha helped by Sage Bhrigu

Sage Bhrigu built his hermitage near the Kailasa Mountain and was living there. He was carrying on his penance there. One day, a man with a tiger face came to see him accompanied by his beautiful wife. Though Sage Bhrigu knew who they were, he asked the man to tell him about himself. The man prostrated himself and said: “Maharshi, I am Sumukha, a Vidyadhara and this is my wife. While returning from heaven, I was transformed like this. Kindly give me a solution to get back my original face.” Sage Bhrigu used His divine insight and said to the Vidyadhara: “Sumukha! You observed Ekadasi fast and next day you had a head bath. You got afflicted with this tigerly face because of that mistake. Now, I will tell you how to rectify your mistake. Go and have a bath in a sacred river in the month of Magh and you will be absolved of your earlier dushkarma. You will get back your original face. Go with my blessings.” Sumukha did as directed by the sage and got back his original handsome face. It is Guru Kripa that we are reading this in the month of Magha only. Sai Ram.

Bhrigu Maharshi saves the life of Jamadagni and Renuka

Once in a battle with Kartaviryarjuna, Jamadagni lost his life. His wife Renuka wanted to accompany Sage Jamadagni on the funeral pyre. Sage Bhrigu stopped her and brought her back to life along with the Sage Jamadagni. Later Jamadagni was killed by the sons of Kartavirya who was killed in a battle by Parasurama, son of Jamadagni. More about that later, when we take up the stories of Jamadagni and BhargavaRama –Parasurama. Vishnu, who was cursed to take births on earth by Sage Bhrigu, chose to incarnate in the lineage of Bhrigu! It shows that what happened was the leela of Vishnu. As directed by his great grandfather, Parasurama prayed to Siva and got by His blessings, Bhargavastra. Sage Bhrigu also revealed all the secrets of the creation of universe etc. to Sage Bharadwaja, who came to him in search of that esoteric knowledge. Sage Bhrigu also authored Bhrigu Sutras, a treatise on astrology. He also authored Bhrigu Nadi, which tells us the future of several people. There are other Nadi Granthas like Agastya Nadi etc. He also became known as a Smritikarta, author of Smriti. However, Manu Smriti became much more popular.

Thus we can see that Sage Bhrigu was a great Jnani, a great tapasvi, a great maharshi, who became a Brahmarshi (a Rishi who became one with the Brahman) by his great penance. He became the originator of a great lineage. 

Dadhichi Maharshi

One of the great virtues of mankind is helping the needy people. Many persons are considered brave for their virtue of giving away their wealth knowledge and tried with all their might to uphold this virtue. Indian mythology gives many extraordinary instances many persons which preferred giving away their body parts and wealth in order to give more preference to "DAAN" and "Tyaag" as it is referred in Hindu Mythology tales. But Dadhichi rishi has been raised high above them all for his "Tyaag" and "Selflessness".

The story of Maharshi Dadhichi and what he did because of which he is considered and the most generous of all in the Ancient Hindu Mythology.

 During the War between Devatas and Rakshas(Demons). Demons had clearly dominated in the Warfield and robbed the Devatas of their arms and weapons using some new black magic powers which were far behind the comprehension of the gods. The Devatas knew for sure that if they lose the rest of their weapons, no one could save their life. So in order to make sure that their weapons are safe, they went to the Sage Maharishi Dadhichi who agreed to keep the weapons in his protection even neglecting the danger to his own life.

The "Rakshasas"(DEMONS) used all their might to rob those weapons and hurt Maharshi Dadhichi but in Vain. A long time passed and the gods’ didn’t come to take away their weapons.

Maharshi Dadhichi couldn't think of any way by which he could always have an eye on the weapons at all time. Finally, one day, with his divine Powers, he put all the weapons in his sacred water pot and mixed them in the water and drank it. He was now free and he could continue his regular penance undisturbed.

A short while after this, the Devatas returned and asked Dadhichi for their weapons. Dadhichi Maharshi replied, “I waited a long time for you to come and collect your weapons. I thought you wouldn’t return back. So I drank them away".

Devatas went on pleading "Maharshi, we are now in a position to fight Rakshasas. If we do not have our weapons, we will not be in a position to fight with them and to save Dharma and the universe". Dadhichi thought about it calmly and was convinced that Devatas deserved help.

Their weapons were now more powerful than before. He said to Devatas "Alright, take your weapons back by killing me. They are presently in the form of my bones". Devatas refused to do so and said "We certainly do not want to commit the sin of killing a great Rishi like you. We cannot afford to do this cruel thing".

Now the weapons were inside the hermits’ body in form of flesh and bones and it was difficult to get them out. So he created a huge fire, entered into it and reduced his own body into flames. Devatas were in the state of bewilderment as they couldn't comprehend what was happening. Lord Brahma suddenly appeared and converted each of the bones into various powerful weapons and gave them to the Devatas. Dadhichi's back bone was made "THE VAJRA" and was given to Lord Indra with which he brought an end to the most powerful Rakshasas like Vritrasur.

The power of the divine virtue and powerful soul made the weapons more Lethal than ever. This great sacrifice made his name flash in golden words whenever examples are given of sacrifice and selfless attitude.

Who was the First Man Died According to Sanathana Dharma

Lord Yama is the Lord of Justice and is also considered as the guardian of Hell. He is a Bodhisattva as well as a part of Lord Shiva, Lord Yama in Indian mythology is referred to as the Lord of Death. Mahabharath describe him as the first man who died. The son of God Surya and Sanjana, Yama presides over the resting place of the dead. He is sometimes referred as Dharma, in reference to his unswerving dedication to maintaining order and adherence to harmony. He is also believed to be the wisest of devas. In the Katha Upanishad Yama is portrayed as a teacher. He is the father of  Yudhistara the oldest brother of the Pandavas. He is considered to have incarnated as Vidur by some accounts in the Mahabharata period. Yama is subordinate to the ultimate controllers Lord Shiva  and Lord Vishnu.

Yama is credited to be one of the most ancient beings of the world. A story of Yama sub ordinance to Shiva is well illustrated in the story of Markandeya. Yama is called Kala, while Shiva is called Mahakala. Another incidence, which shows Yama obedience to Vishnu, is as follows: A man Ajamila had committed many evil acts during his life such as stealing, abandoning his wife and children, and marrying a prostitute. At the moment of his death he involuntarily chanted the name of Narayana and achieved Moksha, saved from the messengers of Yama. Although Ajamila had actually been thinking the name of his youngest son, Narayana name had powerful effects, and thus Ajamila was released from his great sins.

As per Hindu myths Yama is assisted by Chitragupta who keeps complete records of actions of human beings on the earth. Lord Yama belongs to an early division of Vedic legends. His name means "twin", and in some legends he is paired with his twin sister Yami.

Who is the first Human Being according to Sanatana Dharma??

Who is the first Human Being according to Sanatana Dharma??

first of all you have to understand how creation takes place::

Brahma first creates the Immovable objects such as Planets, Land, Mountains, etc. which do not have any inherent power of Motion (Remember that Planets also move due to Gravity and do not have an intrinsic motion of their own).

In the next phase, Brahma creates 6 different types of Vegetation covering trees/herbs/creepers etc., 12 different varieties of Birds and 28 different broad classifications of Animals.

The next Phase saw Creation of Demigods and other Advanced Species of life. Most important Divinities were created in this Phase of Brahma's Creation.

- First come the 4 Eternal Kumars, the First Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. These cherubic kids remain the same in appearance throughout their lifetime which is as long as that of Brahma himself! But all of them chose to follow the path of Spirituality instead of following Brahma's command for beginning procreation.

- Brahma then created 10 Manasa Putras by just visualizing them in his mind! Atri, Angiras, Atharva, Bhrigu, Daksh, Marichi, Pulah, Pulatsya, Vasishtha and the youngest one Narada.

(When all these sons preferred to follow footsteps of the Kumara, by refusing to get entangled in the process of procreation, Brahma again filled up with Negative energy.)

- This resulted in the creation of Asuras’, who in common parlance are known as Rakshasa or Demons. When Brahma let go of this Tamsik Dark aspect of his being

- Focusing his positive energy again, Brahma took a Satvik form and created the Deities or Devas. These are the illumined effulgent demi-gods who became the care-takers of different aspects of the Material Creation. This Bright aspect of Brahma's personality also led to the creation of Day-time. 

- The next creation of Brahma was the Pitras.

- Brahma now manifested other divinities such as the Goddesses Saraswati and Gayatri; the Four Vedas; the Goddess of deliveries Prasuti; elements such as Emotions, Music and Rishi Kardama.

- Prasuti became the consort of the eldest Manasputra Daksh, and this is where Copulative creation began! It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit word for parturient labour is also Prasuti, probably a recognition of her being the FIRST woman to give birth to a child by normal delivery!!

- Thus Daksha became the first Prajapati.

- Suddenly, from his body, emerged a creature who looked a lot like him!! This was the First Man, Swayambhu Manu (Born-on-his-Own) who was born with the Kaya of his father Brahma (Ka-Brahma, ya-form).

Swayambhu Manu, the First Man ::

Along with Manu, emerged the female Shatrupa and Brahma assigned for them the planet Earth. Thus, Human-beings, the progeny of Manu and Shatrupa were given the sanction for populating the globe.

- After this, other species with magical powers were created such as the Yaksha, Gandharva, Sarpa, Apsarasa etc. Some of these species are in the mode of goodness while others in the mode of darkness.

- In the last stage of creation, the four Eternal Kumars considered re-appeared in this day of Brahma.

The Brahma Puraan declares :

"To continue with Creation, Brahma gave form to a Man and a Woman. The man was Swayambhu Manu and the Woman was named Shatrupa. Humans are descended from Manu, that is the reason they are known as Manavas."

Note that Indeed MANU is the root-word for both the Sanskrit 'Manushya' and the English 'Man' that derives origin from the Germanic Mannus which stems from the same root as Manu.

Now, Hindu scriptures do not stop at one Manu but mention MORE than ten different Manus! To clear the confusion, I should mention that Manu is NOT the name of a person but a TITLE.

To understand this, we shall first have to go through the basic calculation of time for Lord Brahma. 

Just like our own division of time, each day of Brahma (known as a Kalpa) is divided into 14 Manvantars (~ our 12 Hours) and each Manvantar is composed of 72 Chatur Yugas ( ~ our 60 Minutes). 

there are a total of 14 Manus in EACH day of Brahma and it is in deference to Manu that the division of time is called a Manvantar!

the CURRENT day of Brahma known as the Varah Kalpa. (Since this Kalpa started with the appearance of Lord Vishnu Varah Avatar, it is known as the Varah Kalpa). Varah-avatar was the FIRST Avatar of Lord Vishnu in the present day of Brahma and this incident took place 6 Manvantars = 1.8 Billion Solar Years ago.

At the end of the 50th Year of Brahma, there was the usual flooding and destruction. Brahma rested for the night and at the break of the First Dawn of his 51st Year, started the process once again.

Manu and Shatrupa had two sons Priyavrat and Uttanpad and two daughters Devahuti and Akuti. The two sons were married to daughters of the rishis while the two daughters of Manu were married to the Manas-Putras. 

The Mahabharata says: "And Manu was imbued with great wisdom and devoted to virtue. And he became the progenitor of a line. And in Manu's race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore, been called Manavas. And it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and others have been descended, and are, therefore, all called Manavas. Subsequently, O monarch, the Brahmanas became united with the Kshatriyas. And those sons of Manu that were Brahmanas devoted themselves to the study of the Vedas. "The ten sons of Manu are known as Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha, Saryati, the eighth, a daughter named Ila, Prishadhru the ninth, and Nabhagarishta, the tenth. They all betook themselves to the practices of Kshatriyas. Besides these, Manu had fifty other sons on Earth. But we heard that they all perished, quarreling with one another.

Sraddhadeva Manu or Vaivasvata Manu is one of the 14 Manus, and the son of Vivasvat, hence his other name Vaivasvata Manu.He is considered the progenitor of the current Manvantara, which is the 7th of the 14 that make up the current Kalpa, each Kalpa making up a day of Brahma.

Sraddhadeva was born to Saranya and Vaivasvata and was the King of Dravida during the epoch of the Matsya Purana. Sraddhadeva Manu once caught a talking fish who begged him to rescue it. The fish claimed a Great Flood was coming and it would wash away all living things. Manu put the fish in a pot, and then, as it grew larger, into a tank, a lake and then the ocean. While in the ocean, the fish told Manu to build a boat. He did so and when the flood arrived, the fish (actually Matsya) towed the ship by a cable attached to his horn.

He married Shraddha and ten children including Ila and Ikshvaku, the progenitors of the Chandra Dynasty and Surya Dynasty respectively.

Why We Shout In Anger

"Why We Shout In Anger"

A  saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled 'n asked.

'Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout.'

'But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.' asked the saint, Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.
Finally the saint explained, .

'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper 'n they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other 'n that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

He looked at his disciples and said.

'So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, Do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.'

Common Man

As a daily habit, 15-year old Pintu was reading newspaper.

Suddenly he asked his father, " Dad! What does it mean by 'Governance
System' ? "

"Its Like..." father said while thinking, "See! I earn and bring money
to home, means I am a 'Money Holder'. Your mother decides where and
how to spend that money and that means she is 'Government'. That maid
in our home is doing all the household works, so she will be 'Labour
Class'. You are a 'Common man' or 'Public'. Your kid brother is
'Future' or the 'Next Generation', understand?".

That day Pintu slept with all those thoughts. In the middle of the
night he woke-up because his kid brother was crying. He wetted the
matress so he was crying. Pintu went to wake up his mother. She was in
deep sleep so Pintu went to the Maid's room to wake her up. But there
his father was sleeping with the maid. So he came back with
frustration.

Next morning father asked Pintu, " Hey Pintu Darling! You understood
the 'Governance System'? ".

Pintu replied, " Yeah Dad, I understood! When the Money Holder is
exploiting the Labour Class, our Government is sleeping. The Future of
our nation is crying for not getting their basic needs fulfilled and
in all this the Common Man is suffering!"

Excellence

Excellence...

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."
 
The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency... 

Soul Coffee

  A group of alumni of a reputed college, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work life. Offering his guest coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for each of you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was the coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.

Now if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of life doesn’t change. Sometimes by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.”

So, don’t let only the Cups drive you…

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

One night a man had a dream.
He dreamed he was walking along the beach
with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.

For each scene,
he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand.
One belonged to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed
that many times along the path of his life,
there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened
at the very lowest
and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him
and he questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during
the most troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when I needed you the most
you would leave me."

The Lord replied,
"My precious, precious child,
I love you and would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering
When you see only one set of footprints,
it was then I carried you