The Fox Reared By The Lion

Once upon a time there was a lion and a lioness in a dense forest. They gave birth to two cubs in due course of time. The lion asked the lioness to stay at home and take care of the cubs. One day the lion could not hunt any animal but found a little fox on the way home.

He took it home as a gift for the lioness. The lioness brought the fox kid with the same love as her own cubs. The three young animals grew and played together. One day the children saw an elephant. The lion cubs wanted to fight the elephant. But the fox kid was frightened and asked them to run away. So they ran away and went to the mother lioness.

The lion cubs told the story to her. She laughed at the fox kid. At this the fox kid was offended and in a rage challenged the lioness as to why she called him a coward. The lioness replied, "What's wrong with eating an elephant? You feel like that only because you're not a lion kid. You are the child of a fox. Your breed never eats elephants. If you cannot be bold please leave us and go live with your tribe." The fox kid did not want to live there any longer and left for the forest.

Story moral: A coward will always remain a coward even if it is in company of the brave.

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Long time ago there lived a monkey named Red-face on a tree by the side of the sea. The tree was an apple tree and the fruits it bore were sweet as nectar. Once a crocodile named Ugly-mug swam ashore, Red-face threw apples at him and asked him to taste them. Ugly- Mug started coming everyday ashore to eat the fruits thrown by Red-face and soon they became good friends. Ugly-Mug used to take some fruits to his home to his wife.

His wife was a greedy lady and asked him as to where he got the nectar filled apples. Ugly-Mug told about his friend the monkey. The lady was greedy and pleaded with her husband that she would like to eat the monkey's heart, as a person who gave such tasty fruits must have a heart filled with nectar. Ugly-Mug was angered and did not agree to deceive his friend. But she then insisted on not eating anything till he brought her his friend's heart. Out of desperation, Ugly-mug started making plans for killing his friend.

He came back to Red-face and treated him with an invitation to his house for supper stating that his wife would be thrilled to have him home and also that she was very anxious to meet such a nice friend. Poor Red-face believed the story but was asking his friend as to how he could cross the sea to reach the house of the crocodile on the other side. Ugly-mug then offered to carry him on his back and the monkey agreed.

In the middle of the sea, Ugly-mug took the crocodile deep into the ocean to kill the monkey. The monkey was frightened and asked the crocodile why he was doing this.Ugly-mug told him that his wife wanted to eat the monkey's heart filled with nectar. 

Red-face immediately asked the crocodile to take him back to the tree as he told him that he had left his other heart which was full of nectar back at the tree. The foolish crocodile then swam back to the tree and the terrified monkey jumped up the tree never to return.

Upon being asked as to why she was not returning, the monkey answered to the crocodile that he had only one heart and he had been fooled and scolded his friend for misusing his friendship.

The crocodile was ashamed at what happened and asked the monkey if he could make any amends. He was also scared that his wife would not let him back in because he had returned without the monkey's heart. Just then he heard that a huge he-crocodile had occupied his house. The monkey advised him to fight the he-crocodile and drive him out of his home and gain his wife's confidence. The crocodile followed the advice and he was back happy with his wife.

Story moral: Intelligence wins over might.

The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit

Long time ago there lived a ferocious lion in the forest. It was a greedy lion and started killing all the animals in the forest. Seeing this, the animals gathered and decided to approach the lion with the offer of one animal of each species volunteering itself to be eaten by the lion every day. So every day it was the turn of one of the animals and in the end came the rabbits' turn. The rabbits chose a old rabbit among them. The rabbit old was wise. It decided to take its own sweet time to go to the Lion. The Lion was getting impatient on not seeing any animal come by and swore to kill all animals the next day.

The rabbit then went to the Lion by sunset. The Lion was angry at him. But the wise rabbit was calm and slowly told the Lion that it was not his fault. He told the Lion that a group of rabbits were coming to him for the day but on the way, an angry Lion attacked them all and ate all rabbits but Somehow he escaped to reach safely, the rabbit said. He said that the other Lion was challenging the supremacy of the Lion. The Lion was naturally very enraged and asked to be taken to the location of the other Lion.

The wise rabbit agreed and led the Lion towards a deep well filled with water. Then he showed the Lion his reflection in the water of the well. The Lion was furious and started growling and naturally its image in the water, the other Lion, was also equally angry. Then the Lion jumped into the water to attack the other Lion and kill it but lost its life in the well. Thus the wise rabbit saved the forest and all animals from the proud Lion.

Story moral: Intelligence wins over might.

A friend in need is a friend indeed

Once upon a time there lived a group of mice under a tree peacefully. But once a group of elephants came that way and destroyed the homes of all the rats as a result of which many of them were crushed to death. Then the king of rats decided to approach the elephant chief and request him to guide his herd through another route. The elephant king agreed to this and took another route to the water. And so the lives of the rats were saved.

One day a group of elephant-hunters came and trapped the group

of elephants in huge nets. Then the elephant king suddenly remembered the king of the rats. He summoned one of the elephants of his herd which had not been trapped, to go and contact the king of rats. On listening to the elephant, the rat king took his entire group of

Mice and they cut open the nets which trapped the elephant herd.

So the elephant herd was totally set free.

MORAL: A friend in need is a friend indeed.

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.'