Friday 18 December 2020
Thursday 17 December 2020
Fate and Remedies
1-7. Vyâsa said :-- O King! When the Devas were all defeated, S’umbha began to govern all their kingdoms; thus one thousand years passed away. The Devas, on the other hand, deprived of their kingdoms, were all drowned in an ocean of cares and anxieties; at last they began to feel very much and were greatly afflicted. They asked with reverence their own Guru Brihaspati, “O Guru! What are we to do now? O All knowing! You are the Great Muni; kindly say unto us if there be any means by which we can get rid of this our present crisis. There are thousands of Vedic Mantrams which yield the desired results, if they are worshipped with due rites and ceremonies and if all the rules be observed thereof. O best of Munis! Many Yajñâs are mentioned in the Vedas that yield all the desired results; you know them all; so kindly perform those Yajñâs. Do all those ceremonies duly that are ordained in the Vedas for the killing of enemies; O Descendant of Ângirasa! You ought to perform as early as possible those sacrifices for magical purposes to destroy the Dânavas so that all our miseries come to an end.”
8-22. Brihaspati said :-- “O Lord of the Suras! All the mantras mentioned in the Vedas yield the desired results, but subservient to the Great Destiny only; they do not give results of themselves but do so in obedience to to the laws ordained by Nature. You all are the presiding Deities of the Vedic Mantras; but, now, by the strange irony of Time, you are put to difficulties and troubles; what can I do now in this case? See! Indra, Agni, Varuna, and other gods are invoked in sacrifices; how, then, can sacrificial ceremonies do good when you are put to so great difficulties. Therefore there is no remedy to those which will take place unavoidably; but those who are wise declare that in such cases means are to be adopted. Some sages say that Fate is strong but those who advocate the cause of taking remedial means say that Fate is powerless; remedies or manly exertions lead to all success. But, O King of the Devas! The embodied souls ought to resort to both Fate and Remedies; it is never advisable to depend solely on Fate. Therefore, it is advisable to think out again and again as far as one’s own Intellect goes, the best remedies. O Devas! I have thought over again and again on this subject and say to you my opinion.
Monday 14 December 2020
Dirghatamas
Whatever
The God Mahâdeva said :--
- Whatever there exists in this universe,
- whatever you see with your eyes and
- whatever cannot be described in words,
Fled
41-42. O king! Indra, of unequalled prowess, with the aid of Visnu, deprived the Daityas of their kingdom. The defeated Daityas took refuge of their family spiritual guide S'ukrâchârya and addressed him thus, O Brâhmana! You are endowed with your fiery strength of Tapasyâ and you are now powerful; why are you not lending your helping hands to your Daitya followers. O foremost of the councillors. If you do not help us and save us, we will not be able to stay in this earth and will soon have to go down to Pâtâla.
43-44. Vyâsa said :-- Thus addressed by the Daityas, the very kind hearted S'ukrâchârya said, O Daityas! Do not be afraid; I will protect you by my fire of strength and vigour; and help you with sound counsels and medicines. Be brave and energetic and cast aside your mental agony and sorrow.
45-47. Vyâsa said :-- O king! The Daityas became fearless under the patronage of S'ukrâchârya. The Devas had their spies and knew all about these. They held councils with Indra and settled that before the Daityas had time to dislodge us from our Heaven with the mantra of S'ukrâchârya, we will speedily go and attack them. Thus attacked all on a sudden, they will all be slain by us and we will drive them down to the Pâtâla.
48. Thus forming their resolves, with fully equipped arms and weapons, they went out of rage to fight with the Daityas and orderd by Indra and aided by Visnu, they began to kill the Demons.
49. When the Devas were thus slaying the Demons, they got very much terrified and exclaimed “O Lord! Protect us! Protect us!” and took the refuge of Sukra.
50. S'ukrâchârya, seeing the Daityas very much perplexed and distracted, at once cried aloud out of the influence of his Mantra “No fear, no fear,” Then the Devas on seeing S'ukrâchârya left the Daityas and fled away to their own places.