Gaya sradhha

The stories told in Varaha purana are as answer to questions by Prithwi to Lord Varaha.


Prithvi was anxious to know about the effect sage Brihaspati's discourses on King Vasu and sage Raimya. She asked lord Varaha-"What did both king Vasu and sage Raimya do after listening to the preaching of sage Brihaspati?"

Lord Varaha replied-"King Vasu was so impressed by Brihaspati's discourses that he decided to spend the rest of his life in the service of lord Narayana. He appointed Viwasman-his eldest son as his successor and left for Pushkara teertha. He engaged himself in austere penance by chanting pundarikaksha stothra.

1. Appearance of new entity before King Vasu

One day, while King Vasu was chanting pundarikaksha stothra, he experienced an amazing incident-an entity whose complexion was blue, manifested from his body and stood with folded hands. In his bewilderment, king Vasu requested the stranger to make his introduction

The entity narrated the following tale to him

2. The entity Identifies in detail

"O King, you were the ruler of Janasthan in your second previous birth. Once, while you had gone deep into the forest on a hunting spree, you were delighted to find a deer which in fact was none other but myself. In fact, I had disguised myself as a deer and was wandering in the forest.

By your will power you recognised it is not an ordinary deer but a Brahmin. Still you had killed that dear. Later on, when you realized your mistake, you cursed yourself for having killed an innocent Brahmin.

To get absolved of this sin, you had observed a fast on Ekadashi and had donated a cow to please lord Narayana .But, in spite of all these austerities you did not attain liberation because at the time of your death you had chanted your wife's name whose name was Narayani instead of Narayana. (The entity is telling his previous life story. Do not loose the string)

This blunder of yours had stopped you from attaining to Vishnu loka for one complete kalpa. But, my revengeful soul continued to torture your soul till it was driven out by lord Narayan's escorts. It was only then that you were able to attain to Vishnu loka."
"In your next birth you were born as the king of Kashmir. I did not spare you even in that birth and possessed your body. You performed numerous yagyas to get rid of me but all your efforts went in vain as you had not chanted the holy name of lord Vishnu in any of the rituals that you had performed.

3. Entity now informs that it abandons him

But, now I was forced to abandon your body since you have been constantly chanting the sacrosanct pundarikaksha stothra. I have also become absolved of all my sin by the virtue of listening to the pundarikaksha stothra."

4. King Vasu goes to heaven

King Vasu expressed his gratitude to the entity for shedding light on his previous births. Suddenly, a divine aircraft descended from the heaven and king Vasu left for Vishnuloka mounted on it.

My note- Is it from this king Thrisanku too desired to go to heaven with physical body?

5. Sage Raimya too desires to go to heaven

Meanwhile, sage Raimya got the news of Vasu's ascension to heaven to Vishnuloka; he wanted to emulate the feat of his friend.

6. Sage Raimya perform Gaya sraadha

He reached Gaya and performed shraddh in the name of his ancestors .He then engaged himself in an austere penance .Sanat kumar-one of the manasputras of Lord Brahma.

Sage Sanatkumar became very pleased by Raimya's penance and appeared before him. He complimented Raimya for liberating his ancestors by performing shraddh at Gaya.

7. Virtues of performing sraadha at Gaya

He then described the virtues of performing shraddh at Gaya and narrated the following tale

My note

Before going further I wanted too make a note. Many sasthrikals say GAYA SRAADHA IS A BADHA KHANA OR NOTHING BUT A THEERTHA SRAADHA. Many members too support that view.

If we believe in puranas just read below and ensure whether Gaya sraadha is a Badha khana yourself. I have read only an English translation of varaha purana published in US Brahmin group earlier.

7a. King Vishal get informed the reason for not begetting a son

"There lived a king named Vishal who had no son. One day, he invited few Brahmins to his palace and asked them how he could beget a son. All the Brahmins revealed to him that he did not have son because of the curse of his ancestors.

"You have not performed their shraddh so, they are angry with you and you can never beget a son unless you performed shraddh rituals at Gaya.

7b. King Vishal perform Gaya sraadha

Vishal went to Gaya as per the instruction of the Brahmins. He performed the shraddh rituals and offered pinda-daan in the name of his ancestors. While he was still performing the rituals, he was amazed to see three men descending from the sky-one of them was of fair complexion while the remaining two were of wheatish and dark complexion respectively.

7c. Pithrus appear before King Vishal

Vishal curiously asked them as to who they were. The fair-complexioned person replied

'I am your father- 'Sith' . The person with wheatish complexion is my father and the third person amongst us is my grandfather. My father had committed grave sins while he was alive and killing a Brahmin was one the gravest sin he had committed.

My grandfather was even worse than my father and his dark complexion is nothing as compared to his grave sins. He had killed numerous innocent sages for no fault of theirs.

7d Pithrus express their satisfaction on LIBERATION and NOT FOR GETTING A BADAKHANA BY PERFROMING GAYA SRAADHA.

All three of us have come to express our gratitude as we have BECOME LIBERATED FROM OUR SINS BY THE VIRTUE OF THE SHRADDH RITUALS YOU HAVE PERFORMED.

The water which you had offered to us while performing the rituals have given us the ability to communicate with you, even though we are spirits.'

8. Sage Sanat kumar explains to sage Raimya that GAYA SRAADHA IS NOT COMPARABLE to any thing .

After finishing his tale, Sanat kumar told sage Raimya that Gaya was supreme among all the places of pilgrimage and THE VIRTUES OF PERFORMING SHRADDH OVER THERE IS INCOMPARABLE.

9. Sage Raimya reach Vishnuloka

Sage Raimya dedicated rest of his life to the worship of lord Gadadhar. At last, lord Gadadhar appeared before him. Sage Raimya requested the lord to give him a place in his abode which was dwelled by sages like Sanak and Sanandan .Lord Gadadhar blessed him by saying-'So be it. 'This way, sage Raimya attained enlightenment with the blessings of the merciful lord Gadadhar and ultimately attained to the divine abode of lord Vishnu.

knr

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If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.

  Every moment, thank God