Sanatana Dharma and Indic Knowledge

     CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS STORY - (Sage Bharata, on account of his excessive attachment to a deer, was born as a deer in his next life. After his deer-life, he was born as the son of a Brahmana. He remembered his previous two births. He was afraid that, in this birth too, if he fell prey to attachment, he would have a similar fall. To avoid attachment, he pretended to the world to be a dull and stupid fellow. With his mind, he firmly clasped the Lord’s lotus-feet.)      Because the world took him for a dull-witted person, he was known as Jadabharata (Jada in Sanskrit means dull or idiotic). After the death of his father, Jadabharata’s brothers as well as other people in the neighbourhood took advantage of him. As he was muscular and well-built, they made him work in the fields and extracted all kinds of hard labour from him. Jadabharata never complained. He did any work that was given to him, with or without wages. Often, he was given burnt or spoiled fo...

In the days gone by, there was a good king named Nabhi. His queen was Merudevi. As they had no children, they prayed to Maha Vishnu. Their worship was pure-hearted. Pleased with their devotion, the Lord appeared before them and promised to be born as their son. In due course, a son was born to Merudevi. The happy parents named him Rishabha. Rishabha (or Rishabhadeva), being an Avatara of Maha Vishnu Himself, was perfect and had full control over his senses. He had a majestic and strong personality. When Rishabhadeva came of age, king Nabhi appointed him as the next king and, along with Merudevi, retired to Badarikashrama (Badrinath) to spend his remaining days in the worship of the Lord. Rishhabhadeva was a royal sage. His wife was Jayanti. They had a hundred sons, of whom the eldest was named Bharata. Like his father, Bharata too was a perfect Yogi. It is after him that our land gets its name of Bharatavarsha. Bharata and his brothers grew up to be young men of great virtue. One day, ...

    (Continued from previous story THE STORY OF ATMADEVA)            Dhundhukari continued his evil ways. After his father left for the woods, one day, Dhundhukari severely beat his mother. “Tell me where the money is, or I will beat you with a burning stick,” he threatened her. Terrified by this threat and sorely grieved at the ill-treatment from her son, Dhundhuli threw herself into a well and died. Gokarna, who was ever in union with God, experienced neither sorrow nor joy. He had neither enemies nor friends. He left on a pilgrimage. Dhundhukari stayed in the house with five sinful women. He used to steal money to buy costly garments and gold ornaments for these women. One night, the evil women plotted amongst themselves, “This fellow commits thefts every day. Surely, the king will apprehend him. Not only will the king sentence him to death, but all this stolen wealth will also be confiscated. Therefore, to keep this wealth to ourselves, w...

      Long ago, in a beautiful town on the banks of the river Tungabhadra, there lived a Brahmin named Atmadeva. He was rich and well-versed in the Vedas. However, his wife Dhundhuli, though from a good family, was cunning and cruel. They had a good house and lived well, but they had no children. As they grew old, Atmadeva became very sad because they had no child. One day, he left home for the forest. He decided to end his life in the forest, but he was seen by a Samnyasi. The Samnyasi asked him, “O Brahmana, who are you? Why do you look so sad?”. Atmadeva told him the cause of his misery and started weeping. The Samnyasi saw the lines on Atmadeva’s forehead and told him, “Good Brahmana, through my Yogic power, I have looked into your past Karma (actions), and I can see that you are not destined to have a child for seven lives. Who can change destiny which is brought upon by us on ourselves through our own Karma? Therefore, give up this desire for a child. There...

Hari Om. One of the biggest challenges that many people face in today's times is how to acquaint their children, grandchildren etc. (or ourselves, for that matter) with our Sanatana Dharma and imbibe its great culture and values. Srimad Bhagavatam is a treasure-house of knowledge about Sanatana Dharma - told through interesting stories. As a small service to Society, we have started a series of blog-posts called STORIES FROM SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM . The stories and wonderful truths from this great Purana are told in simple English in the blog. The stories can be read out to small children. Older children and others can read on their own. This is an easy and enjoyable way to get acquainted with our great legacy - Sanatana Dharma. We would like maximum number of people to benefit from this. Please invite your friends or relatives who might be interested, to subscribe to our blog in 2 simple steps: 1. Click on https://blendedrandomly.blogspot.com/ 2. Once inside the blog, click on SUBSCRIB...

What is Srimad Bhagavatam and how did it come to be written? The great sage Vyasa – also known as Veda Vyasa, Krishna Dwaipayana or Badarayana – accomplished the superhuman task of categorizing the Vedas. He also categorized the Itihasas (Ramayana and Mahabharata) and Puranas. He is the author of the Mahabharata and the eighteen major Puranas. Vyasa’s son Sri Suka was a great Yogi and realized soul right from birth. At a very young age, when he was a mere boy, one day, Suka left home and started walking towards the forest. Vyasa followed him out of attachment for his son, but Suka did not look back and kept walking. On the way, there was a pond in which several ladies were bathing. When Suka passed by, he did not seem to take notice of them, neither were the ladies bothered by his presence. However, when Vyasa came along in a few moments following his son, the ladies immediately covered themselves. Puzzled at this, Vyasa asked the ladies, “When my young son passed by, you all c...

 The great sanskrit poet Bhartruhari specifies about the 'Never Give Up' attitude in his text Nitishatakam. Some excerpts from the text are below मनस्वी कार्यार्थी न गणयति दुःखं न च  सुखम्।। An high-minded man who wants to accomplish the task does not count sorrow (adversity) and happiness. Bhartruhari is a famous poet and has written the famous treatise named Nitishatakam, out of which the above line has been extracted. He was a poet, full of thoughtfulness and affluent language.  This line states that firm-minded people always work from their heart, giving their best in all endeavors. They seem to maintain balance between दुःख(sorrow) and सुख(happiness).In all kinds of adversities, such virtuous people do not deviate from their work, inspite of sorrows or joys. Determined people tend to face all kinds of challengss and hardships, but never seem to move back from the undertaken job.  Situations do not matter, and virtuous people remain focused on their goal under al...