The Great Sages of India - Brahmins Vs Kshatriyas - Part 10

Throughout the history we can notice that the Brahmins and Kshatriyas have always shared a Love / Hate relationship with each other. 

• Brahmins have always been under the protective cover of the rulers and even Lord Krishna says (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.16.10), “The brahmanas, the cows, are defenseless creatures and they are my own body.”

• Kshatriyas have largely been patronizing the Brahmins for their wisdom, knowledge and austerity. But there are many instances where Brahmins and Kshatriyas have been at loggerheads like cats and dogs and when you read few stories filled with vengeance and violence it would send shivers through your spine.

• Barring the story of Parasurama who belongs to the same Bhargava Clan, Brahmins have always been at the receiving end.

• We read many instances of inter-caste marriages between Brahmins and Kshatriyas that were very prevalent those days and it should be noted that Brahmin men were allowed to marry ladies from the 3 castes (lowest class excluded) but Kshatirya men were not allowed to marry Brahmin ladies but can marry ladies from other 3 castes. I don't know the logic for this but this was the rule.

• When Ravana's sister Soorpanaka asks Rama to marry her, Lord Rama rejects her saying, she is the daughter of grand son of Brahma who is a Brahmin and hence he cannot marry her. Poet Kambar uses a fantastic term to describe her "பூவிலோன் புதல்வன் மைந்தன் புதல்வன் புதல்வி..."

• Sage Chavanar married Sukanya who is the daughter of King Saryathi. The kings were also very much happy in most of the instances to marry their daughter off to Sages like Chyavanar.

• In Ramayana Seeta tells Lord Rama "Sukanya Chyavanam Yatha" meaning i shall be as dedicated Sukanya who was a loyal and dedicated wife to Sage Chyavana.

• As i said in my introduction we need to recollect the sage and his wife together since the tapas, austerity and spiritual powers were shared by both and it was not a male dominated society. There are multiple stories about Sage Chyavanar and Sukanya which highlights Sukanya's loyalty and dedication to her husband.

Sage Chyavanar could foresee that this inter-caste marriage arrangement would lead to extreme hostilities between Brahmins and Kshatriyas and he tried his level best to avert this but he could not.

We will see this story in the next part.

Happy reading!

The Great Sages of India - Chyavana Prasava Lehyam - Part 8

The brilliant boy with so much radiance who protected his mother and burnt the demon  at the time of his birth is Sage Chyavanar. He is one of the most respected sages in the Bhrigu clan and his name in the pravara is mentioned as Chyaavana. 

It is told that he does Tapas for years together, which includes 12 years of Tapas under water at Prayag (at the junction of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati) and also some instances where termites build castles around him since he meditates unmoved in one place. He is also described as extremely skinny and looks very old, impatient, obstinate, quick to anger.

In one instance in a Yagna he invited "Ashwini Devas" for the Soma bana drink. Each Yagna is done with specific invitees and the offering in Yagna is given to only those invitees. Typically only Devas are invited and though technically being devas, "Ashwini Devas" are the lord of medicine to the mankind. Since Devas are immortal they do not require any medicine so they considered "Ashwini Devas" as inferior to them. The other reason why devas were against Ashwini brothers is interesting, "They kill plants and herbs to make medicines, though medicines save human life, they still kill the plants and hence they are not qualified in this divine gathering". Now this highlights that killing even a plant despite it saving lives are considered bad in certain section of the universe. Compare the type of crime we commit when we kill animals to satisfy our taste buds.

The devas objected to Sage Chyavanar that he cannot call Ashwini Devas for the yagna and offer them Soma Bana as it the right of "qualified" devas only. But the sage was obstinate and told them that it is his Yagna and he shall decide whom to invite and what to offer. Considering the spiritual powers of the Sage, the devas grudgingly agreed.

Ashwini Devas were treated well in the yagna by Chyavanar and were offered Soma bana drink. In return Ashwini Devas gave Sage Chyavanar a special medicine which shall remove his old age and bring back youth and virility to him.

This potion / medicine which was given to Sage Chyavanar by Ashwini Devas is called as Chyavana Prasava Lehyam now popularly called as "Chyavanprash" today.

The above story is documented part of our Vedas which are actually undated, yet it is dated at least 5000 years back even by skeptics. Now if that is so, we have a medical product in Ayurveda, to this date which delivers the same benefits.

I leave it to you whether to dismiss this as some story or mythology or accept that it could have been part of our remote past. Lets see more about Sage Chyavanar in the next post.

Happy reading!

The Great Sages of India... Bhargava Ganam ... Part 7

Apart from astrology and contribution to Vedas Sage Bhrigu also has contributions in Ayurveda, Bhriguvalli section in Taitropanishad, Sage Bhrigu - Bharadwaja samvadam in Maha Bharatha et al.

Agni as Sarva Pakshan (All consuming) :

One of the qualities of Agni (Fire), as we know today, is that it burns everything. In Vedas it is referred as Agni consuming / eating things. Can you believe that Agni once upon a time used to burn only things which were given as a part of Yagna and nothing otherwise? Sounds difficult to believe but there is a story to it, linked to Sage Bhrigu.

Sage Bhrigu was also married to Puloma (understandably he had many wives) who was very beautiful and a demon wanted to snatch her away from the Sage. Since the Sage was very powerful it was scared to do that and hence was waiting for the right time. Knowing the demon's intent the Sage used to keep Agni as the guard for his wife, if he has to go out of the ashram.

Once when the Sage went out with Agni as the guard, the demon entered the ashram and was trying to abduct Puloma. Agni could have prevented the demon but did not do it for whatever reason. At that time Puloma was pregnant and was about to deliver a baby. Just as the demon carried the pregnant Puloma from the ashram, the Sage returned and at the same time Puloma delivered a radiant baby boy which fell to the ground.

The radiance of the new born child just burnt the demon fully and saved his mother. Sage Bhrigu was so angry that he cursed Agni that you shall become Sarva Pakshan. This is a very demeaning curse for the devas since Agni was supposed to be pure and should consume only what is given as Havis in a yagna and nothing otherwise.

Since the Sage was very powerful and also angry at that time, even Lord Brahma (his father) could not pacify the Sage and reverse the curse. No doubt had there been no curse like this, we would have an Agni which is so different in its quality then we know today.

So a Sage who was in love with Agni and discovered him in water was also the one who cursed it to change its quality to burn everything instead of a selective few.

The boy who fell on the ground and burnt the demon with his radiance was called Sage Chayavanar. We will discuss about him in the next post.

Happy reading!

PS: You may think what about fire resistant / retardant products which are fire proof. If you read the fine print of any of the fire proof products or for that matter fire extinguishers it says that it is a matter of time that it can resist, the maximum temperature it can resist, the strength of the fire, of course being a function of all the three.

The Great Sages of India - Bhargava Ganam - Part 6

Sage Bhrigu was created by Brahma from his skin and is the father of Sri Vatsa Gothra and his clan is called as Bhargava Ganam. We will start with this lineage. 5 Rishis form the pravara who are direct sons of each other starting from Sage Bhrigu, as 

Sage Bhrigu - Sage Chayavanar - Sage Aapnavar - Sage Auravar - Sage Jamadagni

All the five sages have significant contribution to our Sanatana Dharma and if Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita says "Maharishinaam Bhriguraham", meaning Sage Bhrigu is the superior of the rishis then there is nothing more required to praise his greatness.

• Sage Bhrigu and his wife Khyadi gave birth to Goddess Maha Lakshmi and hence Sage Bhrigu is the father in law of Lord Vishnu. Goddess Lakshmi is called as "Bhargavi" daughter of Bhrigu.
• Sage Bhrigu and Khyadi gave birth to Sage Sukrachariyar the Guru of Demons.
• Khyadi was the daughter of Dakshan and hence Bhrigu is the Co-brother to Lord Shiva (Who married Sati - Dakshan's daughter), Co-brother to Sage Kashyapar (who married 13 daughters of Dakshan), Co-brother to Chandran (who married 27 daughters of Dakshan). Looks like Dakshan was a whole sale producer of good looking girls and every male at time in India should have wished that is father in-law is like Dakshan. :)
• Lord Indra's daughter Jayanthi aka Kavya was married to Sukrachariyar and hence Lord Bhrigu was Sambandhi of Indra.
• Bhrigu Samhita is the first treatise in the field of predictive Astrology written by Bhrigu.

Sage Bhrigu was also highly self-conceited at some point of time and his pride was removed by Lord Vishnu when the eye in sage's feet was destroyed. This is a well known story.

Fire from Water:

According to Vedas fire can be produced from different sources like Space, plants, trees, thick & dry shrubs, stones, forest, some medicines and also from water. Till our western science came up with the formula for water as H2O, they did not know that fire (Oxygen) is embedded in water and can be produced from it.

इमं विधन्तो अपां सधस्थे पशुं न नष्टं पदैरनु गमन |

गुहा चतन्तमुशिजो नमोभिरिछन्तो धीराभ्र्गवो.अविन्दन ||

imaṃ vidhanto apāṃ sadhasthe paśuṃ na naṣṭaṃ padairanu ghman |

ghuhā catantamuśijo namobhirichanto dhīrābhṛghavo.avindan ||

Worshipping, seeking him with adoration like some lost creature followed by its footprints,

Wise Bhrgus, yearning in their hearts, pursued him, and found him lurking where the floods are gathered.

The above Rig Mantra says that Sage Bhrigu, was the first person who discovered that fire can be produced from water. All the sages have significant relationship with fire and fire rituals. The above sloka states that just how a person who has lost his cattle would search around even tracing its footprint, Sage Bhrigu searched for fire in this universe and discovered it in water. Such was the Sage's love for fire that he even cursed and changed the quality of fire totally which we will see in the next section.

The above verse is dated 3000 BC even by the skeptics of Sanatana Dharma which is certainly 4500 years earlier than the western scientists told us that fire can be produced from water. Why should such wisdom be allowed die due to our ignorance and indifference? Think about it.

We will see more in the subsequent blogs...

Happy Reading!

The Great Sages of India ..... Part 4

2. Pravara & Gotra:

One of the important questions to ask is how are we related to these Rishis? Are they relevant any more? If we were to be told that we are none other than one of the descendants to those great maharishis and not a lowly evil soul in this earth, would it not sound good and elevating? Actually all of us are.

Hindus when they fall on elders feet they are supposed to tell their Pravara, Gotra, Sutra and Sarma as a part of Abhivadaye, and this tracks their lineage. This needs to be told in every vedic ritual the individual performs. I am going to explain to the extent i understand and please validate this with someone more knowledge.

1. Pravara - Typically the person names 3 or 5 or 7 Rishis who lived in the remotest past and we form the lineage of those sages. There are only 49 Pravaras.

2. Gotra - This is the latest ancestor of a person whose name is associated with a lineage and is known for generations. Gotras are innumerable and are related Pravara. It is told that Gotras are based on 7 great sages and the details what i know are given below.

3. Sarma - Is the individual's name.

So typically Gotras and Pravaras should throw up an unique family or a DNA trait just like blood groups, but i don't think we are interested in that type of a research, because the education system we underwent or our current society does not encourage that type of study. Marriage within same Gotras are to be avoided as per the customs and I am not sure if there are any medical reasons which are validated. But this is what Khaps in north India are fighting for. There is a article i read that Gotras are all about the identity of the Y Chromosomes but have not seen any concrete study explaining that.

3. Our Obligation:

It is told that every individual who is born in this world are obligated and comes with debts to three people they are 1. Debt to Rishis (Sages) 2. Debt to Devas (Demigods) 3. Debt to Pitrus (Ancestors).

An individual pays back the debt to Rishis by gaining wisdom through learning vedas. But currently we are neither learning vedas nor know the ones who gave us this.

I am making a small attempt to highlight them to the extent i understand. This is neither authoritative nor comprehensive and should be viewed as a trigger to learn more.

There are 2 questions which i am prompting for you:

1. Is there a comprehensive study done on Gotras and Pravaras which i can go through?
You can try here. I like this site on their quality of work.. https://www.trsiyengar.com/id137.shtml


2. In the current way of life, why should we be bothered about all these Gotras or Pravaras which we don't understand clearly?

I can answer this in 2 parts. Per my introduction article there is a global recognition for our ancient and glorious past. You may say that I would take Yoga, Astronomy and science but leave out Yajnas, rituals, Dharmic rules etc. But I believe its a package and everything is part of the unified whole and cannot be separated. Its like means and ends. One without other is incomplete. So, what is invaluable cannot be lost, hence we need to learn this and preserve what we have.

For the second part of this answer, i wanted to quote Kanchi Periava, which registered with me very well. When someone asked him, why should we keep reciting slokas and mantras without understanding their full meaning for which Periava replied, A sloka like "Vinayagar Agaval" is a box of very high value diamonds and valuable gems inside but whose key is not available with you today. If you preserve the box, you can still avail those gems when you get the keys, but if you discard that box today, then you have lost it forever. So when sages have given us the wisdom and asked us to propitiate devas through Yagnas for a prosperous life, the attempt should be to understand the science behind or least we stick to it even if we don't understand the meaning.

I would like to add that it is our duty to pass on the knowledge in the same measure or in excess than what has been bequeathed to us from our parents. Strongly put, In the chain of generations, we don't have any right to decide what (part of vedic knowledge) to pass on and what to destroy and it becomes our responsibility to preserve the extent possible the wisdom that has come about for millions of years.

Happy reading!

7 Prime sages and Gotras:

1. Bhargava Ganam has 7 Gotras under Sage Bhrigu.

2. Angiras Ganam has 3 primary Gotras and 20 sub divisions under Sage Angiras

3. Athreya Ganam has 4 Gotras under Sage Atri

4. Vaishvamitra Ganam has 10 Gotras under Sage Vishvamitrar.

5. Kaashyapa Ganam has 5 Gotras under Sage Kashyapar

6. Vaashishta Ganam has 5 Gotras under Sage Vashishtar.

7. Agasthiya Ganam has 4 Gotras under Sage Agasthyar.

The Great Sages of India... Part 3

Part 2...

I would continue to make few points on the basics before i jump to the main section:

1. Semantics:

In Sanskrit a sage is popularly referred as Rishi, which is derived etymologically from the root Ris and there are two specific definitions which explain why they are called so.

• "Rishati Jnanena Samsaraparam" - which means a Rishi is one who crosses the worldly life (Samsaraparam) through WISDOM (Jnana).
• "Rishir darshanaat" - which means a Rishi is one who is a "seer". 

Theses divine souls are generally created by Lord Brahma when a "Kalpa" begins and some of the important things to highlight are:

• They are immortals and have conquered to birth and death cycle. Most of them have lived for ages and you can hear about them in multiple stories of different periods. Kalpa refers to 4.3 billion years (1000 Chatur Yugas) and equals to half a day of Lord Brahma. We are in the Sveta varaha Kalpa which has started JUST 1.96 billions years ago only. (If some one is interested in this calculation please leave me a comment / mail).

• The were mostly humble and never said that they are the creators for any of their works including mantras. They have always claimed themselves as "Drishtas" and this is a very important aspect of Hinduism. Vedas are believed to be breath of God and they are ever existent. Rishis who can tune themselves to that state can perceive these vibrations and they compose what they have perceived. So they are all Drishtas and never claimed to be Karthas (creators).

• Whenever when we think of a Rishi we need to think of their wife too. This is not the case in most of the modern texts. A wife is a "SahdharmaCharini", who has equal representation in any persons life - be it austerity, tapas, good or bad things. Hence all the powers these Rishis have had is shared with their wives and hence their wives are as powerful as the Rishis. Alternatively it is also told that the divine powers of these Rishis are because of their wives since many of the vedic rituals have to be jointly performed by husband and wife. This is very aptly captured in the quote "Ardho va Esaatmano Yat Patni" meaning a better halves have equal right in performance of Yagna.

• This means that Rishis mostly lived a married life and yet were divine souls within that nuptial framework. It can also be said, that they married since without their wife they would not have become what they were. This is again very nicely captured in "Ayajno va esa Patnikah" -  that there is not Yajna without wife.

• Sukrtam va etani Jyotimsi yan Nakshatrani - This means that stars which we see are the light of the doers of pious deeds. The saptarishis in the great bear constellation is an example of this with 7 sages - Marichi, Vasishta, Angiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha and Krutu. Some of the stars occur in pairs indicating their wives with them.

• Practicing Vedic dharma was also prevalent among woman and there were atleast 27 woman seers listed in Rig Veda, some of them were Rishi patnis (wives). 

We would also notice that it was a prevalent custom for a Brahmin Rishi to marry a Kshatriya girl and take her as his wife. Inter-caste marriages with a FRAMEWORK were prevalent even at the highest levels. Hence we can infer that equal status to wife in married life and also in spiritual path were embedded in Hinduism from day one and what we see today as a male dominated society is a distortion.

Keeping the attention span in mind, let me continue the rest in the next blog...

Happy reading!

Examples of famous Rishis and Patnis:

1. Agastya - Lopamudra

2. Vasishta - Arundhati

3. Atri - Anusuya

4. Gautama - Ahalya

5. Bhrigu - Puloma

6. Shyavanar - Sukanya

7. Rishikar - Satyavathi

8. Jamadagni - Renuka Devi

The Great Sages of India.. Part 2

Part 1... 

There are 2 civilizations that amaze me whenever I think of history as we know it and the current civilization's perception about their own history. The first is the Arabs who understandably had a glorious civilization during pre-Islamic era yet there is no trace of it which is systematically erased over a period of time.

The second is the Indian civilization which is known as Sanatana Dharma. Despite overwhelming evidence, historical monuments, stories, culture, rituals, global recognition and science we have degraded to a level that we are completely ignorant of our great past. In my point we are worse than the Arabs since they had a force which changed them with sword and blood, but we Indians seems to be losing it on our own in a war of attrition waged by the ignorance and western education. But these are only the tools but the war is fought by Indians on themselves. 

But I am not here to rue about the state of things or to say that this is how God has designed it and why worry. But I wanted to share some of the history that I read especially about the Great sages of India who lived since time immemorial and who did have conquered death and attained immortality.

This is going to be a series and I am not sure how many parts this is going to contain hence be prepared for the long haul. Some pointers:

1. The most potent "Gayatri mantra" is given by Sage Vishwamitra, who by birth was not a Brahmin and a Kshatriya. How many of us know his history and birth and even the fact that he is designed to be a Brahmin.

2. Have you heard of a 100 year pregnancy that too it being sustained in the thighs? You don't have to be amazed if tomorrow our medical science says that we can sustain the pregnancy in thighs since this is documented several thousand years back.

3. Are you aware as to what is the origin of moon? How it came into being? Which sage created it and how?

4. Dabur Chyavanprash is a very popular brand, but do you know that the first "Chyavanaprakasa Lehyam" was created by whom, when, how and why?

Just this health product is sufficient to prove our history and it's content are true. My point is this. We can ignore them as mythology and these things never existed and are concocted stories, but let's do that after we read them. We need to be rational yet  ignorance can't be the path to rationality.

In this series I am going to start with Vedic Rishis and then take up Siddhars of India and then to the modern day sages who have lived and are living with us. This shall be an ongoing series...

Happy Reading!

The Great Sages of India - Introduction

(You may want to see this Video in Full screen and use the pause button to suit it to your speed of reading).

Our rich past and cultural heritage is globally known. But we never think of the sages behind this rich cultural heritage who left us so much wisdom and knowledge from time immemorial. Indian concept of time, age of the universe and historical events are not yet accepted by the western world and hence we being educated under Macaulay's system of education find it difficult to accept most of them.

Continued in the next part...

Happy reading!