Showing posts with label Ganga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ganga. Show all posts

Friday, February 14, 2020

How did Ganga come to on Earth?

How did Ganga come to on Earth?

Shiva has a close relationship with the Himalayas and the Ganges, and his relationship with the Ganges has greatly enriched popular portraiture.

For Hindus, all water, be it ocean or river, lake or rainwater, is a symbol of life and its nature is considered divine.

Prominent in this context are the three sacred rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and the imaginary Saraswati. Of these, the first river is the most important.

Since the Ganges is feminine, she is labeled as a woman with long hair. In the form of a goddess, Ganga washes away the sins of all those who are so lucky that their ashes should flow into its sacred waters.
In a place that addresses the Ganges in the Brahmavaivarta Purana, Shiva himself says- 'During the millions of births on earth, a sinner who gathers mountains of sin is vanished with the mere touch of the Ganges.
Whoever breathes in the humid air from this holy water, it will be sinless . ' It is believed that every person becomes holy with the mere touch of the Ganges's divine body. The most divine stories in the Indian mythology are about the circumstances in which the Ganges descended from heaven and came to earth.
Once upon a time there were some demons who used to harass Brahmin, sages, saints etc. and also used to obstruct their worshipping . When they were chased,then they hid in the sea, but they came again at night and used to harass to peoples.

Once the sages prayed to the sage Agastya to free them from the torture of demonic terror. For his help, Agastya sages drank the sea including the demons.

Thus those demons came to an end but the earth became void of water. The humans then prayed to another sage Bhagirath to relieve them from the calamity of drought.
In order to be eligible for such a great boon, Bhagiratha spent a thousand years doing penance and then went to near Brahma and prayed to him that he take down the river Ganges of Swargalok to earth.

Pleased with Bhagiratha's penance, Brahma pledged to try as hard as he could and asked Shiva for help in this matter.

He explained that if that great river of Swargalok fell on the earth with all its velocity and the weight of all water, earthquakes would occur and would result in great destruction. Hence, one has to reduce the velocity of his fall by suffering the trauma and no one else can do this work except Shiva.
Bhagirath kept fasting and praying. Shiva pleased when the time comes. He let Ganga fall on her stream to the earth and to ease his shock, he laid his head between the earth and the sky. The water of Swargalok then flowed smoothly through his hair in the Himalayas and reached the Indian plains from there.

Now let's move to the second story, this story is more popular among people

In the ancient time, a  king named Sagar ruled in Ayodhya. He had one son from one queen and sixty thousand sons from another queen . After some time, there was a desire to perform Ashwamedha - Yagya in the mind of Maharaja Sagara.
King Sagarna started the yagna by entrusting the responsibility of protecting the yagya horse to his grandson Anshuman. But on the festival day, Indra stole the yajna's horse of King Sagara as a demon and left it near the ashram of Lord Kapil Muni.
Sixty thousand sons of King Sagara, locating the horse, reached the ashram of Kapil Muni. The yajna's horse of Maharaja Sagar was also grazing there. The Sagar's sons were extremely angry considering Lord Kapil as a thief.

They ran to kill Kapil Muni, calling him a misdemeanor. Lord Kapil burnt them with a roar.

Later, finding his uncles, Prince Anshuman arrived at Kapil Muni's ashram, where Sagar's sixty thousand sons were burned to ashes in Kapil Muni's wrath.
Mahatejsvi Anshuman wished for jalanjali to give them water, but there was no water reservoir anywhere. At the same time, he saw Garuda. He said to Anshuman - "Narashrestha! Your uncles will not be getting salvation by the ordinary jalanjali .
Try to bring the eldest daughter of Himwan Gangaji to on this earth and tarpan own uncles with their holy water. At the same time, Lokpavani will satisfy sixty thousand princes's ash with their water, at that time she will get reach them all to heaven. '
Anshuman returns with a horse. Even after trying hard, he could not bring Ganga ji to the earth. Later Bhagiratha was born in his dynasty. He handed over the burden of the kingdom to his ministers and started doing heavy austerities at Gokarna-tirtha to bring Ganga ji to earth.
After thousands of years of rigorous penance of Bhagiratha, Lokpathama Brahma came there and said - 'Maharaj Bhagirath! I am very happy with your penance. May your wish be fulfilled. I can give you to Ganga ji, but none other than Lord Shankar has the power to hold the eldest daughter of Himwan's Gangaji.
You should do austerity to Lord Rudra to stop this great velocity of the Ganges. ”Brahma ji became disappeared by saying this. After Lord Brahma left, King Bhagiratha continued to perform rigorous austerities of Lord Shankar for a year continuously by standing the thumb on the earth.

 Lord Pashupati appeared a year later.  He said to Bhagiratha ‘Narashrestha!  I am very happy with you.  I will definitely do your favorite work.  By holding Giriraj Kumari Ganga on my forehead, I will pave the way for the welfare of your ancestors as well as entire beings.

After getting the approval of Lord Shankar, the eldest daughter of the Himalayas, Ganga ji fell on the forehead of Lord Shankar from the sky with great force. At that time, Ganga ji had a strong desire in mind to win Lord Shankar.
She is the elder sister-in-law of Lord Shankar in relationship with Lord Shankar being married to Parvati ji. It was she who gave birth to Kartikeya by absorbing the power of Lord Shankar on the prayers of the gods.
Ganga ji thought that with her strong velocity, I will enter the patallok with to Lord Shankar. Sensing this arrogance of Ganga ji, Shiva ji got angry and thought of making Ganga ji invisible.

 Anyway, Ganga ji is the symbol of devotion and ego is the biggest hindering element in devotion.

Lord Shiva sometimes rages at his devotees to destroy his ego and his anger is also to compensation. When the holy Ganga fell on Lord Rudra's head, she got badly entangled in the trap of his jata.
Even after trying many time , she could not get out.  She kept circling in it for many years, getting entangled in the trap. When Bhagiratha saw that the Ganges had become invisible in Lord Shiva's jatamandal, he again started meditating to the pleasure of Bholenath. Satisfied with his tenacity, Lord Shiva took Ganga ji and left it at Bindu Sarovar.
The seven streams of Ganga ji, such as the streams of Hadini, Pavani and Nalini, went towards the east and Suchakshu, Sita and Mahanadi Sindhu - these three streams went towards the west. The seventh stream followed Mahajan Bhagiratha and came to earth. Thus, with the grace of Lord Shankar, Ganga descended on the earth and with the salvation of the ancestors of Bhagiratha, the Ganges reached the  world.
In this way, the water of Ganga ji on the forehead of God Sankar from the sky and from there on earth was getting amazing beauty. All the gods were standing in the sky watching this wonderful and exquisite view of Gangavataran. The water of the Ganges used to fall on the land, sometimes rising on the high stones .

The river Ganges is considered valuable due to its special water and its special properties. Its water maintains its purity and sanctity for a long time. It is believed that Ganga was born from the feet of Lord Vishnu. Also, she lives in Shiva's jata. Taking bath, worshiping and seeing the Ganges eliminates sins, liberates from diseases. The shrines which are situated on the banks of the Ganges are considered more sacred than others.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Ganga - the soul of India

Ganga - the soul of India

Any person who believes in his tradition at some place in India, when they goes to bathe, spontaneously words out from his mouth-

‘‘गंगे च यमुने चैव गोदावरी च सरस्वती,

नर्मदे, सिन्धु, कावेरी जलेस्मिन सन्निधिं कुरु।।”

"Gange ch yamune chav Godavari ch Saraswati,

 Narmade, Sindhu, Kaveri Jalesmin Sannidhin Kuru. "

This makes it clear as a symbol that India's cultural heritage is the same. Every person has a positive attachment to Indian rivers and enclaves. The river Ganga is credited with tying India into a series . The Ganges is a sacred river for us. So sacred that we all see rivers as Ganges.

The Ganges originates from the icy peaks of the Himalayas at an altitude of about 4000 meters above sea level. The original source of the Ganges is believed to be Gomukh which is located 21 kilometers south of Gangotri. From the beginning of Indian culture and civilization, Ganga is not only targeted as India's greatest and holy river, but is also revered as mother in the world's best rivers. Among the tributaries in the catchment area of ​​the Ganges River are Yamuna, Gomti, Saryu Ramganga, Kosi, Chambal, Son etc. The major religious cities on the banks of the Ganges are Haridwar, Rishikesh, Allahabad, Varanasi. Kumbh Mela is held at a gap of 12 years at Haridwar and Allahabad on the banks of the Ganges. Ganga water is used in bathing, drinking, irrigation and industries. Pollution is also increasing after increasing population and the availability of water is continuously decreasing.
The river Ganges is venerable and sacred to the people of North India, it is multiple of many times venerable and sacred to the people of east, west and south. When people of South India meet each other after bathing on the day of Diwali, they ask each other, "Ganga Snanam Achcha" (Has your Ganges bathed?) Everyone living in South India want to goes Prayag, Kashi, Haridwar, Badrinath etc. Everyone goes to the pilgrimage places and yearns to bathe, everyone considers Ganga Darshan and Ganga bathing as the goal of their life. Not only this, they keep Ganges water in their house of worship. They also worship that Ganga water duly. Ganges water gives to a dying person. We see Indian unity behind this religious belief.

The greatness of the Ganges is indescribable. In the Gita, Shri Krishna has said-
 Sarotasamasmi Jahnavi means in the rivers
I am
 Jahnavi (Ganges) .
 In the Mahabharata, it is said about Ganga.

‘‘पुनाति कीर्तिता पापं द्रष्टा भद्र प्रयच्छति।
अवगाढ़ा च पीता च पुनात्या सप्तम कुलम।।’’

"Punati Kirtita Papam Drishta Bhadra Prakriti.
 Avagadha Ch Peeta Ch Punatya saptam Kulam. "

That is, Ganga destroys the sins of those who pronounce her name. Wishes the darshan and sanctifies up to seven generations of bathing men.
 In the Vedas and Puranas, Ganga has been repeatedly called Tirthamayi.

‘‘सर्वतीर्थमयी गंगा सर्वदेवमया हरि:।’’ (नृसिंह पुराण)
"Sarvatirthamayi Ganga Sarvadevamaya Hari:" (Narsingha Purana)

In this way, the Ganges water has proved to be the best from religious texts to analysis. That is why it is said - "Ganga Tava Darshanat Mukti:". There is no river in the world that has received so much respect. It is worshiped not only as a source of water but also as a goddess. No religious ritual is complete without Ganga.i

The Ganges water which is very clean and nectaric in Rishikesh, later becomes so polluted in Kanpur, Prayag and Varanasi that even drinking is not worth bathing. The main causes of pollution are-

1. Waste, chemicals and contaminated water of industries and factories
 2. abandoned on the banks of the river, Mal-Mutra.
 3. Putting dead corpses in the Ganges
 4. Dead animals that are flown directly into the Ganges.
 5. To dump garbage along the river or in the river.
 6. Cremation on the river bank - etc.

To save Ganga from this pollution, people have to spread awareness. By attracting people's attention to the following points, you can save Ganga from such pollution.

1. Do not excrete feces and urine in the Ganges or on the banks of the Ganges.
 2. To ban the flow of dead bodies.
 3. To repair the ghats of Ganga.
 4. Do not wash clothes on the shore or in the river.
 5. Scientists and technical experts make practical plans to keep Ganga clean.
 6. To get everyone's support in Clean Ganga campaign.
 7. To arrange plantation and beautification on the banks of Ganga.

 In this way, we should contribute fully to maintain the greatness of Ganga. We consider all rivers of India as Ganges. The name 'Ganga' is a morning mantra for everyone. If you want to grant divinity to a river, then addressing it as Ganga will be said to be a byproduct of our eternal feeling towards our Goddess Ganga. Ganga Mata is a virtuous self-form for all. Greetings to the holy life Ganges

Vishnu ji had to raised Sudarshan Chakra when Shiva did Taandava.


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