Some of the great Rishis (sages) of India are:
- Kashyapa. He was one of the ancient Saptarishis. …
- Markandeya. Markandeya was an ancient Indian Rishi and he is known as author of religious Indian texts. Markande Puran
- Kapila. Called the Father of Cosmology. …
- Vasishtha. One of the Saptarishis. “Vashistha”, “Marichi”, “Pulastya”, “Pulaha”, “Atri”, “Angiras” and “Kratu”.
- Bharadwaja. …
- Maha Rishi Valmiki. Holy Epic Ramayana
- Vyasa. Maha Bharata
- Sushruta.
- Dr. B R Ambedkar {Modern India} : Wrote Constitution of India
Is agastya a Saptarishi?
Some list him as one of the Saptarishi (seven great rishi), while in others he is one of the eight or twelve extraordinary sag
Maharishi Valmiki : Composer of Shri Ramayana
Ramayana and Yog Vaisitha
Introduction
Sage Valmiki is a great sage, a Brahmarshi; and he also gave the ‘Ramayana’ which the world can never forget. It is one of the great epics of the world. People of other countries read it in their own languages. The study of the ‘Ramayana can reform our lives. We can never forget Sage Valmiki who gave this great epic to us. Let us offer our salutations to that great sage and bard.
Sage Valmiki’s ‘Ramayana’ is the very first such poem in Sanskrit. Therefore, it is also called the ‘Adi-Kavya’ or – the First Poem; Sage Valmiki is also known as the ‘Adi-Kavi’, which means the First Poet.
The poet, who composed ‘Ramayana’ and taught the song and story to Lava and Kusha, was a great sage by name Sage Valmiki. How this man became a sage and a singer-poet is itself a very interesting story. Sage Valmiki’s Ramayana is in the Sanskrit language. It is a very beautiful poem.
Sage Valmiki’s ‘Ramayana’ can be sung. It is delightful to the ear like the sound of the cuckoo. Sage Valmiki has been described as a cuckoo on the tree of poetry, singing sweetly. Those who read the ‘Ramayana’ bow to the great Sage Valmiki first and then turn to the epic.
Writing of the Great Epic Ramayana
Sage Valmiki went to the river Ganga to bathe. A disciple by name Bharadwaja was with him carrying his clothes. On the way they came across the Tamasa Stream. The water in it was very clear. Sage Valmiki said to his disciple, “Look, how clear is this water, like the mind of a good man! I will bathe here today.”
Sage Valmiki was looking for a suitable place to step into the stream, when he heard the sweet chirping of birds. Looking up he saw two birds flying together. Sage Valmiki felt very pleased on seeing the happy bird couple.
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Just then one of the birds fell down hit by an arrow. It was the male bird. Seeing the wounded one, its mate was screaming in agony. Sage Valmiki’s heart melted at this pitiful sight. He looked around to find out who had shot the bird. He saw a hunter with a bow and arrows, nearby. The hunter had shot the bird for food. Sage Valmiki was very angry. His lips opened and words came out: “You, who have killed one of a happy couple, may you not yourself live long!” A shloka was born out of his sorrow.‘mAnishAda pratishTAtum samagah ssAshvatIssamAh
yat krouncha mithunAdEkam sokam avadhIm kAma mOhitam’
Meaning: You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity. For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting
The sad plight of the birds had moved Sage Valmiki to curse the hunter, but yet he felt very unhappy, because he had cursed him. He expressed his sorrow to Bharadwaja who was with him. He was equally surprised that a shloka should have come from his lips. As he walked back to his ashram and also later, he thought only of the shloka.
While Sage Valmiki’s mind dwelt so intensely on the shloka that had sprung from his lips, Brahma, the Lord of Creation, appeared before him. He said to Sage Valmiki, “O great sage, the shloka which came from your lips was inspired by me. Now you will write the ‘Ramayana’ in the form of Shlokas. Narada has narrated to you the story of the ‘Ramayana’. You will see with your own eyes all that happened. Whatever you say will be true. Your words shall be truth. As long as there are rivers and mountains in the world, people will read the ‘Ramayana’.” So Lord Brahma blessed him and disappeared.
Sage Valmiki wrote the ‘Ramayana’. He taught the Shlokas first to the sons of Sri Rama, Lava and Kusha. They were born twins in Sage Valmiki’s ashram and grew up there.
| No. | Purana |
|---|---|
| 1 | Brahma |
| 2 | Padma |
| 3 | Vishnu |
| 4 | Shiva |
| 5 | Devi Bhagavata[note 3] |
| 6 | Naradiya |
| 7 | Markandeya |
| 8 | Agneya |
| 9 | Bhavishya |
| 10 | Brahmavaivarta |
| 11 | Linga |
| 12 | Varaha |
| 13 | Skanda |
| 14 | Vamana |
| 15 | Kurma |
| 16 | Matsya |
| 17 | Garuda |
| 18 | Brahmanda |
Ref: https://www.hindujagruti.org/articles/53.html
THE SAGES OF INDIA
In speaking of the sages of India, my mind goes back to those periods of which history has no record, and tradition tries in vain to bring the secrets out of the gloom of the past. The sages of India have been almost innumerable, for what has the India been doing for thousands of years except producing sages? I will take, therefore, the lives of a few of the most brilliant ones, the epoch-makers, and present them before you, that is to say, my study of them.
In the first place, we have to understand a little about our scriptures. Two ideals of truth are in our scriptures; the one is, what we call the eternal, and the other is not so authoritative, yet binding under particular circumstances, times, and places. The eternal relations which deal with the nature of the soul, and of God, and the relations between souls and God are embodied in what we call the Shrutis, the Vedas. The next set of truths is what we call the Smritis, as embodied in the words of Manu. Yâjnavalkya, and other writers and also in the Purânas, down to the Tantras. The second class of books and teachings is subordinate to the Shrutis, inasmuch as whenever any one of these contradicts anything in the Shrutis, the Shrutis must prevail. This is the law. The idea is that the framework of the destiny and goal of man has been all delineated in the Vedas, the details have been left to be worked out in the Smritis and Puranas. As for general directions, the Shrutis are enough; for spiritual life, nothing more can be said, nothing more can be known. All that is necessary has been known, all the advice that is necessary to lead the soul to perfection has been completed in the Shrutis; the details alone were left out, and these the Smritis have supplied from time to time.
Another peculiarity is that these Shrutis have many sages as the recorders of the truths in them, mostly men, even some women. Very little is known of their personalities, the dates of their birth, and so forth, but their best thoughts, their best discoveries, I should say, are preserved there, embodied in the sacred literature of our country, the Vedas. In the Smritis, on the other hand, personalities are more in evidence. Startling, gigantic, impressive, world-moving persons stand before us, as it were, for the first time, sometimes of more magnitude even than their teachings.
This is a peculiarity which we have to understand — that our religion preaches an Impersonal Personal God. It preaches any amount of impersonal laws plus any amount of personality, but the very fountain-head of our religion is in the Shrutis, the Vedas, which are perfectly impersonal; the persons all come in the Smritis and Puranas — the great Avatâras, Incarnations of God, Prophets, and so forth. And this ought also to be observed that except our religion every other religion in the world depends upon the life or lives of some personal founder or founders. Christianity is built upon the life of Jesus Christ, Mohammedanism upon Mohammed, Buddhism upon Buddha, Jainism upon the Jinas, and so on. It naturally follows that there must be in all these religions a good deal of fight about what they call the historical evidences of these great personalities. If at any time the historical evidences about the existence of these personages in ancient times become weak, the whole building of the religion tumbles down and is broken to pieces. We escaped this fate because our religion is not based upon persons but on principles. That you obey your religion is not because it came through the authority of a sage, no, not even of an Incarnation. Krishna is not the authority of the Vedas, but the Vedas are the authority of Krishna himself. His glory is that he is the greatest preacher of the Vedas that ever existed. So with the other Incarnations; so with all our sages. Our first principle is that all that is necessary for the perfection of man and for attaining unto freedom is there in the Vedas. You cannot find anything new. You cannot go beyond a perfect unity, which is the goal of all knowledge; this has been already reached there, and it is impossible to go beyond the unity. Religious knowledge became complete when Tat Twam Asi (Thou art That) was discovered, and that was in the Vedas. What remained was the guidance of people from time to time according to different times and places, according to different circumstances and environments; people had to be guided along the old, old path, and for this these great teachers came, these great sages. Nothing can bear out more clearly this position than the celebrated saying of Shri Krishna in the Gitâ: “Whenever virtue subsides and irreligion prevails, I create Myself for the protection of the good; for the destruction of all immorality I am coming from time to time.” This is the idea in India.
What follows? That on the one hand, there are these eternal principles which stand upon their own foundations without depending on any reasoning even, much less on the authority of sages however great, of Incarnations however brilliant they may have been. We may remark that as this is the unique position in India, our claim is that the Vedanta only can be the universal religion, that it is already the existing universal religion in the world, because it teaches principles and not persons. No religion built upon a person can be taken up as a type by all the races of mankind. In our own country we find that there have been so many grand characters; in even a small city many persons are taken up as types by the different minds in that one city. How is it possible that one person as Mohammed or Buddha or Christ, can be taken up as the one type for the whole world, nay, that the whole of morality, ethics, spirituality, and religion can be true only from the sanction of that one person, and one person alone? Now, the Vedantic religion does not require any such personal authority. Its sanction is the eternal nature of man, its ethics are based upon the eternal spiritual solidarity of man, already existing, already attained and not to be attained. On the other hand, from the very earliest times, our sages have been feeling conscious of this fact that the vast majority of mankind require a personality. They must have a Personal God in some form or other. The very Buddha who declared against the existence of a Personal God had not died fifty years before his disciples manufactured a Personal God out of him. The Personal God is necessary, and at the same time we know that instead of and better than vain imaginations of a Personal God, which in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred are unworthy of human worship we have in this world, living and walking in our midst, living Gods, now and then. These are more worthy of worship than any imaginary God, any creation of our imagination, that is to say, any idea of God which we can form. Shri Krishna is much greater than any idea of God you or I can have. Buddha is a much higher idea, a more living and idolised idea, than the ideal you or I can conceive of in our minds; and therefore it is that they always command the worship of mankind even to the exclusion of all imaginary deities.
This our sages knew, and, therefore, left it open to all Indian people to worship such great Personages, such Incarnations. Nay, the greatest of these Incarnations goes further: “Wherever an extraordinary spiritual power is manifested by external man, know that I am there, it is from Me that that manifestation comes.” That leaves the door open for the Indian to worship the Incarnations of all the countries in the world. The India can worship any sage and any saint from any country whatsoever, and as a fact we know that we go and worship many times in the churches of the Christians, and many, many times in the Mohammedan mosques, and that is good. Why not? Ours, as I have said, is the universal religion. It is inclusive enough, it is broad enough to include all the ideals. All the ideals of religion that already exist in the world can be immediately included, and we can patiently wait for all the ideals that are to come in the future to be taken in the same fashion, embraced in the infinite arms of the religion of the Vedanta.
This, more or less, is our position with regard to the great sages, the Incarnations of God. There are also secondary characters. We find the word Rishi again and again mentioned in the Vedas, and it has become a common word at the present time. The Rishi is the great authority. We have to understand that idea. The definition is that the Rishi is the Mantra-drashtâ, the seer of thought. What is the proof of religion? — this was asked in very ancient times. There is no proof in the senses was the declaration. यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते अप्राप्य मनसा सह — “From whence words reflect back with thought without reaching the goal.” न तत्र चक्षुर्गच्छति न वाग्गच्छति नो मनः — “There the eyes cannot reach, neither can speech, nor the mind” — that has been the declaration for ages and ages. Nature outside cannot give us any answer as to the existence of the soul, the existence of God, the eternal life, the goal of man, and all that. This mind is continually changing, always in a state of flux; it is finite, it is broken into pieces. How can nature tell of the Infinite, the Unchangeable, the Unbroken, the Indivisible, the Eternal? It never can. And whenever mankind has striven to get an answer from dull dead matter, history shows how disastrous the results have been. How comes, then, the knowledge which the Vedas declare? It comes through being a Rishi. This knowledge is not in the senses; but are the senses the be-all and the end-all of the human being? Who dare say that the senses are the all-in-all of man? Even in our lives, in the life of every one of us here, there come moments of calmness, perhaps, when we see before us the death of one we loved, when some shock comes to us, or when extreme blessedness comes to us. Many other occasions there are when the mind, as it were, becomes calm, feels for the moment its real nature; and a glimpse of the Infinite beyond, where words cannot reach nor the mind go, is revealed to us. This happens in ordinary life, but it has to be heightened, practiced, perfected. Men found out ages ago that the soul is not bound or limited by the senses, no, not even by consciousness. We have to understand that this consciousness is only the name of one link in the infinite chain. Being is not identical with consciousness, but consciousness is only one part of Being. Beyond consciousness is where the bold search lies. Consciousness is bound by the senses. Beyond that, beyond the senses, men must go in order to arrive at truths of the spiritual world, and there are even now persons who succeed in going beyond the bounds of the senses. These are called Rishis, because they come face to face with spiritual truths.
The proof, therefore, of the Vedas is just the same as the proof of this table before me, Pratyaksha, direct perception. This I see with the senses, and the truths of spirituality we also see in a superconscious state of the human soul. This Rishi-state is not limited by time or place, by sex or race. Vâtsyâyana boldly declares that this Rishihood is the common property of the descendants of the sage, of the Aryan, of the non-Aryan, of even the Mlechchha. This is the sageship of the Vedas, and constantly we ought to remember this ideal of religion in India, which I wish other nations of the world would also remember and learn, so that there may be less fight and less quarrel. Religion is not in books, nor in theories, nor in dogmas, nor in talking, not even in reasoning. It is being and becoming. Ay, my friends, until each one of you has become a Rishi and come face to face with spiritual facts, religious life has not begun for you. Until the superconscious opens for you, religion is mere talk, it is nothing but preparation. You are talking second- hand, third-hand, and here applies that beautiful saying of Buddha when he had a discussion with some Brahmins. They came discussing about the nature of Brahman, and the great sage asked, “Have you seen Brahman?” “No, said the Brahmin; “Or your father?” “No, neither has he”; “Or your grandfather?” “I don’t think even he saw Him.” “My friend, how can you discuss about a person whom your father and grandfather never saw, and try to put each other down?” That is what the whole world is doing. Let us say in the language of the Vedanta, “This Atman is not to be reached by too much talk, no, not even by the highest intellect, no, not even by the study of the Vedas themselves.”
Let us speak to all the nations of the world in the language of the Vedas: Vain are your fights and your quarrels; have you seen God whom you want to preach? If you have not seen, vain is your preaching; you do not know what you say; and if you have seen God, you will not quarrel, your very face will shine. An ancient sage of the Upanishads sent his son out to learn about Brahman, and the child came back, and the father asked, “what have you learnt?” The child replied he had learnt so many sciences. But the father said, “That is nothing, go back.” And the son went back, and when he returned again the father asked the same question, and the same answer came from the child. Once more he had to go back. And the next time he came, his whole face was shining; and his father stood up and declared, “Ay, today, my child, your face shines like a knower of Brahman.” When you have known God, your very face will be changed, your voice will be changed, your whole appearance will he changed. You will be a blessing to mankind; none will be able to resist the Rishi. This is the Rishihood, the ideal in our religion. The rest, all these talks and reasonings and philosophies and dualisms and monisms, and even the Vedas themselves are but preparations, secondary things. The other is primary. The Vedas, grammar, astronomy, etc., all these are secondary; that is supreme knowledge which makes us realise the Unchangeable One. Those who realised are the sages whom we find in the Vedas; and we understand how this Rishi is the name of a type, of a class, which every one of us, as true Indian, is expected to become at some period of our life, and becoming which, to the Hindu, means salvation. Not belief in doctrines, not going to thousands of temples, nor bathing in all the rivers in the world, but becoming the Rishi, the Mantra-drashta — that is freedom, that is salvation.
Coming down to later times, there have been great world-moving sages, great Incarnations of whom there have been many; and according to the Bhâgavata, they also are infinite in number, and those that are worshipped most in India are Râma and Krishna. Rama, the ancient idol of the heroic ages, the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, the ideal father, and above all, the ideal king, this Rama has been presented before us by the great sage Vâlmiki. No language can be purer, none chaster, none more beautiful and at the same time simpler than the language in which the great poet has depicted the life of Rama. And what to speak of Sitâ? You may exhaust the literature of the world that is past, and I may assure you that you will have to exhaust the literature of the world of the future, before finding another Sita. Sita is unique; that character was depicted once and for all. There may have been several Ramas, perhaps, but never more than one Sita! She is the very type of the true Indian woman, for all the Indian ideals of a perfected woman have grown out of that one life of Sita; and here she stands these thousands of years, commanding the worship of every man, woman, and child throughout the length and breadth of the land of Âryâvarta. There she will always be, this glorious Sita, purer than purity itself, all patience, and all suffering. She who suffered that life of suffering without a murmur, she the ever-chaste and ever-pure wife, she the ideal of the people, the ideal of the gods, the great Sita, our national God she must always remain. And every one of us knows her too well to require much delineation. All our mythology may vanish, even our Vedas may depart, and our Sanskrit language may vanish for ever, but so long as there will be five Indian living here, even if only speaking the most vulgar patois, there will be the story of Sita present. Mark my words: Sita has gone into the very vitals of our race. She is there in the blood of every Hindu man and woman; we are all children of Sita. Any attempt to modernise our women, if it tries to take our women away from that ideal of Sita, is immediately a failure, as we see every day. The women of India must grow and develop in the footprints of Sita, and that is the only way.
The next is He who is worshipped in various forms, the favourite ideal of men as well as of women, the ideal of children, as well as of grown-up men. I mean He whom the writer of the Bhagavata was not content to call an Incarnation but says, “The other Incarnations were but parts of the Lord. He, Krishna, was the Lord Himself.” And it is not strange that such adjectives are applied to him when we marvel at the many-sidedness of his character. He was the most wonderful Sannyasin, and the most wonderful householder in one; he had the most wonderful amount of Rajas, power, and was at the same time living in the midst of the most wonderful renunciation. Krishna can never he understood until you have studied the Gita, for he was the embodiment of his own teaching. Every one of these Incarnations came as a living illustration of what they came to preach. Krishna, the preacher of the Gita, was all his life the embodiment of that Song Celestial; he was the great illustration of non-attachment. He gives up his throne and never cares for it. He, the leader of India, at whose word kings come down from their thrones, never wants to be a king. He is the simple Krishna, ever the same Krishna who played with the Gopis. Ah, that most marvellous passage of his life, the most difficult to understand, and which none ought to attempt to understand until he has become perfectly chaste and pure, that most marvellous expansion of love, allegorised and expressed in that beautiful play at Vrindâban, which none can understand but he who has become mad with love, drunk deep of the cup of love! Who can understand the throes of the lore of the Gopis — the very ideal of love, love that wants nothing, love that even does not care for heaven, love that does not care for anything in this world or the world to come? And here, my friends, through this love of the Gopis has been found the only solution of the conflict between the Personal and the Impersonal God. We know how the Personal God is the highest point of human life; we know that it is philosophical to believe in an Impersonal God immanent in the universe, of whom everything is but a manifestation. At the same time our souls hanker after something concrete, something which we want to grasp, at whose feet we can pour out our soul, and so on. The Personal God is therefore the highest conception of human nature. Yet reason stands aghast at such an idea. It is the same old, old question which you find discussed in the Brahma-Sutras, which you find Draupadi discussing with Yudhishthira in the forest: If there is a Personal God, all-merciful, all-powerful, why is the hell of an earth here, why did He create this? — He must be a partial God. There was no solution, and the only solution that can be found is what you read about the love of the Gopis. They hated every adjective that was applied to Krishna; they did not care to know that he was the Lord of creation, they did not care to know that he was almighty, they did not care to know that he was omnipotent, and so forth. The only thing they understood was that he was infinite Love, that was all. The Gopis understood Krishna only as the Krishna of Vrindaban. He, the leader of the hosts, the King of kings, to them was the shepherd, and the shepherd for ever. “I do not want wealth, nor many people, nor do I want learning; no, not even do I want to go to heaven. Let one be born again and again, but Lord, grant me this, that I may have love for Thee, and that for love’s sake.” A great landmark in the history of religion is here, the ideal of love for love’s sake, work for work’s sake, duty for duty’s sake, and it for the first time fell from the lips of the greatest of Incarnations, Krishna, and for the first time in the history of humanity, upon the soil of India. The religions of fear and of temptations were gone for ever, and in spite of the fear of hell and temptation of enjoyment in heaven, came the grandest of ideals, love for love’s sake, duty for duty’s sake, work for work’s sake.
And what a love! I have told you just now that it is very difficult to understand the love of the Gopis. There are not wanting fools, even in the midst of us, who cannot understand the marvellous significance of that most marvellous of all episodes. There are, let me repeat, impure fools, even born of our blood, who try to shrink from that as if from something impure. To them I have only to say, first make yourselves pure; and you must remember that he who tells the history of the love of the Gopis is none else but Shuka Deva. The historian who records this marvellous love of the Gopis is one who was born pure, the eternally pure Shuka, the son of Vyâsa. So long as there its selfishness in the heart, so long is love of God impossible; it is nothing but shopkeeping: “I give you something; O Lord, you give me something in return”; and says the Lord, “If you do not do this, I will take good care of you when you die. I will roast you all the rest of your lives. perhaps”, and so on. So long as such ideas are in the brain, how can one understand the mad throes of the Gopis’ love? “O for one, one kiss of those lips! One who has been kissed by Thee, his thirst for Thee increases for ever, all sorrows vanish, and he forgets love for everything else but for Thee and Thee alone.” Ay, forget first the love for gold, and name and fame, and for this little trumpery world of ours. Then, only then, you will understand the love of the Gopis, too holy to be attempted without giving up everything, too sacred to be understood until the soul has become perfectly pure. People with ideas of sex, and of money, and of fame, bubbling up every minute in the heart, daring to criticise and understand the love of the Gopis! That is the very essence of the Krishna Incarnation. Even the Gita, the great philosophy itself, does not compare with that madness, for in the Gita the disciple is taught slowly how to walk towards the goal, but here is the madness of enjoyment, the drunkenness of love, where disciples and teachers and teachings and books and all these things have become one; even the ideas of fear, and God, and heaven — everything has been thrown away. What remains is the madness of love. It is forgetfulness of everything, and the lover sees nothing in the world except that Krishna and Krishna alone, when the face of every being becomes a Krishna, when his own face looks like Krishna, when his own soul has become tinged with the Krishna colour. That was the great Krishna!
Do not waste your time upon little details. Take up the framework, the essence of the life. There may be many historical discrepancies, there may be interpolations in the life of Krishna. All these things may be true; but, at the same time, there must have been a basis, a foundation for this new and tremendous departure. Taking the life of any other sage or prophet, we find that that prophet is only the evolution of what had gone before him, we find that that prophet is only preaching the ideas that had been scattered about his own country even in his own times. Great doubts may exist even as to whether that prophet existed or not. But here, I challenge any one to show whether these things, these ideals — work for work’s sake, love for love’s sake, duty for duty’s sake, were not original ideas with Krishna, and as such, there must have been someone with whom these ideas originated. They could not have been borrowed from anybody else. They were not floating about in the atmosphere when Krishna was born. But the Lord Krishna was the first preacher of this; his disciple Vyasa took it up and preached it unto mankind. This is the highest idea to picture. The highest thing we can get out of him is Gopijanavallabha, the Beloved of the Gopis of Vrindaban. When that madness comes in your brain, when you understand the blessed Gopis, then you will understand what love is. When the whole world will vanish, when all other considerations will have died out, when you will become pure-hearted with no other aim, not even the search after truth, then and then alone will come to you the madness of that love, the strength and the power of that infinite love which the Gopis had, that love for love’s sake. That is the goal. When you have got that, you have got everything.
To come down to the lower stratum — Krishna, the preacher of the Gita. Ay, there is an attempt in India now which is like putting the cart before the horse. Many of our people think that Krishna as the lover of the Gopis is something rather uncanny, and the Europeans do not like it much. Dr. So-and-so does not like it. Certainly then, the Gopis have to go! Without the sanction of Europeans how can Krishna live? He cannot! In the Mahabharata there is no mention of the Gopis except in one or two places, and those not very remarkable places. In the prayer of Draupadi there is mention of a Vrindaban life, and in the speech of Shishupâla there is again mention of this Vrindaban. All these are interpolations! What the Europeans do not want: must be thrown off. They are interpolations, the mention of the Gopis and of Krishna too! Well, with these men, steeped in commercialism, where even the ideal of religion has become commercial, they are all trying to go to heaven by doing something here; the bania wants compound interest, wants to lay by something here and enjoy it there. Certainly the Gopis have no place in such a system of thought. From that ideal lover we come down to the lower stratum of Krishna, the preacher of the Gita. Than the Gita no better commentary on the Vedas has been written or can be written. The essence of the Shrutis, or of the Upanishads, is hard to be understood, seeing that there are so many commentators, each one trying to interpret in his own way. Then the Lord Himself comes, He who is the inspirer of the Shrutis, to show us the meaning of them, as the preacher of the Gita, and today India wants nothing better, the world wants nothing better than that method of interpretation. It is a wonder that subsequent interpreters of the scriptures, even commenting upon the Gita, many times could not catch the meaning, many times could not catch the drift. For what do you find in the Gita, and what in modern commentators? One non-dualistic commentator takes up an Upanishad; there are so many dualistic passages, and he twists and tortures them into some meaning, and wants to bring them all into a meaning of his own. If a dualistic commentator comes, there are so many nondualistic texts which he begins to torture, to bring them all round to dualistic meaning. But you find in the Gita there is no attempt at torturing any one of them. They are all right, says the Lord; for slowly and gradually the human soul rises up and up, step after step, from the gross to the fine, from the fine to the finer, until it reaches the Absolute, the goal. That is what is in the Gita. Even the Karma Kanda is taken up, and it is shown that although it cannot give salvation direct; but only indirectly, yet that is also valid; images are valid indirectly; ceremonies, forms, everything is valid only with one condition, purity of the heart. For worship is valid and leads to the goal if the heart is pure and the heart is sincere; and all these various modes of worship are necessary, else why should they be there? Religions and sects are not the work of hypocrites and wicked people who invented all these to get a little money, as some of our modern men want to think. However reasonable that explanation may seem, it is not true, and they were not invented that way at all. They are the outcome of the necessity of the human soul. They are all here to satisfy the hankering and thirst of different classes of human minds, and you need not preach against them. The day when that necessity will cease, they will vanish along with the cessation of that necessity; and so long as that necessity remains, they must be there in spite of your preaching, in spite of your criticism. You may bring the sword or the gun into play, you may deluge the world with human blood, but so long as there is a necessity for idols, they must remain. These forms, and all the various steps in religion will remain, and we understand from the Lord Shri Krishna why they should.
A rather sadder chapter of India’s history comes now. In the Gita we already hear the distant sound of the conflicts of sects, and the Lord comes in the middle to harmonise them all; He, the great preacher of harmony, the greatest teacher of harmony, Lord Shri Krishna. He says, “In Me they are all strung like pearls upon a thread.” We already hear the distant sounds, the murmurs of the conflict, and possibly there was a period of harmony and calmness, when it broke out anew, not only on religious grounds, but roost possibly on caste grounds — the fight between the two powerful factors in our community, the kings and the priests. And from the topmost crest of the wave that deluged India for nearly a thousand years, we see another glorious figure, and that was our Gautama Shâkyamuni. You all know about his teachings and preachings. We worship him as God incarnate, the greatest, the boldest preacher of morality that the world ever saw, the greatest Karma-Yogi; as disciple of himself, as it were, the same Krishna came to show how to make his theories practical. There came once again the same voice that in the Gita preached, “Even the least bit done of this religion saves from great fear”. “Women, or Vaishyas, or even Shudras, all reach the highest goal.” Breaking the bondages of all, the chains of all, declaring liberty to all to reach the highest goal, come the words of the Gita, rolls like thunder the mighty voice of Krishna: “Even in this life they have conquered relativity, whose minds are firmly fixed upon the sameness, for God is pure and the same to all, therefore such are said to be living in God.” “Thus seeing the same Lord equally present everywhere, the sage does not injure the Self by the self, and thus reaches the highest goal.” As it were to give a living example of this preaching, as it were to make at least one part of it practical, the preacher himself came in another form, and this was Shakyamuni, the preacher to the poor and the miserable, he who rejected even the language of the gods to speak in the language of the people, so that he might reach the hearts of the people, he who gave up a throne to live with beggars, and the poor, and the downcast, he who pressed the Pariah to his breast like a second Rama.
You all know about his great work, his grand character. But the work had one great defect, and for that we are suffering even today. No blame attaches to the Lord. He is pure and glorious, but unfortunately such high ideals could not be well assimilated by the different uncivilised and uncultured races of mankind who flocked within the fold of the Aryans. These races, with varieties of superstition and hideous worship, rushed within the fold of the Aryans and for a time appeared as if they had become civilised, but before a century had passed they brought out their snakes, their ghosts, and all the other things their ancestors used to worship, and thus the whole of India became one degraded mass of superstition. The earlier Buddhists in their rage against the killing of animals had denounced the sacrifices of the Vedas; and these sacrifices used to be held in every house. There was a fire burning, and that was all the paraphernalia of worship. These sacrifices were obliterated, and in their place came gorgeous temples, gorgeous ceremonies, and gorgeous priests, and all that you see in India in modern times. I smile when I read books written by some modern people who ought to have known better, that the Buddha was the destroyer of Brahminical idolatry. Little do they know that Buddhism created Brahminism and idolatry in India.
There was a book written a year or two ago by a Russian gentleman, who claimed to have found out a very curious life of Jesus Christ, and in one part of the book he says that Christ went to the temple of Jagannath to study with the Brahmins, but became disgusted with their exclusiveness and their idols, and so he went to the Lamas of Tibet instead, became perfect, and went home. To any man who knows anything about Indian history, that very statement proves that the whole thing was a fraud, because the temple of Jagannath is an old Buddhistic temple. We took this and others over and re-Hinduised them. We shall have to do many things like that yet. That is Jagannath, and there was not one Brahmin there then, and yet we are told that Jesus Christ came to study with the Brahmins there. So says our great Russian archaeologist.
Thus, in spite of the preaching of mercy to animals, in spite of the sublime ethical religion, in spite of the hairsplitting discussions about the existence or non-existence of a permanent soul, the whole building of Buddhism tumbled down piecemeal; and the ruin was simply hideous. I have neither the time nor the inclination to describe to you the hideousness that came in the wake of Buddhism. The most hideous ceremonies, the most horrible, the most obscene books that human hands ever wrote or the human brain ever conceived, the most bestial forms that ever passed under the name of religion, have all been the creation of degraded Buddhism.
But India has to live, and the spirit of the Lords descended again. He who declared, “I will come whenever virtue subsides”, came again, and this time the manifestation was in the South, and up rose that young Brahmin of whom it has been declared that at the age of sixteen he had completed all his writings; the marvellous boy Shankaracharya arose. The writings of this boy of sixteen are the wonders of the modern world, and so was the boy. He wanted to bring back the Indian world to its pristine purity, but think of the amount of the task before him. I have told you a few points about the state of things that existed in India. All these horrors that you are trying to reform are the outcome of that reign of degradation. The Tartars and the Baluchis and all the hideous races of mankind came to India and became Buddhists, and assimilated with us, and brought their national customs, and the whole of our national life became a huge page of the most horrible and the most bestial customs. That was the inheritance which that boy got from the Buddhists, and from that time to this, the whole work in India is a reconquest of this Buddhistic degradation by the Vedanta. It is still going on, it is not yet finished. Shankara came, a great philosopher, and showed that the real essence of Buddhism and that of the Vedanta are not very different, but that the disciples did not understand the Master and have degraded themselves, denied the existence of the soul and of God, and have become atheists. That was what Shankara showed, and all the Buddhists began to come back to the old religion. But then they had become accustomed to all these forms; what could be done?
Then came the brilliant Râmânuja. Shankara, with his great intellect, I am afraid, had not as great a heart. Ramanuja’s heart was greater. He felt for the downtrodden, he sympathised with them. He took up the ceremonies, the accretions that had gathered, made them pure so far as they could be, and instituted new ceremonies, new methods of worship, for the people who absolutely required them. At the same time he opened the door to the highest; spiritual worship from the Brahmin to the Pariah. That was Ramanuja’s work. That work rolled on, invaded the North, was taken up by some great leaders there; but that was much later, during the Mohammedan rule; and the brightest of these prophets of comparatively modern times in the North was Chaitanya.
You may mark one characteristic since the time of Ramanuja — the opening of the door of spirituality to every one. That has been the watchword of all prophets succeeding Ramanuja, as it had been the watchword of all the prophets before Shankara. I do not know why Shankara should be represented as rather exclusive; I do not find anything in his writings which is exclusive. As in the case of the declarations of the Lord Buddha, this exclusiveness that has been attributed to Shankara’s teachings is most possibly not due to his teachings, but to the incapacity of his disciples. This one great Northern sage, Chaitanya, represented the mad love of the Gopis. Himself a Brahmin, born of one of the most rationalistic families of the day, himself a professor of logic fighting and gaining a word-victory — for, this he had learnt from his childhood as the highest ideal of life and yet through the mercy of some sage the whole life of that man became changed; he gave up his fight, his quarrels, his professorship of logic and became one of the greatest teachers of Bhakti the world has ever known — mad Chaitanya. His Bhakti rolled over the whole land of Bengal, bringing solace to every one. His love knew no bounds. The saint or the sinner, the Hindu or the Mohammedan, the pure or the impure, the prostitute, the streetwalker — all had a share in his love, all had a share in his mercy: and even to the present day, although greatly degenerated, as everything does become in time, his sect is the refuge of the poor, of the downtrodden, of the outcast, of the weak, of those who have been rejected by all society. But at the same time I must remark for truth’s sake that we find this: In the philosophic sects we find wonderful liberalisms. There is not a man who follows Shankara who will say that all the different sects of India are really different. At the same time he was a tremendous upholder of exclusiveness as regards caste. But with every Vaishnavite preacher we find a wonderful liberalism as to the teaching of caste questions, but exclusiveness as regards religious questions.
The one had a great head, the other a large heart, and the time was ripe for one to be born, the embodiment of both this head and heart; the time was ripe for one to be born who in one body would have the brilliant intellect of Shankara and the wonderfully expansive, infinite heart of Chaitanya; one who would see in every sect the same spirit working, the same God; one who would see God in every being, one whose heart would weep for the poor, for the weak, for the outcast, for the downtrodden, for every one in this world, inside India or outside India; and at the same time whose grand brilliant intellect would conceive of such noble thoughts as would harmonise all conflicting sects, not only in India but outside of India, and bring a marvellous harmony, the universal religion of head and heart into existence. Such a man was born, and I had the good fortune to sit at his feet for years. The time was ripe, it was necessary that such a man should be born, and he came; and the most wonderful part of it was that his life’s work was just near a city which was full of Western thought, a city which had run mad after these occidental ideas, a city which had become more Europeanised than any other city in India. There he lived, without any book-learning whatsoever; this great intellect never learnt even to write his own name,1 but the most graduates of our university found in him an intellectual giant. He was a strange man, this Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is a long, long story, and I have no time to tell anything about him tonight. Let me now only mention the great Shri Ramakrishna, the fulfilment of the Indian sages, the sage for the time, one whose teaching is just now, in the present time, most beneficial. And mark the divine power working behind the man. The son of a poor priest, born in an out-of-the-way village, unknown and unthought of, today is worshipped literally by thousands in Europe and America, and tomorrow will be worshipped by thousands more. Who knows the plans of the Lord!
Now, my brothers, if you do not see the hand, the finger of Providence, it is because you are blind, born blind indeed. If time comes, and another opportunity, I will speak to you more fully about him. Only let me say now that if I have told you one word of truth, it was his and his alone, and if I have told you many things which were not true, which were not correct, which were not beneficial to the human race, they were all mine, and on me is the responsibility.
Names of Saptarishi – Seven Great Sages
The Saptarshi of the current Manvantara, according to Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, are listed below in this article. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is one of the earliest Upanishadic Hindu scriptures.
Bharadwaja
He is one of the greatest sages in Vedic times and also a descendant of sage Angirasa. His father is Devarsi Brihaspati. Sage Bharadwaja is the Author of Ayurveda. He is the father of Guru Dronacharya, and his ashrama still exists in Allahabad. He was also a master of advanced military arts, including the Devastras. His wife is Suseela, with whom he had a daughter named Devavarnini and son Garga.
Dronacharya(Guru of Pandavas and Kauravas) was born as a result of his attraction to Apsara.
According to some of the Puranas, Bharadvaja was found on the banks of river Ganga and adopted by king Bharata. He had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of Vedas and, in addition, meditated for Indra, Lord Shiva, and Parvathi for more Vedic Knowledge.
Vishwamitra
Rishi Vishwamitra is one of the most well-known Sapatarishi and the great sages who discovered the Gayatri Mantra, found in the Vedas. Usually, one cannot rise to the level of a Brahmarishi through merit alone since the order was created divinely and is appointed by Lord Brahma. However, Vishvamitra rose to the position of a Brahmarishi through his own merit alone.
His epic tussle with Vasistha for the position of the greatest sage of all time makes a very interesting story. He was not a Brahmana by birth but a Kshatriya (warrior). Having fought, lost, and then pardoned by the Sage Vasista, it made a deep impression on the King. He realized that the power obtained by penances was greater than mere physical might. He renounced his kingdom and began his quest to become a greater sage than Vasishtha. He took on the name Vishvamitra.report this ad
After many trials and undergoing many austerities for thousands of years, Vishwamitra at last obtained the title of Brahmarishi from Bramha and Vasishtha himself.
Vasishtha
Rishi Vasishtha is one of the Saptarishi of this Manvantara and the husband of Arundathi. He is the mind-born son of Lord Brahma and the Raja-guru of the Surya Vamsha or the Solar dynasty. He is the author of Vasistha Samhita, a treatise on electional astrology. He and his family are glorified in a hymn in the Rig Veda.
Lord Rama once explains his disenchantment with worldly things. He expresses sadness at the miserable life as a worldly man to King Dasaratha after returning from a pilgrimage of holy places. Then the Sage Vasishtha starts answering the questions posed by Lord Rama. This is the context and content of the scripture called “Yoga Vasistha.”
Gautama
Gautama Rishi belongs to the lineage of Angiras. His sons were Vamadeva, Nodhas, Shatananda and were one of the earliest writers on Law. He also authored the Gautama Dharma Sutra and The Rig & Sama Vedic mantras.
His wife was Ahalya, who was the daughter of Lord Brahma. At the appropriate time, the Lord announced that whosoever goes around the Earth first shall win Ahalya’s hand. Gautama Rishi went around the divine cow, thus fulfilling the condition. Ahalya and Gautama Rishi were married.
Gautama Rishi was a person without an ego. When the people of the land suffered a draught, the Maharishi set out to meditate upon Lord Varuna. Pleased with his single-mindedness, Lord Varuna appeared. The Rishi asked Varuna for rain. Lord Varuna explained, “The Law demands that there should not be rain in the place for this period of time. I cannot go against the Law since Lord Shiva governs all five forces. Ask me anything else.” Maharishi immediately requested an incessant supply of water in the reservoir. Thus Gautama Rishi saved many people.
Atri
Sage Atri is one of the Saptarishi in the current Manvantara and a son of Brahma. He is one among the Sages who propounded the sacred thread (Poonal). Sage Atri’s wife is Anusuya, an embodiment of chastity. He is considered to be one of the great discoverers of sacred mantras. Atri Samhita and Atri Smriti are two works of the great sage.
Anasuya is known for chastity. One day Trimurty decided to test and arrives at her home as Brahmins. They ask her to serve food naked. She agrees and converts them into kids. Surprised by the power of her chastity, trinity gods showed up in their original form; she becomes their mother. Anasuya gave birth to Lord Dattatreya as an avatar of Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Kashyapa
Kashyapa Rishi is one of the most popular ancient Rishi and Saptarishi. He is the son of Rishi Marichi and the grandson of Brahma. He was the father of Devas, Asuras, Nagas, garudas, Vamana, Agni, Adityas, Daityas, Aryaman, Mitra, Pusan, Varuna, and all Humanity. He is the progenitor, Prajapati. He was an author of Kashyapa Samhitha, a classical reference book in Ayurvedic Paediatrics, Gynecology, and Obstetrics.
In the story of King Parikshith killed by Serpent Takshaka, Kashyapa arrives to stop it when Takshaka challenges him by biting a tree and turning it into ashes. Kashyapa restores the tree with his yogic powers and defeats the serpent. However, it explains the curse of Brahmin Boy and tells that consequences have to be faced. Sage, understanding the future of King, leaves the place, taking offerings from Takshaka. Soon he realizes that what is done is not correct and visits Tirupathi to get rid of sin.
Jamadagni
Jamadagni is the father of Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu. Also, the descendant of sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma. His wife was Renuka, who used to fetch water from the river in an unbaked clay pot with the power of her chastity. One day her heart was filled with desire when a group of Gandharvas is passing in the sky. The pot dissolved. She being afraid of her husband, doesn’t come home. Jamadagni knowing this from his yogic powers asks Parashurama to kill her mother, which he did.
Our ancestral lineage, Gotras, relates directly to the Saptarishi. A Gotra is a lineage or clan assigned to a Hindu at birth. In most cases, the system is paternal, and the Gotra assigned is that of the person’s father. According to strict Hindu tradition, the term Gotra itself is used only for the lineages of Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vysya families. Hence, the child is given a particular Gotra to the particular clan of Saptarishi they belong to.
10 Powerful Mantras for Meditation – Dhyan Mantras
Yogis have different methods to revive their bodies, but ultimately with the intention of drawing yourself inward. Among many, chanting ‘Mantras’ are a powerful tool for accomplishing this. Thus chanting mantras makes it easier for any Yogi to reach that transcendent state more easily. A mantra is a sound, word, or group of words that is considered capable of “creating transformation.
Powerful Meditation mantras
There are more than ten million mantras in existence. Some mantras are as short as one syllable. Others are several syllables long. The vibration om is one of the most well known universal mantras. According to the ancient Vedic tradition, the vibration ‘Om’ contains every vibration that has ever existed – and every vibration that ever will. Likewise, there are many mantras with different yet specific purposes.
Hence, amongst many here are some Powerful Dhyan Mantras or Mantra for Meditation.
1. ॐ – Om/Aum
ॐ
Om/Aum
‘Om’ is the all-pervading, omnipotent and omnipresent sound of the Cosmos. For this reason, it is also referred to as ‘Pranava’; the energy that runs in our Prana. ‘Om’ is not just regarded as a word, it is an intonation produced by coalescing the three Sanskrit syllables (Au-Oh-Mm); which on concentrated repetition gives a threefold experience on the physical, mental and the astral plane.
‘Om’ represents the incomprehensible and unmanifested / Nirguna aspect of the supreme; at the same time, the symbol of Om signifies a comprehensible and manifested aspect of it so as to provide the human mind with a conceivable channel to lead them towards the realization of its actual Nirguna state. Thus, chanting ‘Om’ or ‘Aum’ is one of the best ways to start any meditation.
2. Guru Stotram
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।
साक्षात परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥Gurur Brahmaa Gurur Visnu Gururdevo Maheshvarah |
Guru Sakshat Parahma Brahma Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah: ||
The strotra says, The Guru (dispeller of darkness) is Brahma (the creator); the Guru is Vishnu (the sustainer); the Gurudeva is Maheswara (the destroyer); the Guru is Verily the Para-Brahman (ultimate consciousness); Salutations to that Guru.
Guru is the source of all knowledge. In Hindu dharma, Guru or the supreme teacher is given the greatest importance since he is the one who shows the path to the divine. The mother shows the child who is its father, the father shows the child who is its Guru, and the Guru shows the child who is God. The Sanatana Dharma gives paramount importance to Guru. Thus, this is a powerful mantra to chant for deep meditation.
3. Gayatri Mantra
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यम
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात॥Aum
Bhur Bhuvah Svah
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yo nah Prachodayat
The Gayatri Mantra is a universal prayer enriched in the Vedas, which is also known as Savitri Mantra. It is considered a very powerful and popular mantra for meditation. In brief, the mantra means, “O thou existence Absolute, Creator of the three dimensions, we contemplate upon thy divine light. May He stimulate our intellect and bestow upon us true knowledge.” In simpler terms, “O Divine mother, our hearts are filled with darkness. Please make this darkness distant from us and promote illumination within us.”
Eventually, the mantra is an expression of gratitude, to both the life-giving Sun and the Divine. It boosted devotee taking a heart-centered approach to the mantra. The sensibility it awakes is more significant than the literal meaning. It’s an offering, a way to open to grace, to inspire oneself.
4. Panchakshari Shiva Mantra
ॐ नमः शिवाय
Om Namah Shivaya
The literal meaning of this Shiva mantra is “I bow to Shiva”. Shiva, here is the supreme reality, or in other words, the inner Self. Thus, while you are chanting this mantra, you are calling for the inner self. Panchakshari shiva mantra boosts the inner potential and strength, and also fills life with positive energy.
Om Namah Shivaya is at the heart of the Vedas and Tantras (ancient Scriptures) and finds its mention in the Yajurveda in the Shri Rudram hymn. Perceived to be most effective if in the practice of Japa Yoga, where the mantra is repeated verbally or mentally 108 times a day while keeping count on a strand of Rudraksha beads and at the same time submitting oneself to Lord Shiva’s infinite, all-pervasive presence, however, while chanting of the manta, you need no special rituals or ceremonies. It is a great mantra before any meditation.
5. Durga Dhyan Mantra
ॐ जटा जूट समायुक्तमर्धेंन्दु कृत लक्षणाम |
लोचनत्रय संयुक्तां पद्मेन्दुसद्यशाननाम ||Om jataa jut samaayuktamardhendu krit lakshnam
Lochanyatra sanyuktam padmendu sadya shan naam ||
This mantra is done before chanting other Durga Mantras. It helps one to achieve a better concentration in his work and in anything he does. This mantra for meditation helps us to focus and it is an important mantra for everyone.
6. Shiv Dhyan Mantra
करचरणकृतं वाक् कायजं कर्मजं वा श्रवणनयनजं वा मानसंवापराधं ।
विहितं विहितं वा सर्व मेतत् क्षमस्व जय जय करुणाब्धे श्री महादेव शम्भो ॥Karcharankritam Vaa Kaayjam Karmjam Vaa Shravannayanjam Vaa Maansam Vaa Paradham |
Vihitam Vihitam Vaa Sarv Metat Kshamasva Jay Jay Karunaabdhe Shree Mahadev Shambho ||
Divine vibrations that are generated during the chanting of this mantra ward off all the negative and evil forces and create a powerful protective shield against diseases, sorrows, fears etc. The mantra means, “Hey! Supreme One to cleanse the body, mind, and soul of all the stress, rejection, failure, depression and other negative forces that one faces.” It is a beautiful mantra for a sadhak before meditation.
If you are looking to meditate upon Shiva, then Shiva Dhyaan Mantra is for you. The mantra seeks to find forgiveness from the Lord for all the sins that we may have done in this life or the past, and thus, this mantra is also effective if you want to purify your soul and negativity in your life.
7. Sri Vishnu Mantra for Meditation
शान्ताकारं भुजगशयनं पद्मनाभं सुरेशं
विश्वाधारं गगनसदृशं मेघवर्ण शुभाङ्गम् ।
लक्ष्मीकान्तं कमलनयनं योगिभिर्ध्यानगम्यम्
वन्दे विष्णुं भवभयहरं सर्वलोकैकनाथम् ॥Shaanta-Aakaaram Bhujaga-Shayanam Padma-Naabham Sura-Iisham
Vishva-Aadhaaram Gagana-Sadrsham Megha-Varnna Shubha-Anggam|
Lakssmii-Kaantam Kamala-Nayanam Yogibhir-Dhyaana-Gamyam
Vande Vissnnum Bhava-Bhaya-Haram Sarva-Loka-Eka-Naatham ||
It states, I salute, pray and meditate on Lord Vishnu who has a peaceful body posture, a serene Appearance; who sleeps on the Sheshanaga (the mighty mythological serpent); who has a lotus in his navel, who is the king of all the devatas, who is the base of this world, who is like the sky; who has a color like that of a cloud, who has an all-auspicious body. I worship Lord Vishnu; the one who is the lord of Lakshmi; who has the eyes like a lotus; who is seen by yogis in their meditation; is the remover of fear of life and death and is the only Lord of all the worlds.https://f9d65f27ecb987bdd735527ebc1b58c4.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlreport this ad
8. Saraswati Stotram
या कुन्देन्दुतुषारहारधवला या शुभ्रवस्त्रावृता
या वीणावरदण्डमण्डितकरा या श्वेतपद्मासना ।
या ब्रह्माच्युतशंकरप्रभृतिभिर्देवैः सदा पूजिता
सा मां पातु सरस्वति भगवती निःशेषजाड्यापहा ॥Yaa Kunde[a-I]ndu-Tussaara-Haara-Dhavalaa Yaa Shubhra-Vastra-[A]avrtaa
Yaa Viinnaa-Vara-Danndda-Mannddita-Karaa Yaa Shveta-Padma-[A]asanaa |
Yaa Brahma-Acyuta-Shankara-Prabhrtibhir-Devaih Sadaa Puujitaa
Saa Maam Paatu Sarasvati Bhagavatii Nihshessa-Jaaddya-Apahaa |
Devi Saraswati whose body is white like the Kund flower, Devi who is fair like the moon, the snow and the garland of pearls, Devi who is draped in white clothes, Devi who is holding Veena in her hands, Devi who sits on the white lotus flower, the Devi who is always adored by the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva, Devi who removes the darkness of ignorance, may she protect me and nourish me.
9. Pavamana Mantra
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
This particular mantra for meditation reads, “O supreme lord, free me from unreal and lead me to reality, keep me away from darkness and lead me to light, lead me away from fear death to immortality (enlightenment), om may there be peace, peace, peace”. Thus, this mantra helps us realize things that are real, and transcends our state of mind fit for a deeper and relaxing meditation.
10. Shanti Mantra
ॐ सह नाववतु |
सह नौ भुनक्तु |
सह वीर्यं करवावहै |
तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥Oṃ saha nāv avatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai
tejasvi nāv adhītam astu
mā vidviṣāvahai |
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||
Meaning of Shanti Mantra
Om! May God protect us both together. May God nourish us both together.
May we work conjointly with great energy.
May our study be vigorous and effective.
May we not mutually dispute (or may we not hate any).
Om! Let there be Peace in me!
Let there be Peace in my environment!
Let there be peace in the forces that act on me.
Ref: https://vedicfeed.com/saptarishi-and-their-contributions/
https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_3/lectures_from_colombo_to_almora/the_sages_of_india.htm
भार्गववंश के मूलपुरुष महर्षि भृगु जिनको जनसामान्य ॠचाओं के रचईता एक ॠषि, भृगुसंहिता के रचनाकार, यज्ञों मे ब्रह्मा बनने वाले ब्राह्मण और त्रिदेवों की परीक्षा में भगवान विष्णु की छाती पर लात मारने वाले मुनि के नाते जानता है।परन्तु इन भार्गवों का इतिहास इस भूमण्डल पर एशिया,अमेरिका से लेकर अफ़्रीका महाद्वीप तक बिखरा पड़ा है। 7500 ईसापूर्व प्रोटोइलामाइट सभ्यता से निकली सुमेरु सभ्यता के कालखण्ड मे जब प्रचेता ब्रह्मा बने थे ।यहीं से भार्गववंश का इतिहास शुरु होता है।महर्षि भृगु का जन्म प्रचेता ब्रह्मा की पत्नी वीरणी के गर्भ से हुआ था । अपनी माता के गर्भ से ये दो भाई थे। इनके बडे भाई का नाम अंगिरा था। प्रोटोइलामाइट सभ्यता के शोधकर्ता पुरातत्वविदों ने जिस सुमेरु-खत्ती-हिटाइन-क्रीटन सभ्यता को मिश्र की मूल सभ्यता बताया है,वास्तव में वही भार्गवों की सभ्यता है। प्रोटोइलामाइट सभ्यता चाक्षुष मनुओं और उनके पौत्र अंगिरा की विश्वविजय की संघर्ष गाथा है। महर्षि भृगु का जन्म जिस समय हुआ,उस समय इनके पिता प्रचेता सुषानगर जिसे कालान्तर मे पर्शिया,ईरान कहाजाने लगा इसी भू-भाग के राजा थे। इस समय ब्रह्मा पद पर आसीन प्रचेता के पास उनकी दो पत्नियां रह रहीं थी।पहली भृगु की माता वीरणी दूसरी उर्वसी जिनके पुत्र वशिष्ठ जी हुए। महर्षि भृगु के भी दो विवाह हुए,इनकी पहली पत्नी दैत्यराज हिरण्यकश्यप की पुत्री दिव्या थी।दूसरी पत्नी दानवराज पुलोम की पुत्री पौलमी थी। पहली पत्नी दैत्यराज हिरण्यकश्यप की पुत्री दिव्या देवी से भृगु मुनि के दो पुत्र हुए,जिनके नाम शुक्र और त्वष्टा रखे गए। भार्गवों में आगे चलकर आचार्य बनने के बाद शुक्र को शुक्राचार्य के नाम से और त्वष्टा को शिल्पकार बनने के बाद विश्वकर्मा के नाम से जाना गया। इन्ही भृगु मुनि के पुत्रों को उनके मातृवंश अर्थात दैत्यकुल में शुक्र को काव्य एवं त्वष्टा को मय के नाम से जाना गया है। भृगु मुनि की दूसरी पत्नी दानवराज पुलोम की पुत्री पौलमी की तीन संताने हुई,दो पुत्र च्यवन और ॠचीक तथा एक पुत्री हुई जिसका नाम रेणुका था । च्यवन ॠषि का विवाह गुजरात के खम्भात की खाडी के राजा शर्याति की पुत्री . सुकन्या के साथ हुआ । ॠचीक का विवाह महर्षि भृगु ने गाधिपुरी (वर्तमान उ0प्र0 राज्य का गाजीपुर जिला)के राजा गाधि की पुत्री सत्यवती के साथ एक हजार श्यामकर्ण घोडे दहेज मे देकर किया । पुत्री रेणुका का विवाह भृगु मुनि ने उस समय विष्णु पद पर आसीन विवस्वान (सूर्य)के साथ किया । इन शादियों से उनका रुतबा भी काफ़ी बढ गया था। कालान्तर मे अपनी ज्योतिष गणना से जब उन्हे यह ज्ञात हुआ कि इस समय यहां प्रवाहित हो रही गंगा नदी का पानी कुछ समय बाद सूख जाएगा तब उन्होने अपने शिष्य दर्दर को भेज कर उस समय अयोध्या तक ही प्रवाहित हो रही सरयू नदी की धारा को यहाँ मंगाकर गंगा-सरयू का संगम कराया। जिसकी स्मृति मे आज भी यहां ददरी का मेला लगता है। धरती पर पहली बार महर्षि भृगु ने ही अग्नि का उत्पादन करना सिखाया था। हालांकि कुछ लोग इसका श्रेय अंगिरा को देते है। भृगु ने ही बताया था कि किस तरह अग्नि को प्रज्वलित किया जा सकता है और किस तरह हम अग्नि का उपयोग कर सकते हैं इसीलिए उन्हें अग्नि से उत्पन्न ऋषि मान लिया गया। भृगु ने संजीवनी विद्या की भी खोज की थी। उन्होंने संजीवनी बूटी खोजी थी अर्थात मृत प्राणी को जिंदा करने का उन्होंने ही उपाय खोजा था। परंपरागत रूप से यह विद्या उनके पुत्र शुक्राचार्य को प्राप्त हुई। भृगु की संतान होने के कारण ही उनके कुल और वंश के सभी लोगों को भार्गव कहा जाता है। हिन्दू सम्राट हेमचन्द्र विक्रमादित्य भी भृगुवंशी थे। भृगु ने संजीवनी विद्या की भी खोज की थी। उन्होंने संजीवनी-बूटी खोजी थी अर्थात मृत प्राणी को जिन्दा करने का उन्होंने ही उपाय खोजा था। परम्परागत रूप से यह विद्या उनके पुत्र शुक्राचार्य को प्राप्त हुई। भार्गवों के आठ पक्षों के प्रवर इस प्रकार हैं। वत्स पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, च्यवन, अप्नवान, ऊर्व और जगदग्नि हैं। विद पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, च्यवन, अप्नवान, ऊर्व और बिद हैं। आर्ष्टिषेण पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, च्यवन, अप्नवान आर्ष्टिषेण और अनूप हैं। शौनक पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, शुनहोत्र और गृत्ममद हैं। वैन्य पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, वेन और पृथु हैं। मैत्रेय पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, वध्यश्व और दिवोदास हैं। यास्क पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, वीतहव्य और सावेतस हैं। वेदविश्वज्योति पक्ष के प्रवर भृगु, वेद और विश्व ज्योति हैं। महर्षि भृगु के वंशजों ने यहां से लेकर अफ़्रीका तक राज्य किया । जहाँ इन्हे खूफ़ू के नाम से जाना गया ।यही से मानव सभ्यता विकसित होकर आस्ट्रेलिया होते हुए अमेरिका पहुची,अमेरिका की प्राचीन मय-माया सभ्यता भार्गवों की ही देन है।SHOW LESS
