Swarga – The heaven

-

The hindu scriptures are full of the mention of a place called "Swarga" or the heaven. The place – highly revered, is the ultimate aim of every human being. The demons fight with the gods all the time to gain access to the heaven. Also, even the gods when banished or exiled from the heaven try their best to get back. What is so special about the place called "Swarga"?
Swarga is a place where one goes when they have led their life rightfully and have done enough good deeds to earn their place in the heaven. One goes there to find the most important things –
  1. Kalpavriksha or Kalpataru – The tree that showers anything you wish
  2. Akshya Patra – The bowl that overflows with gold and food without an end
  3. Chintamani – The gem that relieves all your worries
  4. Kamadhenu – The cow which gives all you ask for
  5. And obviously the ever beautiful apsaras
At the same time, we know that the king of swarga is Indra. A strong king but an anxious, nervous, fearful being who gets trembling as soon as some king on the earth performs a yajna. When any demon start coming to the doors of swarga, Indra gets worried. When a rishi performs a tapa, Indra is worried and tries to send his apsaras to lure the rishi away. What is he worried of? Indra is worried of losing the control of swarga. And when he or the gods can't control the situations or in case of defeat they run to the savior for help.
Let's draw a parallel into our own lives.
Think of your own organization or business. Every one of us is looking for at least the first four elements of swarga. They are all looking for an infinite source of investment, a never dying hunger for their products or services, absolutely no worries of competition or of resource problems. In our own different ways we all act like Indra and take on tensions and issues on our head which should be let go since we can't do much about them. Our focus should be in converting ourselves from Indra to the savior "Vishnu" as the time demands.
Always remember, while Indra craves for Lakshmi, she sits by the foot of Vishnu.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flags and their meanings in Mahabharata

-
Image
Last night I was telling the bedside story to the younger love of my life, when she asked – “How do you identify the leader of the troop in a war – particularly in a warzone where a lot of people are fighting against each other”? While I explained to her how the modern warfare works and how the generals lead the army today, I also imagined the warcraft of yesterday and started to describe the vivid imagination fueled by the magnanimity of the movies like Bahubali, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. The job was simple as we both had watched the movies together. And she understood all that I told her. Yet a question from her made me fumble – Do all the warriors have a flag on their chariot, and what do they mean? In my research for the answer, I stumbled upon the information that I would like to share with you too. In the Viraat Parva of Mahabharata, Arjuna under the disguise of Brihannala plays the role of the charioteer for Prince Uttara of Virata kingdom. Under the condition...
Read more

Ganesha - Reviving the series - 10

-
Image
The series cannot be completed without mentioning the reach of Lord Ganesha to cultures outside of India. In this last post for this year’s series, I shall try to present some more lesser known facts about the spread of the Lord Ganesha’s influence in Indian and non Indian cultures. During the early medieval period, both Jains and Buddhists incorporated Ganesh into their pantheon. The Ganesha cult thus travelled with the Mahayana Buddhism to distant lands, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan. Ganesha’s worship spread in all the regions rapidly. Manjangan ( Ganesha ) temple in  Bali ,  Indonesia Ganesha in Ta Prohm, Angkor For the Jains, Ganesha appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. The earliest reference to Ganesha in Jainism is in the Abhidhanacintamani of Hemachandra. It refers to several appelations of Lord Ganesha such as Herama, Ganavgnesa and Vinayaka and visualizes him as elephant headed, po...
Read more

Karwa Chauth - Why does moon rise so late?

-
I have often wondered as to why the moon rises late on the Karwa Chauth night. It’s probably because our hungry stomachs rebel and start cursing the moon instead of praying, that slows it down! Actually on a full moon day, the moon rises exactly at the time of sunset. The moon takes 27.3 days to travel once around the earth. This is also the next full moon day. To travel 360 degrees in 27.3 days, the moon moves approx. 13 degrees towards the east every day. Thus the moon rise increases by approx. 48 min per day in relation to the sunset. On the Karva Chauth day – 4 days after the full moon day, the moon rises 48*4 = 192 min (3 hrs and 12 min) after the sunset. Now please do notice the moon rise timings everyday and see the pattern!
Read more