your maaya started her duties right earnest

मायासन्निहितोऽप्रविष्टवपुषा साक्षीति गीतो भवान्
भेदैस्तां प्रतिबिंबतो विविशिवान् जीवोऽपि नैवापरः।

कालादिप्रतिबोधिताथ भवता सञ्चोदिता च स्वयम्
माया सा खलु बुद्धितत्त्वमसृजद्योऽसौ महानुच्यते॥४
श्रीमन्नारायणीये दशकम् ५
मायासन्निहितः  अप्रविष्टवपुषा उपलक्षितः  भवान् साक्षि इति गीतः।  तां भेदैः प्रतिबिम्बतः भवान् एव विविशिवान्।  जीवः अपि न अपरः।  अथ कालादि प्रतिबोधिता भवता सञ्चोदिता च सा माया खलु बुद्धितत्त्वं असृजत्।  यः असौ महान् उच्यते।

māyāsannihito'praviṣṭavapuṣā sākṣīti gīto bhavān
bhedaistāṁ pratibiṁbato viviśivān jīvo'pi naivāparaḥ|
kālādipratibodhitātha bhavatā sañcoditā ca svayam
māyā sā khalu buddhitattvamasṛjadyo'sau mahānucyate||4
śrīmannārāyanīye daśakam 5
māyāsannihitaḥ  apraviṣṭavapuṣā upalakṣitaḥ  bhavān sākṣi iti gītaḥ|  tāṁ bhedaiḥ pratibimbataḥ bhavān eva viviśivān|  jīvaḥ api na aparaḥ|  atha kālādi pratibodhitā bhavatā sañcoditā ca sā māyā khalu buddhitattvaṁ asṛjat|  yaḥ asau mahān ucyate|

I am continuing Narayaneeyam from where I had stopped about two months ago. The point where I stopped was the process of creation initiated by the divine will of Krishna the Guruvayurappa. 

" Your presence is very much manifest in your power of delusion (maayaa) but  you are not a part of that maya, as you have not entered the realms of maya physically.  Therefore you are always sung as the witness to the working of your own maya.   (It is like an artist taking out his palette and paints and brush and adding his ideas and transferring them to a canvas but the artist himself is not a part of the picture.. but there is that subtle something between the creator and the created.)  The jeevatma who has entered maya with some different upaadis or conditions is also none other than you.  After the deluge, the maya which was aroused by time, adhrustam (the unseen inherent force) and her own inherent attributes decided by you and further  who was sufficiently prodded by you Guruvayurappa,  created the tattwa of buddhi or congnition all by herself.   That buddhitattwam is called the tattwam of Mahat."

Maya is an integral part of the Lord but the lord is not essentially entering that area of maya and doing the creations.  He is only the witness. But the inherent nature of Maya coupled with the tacit prodding of the Lord could create almost anything, and she started the creation process.  The first thing when a new set up is established is to have an index or master list.. the cognizion.  This she created. first.   More creations would be seen  getting added to the kitty in the subsequent slokas.  This part of Naryaneeyam is very abstruse and it was pat on this point that it got stuck up.  But without understanding the process of working of divine will through his own powers of illusion(maya), further understanding of Bhagavatham or Narayaneeyam is difficult for a scholar.  For the bhakta, we can just say the Lord started his process of creation through the agency of maya, and the first creation was the Mahat tattwa.  This knowledge is sufficient.

--

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

Finally the Victory..

Finally the Victory..

The battle was over now.  The valiant bird had won the pot of nectar through his valour without comparison.  Amrutha is a potion which would give immortality to a person who drank even a little of it.  But Garuda had never thought of partaking of it for himself to gain immortality.  His only aim  was to ensure that his mother Vinatha was released from the slavery from Kadru.  Even now it was not too late.  He could have his own share of amrutha because the entire pot was with him.  But Garutman would have nothing of it.  He was dutifully carrying the pot to where his aunt and cousins were stationed.  On the way he met Lord Narayana.  The Lord of Lords was pleased with the utter lack of selfishness on the part of the bird.  So He addressed Garuda and told him that He was granting a boon to the bird.  The  request of Garuda was that he should stay stationed above the Lord and that if the lord pleases he should be granted immortality even without consuming amrutha. The boon was granted.  The Lord gave a place to Garuda in his flagstaff.  Garuda in turn offered a boon to the Lord and the Lord asked the bird to be his mount. Garuda thus became the eternal servant of Lord Narayana.

While Garuda was heading for his own abode with the pot of amrutha, Indra hurled his weapon of thunder and lighning, Vajrayaudha at the bird.  The bird laughed it off.  He was not at all affected by the weapon.  But the bird was acutely aware of the sacrifice of Sage  Dadhiichi who gave up his life to offer his backbone to be crafted as this weapon to enable Indra to annihilate Vritrasura.  Moreover the bird did not  want to bring infamy either to the weapon on its wielder Indra.  So he offered to shed one of his feathers in response to the impact of Vajra.  The huge feather fell on the space and the living beings were not even able to measure it from one tip to the other.  The feather was very beautiful.  So the Gods and other occupants of heaven praised Garuda as Suparna, the possessor of beautiful feathers.

Indra then requested eternal friendship with Garuda and it was granted.  Indra pleaded to Garuda that if the amrutha was consumed by the thousand wily and venomous snakes, they would become very powerful and as they were already having only evil intentions towards living beings, their gaining immortality would be a catastrophe to all living creatures.  Garuda replied that  he was forced into the adventure of capturing amrutha by an action of deception on the part of his aunt Kadru in collusion with her sons and all that he had promised was to fetch the pot of nectar to their place in return to his mother's liberty.  He had no intention of allowing them to drink the nectar. So Indra was free to take away the nectar once it was placed in the presence of the snakes and Vinatha's liberty was ensured.

Accordingly, Garuda reached the place where the snakes and Kadru were residing.  There was a thick growth of Kusa grassed and Garuda placed the pot on the grass  and told the snakes to have their hearts content of amrutha and they could have their drink after purifying themselves with a ritualistic bath and other observances.  The foolish snakes went for a bath after releasing Vinatha and  as already determined, Indra  took away the pot of amrutha back to its place.

The snakes returned from their bath and ablutions to find the pot of amrutha missing.  They had no means of retaliation. Garuda was too strong an adversary, and he had kept his promise.  All they could do was to lick the Kusa grasses over which the pot of nectar was placed earlier.  Their tongues became split  due to the sharpness of the grass.

Since the pot of nectar was placed on Kusa (Darbha) grass, they became sacred from that time onwards. 

Garuda did not keep quiet.  He attacked the snakes with great vigour and killed most of them, and only about ten Nagas were left behind.  Garuda spared them only because of divine intervention.

Thus after accomplishing his mission with great success, Garuda lived happily in the company of his beloved mother Vinatha ever after.

The episode of Garuda has many things in common with the adventures of Anjaneya as we could see in the Sundarakandam and Yuddhakandam of Ramayanam.

The total lack of selfishness on the part of Garuda  as he chose not to drink nectar but  preferred to remain the faithful servant of Lord Narayana  makes his glory even more praiseworthy.

Now it is our turn to look into the history of Hanuman.

--

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

chandrakalabham chaarthiyurangum

ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ചാര്‍ത്തിയുറങ്ങും തീരം
ഇന്ദ്രധനുസ്സിന്‍ തൂവല്‍ പൊഴിയും തീരം
ഈ മനോഹരതീരത്തു തരുമോ
ഇനിയൊരു ജന്മം കൂടി
എനിക്കിനിയൊരുജന്മം കൂടി

ഈവര്‍ണ്ണസുരഭിയാം ഭൂമിയിലല്ലാതെ
കാമുകഹൃദയങ്ങളുണ്ടോ?
സന്ധ്യകളുണ്ടോ ചന്ദ്രികയുണ്ടോ
ഗന്ധര്‍വഗീതമുണ്ടോ?
വസുന്ധരേ വസുന്ധരേ...
കൊതിതീരും വരെ ഇവിടെ പ്രേമിച്ചു മരിച്ചവരുണ്ടോ?
(ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ....)

ഈ നിത്യഹരിതയാം ഭൂമിയിലല്ലാതെ
മാനസസരസ്സുകളുണ്ടോ?
സ്വപ്നങ്ങളുണ്ടോ പുഷ്പങ്ങളുണ്ടോ
സ്വര്‍ണ്ണമരാളങ്ങളുണ്ടോ?
വസുന്ധരേ വസുന്ധരേ.....മതിയാകും വരെ
ഇവിടെ ജീവിച്ചു മരിച്ചവരുണ്ടോ?
(ചന്ദ്രകളഭം ...)
the immortal poetry of Vayalar Ramavarma

The beaches that are lullabied  to sleep covered by the sandal paste of the cool rays of the moon, 

The beaches where the feathers from the bow of Indra (the rainbow) are shed,

Oh, the power that be,
will you please give me another chance to live in this beautiful landscape..
assuming yet another life?

Can there exist the romantic hearts of lovers anywhere other than on this colourful and fragrant earth? 

Can there be sweet dusks,
soothing rays of the moon
and the songs of singers equalling the gandharvas
 anywhere other than on this earth? 

 Oh earth, who carry on your bosom all the wealth and greenery of life,
 is there anyone living  on your surface 

who has loved to his hearts content

 before departing from  you to go to  the abode of death?

Can there exist anywhere other than on this earth which is ever lush in greenery, 

the Manasa saras of Ganga and sources of water so sweet?

Can there be sweet dreams, fragrant flowers and golden beetles? 

Is there anyone who has  lived on this earth and  has lived his life to his heart's content before taking leave of   you to go to  the abode of death?

Oh, the power that be, will you please give me another chance to live in this beautiful landscape..assuming yet another life?

 

the grand battle..

the grand battle..

Now the real battle for Amrutha began.   The mighty garuda after making himself fortified with a grand meal of the elephant and tortoise and sufficiently backed up by the blessings of his father Kashyapa and the sages Valakhilyas, made it straight to the heaven where the pot containing the Amrutha ( also termed as Soma in many parts of this story in Mahabharatham) was kept in great security.  The pot was guarded by one Brahmana ( a name and not the caste)  who was of immense strength and shone like the resplendent Sun.  Garuda simply made a frontal attack on him with his talons, beak and wings and within seconds  the guard fell unconscious.  Meanwhile the movement of the wings of Garuda had blown up so much of dust in the environs that it was almost a night in the daylight for heaven.  The gods who had all armed themselves with their select weapons to attack the bird, started hitting each other with those weapons in the blinding dust.  Indra the lord of gods ordered Vayu, the wind god to blow hard and drive away the dust, which the latter did effectively.  But by that time the gods had either mangled themselves by attacking one another in darkness or by being hit by the wings and talons of Garuda.  The heaven witnessed a lot of flow of blood from  the well nourshed bodies of gods.  However when the dust settled down the gods led by Indra started attacking Garuda with whatever weapons and energy they were left with.  Garuda gave out a loud roar and  arming himself with many weapons obtained by his inherent powers, hit back at the gods without any wavering. The Saadhyas were on flight towards the east, the Vasus and Gandharvas were efficiently using their feet to reach the farthest location in the south,  the Adityas were seen darting towards west  and the twin Ashwins found themselves landed up in the farthest northern terrain.  Garuda fought with the Yakshas, Ashwakraandas, Rainuka, Kritanaka, Tapana. Uluka (the lord of Owls), Swasanaka, Nimesha, Prajula and Pulina, and  managed to make them all  into a bundle of mashed meat. (The names given are of various leaders of the groups of warriors among the inhabitants of heaven.. suffice to say it was hell for them that day).   The valour of Garutman  resembled the power of Lord Shiva at the time of destruction of the Universe at the end of a kalpa.   The clouds were soaked with blood of all types of gods and looked dark red.

After rendering the opponents to complete ineffectiveness, Garuda proceeded towards the place where Amruta was kept.   

He found that the location was covered with flames very difficult to penetrate.  Immediately, by his yogic powers, Garuda assumed ninety times ninety forms of himself and sucked up all the sources of water in the universe through his beaks and poured the entire liquid on the fire.  After extinguishing the fire, the Gaurda assumed a normal size and the hue of gold and forcibly entered the place where amruta was kept.  The gods had deviced  a rotating iron weapon like a fan with blades  as sharp as razor edges on both sides and placed with little gap between one another.. the weapon was rotating at a dizzy speed.  In the normal course, anyone who went near the  wheel would have been cut into millions of pieces in a second.  Within the line of this wheel two snakes were stationed.  They shone like lighted fire and from their mouths venom was spraying in all directions.  Their eyes were glowing so fiercely  that an average living  thing would have been reduced to ashes even at the sight of them.  Their power essentially lied in their ever open eyes.  The son of Vinatha kicked up huge clouds of dust and covered the eyes of the snakes  and then with great speed and alacrity, caught hold of them and mangled them to death.  Then he assumed a very tiny form and negotiated the gap between the blades of the rotating fan and got hold of the pot of amrutha without any delay.

Thus the great Garutman ultimately became the master of  the Kalasa (pot)  full of amrutha.

Further narration will follow.

--

।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

charity should come from heart

charity should come from heart

Charity should emanate from the bottom of the heart.. empathy for fellow human beings should be rooted very deep in our psyche. 

Posts in Facebook or even token contributions and activities with a lot of fanfare may not be proper substitutes. 

The mongoose episode at the end of Rajasooya Yajna of Yudistira as described in Mahabharatham should be an eyeopener. 

A poor family consisting of a father, mother, son and daughter in law were living in a household.

 It was a famine and cereals were is short supplly.

 After long days of wanderings the son of the family got a full measure of cereals and the family was about to divide  it into four and partake in it. 

Suddenly an old brahmin visited the household as a guest. 
He was hunger personified. 

The family had nothing more to offer to the guest than the four shared portions of the cereal. 

The daughter in law, being the youngest of the lot offered her share to the guest first, and after eating it the guest was not satisfied.

 The son, eager to do the athithi dharma and also to  preserve the life of the parents, offered his morsel then to the hungry guest. 
The guest's intestinal activities flared up with hunger and he asked for more. 
The mother gave her part and their last hope that the old father of the family would be spared. 
But this was not to be so. 
To satisfy the hunger of the brahmin, the old man's share aslo went down his gullet. 
The guest was satisfied and was about to leave. 

Simultaneously the four hosts were also leaving for the next world being denied of food for days and days together.

 They fell down dead one by one. 

But then something wonderful happened.

The guest was none other than dharma devata who had visited the family to test their willingness to give.

 He praised them and took them in a golden chariot for eternal sojourn in heaven. 

A stray mongoose who had been watching all these was so overwhelmed by the sight of such great sacrifice and in honour of the great souls he just tried to roll over then area of the house where a little of the cereal flour was lying scattered,

 He could cover only half his body by rolling 
and lo! that side became golden. 

This half golden mongoose visited the Rajasooya premises of Dharmaputra and was rolling all over the place including the huge kitchens where thousands of brahmanas and others were fed. 

But howsoever earnestly the mongoose would try he could not get the other part of the body turned into gold.. 

The mongoose was raising the query whether the Rajasooyam of Dharmaputra was indeed a great action in comparison to the sacrifice of that old brahmin family.. 

The story gives a lot of food for thought.

The vocal rendering of Pranavam

The vocal  rendering of Pranavam

Pranavam as a whole is famed to have the 

Rishi as Brahma, 

 mother  Gayatri as chhandas, 

and the Supreme lord and the presiding deity.

   The three letters  A  U  and Ma have  Agni, Vaayu and Surya as rishis, 
Gayatri, Thristup and Brihatee as chandaas, and  the triumvirate Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as presiding deities.

एवमार्षादिकं स्मृत्वा तत ॐकारमभ्यसेत्

सार्द्धत्रिमात्रमुच्चार्य दीर्घखण्डानिनादवत्

evamārṣādikaṁ smṛtvā tata omkāramabhyaset

sārddhatrimātramuccārya dīrghakhaṇḍāninādavat

Thus invoking the Rishis Chandas and Devata, one should chant omkaram..
 If omkaram is pronounced independently it should be for three and half maathras ( a measure of time which may be nearly three and half seconds), that too the rendering should be continuous as if it is coming from the bell of gun metal (khanda used in pujas) with proper reverberation.

त्रिमात्रस्तु प्रयोक्तव्यः सर्वारम्भेषु कर्मसु

तिस्त्रस्सार्द्धस्तु कर्थव्यः मात्रसूत्रार्त्थचिन्तकैः

याज्ञवल्क्यः

trimātrastu prayoktavyaḥ sarvārambheṣu karmasu

tistrassārddhastu karthavyaḥ mātrasūtrārtthacintakaiḥ

yājñavalkyaḥtrimātrastu prayoktavyaḥ sarvārambheṣu karmasu

tistrassarddhastu karthavyaḥ mātrrsūtrārtthacintakaiḥ

yājñvalkya

Sage yaajnvalkya has prescribed that when Omkaram is pronounced as the starting point of a religious rite, the length should be of three maathra or three seconds.  When learned people are contmplating on Omkaram  with maathra  suutra and meaning.

देवताध्यानकाले तु प्ळुतं कुर्यात् न संशयः

तैलधारावदच्छिन्नं दीर्घखण्डानिनादवत्

अप्ळुतं प्रणवस्यान्तम् यस्तम् वेद स वेदवित्

आद्यम् तत्राक्षरं ब्रह्म त्रयी यत्र प्रतिष्ठिता

स गुह्योऽन्न्यस्त्रिवृद्वेदो यो वेदैनं स वेदवित्।

devatādhyānakāle tu pḻutaṁ kuryāt na saṁśayaḥ

tailadhārāvadacchinnaṁ dīrghakhaṇḍāninādavat

apḻutaṁ praṇavasyāntam yastam veda sa vedavit

ādyam tatrākṣaraṁ brahma trayī yatra pratiṣṭhitā

sa guhyo'nnyastrivṛdvedo yo vedainaṁ sa veadavit|

When we are chanting Pranavam in contemplation of deities, undoubtedly it should be chanted in the Plutha mode… 
By plutham it is meant that the flow of sound should be unbroken like the even flow of thailam (gingely oil)  when poured down. 
  However there is a qualification.  
A is the letter of the supreme Brahmam and it should be uttered with secrecy.. 
So the sum and substance of the rule is that the beginning  A part should be rendered with lowered tone, raising to a crescendo when the U and M part comes and then it should taper down slowly to silence in the  later part of M…  
There are limitations of explaining this in words.  
We have to watch the learned preceptors to get the full idea of the audio curve of raise and fall while pronouncing the Pranavam. 

He who understands the proper pronunciation and rendering of Pranavam is famed as the master of all Vedas.

There are more points to discuss about pranvam which  I hope to record in due course.

--

Even the strongest beings will have testing times..

Even the strongest beings will have testing times..

Once Kashyapa Prajapati the scion of all the gods and demons decided to conduct a yajna and directed all his sons and disciples to collect the holy materials for such oblation to fire. The gods and demons with their huge powers could bring in many ingredients in huge bulk. Indra the leader of gods was carrying a huge bundle of palasa

( the dried branches of this plant are offered to fire as oblation in yagas and yajnas) equaling the size of a mountain and was was walking towards the yajnasaala( the place where the yajna is to take place) in great arrogance and show of of achievement. Just then there were a set of sages called Valakhilyas , in a large group carrying a single twig of palasa and they were also heading towards the place of yajna. These Valakhilyas were tiny people and perhaps because they, absorbed in penance, neglected to eat or drink anything and could survive to keep and body together just by absorbing energy from the sunlight, they were as tiny as human thumbs. But they were very potent in penance. In their tiny size, they thought they could do their mite by carrying a a palasa twig for the yagna. Indra's arrogant gait unsettled these tiny sages and they were just thrown into a muddy puddle formed of little rain water, which submerged them and ruined the twig also. With great difficulty they swam out and Indra was making fun of them all the while. They cursed him that he will have to pay heavily for it and he will be defeated by a person of greater strength that himself, born as a bird.

These Valakhilyas were in the habit of doing penance dangling upside down from the branch of some tree in the northern mountains.These Valakhilyas in hundreds were in fact dangling from the branch of banyan tree in the forest.

Garuda was carrying the huge elephant and the tortoise holding them fast with his nails and while soaring up he requested his father Kashyapa to indicate to him some strong tree where he could place these two beasts and break them with his sharp beak and make a supper of them. The father advised him to fly north and perch on the branch of a huge banyan tree. Garuda in fact asked the tree whether it could bear his weight along with the huge elephant and tortoise and the tree in its arrogance answered in the affirmative. Believing the assurance of the tree he put his legs on a branch, but unable to bear the weight the branch started giving in. At that time the Valakhilyas were doing penance dangling upside down from the same branch. So if the branch fell down, the Valakhilyas would be maimed and crushed. To avoid this catastrophe Garuda carried the branch on his beak and soared up. Seeing the son's predicament, Kashyapa prayed to Valakdhilyas not to curse the young bird and requested them to indicate some place where the branch could be unloaded without causing any discomfiture to the sages. The sages were mollified and they indicated that the branch should be slowly downloaded on a snowy flank of a mountain where there was heavy growth of grass also. Accordingly Garuda placed the branch of the tree together with the dangling sages, in a comfortable place Seeing the strength of the bird the sages were pleased and honouring his capacity to carry so huge a weight, they christened him Garuda or Garutman, a person who can carry huge loads.

After making the Valakhilyas comfortable, and after getting boons from them that he will be stronger than Indra, Garuda placed the elephant and the tortoise on the rough surface of a mountains and finished them off and had his tummy full.

We see Indra's slighting of the Valakhilyas earned himself a very potent set of enemies. It is not the size but the internal power of the sages that mattered. They could burn to ashes anything they did not like because they were drawing energy right from the son. It was only fortunate that they left Indra with a minor curse.

Even the greatest hero could find himself at his wits end often. With a 

big banyan branch with dangerous sages dangling from it kept tight on his beak and an and elephant and a tortoise of mammoth size held in his two legs and not knowing where to land upon the earth was an impossible challenge to Garuda. Only his father Kashyapa's timely intervention and entreaties on his behalf to the Valakhilyas saved the day for even the invincible Garuda,,

The adventurous foray a Garuda will be discussed further later…

वामे भूमिसुता पुरश्च हनुमान् पश्चात् सुमित्रासुतः

वामे भूमिसुता पुरश्च हनुमान् पश्चात् सुमित्रासुतः

शत्रुघ्नो भरतश्च पार्श्वदलयोः वाय्वादि कोणेषु च।

सुग्रीवश्च विभीषणश्च युवराट् तारासुतो जांबवान्

मध्ये नील सरोज कोमळरुचिं रामं भजे श्यामळं॥ 

vāme bhūmisutā puraśca hanumān paścāt sumitrāsutaḥ 

śatrughno bharataśca pārśvadalayoḥ vāyvādi koṇeṣu ca| 

sugrīvaśca vibhīṣaṇaśca yuvarāṭ tārāsuto jāṁbavān 

madhye nīla saroja komaḻaruciṁ rāmaṁ bhaje śyāmaḻaṁ|| 

I prostrate before Rama who is of bluish black hue shining in the middle of his relatives and friends like a dark blue lotus , he is having the daughter of earth, Sita on His left, Aanjaneya the Hanuman in the front, the son of Sumitra the Lakshmana in the back, Shathrugna and Bharatha on the right and left, Sugreeva, Vibheeshana, the heir appaernt of monkeys kingdom and the son of Tara, Anagada, and the great Jambavan stationed around him in the directions of vayu etc ( Rama is expected to face east..( Hanuman in front the indra's direction, Lakshmana in the back..Varunas's direction Shatrugna and bharatha in the south and north directions namely those of Yama and Kubera Sugreeva, Vibheeshana, Angada and Jamabavan in the northwest (Vayu), north east (Eesana,) south east (Agni) and south west (Nruruthi) directions.. 

The idea is that Rama is shining like a blue lotus in the company of the reddish Sita on his left surrounded in the eight directions by Hanuman etc as if ever being attended by the Ashtadikpalakaas. 

The Ashtadikpalakas

fuel for the mission

fuel for the mission

Now the time came for Garuda to go in search of Amrutha. He is conscious that the task he has to undertake is really tough. Even though he possesses extreme efficiency, he should also have the physical energy and the propelling force to launch Him further to where the pot of ambrosia ( in Bharatham and Puranas we see amrutham and somam used to connote the ambrosia). Garuda asks his mother what he should eat to gains sufficient energy. Her advise was that the young bird should eat away all the Nishadaas, a community of fishermen, and satiate his hunger. The Nishadas colony was situated in the middle of the ocean.

Vinatha gave a warning note also. People called Brahmanas were everywhere and it was possible that such persons would be available in the Kingdom of Nishadas also. Vinatha advises Garuda that he should not go anywhere near a brahmana with his intention to eat him. Brahmana was the power of Indra, Vayu, Yama Agrni, Ashwins, Marut etc all rolled into one. Devas can kill by action brahmana can annihilate you with mere words. Then Garuda asks his mother how he should recognize a Brahmin. She says it should very easy to recognize as the Brahmin would ooze out luster of his penance and knowledge. And if by any chance a brahmana entered his throat, he will start having a deadly buring sensation In the mouth and immediately he should spit the victim out. Anyway garudas intestinal juices were incapable of digesting a Brahman. 

In his Bada Khaana of Nishadas, Garuda ate away all the fishermen, but as feared by Vinatha, one Brahmin was also available in the town of Nishada and was taken in and Garuda's throat started giving burning sensation. The brahmana was only placed near the outer peripheralas of his his beak and so was requested to move out or jump out. But the funny Brahmin had a wife from the Nishada Community and the person would leave only if the Lady was also released. Garuda has to concede that demand, for fear of the curse of the Brahmin. We talk of a Nair tea shop even in the moon, but see how the funny Brahmins reach everywhere in the universe in search of livelihood and family? That continues till now.

Garuda was only partially satisfied with the eating of Nishadas. He soared up and on his way he met his father Kashyapa Prajapati and explained to him about his mission to capture amrutha and also about his insatiable hunger. Kashyapa had a beautiful solution. There were two Rishis, both brothers called Vibhavasu and Supratika. Vibhu was the elder and was keeping the ancestral family properties with him. The younger brother Supratika knew he was entitled to half the portion of the property and every week would visit his elder brother and demand partition. The elder brother was not willing to do this. He advised the younger one about the family property being scattered and the vedic rites and other offerings getting obstructed in the process. Behind such pious entreaties, the avarice for the whole wealth was working. When the younger brother became impossible to handle with his eternal nagging, Vibhavasu cursed him for pestering and the younger brother became an elephant. The younger brother also did not keep quiet. He cursed the elder one to be a tortoise. Even in those forms their desire for wealth did not abate. Every now and then the elephant would stand on the banks of a celestial water-spot calling the brother for a fight and the tortoise would respond immediately and the elephant would drag the elder brother tortoise to the ground and the tortoise in turn will pull back the elephant to the water. For the onlookers sometimes the fight was amusing but for most of the time it was a nuisance. The elephant and tortoise were of mammoth size and their belligerent movements caused disturbance and quakes everywhere. So it was Garuda's turn to make a quick supper of the elephant and tortoise both. He captured them, one on each leg, but he required a place where he should place them and break them with his beak.. This lead to funny results, which you can see in the next dispatch.

Garuda was asked to eat the Nishadas mainly because they were a belligerent lot causing dislocation to other tribes. The bird's hunger would be over and the nuisance from the group also. Even there the

funny Brahmin interfered and just by virtue of a marriage a nishada woman also escaped and she would continue to produce more and 

more nishadas.. especially considering the Brahmins capacity to procreate.

The haggling for wealth and its partition would never end even if the parties to the argument may pass away. The fight between these two would have been for some trees, wooden barks, or kamandalus. Still they fought, cursed one another and finally Garuda had to settle the 

issue.