The Glory of God: A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana: ( 04/04/2013. )

      Nimi   Ikshvaku had a son named Nimi. Nimi once started a yajna that went on for a thousand years. He wanted Vashishtha to be the main priest. But Vashishtha said that he was already busy with the yajna that Indra planned to conduct for five hundred years. He asked Nimi to wait. He promised to come to Nimi’s yajna as soon as Indra’s was over.   Nimi returned without saying anything and Vashishtha assumed that Nimi had agreed to wait. But Nimi began his ceremony with Goutama and other sages. After finishing Indra’s yajna, Vashishtha came to Nimi’s yajna expecting to be the chief priest there. But he found that the sacrifice had already been begun with Goutama as the chief priest. Since he felt insulted, Vashishtha cursed Nimi that he would henceforth be without a body. Nimi felt this curse to be unfair. So he too cursed that Vashishtha would be without a body. Vashishtha however, received antoher body. Thanks to the gods Mitra and Varuna...

    Soudasa      In Bhagiratha’s line there was a king called Soudasa or Mitrasaha. One day the king went out hunting in the forest and saw two tigers there. He killed one of these with his arrow and before dying, it adopted the form of a fierce rakshasa. The other tiger said, "I will have my revenge" and disappeared.      Some days later, King Soudasa began a yajna. The priest for this yajna was the sage Vashistha. Vashishtha finished his rituals and left. But the rakshasa adopted Vashishtha’s form and sat down in Vashishtha’s place. "At the end of the ceremony get me some rice and meat to eat," he said. "I am returning in a short while." Having said this, the rakshasa went away. But it adopted the form of a cook and cooked some human meat. Unknowingly, King Soudasa placed this meat in a golden vessel and waited for Vashishtha’s return.      When Vashishtha sat down to eat, he was served this meat. In a tr...

        Sagara      There were many powerful kings among Mandhata’s descendants. One of these was Purukutsa. Many years ago, the underworld was occupied by the gandharvas. They upset the rule of the snakes (nagas) and stole their jewels. The besieged nagas prayed to Vishnu for deliverance. Vishnu told them that he would enter Purukutsa’s body and thus destroy the gandharvas. The nagas sent the river Narmada to bring Purukutsa down to the underworld and Purukutsa destroyed all the gandharvas. The happy sankes grated Narmada a boon. Whoever says, "I pray to Narmada morning and evening; Narmada, protect me from snake poison, " will never be bitten by snakes.      In the same dynasty was born King Vahu. Vahu lost a war with some other kings and went to the forest with his wife. There Vahu’s wife was about to give birth to a baby. But Vahu had another wife as well. And out of jealousy, the second wife gave the first wi...

Ikshvaku, Yuvanashva and Soubhari   Manu happened to sneeze once. As a reult of the sneeze, a son known as Ikshvaku came out of his nose. Ikshvaku’s son was Vikukshi. Ikshvaku wished to perform a shradha ceremony and sent his son off to the forest to bring meat for the ceremony. Vikukshi killed many deer and felt hungry and tired. To satisfy his hunger he ate a rabbit and brought theother meat to his father, who then offered the meat to Vashishtha who was looking after the ceremony.   "This meat is unclean," said the sage, "your son has already eaten the meat of a rabbit."   Ikshvaku banished Vikukshi, although Vikukshi did rule the kingdom after Ikshvaku died. Vikukshi had a very brave son called Paranjaya. The devas and the asuras once fought a terrifble war and the devas could not defeat the asuras. The devas prayed to Vishnu and Vishnu told them that he would be born on earth as Paranjaya. Under Paranjaya’s leadership, the devas would ...

      Dynasties          There were many great people in the line of Manu. The first in this line was Brahma. In the beginning of creation, Vishnu in his form of Brahman came out of brahmanda. From Brahma’s fingers was born Daksha Prajapati. Daksha’s daughter was Aditi, Aditi’s son was Surya and Surya’s son was Manu. Because Manu wanted a son, he prayed to the gods Mitra and Varuna. From the yajna that was done, a daughter named Ila came out. But Manu had really wanted a son. So, for a while, Ila became a son called Sudyumna.          Chandra’s son was Budha. Sudyumna was one day wandering around Budha’s ashrama as the girl Ila. Budha married her and they had a son called Pururava. After Pururava was born, Sudyumna peformed sacrifices so as to become a man again. Once he became a man, he had three sons called Utkala, Gaya and Vinata.        In this dynasty there was...

      Shatadhanu and Shaivya        Many years ago there used to be a king known as Shatadhanu. His wife Shaivya was a religious woman. Together, they used to pray to Vishnu, on the banks of the river Bhagirathi. They were not interested in other things. One day a fraudulent teacher came to them. Shatadhanu spoke to this person, but Shaivya did not. Some years later, Shatadhanu died and Shaivya also died with him on the funeral pyre.        Because he had spoken to the false teacher, Shatadhanu was born as a dog in his next life. And Shaivya was born as a jatismara daughter to the king of Kashi. When the king of Kashi wished to get his daughter married off, Shaivya refused. She had learnt that her husband had been born as a dog and was living in the city of Visisha. So she went there and met the dog. She gave it good food to eat. The dog merely wagged its tail. At this, Shaivya felt ashamed and tried to rem...

      Mayamoha        Many years ago there was a war between the devas and the asuras that lasted for a year. At the end of the war, some daityas named Hrada defeated the devas. The devas fled to the northern shores of an ocean and there began to pray to Vishnu. Vishnu appeared before the devas and created for them a being called Mayamoha out of his own body. Led by Mayamoha, the devas went to fight with the asuras.        The asuras were performing tapasya on the banks of the river Narmada. Mayamoha appeared before them dressed in leaves and with a shaven head. He told them that the best way to attain what the asuras desired was through the religion preached by Mayamoha. The asuras were persuaded by Mayamoha to leave the path of the Vedas. The asuras who adopted this new religion came to be known as arhats. They began to criticize the Vedas and the devas. Others criticized yajnas and brahmanas.   ...