Friday, July 13, 2012

Connecting Fantasy and Reality – A Puranic account.




A few days back I was introduced to the concept of a Rishiworker. One such elevated being shared the story of his life in service of the Rishis, where He and his fellow workers did dreamlike things transcending various dimensions, lokas and spheres. He shared the same knowledge as do our ancient scriptures but always seemed to throw some new light on it which made one look at things refreshingly differently.

So… Here goes one such story…

Many readers will be familiar with the story of Bhasmasura, from the Vishnu Purana. In case you don’t ~

Bhasmasura was a powerful demon. In his quest to become invincible in the battle with the Demi-Gods, Bhasmasura undertook intense penance to invoke His favorite deity, Lord Shiva.

Years passed but the intensity of his effort only grew. Finally one day the demons inner gaze was filled with brilliant light and he heard a loving voice asking him to open his eyes. He did and to his delight saw the ever merciful and guileless Lord Shiva  gazing lovingly at him.

“What is it you desire? Ask and it shall be granted.”

The demon prayed “Lord! bless me that on whosoever’s head I put my right hand, that person may reduce to ashes.” 

Lord Shiva sighed realizing that the demons asuric qualities had made him lose a valuable opportunity by asking for such a destructive boon, yet He kept His word and blessed him saying –“So be it!”

Bhasmasuras joys knew no bounds. In his eagerness to test the boon he looked around for some being on whom he could test his new found power. But being in wilderness he could find no one but the Lord. An evil thought invaded his mind – ‘What better way to gauge my power then to test it on the Lord himself.’

Lord Shiva realized what was brewing in the demons mind and began making an escape route. The demon pursued. Lord Shiva ran to different lokas where He could elude the demon, but the powerful demon knew his way around and kept up the pursuit.

Reaching the Brahmaloka, Lord Shiva asked for Brahmas aid. Lord Brahma replied that there was nothing He could do which would undo the powerful boon the demon had. So Lord Shiva rushed to Vaikuntha.

Lord Vishnu was aware of the predicament that Lord Shiva was in. He assumed the Mohini (Enchantress) form. Bhasmasura who had arrived even in Vaikuntha in hot pursuit stop dead on tracks looking at the bewitching form of Mohini. He was instantly mesmerized, his lower nature taking over him.

“Who are you O Divine beauty? Whoever you maybe you must accept to be my wife! I am the powerful and now invincible Bhasmasura! Accept my proposal and make me happy and you shall be the Queen of all the worlds.”

Lord Vishnu, now Mohini, knew all of the demons strengths and weaknesses. He knew the demons love and pride of the art of dancing. After playing hard to get, Mohini fained she was willing to give in but putting a condition first that only if the demon could match her in dancing skills, would she consent marrying him.

The delighted demon agreed to the challenge.

Lord Vishnu knew that since they were in Vaikuntha, if the demon died there, he would become immortal. The demon would have to be lured to a loka (plane) where the state of death comes easy. What better place then Earth! Prithvi loka.

And so Mohini began her dance of various mudras, the demon successfully followed each step. As they danced Mohini made the demon follow her crossing various dimensions towards earth. As they neared earth Mohini quickly scanned which place on earth had the right energy of strength for her to fulfill this task. Upon finding such a place she brought the demon down to that place and struck a final pose where her right hand rested on her head. Lord Shiva, the demigods and the Rishis watched on with bated breath. In his zeal to win the challenge and possess the beautiful Mohini, Bhasmasura duplicated her pose perfectly resting his right hand on his head.

No sooner had he done that, that Agni (fire) enveloped that part of his body. The boon had turned into a curse. In a fraction of a second Bhasmasura realized what he had done and in order to contain the damage he thought he would outgrow the fire that was rapidly consuming his body, and contain it. Thus Bhasmasura assumed a gigantic form, miles in height and breadth. Yet he could not outdo the power of the boon and within minutes his gigantic form was consumed in flames.

Evil a being as he was, the fire consuming him instantly released black ash from his enormous form. Tons of black ash fell from miles above hitting earth causing huge destruction and an enormous dent where the ash fell. Massive earthquakes hit the place as waters from all sides rushed in to fill in the gaps. So huge was the dent that the water collected within formed a sea. The sea was inky dark due to mixing with the black ash.

With Bhasmasura gone the powerful energies within him got released. A demigod took charge of that energy and since then came to be known as Bhasmapurusha. The whole creation heaved a sigh of relief as the Rishis and Demigods sang praises of Lord Vishnu. Lord Shiva danced the Tandava in joy and then performed the powerful Rudra yagna for purification and benefit of all Beings.  The Rishis also blessed that place of earth which made the demons end possible. They named it Sthana (Place) Bala (strength) or simply ‘The place of Strength.’



Ages passed since that day yet those places still exist. The Rishiworker shared that this place today is known as Istanbul (Sthana-bala). The inky dark sea water body is known as the Black Sea; and Bhasmapurusha the demigod is also a known figure in Greek and the local mythical history as Bhosphorus and also has a river named after Him.

Here's something more. The Rishiworker Amara shared these details only as a side story to his main mission in this area near Black sea. He and another worker who visited this place astrally went down to some caves in inaccessible regions and revealed that if one was to go down there, the mud and soil is still charred black. It is in one of these caves that they were surprised to discover the mystical artifacts of fables such as the magic lamp, the flying carpet, the staff of Ulysses, Solomon’s diamond, the flying horse etc. 

It is natural to wonder about the possibility of such events. Having read all else that Sri Amara had to share plus some beliefs I had been exposed to from earlier experiences made me realize that though many are within their rights to say that they dont believe in this; yet we are in no position or have no premise to deny the possibility of such happenings. It is in view of this very thought that I wrote: The Mystical lines between Reality and Fantasy

It’s been sometime since I came across this story and since then more astounding things have come by. I read a wise man say somewhere that before we can learn the truly amazing and magical past of our rich history; we would have to unlearn a lot of beliefs that we have been ‘programmed’ with by our modern systems. Belief, it seems, is the qualification to experiencing the magical and mystical.

 


1 comment:

  1. WOW! These stories are so fasicinating. Where do u get this stuff. Thanks for sharing. Keep blogging please :)

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