Varaha Avatar – Part 3 – The Means To Salvation

<<Part 2 of the story | Part 4 of the story>>

When they were cursed by the sages, Jaya and Vijaya realized the gravitas of their mistake and begged the forgiveness of the holy men. While they realized that a Brahman’s curse cannot be withdrawn, they requested that they don’t forget the supreme personality of Lord Vishnu even in their mortal bodies.

As the doorkeepers were requesting this from the sages, Lord Vishnu walked out of the seventh entrance to greet the sages. The sages were greatly enamored and enraptured by the presence of Vishnu himself and sang his praises in the form of hymns which described the wondrous beauty of the Lord in many words.

Vishnu told the sages that his doorkeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, by virtue of being his devotees as well as his doorkeepers, the offense committed by them to the holy men was nothing short of the offense being committed by Vishnu himself. While he approved of the punishment meted out to them by the sages, he requested them to modify the terms of the curse such that both Jaya and Vijaya’s terms of exile from Vaikunta would be reduced and they could soon return to his service.

The sages, unnerved by the sheer presence of Lord Vishnu and truly humbled by his excellence sang hymns in his praises and also offered to withdraw their curse to the doorkeepers if he so ordained it.

To this statement of theirs, Vishnu replied that Know that the punishment you inflicted on them was originally ordained by me, and they shall therefore take birth in a demoniac family. But they will remain united with me in thought through mental concentration intensified by anger. They will soon return to Vaikunta as well.

Brahma then continued with the story where he informed the demigods that Jaya and Vijaya were now in the womb of Diti, conceived as Kasyapa’s sons. Having heard Brahma’s story regarding Diti’s pregnancy, the demigods were relieved that all of these occurrences had happened with the complete knowledge of Vishnu and their fears were assuaged to a large extent.

<<Part 2 of the story | Part 4 of the story>>

Varaha Avatar – Part 2 – The Doorkeepers Of Vaikunta

<<Part 1 of the story | Part 3 of the story>>

Diti however clearly understood that the sons within her womb would be the cause of great disturbances to the demigods and she therefore continuously bore them for one hundred years without delivering them. By the force of her prolonged pregnancy, the light of the sun and the moon diminished in the various planets and the demigods themselves were highly disturbed and distressed by this force. They therefore approached Lord Brahma and requested him to be merciful towards them as this darkness had hindered their work.

Understanding the demigods’ plight, Brahma narrated the tale of his four sons – Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana and Sanat Kumara to them. These four sons of his were born from his mind, and were the predecessors of the demigods. They were known to travel throughout the material and spiritual worlds without a definite desire or purpose in mind.

On one of their travels, the four sages came across Vaikunta where by dint of their superior spiritual powers, they could sense unprecedented happiness inside. Vaikunta has seven entrances and these sages passed through the first six entrances without being unduly astonished at all the wonders that each and every one of these six chambers presented to them. They arrived at the seventh entrance which was guarded by two doorkeepers Jaya and Vijaya adorned quite richly.

Given that these four sages were highly evolved spiritual beings, they looked five years old in physical appearance and were not dressed at all. For all practical purposes they looked like five year old boys without wearing any clothes and therefore the doorkeepers blocked their way when they tried to go through the seventh entrance.

Enraged by the fact that they were not allowed to see Srihari, the supreme, the four sages’ cursed the doorkeepers. In Vaikunta, who are these two who have developed a discordant mindset even though they are in service of the Lord? Where is the possibility of an enemy of the Lord coming to Vaikunta? In Vaikunta, where all beings exist in harmony, how can these two creatures exist, whose minds are filled with disharmony? Although they are dressed like residents of Vaikunta, they are probably impostors, given that they don’t seem to fit in, they said.

Since they find duality in Vaikunta in the form of harmony and disharmony, they are contaminated and should therefore be banished from this place to the material world. Saying so, the four sages cursed the two doorkeepers, Jaya and Vijaya, to be born as mortal human beings.

<<Part 1 of the story | Part 3 of the story>>