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Indra and Pseudo Religion

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Çré Parçvä Ekädaçé Issue no: 45 13th September 2016 Indra and Pseudo Religion IRRELIGIOUS ASPECTS PSEUDO RELIGION INTRODUCED BY INDRA Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Sri Maitreya Ṛṣi Cheating SannyāSīS PSeudo brāhmaṇa and yogīS AND HARIDAS THAKURA His Divine Grace Srila Vrindavan Das A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Thakura Prabhupada DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEAKNESS AND CHEATING? Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Issue no 45, Page — 2 nityaà bhägavata-sevayä IRRELIGIOUS ASPECTS INTRODUCED BY INDRA was performing the last horse sacrifice [aśvamedha- Sri Maitreya Ṛṣi yajña], King Indra, invisibly, stole the sacrificial horse. He did this because he was greatly jealous of King Prithu initiated the performance of one hundred King Prithu. When taking away the horse, King Indra horse sacrifices at a place known as Brahmavarta, dressed himself to appear as a holy person (sādhu). where the River Sarasvati flows towards the east. This Actually this dress was a form of cheating, for it piece of land was controlled by Svayambhuva Manu. falsely created an impression of religion. When Indra When the most powerful Indra, the King of heaven, escaped in this way, the great sage Atri saw him and saw this, he considered the likelihood that King Prithu understood everything of the whole situation. The son would exceed him in fruitive activities and take his of King Prithu, being apprised by Atri of King Indra's position as King of heaven. Thus Indra could not bear trick, was immediately spurred into action, and to see the great sacrificial ceremonies performed by followed Indra to kill him, calling, Wait! Wait!; King King Prithu. Indra was fraudulently dressed as a sannyāsī, having The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Vishnu knotted hair on his head and ashes smeared all over his is present in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. He body. Upon seeing such dress, the son of King Prithu is the proprietor of all planets and the enjoyer of thought Indra a holy renunciant (sannyāsī.) Therefore the results of all sacrifices. Therefore He personally he did not shoot him with his arrows. When Atri Muni attended the sacrifices made by King Prithu. When saw that the son of King Prithu did not kill Indra but Lord Vishnu appeared in the sacrificial arena, Lord returned deceived by him, the muni again instructed Brahma, Lord Shiva and all the chief predominating him to kill the corrupt heavenly King. He thought that personalities of every planet, as well as their Indra had become the lowliest of all demigods due to followers, came with Him. Seeing Him, the residents his impeding the execution of King Prithu's sacrifice. of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka and all the great Being thus informed, the grandson of King Vena sages, praised Him. The Lord was also accompanied immediately began to pursue the rapidly fleeing by the residents of Siddhaloka and Vidyadhara-loka, Indra. Greatly angry he pursued King Indra just as the descendants of Diti, and the demons and Yaksas. the king of the vultures chased Ravana, When Indra He was also accompanied by His chief associates, saw that the vigilant son of Prithu was chasing him, headed by Sunanda and Nanda. Great devotees, who he immediately abandoned his false dress and let go were always engaged in the service of the Supreme of the horse. Indeed, he disappeared from that very Personality of Godhead, as well as the great sages spot, and the great hero, the son of Maharaja Prithu, named Kapila, Narada and Dattatreya, and masters returned the horse to his fathers sacrificial arena. of mystic powers, headed by Sanaka Kumara, all When the great sages observed the wonderful attended the great sacrifice with Lord all attended the prowess of the son of King Prithu, they all agreed to great sacrifice with Lord Vishnu. give him the name Vijitāśva. Later Indra, being the In that great sacrifice the entire land came to be powerful King of heaven brought a dense darkness like the milk-producing kāma-dhenu, and thus, by upon the sacrificial arena. Clouding everything in the performance of yajña, all daily necessities for life this way, he again abducted the sacrificial horse, were supplied. The rivers supplied all kinds of tastes- which had been chained with golden shackles near sweet, pungent, sour, etc.-and very big trees supplied the wooden sacrificial guillotine. The great sage Atri fruit and honey in abundance. The cows, having eaten again pointed out to the son of King Prithu that Indra sufficient green grass, supplied profuse quantities was fleeing through the sky. That hero, the son of of milk, curd, clarified butter and similar other Prithu, again chased him. However he saw that Indra necessities. King Prithu was presented with various was holding a staff with a skull at the top and was gifts by the general populace and predominating wearing the dress of a sannyāsī, and again chose not to deities of all planets. The oceans and seas were full punish him. When the great sage Atri re-apprised him, of valuable jewels and pearls, and the hills were full Vijitāśva, became very angry and placed an arrow on of minerals and natural fertilizers. The four kinds of his bow. Upon seeing this, King Indra immediately edibles grew profusely. abandoned the false dress of a sannyāsī and, giving King Prithu was dependent on the Supreme up the horse, made himself invisible. Then the great Personality of Godhead, who is known as adhokṣaja. hero, Vijitāśva, the son of King Prithu, again took the King Prithu performed many sacrifices, and because horse and returned to his father's sacrificial arena. of that, the Supreme Lord, His mercy empowered Since that time, certain men of lesser knowledge him to become like a super-human. have adopted the dress of a false sannyāsī. It was King King Prithu's opulence, however, could not be Indra who introduced this. Whatever different forms tolerated by the King of heaven, Indra, who naturally Indra assumed as a mendicant because of his desire to tried to impede his progress. When Prithu Maharaja seize the horse were symbols of atheistic philosophy. nityaà bhägavata-sevayä top right 3 Issue no 45, Page—3 priests, in a fire mood, began to summon Indra, the King of heaven, by mystic mantras. When they were just about to initiate that fierce sacrifice, Lord Brahma appeared there and forbade them to continue. Lord Brahma addressed them thus: My dear sacrificial performers, you cannot kill Indra, the King of heaven. That is not expected of persons such as yourselves. You should know that Indra is as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Indeed, he is one of the most powerful assistants of the Personality of Godhead. You are trying to satisfy all the demigods by the performance of this yajña, but you should know that all these demigods are but parts and parcels of Indra, the King of heaven. How, then, can you kill him in this great sacrifice? In order to make trouble and impede the performance of King Prithu's great sacrifice, King Indra has adopted some means that in the future will destroy the clear path of religious life. I draw your attention to this fact. If you oppose him any further, he will further misuse his power and introduce many other irreligious systems. Let there be only ninety-nine sacrificial performances for Maharaja Prithu, Lord Brahma concluded. Lord Brahma then turned towards Maharaja Prithu and informed him that since he was thoroughly aware of the path of liberation, what was the use in performing more sacrifices? Let there be good fortune to both of Indra Steals the Horse, Artist: Dinabandhu Dasa Indra Steals the Horse, you, for you and King Indra are both part and parcel In this way, King Indra, in order to steal the horse of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore from King Prithu's sacrifice, adopted several orders of you should not be angry with King Indra, who is non- sannyāsa. Some sannyāsīs go naked, and sometimes different from you. My dear King, do not be agitated they wear red garments and pass under the name of and anxious because your sacrifices have not been kāpālika. These are simply symbolic representations properly executed due to providential impediments. of their sinful activities. These so-called sannyāsīs are Kindly take my words with great respect. We should very much appreciated by sinful men because they are always remember that if something happens by all godless atheists and very expert in putting forward providential arrangement, we should not be very sorry. arguments and reasons to support their case. We must The more we try to rectify such reversals, the more we know, however, that they are only passing as adherents enter into the darkest region of materialistic thought. of religion and are not so in fact. Unfortunately, Stop the performance of these sacrifices, for they have bewildered persons accept them as religious, and being induced Indra to introduce so many irreligious aspects. attracted to them, they spoil their life. Maharaja Prithu, You should know very well that even the demigods who was celebrated as very powerful, immediately have many unwanted desires. Just see how Indra, the took up his bow and arrows and prepared to kill Indra King of heaven, was creating a disturbance in the himself, because Indra had introduced such irregular sacrifice by stealing the sacrificial horse. These sinful sannyāsa orders. When the priests and all the others activities he has introduced will attract the minds of the saw Maharaja Prithu very angry and prepared to people in general, who will imitate them. O King Prithu, kill Indra, they requested him: "O great soul, do not son of Vena, you are the part-and- parcel, expansion of kill him, for only sacrificial animals can be killed in Lord Vishnu.
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  • Bhagavad Gita

    Bhagavad Gita

    BHAGAVAD GITA The Global Dharma for the Third Millennium Chapter Ten Translations and commentaries compiled by Parama Karuna Devi Copyright © 2012 Parama Karuna Devi All rights reserved. Title ID: 4173075 ISBN-13: 978-1482548501 ISBN-10: 148254850X published by Jagannatha Vallabha Vedic Research Center phone: +91 94373 00906 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.jagannathavallabha.com © 2011 PAVAN Correspondence address: PAVAN House Siddha Mahavira patana, Puri 752002 Orissa Chapter 10: Vibhuti yoga The Yoga of powers The word vibhuti contains many meanings, such as "powers", "opulences", "glories", "magic". Every living being has some of such "magic powers" - a special ability, or strength, or beauty - but not everyone has the same powers, or a power to an absolute degree. Among the materially embodied beings, such powers are always conditioned by circumstances and exhausted when they are used. Through the correct practice of yoga, a sadhaka can develop special vibhutis up to the level of siddhi ("perfection"), usually listed as being able to become extremely small (anima siddhi), extremely large (mahima siddhi), extremely light (laghima siddhi), reconfiguring the patterns of material atoms (vasitva siddhi), materializing things by attracting atoms from other places (prapti siddhi), controlling the minds of others (isitva siddhi), assuming any shape or form (kamavasayita siddhi), and manifesting all kinds of wonders (prakamya siddhi). Another of such powers consists in entering and controlling the body of another, living or dead (parakaya pravesa). Also, the knowledge of genuine yoga enables the serious sadhaka to control the material elements (such as fire, water, air etc), control the weather (call or dispel storms and lightning, bring or withhold rain, etc), travel in different dimensions and planets without any vehicle, call the dead back into their old body (usually temporarily), and so on.