Significance of Pithrupaksha – Mahalaya Paksha

The legend of Athmadeva highlights the importance of recitation of Srimad Bhagavatham and its meritorious rewards during the days of Mahalaya Paksha.  It is believed that recitation or listening to the legends of Srimad Bhagavatha Purana during these days would provide liberation to ancestors.  Athmadeva was a highly intellectual twice-born married to a beautiful woman.  Unfortunately,  this couple had no offspring after several years of marriage.  The couple were extremely unhappy, they had a cow at home that was not giving birth to a calf, even the flowering plants were not giving flowers or bearing fruits.  Athmadeva was distressed and he decided to kill himself, arrived on the shores of Manasarovar.  There he met a saintly person who understood the grief of Athmadeva immediately.  He felt sympathetic to Athmadeva, he looked at the forehead of Athmadeva.  The saintly person with his divine power said: “ You are not going to getting the happiness of a child in another seven births.”  Athmadeva requested Sanyasin for the remedy to get out of this grief.  The Sanyasin has given fruit to Athmadeva and asked him to feed his wife, it would provide them offspring.  Athmadeva received the fruit with great enthusiasm, and returned home happily.  He handed the fruit to his beautiful wife Dhundhili, she received it but was doubtful about its result.   She thought if she eats this fruit and gets pregnant, it would take away her lovely appearance immediately after the birth of the child.  Dhundhili gave the fruit to her sister, who was already conceived with a child.  Dhundhili had a prior agreement with her sister that the child born to her should return to Dhundhili immediately after its birth.  Her sister also pacified Dhundhili that she would stay with them to take care of the child,  and carelessly offered the fruit to the cow.   In due course of time, Dhundhili’s sister gave birth to a child who was named Dhundhukari.  At the same time, the cow gave birth to a human child with a pair of cow's ears was named Gokarnna.  These two children were grown up, Gokarnna attained knowledge in scriptures and Veda, and he was inherited with good nature.  Dhundhukari was grown with evil nature, he engaged in all wicked activities.  Once Dhundhukari has stolen huge money and precious ornaments from the palace and offered to a prostitute who was worried at the thought that one of these Dhundukari will get caught by the King’s men, it would bring disaster to her as well.  So she killed Dhundukari, after death, Dhundhukari attained the form of a spirit and wandered all over the place.  Once Dhundukari's spirit met Gokarnna and requested him to relieve from the miserable state.  Gokarnna narrated the legend on Srimad Bhagavatha for seven days to the spirit of Dhundhukari, ultimately got relieved from the state of spirit and attained liberation.

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter -9

Buddha taught the Noble Eightfold Path/righteousness to his disciple.  It was the right understanding, the precision of thought, precise speech, and right action, righteous profession as livelihood, truthful effort, perfect mindfulness, and concentration.  He never wearied in preaching the Dharma/righteous way of living throughout the world.  In this way, he sowed the seed of Dharma all over the world.

A charming prince Siddhartha left the comforts and luxuries of a royal palace at a young age, practiced asceticism under harsh conditions, he confronted several hardships and turmoil, attained the enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, in order to save the human being from the miseries and sorrows of worldly existence.  At the age of eighty-eight, he entered Mahanirvana under the pairs of Salavruksha.

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter -8

Buddha taught the King “ Your Majesty, a King should treat his subjects as his own children. You should not oppress them; they should be treated with kindness and compassion, they should remain protected in your Kingdom.  The status of the people may vary by their profession, interest, and character, but everyone has the spark in them to shine.”

Once he met a poor old man covered in dirt, he was too weak to stand up.  Buddha approached him and gave hand to lift him up, he refused to touch the hands of Lord Buddha, saying that his hands are too dirty, he belongs to untouchables.  Buddha advised him “ You should not treat yourself as inferior, you should not differentiate people by their work or their birth.  You are cleaning the dirt from the people’s homes; I am cleaning the dirt from the people’s hearts. Hence, you and I are the same.” The old man shed tears of joy, Buddha lifted him up from the ground.

Buddha took every opportunity to teach people for their better life. Once Rahula met his father with a basin of water, he asked him ‘ Rahula, is that water drinkable’ Rahula replied ‘ No Master, it is not drinkable’. He taught Rahula ‘ if you want to remain untainted and crystal clear you should not lie, everyone will cherish you.”  Buddha did not differentiate himself from his disciple, he took every chance to assist them in their tasks, and he considered himself as one among them.

The ruler of Kosala, King Pasenadi set to war against Kapilavasthu.  He approached Kapilavasthu with huge army of warriors with weapons, elephants, and horses.  He saw an old monk sitting in the middle of the pathway, he went closer to the Monk and saw it was Buddha who is the most venerable sitting exposed to scorching heat, he advised Buddha to move under the shade of the tree.  Buddha said ‘King, taking shelter under your own clan is better than taking shelter under a tree.’  The King understood the nectar-like advice of Buddha.

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter -7

Siddhartha’s journey began from the river banks of Anoma, he traveled barefoot long forty-nine years throughout the sacred lands along the shores of Ganga.  He spread the knowledge of supreme, he removed the darkness of ignorance, and he encouraged people to walk through the path of liberation. He sacrificed royal comforts, luxuries, and pleasure, conducted a search for the ultimate truth, end of sufferings and miseries of human beings, save the humans from the cycles of repeated births.  He practiced asceticism in the mountains and woods, in the harsh climatic conditions, initial six years he was engaged in the rigorous practice of spirituality, he refused to take a meal for several months, eventually, his health started deteriorating.  He realized that the practice of spirituality is like producing music with the string instrument if the strings are too tight it may break, if it is too lose it will be of no use, in either case, it is good for nothing. In either way indulging in sensual pleasure and extreme penance is attachments, it can lead only to grief and hopelessness.  Therefore he had chosen the middle path,  settled under the Bodhi tree, continued penance for several years.   He confronted all the wickedness of Mara who is the representation of delusion, with serenity and peace, he was enlightened ‘Buddha’.  The sincere prayers of Buddha were “I wish to continue to be humble, not enslaved by fame and wealth, I have born to spread righteousness on the Earth, and I have to liberate the souls from the worldly existence.  I have to free living beings from the world of Samsara.”

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter – 6

It was believed that Lumbini/Nepal, is the birthplace of Siddhartha, he was brought up in Kapilavasthu located in Uttar  Pradesh.  He was born in the Hindu Kshatriya family and King of Sankhya clan Shudhdhodhana.   The Queen Mayadevi conceived with Siddhartha, on that night she had a dream in that a white elephant with a lotus flower on her right side.  On the next day, King Shudhdhodhana called for a meeting of scholars and  royal astrologers to know more about the dream of Queen Mayadevi.  The royal astrologers interpreted the dream as a highly auspicious one, he will have a son with incredible virtues, will power, might, courage, and he will remain incomparable.  After ten months, when Maya Devi was fully pregnant with the child expressed her wish to be with her father’s Kingdom Devadhaha for the delivery of the child.  She received permission from King Shudhdhodhana and conducted a journey to the Kingdom of Devadhaha in a grand chariot accompanied by several maidservants and kings men.  They have crossed several miles through the lush green land, riverside and beautiful lands of the forest of Lumbini.  They have traveled half of their journey to Kingdom Devadhaha, Queen Mayadevi ordered the counselor to stop for a while to relax.  She advised King’s men to take rest in the shade; it has been half of the day’s journey by foot for them.  The counselor advised “ Your Highness, if you want to take rest, please be seated under the Salavruksha.”

Queen Mayadevi moved near the Salavruksha, suddenly she felt throbbing pain on the back, felt the urgency to give birth to the child.  The entire group was frightened, the maidservant rushed all over the place to give help to their Majesty,  nature showed its sign of the birth of a divine child, a pleasant breeze filled in the air.  The child born walked through the path filled with lotus flower revealing his identity as the supreme one; soon it assumed the form of an infant.  Queen Mayadevi returned to Kapilavasthu with the newborn,  the chief of the Sakhyan royal family paid a visit to King Sudhdhodhana to greet the divine child.

An assembly of the meeting with the Sankhyan royal family chief with the family of King Sudhdhodhana was arranged, to listen to the predictions about the future of the child.  The chief of the Sakhyan Royal family instructed the King to place the child on the cradle so that he can calculate his predictions about the child.  He thoroughly examined the child from head to toe, he was baffled to witness all the characteristics on the newborn of the divine being which are mentioned in the sacred texts.  He has not seen such a marvelous creation all his life,  suddenly he rose from the seat and prostrated before the child.  The King Sudhdhodhana was mystified to see Asita/Chief of Sakhya clan, head bow down before the child, he began to speak “ I have thoroughly examined all the characteristics of the newborn if he chooses to be in the royal family he would become one of great Emperor of the world.  If he chooses to leave the Palace and lead a saintly life, he would become an enlightened soul, Buddha.”  Asita was deeply disappointed that he had grown too old to witness the growth of the miraculous child and his pastimes.

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter – 5

At the Palace gate, Siddhartha was met Vasavathimara who represents Maya/illusion, manifested before Siddhartha to put a hold on his search for truth. But Vasavathimara was quite sure that he cannot persuade Siddhartha or his sensual pleasure to deceive him.  Vasavathimara threatened Siddhartha to return to the royal palace where there are only luxuries and happiness, lead a comfortable life of a Prince, in seven days he will be crowned as Monarch, if he discards all the royal pleasures he will go through sufferings and agonies.  Siddhartha sternly replied to him “I do not want to be a Monarch, I do not want any royal status, happiness or luxuries which are not going to provide me bliss, these momentary pleasures are not going to help my subject, and dear ones from their sufferings and sorrows of worldly existence.  Therefore, move away from my path and let me go in search of eternal truth.”  Vasavathimara disappeared from the sight of Siddhartha, before leaving promised that he will chase Siddhartha with greed, hatred, delusion and make his life miserable and follow him like a shadow.

Siddhartha crossed several miles on horseback, Channa dutifully followed the Prince and finally, they have arrived in the beautiful lush green land on the riverside of Anoma.  Siddhartha discarded the royal costume, adopted the saffron robe, long hair was rolled and piled-up as a summit, assumed the form of an ascetic.  Channa was terribly upset and sad, fallen at the feet of the Prince.  He advised Channa “ Channa, I am discarding all the pleasures and royal comfort for finding a way out of sufferings and sorrows for all the living beings on the Earth.   Therefore do not feel depressed or sad.  You go back to the Palace and inform my father that I will not return to the Kingdom until I receive the supreme knowledge and the reason for sufferings and sorrows of worldly existence.”  That was the beginning of the journey of a royal Prince Siddhartha to the highest state of spirituality.

The Life of Lord Buddha

Pranams at the lotus feet of Lord Buddha!

Chapter – 4

On the third day when Siddhartha returned to the palace after the visit of the outside world, he was extremely disappointed and mystified after witnessing the realities of life,one of the servants rushed to him with the good news.  “ Your Highness, your wife has given birth to your son.”.  Siddhartha could not express his joy like an ordinary person; he was just begun to learn the harsh truth of aging, illness, and death which are the trap of human life on the Earth.   He felt the birth of the child was to firm his worldly bondage.    He went to meet the child and Yasodhara, but both of them were asleep.  He uttered in silence “ Yasodhara, you are dear to my heart, and Rahula you are everything to me. Oh! Dear ones, we all have to go through the sufferings like aging, sickness, and death, I have to find a way out of these sufferings for all, I have to find a way beyond all these pain and anguish, I am ready to take up all those troubles and turmoil in search of supreme bliss where there is no sufferings and misery.”  He silently left the chamber of Yasodhara, once again looked at the new born Rahula and his dear wife.

On that night, Siddhartha rushed to the attic of Channa who was half asleep, he called for Channa and asked him to keep the horse ready to leave the palace.  Channa was shocked where did the Prince want to leave in the middle of the night.  Channa received instruction from the Prince to keep his horse Kanthaka ready to leave, he will be waiting before the front gate of the Palace.  Siddhartha informed Channa that no one in the Palace should know that he is leaving the palace forever.  That was the beginning of the journey of a royal Prince to achieve the status of a great religious Monk.