Arthatatvam

  When Rama had gone in search of Sita, he had to cross the ocean from Rameswaram to Sri Lanka. In order to cross the ocean, h e prayed to the ocean deity for a couple of days so that the ocean water could subside and pave way for him and his army to march towards Lanka.  However, when the ocean did not heed to Rama’s prayers, he got angry and summoned one of his divine weapons to dry up the ocean! The ocean deity got scared and presented himself before Rama. He begged for Rama's mercy and requested him to release the weapon towards a region in the north where "Drumatulya" is located.(Since, a weapon summoned, cannot go in vain). He said that  a gang of robbers live in that region.   That region is now the "Thar Dessert". Rama did as suggested and the weapon hit that region.  After some time, the water of that place dried up, but Rama blessed the region saying that it would be conducive to cattle rearing, and will also produce good clarified butter, milk, f...

  There was a Rishi named Dhaumya. He had three disciples: Aruni, Upamanyu and Veda. Once, he asked Aruni to stop an embankment in his field. Aruni tried many different ways to stop it, but to no avail. Then an idea occurred to him. He laid himself down and it worked! By then it was night time and Rishi Dhaumya wondered where Aruni had gone. He along with his other disciples searched for Aruni. He finally found Aruni lying down in the embankment! Then the Rishi asked him to get up and after taking care of the embankment, he blessed Aruni stating that he shall henceforth be called "Uddalaka", he shall get good fortune and the knowledge of all the vedas and dharma shastras.

  King Janamejaya (great grandson of Arjuna) along with his brothers was performing a snake sacrifice. At that time a dog came near the sacrifice and it was beaten up by the brothers. The dog then went weeping to it's mother, Sarama. Sarama asked if the dog had done anything wrong. When the dog replied that it hadn't, she got angry and cursed Janamejaya as his brothers had beaten up the dog without any reason, so evil will befall him when he least expects it. 

Satyavati(Mother Of Vyasa) was a fisherwoman. She used to smell like fish and this made her conscious of it. So, when she met Parashara(Father Of Vyasa), she asked for a boon that her body be sweet-scented. He granted her wish! It is said that her body would emit this sweet-scent for a distance of a yojana! (One Yojana is 12 kilometers).

  Do you know Veda Vyasa's (The author of the epic "Mahabharata") real name?  Veda Vyasa's real name was Krishna Dvaipayana.  He was named so by his father Parashara because of his dark complexion(Krishna) and as he was born in an island (Dvipa).

Valmiki's Ramayana has the Gayatri Mantra embedded in the verses, this is the biggest secret! I am sure most of you have heard about the "Gayatri Mantra". It is a mantra from the Rig Veda and is dedicated to Goddess Savitri. Ramayana consists of 24,000 slokas. The first letter every 1000 slokas in the Ramayana forms the Gayatri Mantra.  

Swayamprabha provided Hanuman and all the other vanaras fruits and drinks. Then Hanuman asked her the route to get out of the cave. Swayamprabha asked all of them to close their eyes and with the twinkling of an eye, they were outside the cave!  PS: This is the continuation of my previous post: https://arthatatvam.blogspot.com/2021/05/why-was-mystery-cave-built-by-maya.html Stay tuned for my next post: "A secret in Ramayana". 😁

Maya was a great magician and builder for the demons in the days of yore. He did great penance and propitiated Lord Brahma. As a boon, Brahma transferred the wealth of Sukracharya to Maya. Maya then enjoyed this material wealth along with the celestial nymph, Hema. Lord Indra saw this as an opportunity and killed Maya as he was distracted. Then he appointed Hema to inherit the vast wealth of Maya. Hema's dear friend Swayamprabha was appointed to look after this cave. PS: This is the continuation of my previous post: https://arthatatvam.blogspot.com/2021/05/mystery-cave-of-maya-once-hanuman-and.html Stay tuned for my next post: "Teleportation in Ramayana". 😃

Once, Hanuman and the vanaras(monkeys) came across an inaccessible cave named "Rikshabilam" while on their search for Sita. In that cave, they found many precious jewels, luxurious apartments and palaces. They also came across a radiant ascetic woman named "Swayamprabha" who was clad only in deer-skin. When the vanaras asked who she was, she told them that she was the daughter of sage Merusavarni and this cave was built by Maya, a great magician. Want to know why this cave was built by Maya? Read my next post! 😄

  The mountain "Mainaka" reappeared on the surface when Hanuman (son of wind god) crossed the ocean from India to Lanka. Hanuman considered this mountain to be an obstacle in his path and flew past it breaking it's peak. Immediately, the mountain turned itself into human-form and offered a resting place for Hanuman as a token of gratitude as his father the wind god, had saved Mainaka from the wrath of Indra. Hanuman didn't want to rest until his mission to save Sita was accomplished. However, he didn't want to be rude to the hospitality offered by Mainaka. So, he just touched it and left.    Stay tuned for my next post: "Mystery cave of Maya". :)

In the epic Ramayana, it is said that all mountains had wings. They used to soar through the sky and land wherever they liked. This caused havoc in heaven and on earth. To stop this, Lord Indra cut off the wings of all mountains with his thunderbolt! But a mountain named "Mainaka" escaped this with the help of Vayu(wind god).  Stay tuned to know more about this story in the next post . 😄