Bhagwan Parshuram - The Sixth Vishnu Avataar

Bagwan Parshuram, the Eternal Avatar, appears again and again when the planet is in great danger. Parashurama Bhargava or Parasurama (Axe-wielding Rama), according to Hindu mythology is the Sixth avatara of Vishnu, belongs to the Treta yuga, and is the son of Jamadagni. Parashu means axe, hence his name literally means Rama-with-the-axe.

The purpose of the sixth incarnation or Sixth Avatara of Vishnu is considered by religious scholars to be to relieve the earth's burden by exterminating the sinful, destructive and irreligious monarchs that pillaged its resources, and neglected their duties as kings.

He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of warfare and other skills. He is a Chiranjeevin, who fought the aggressing ocean to recede thus saving land of Konkan and Malabar Bhagwan Parashuram is also known as Lord of Yajnya, Lord who grants prosperity, and Lord of knowledge. According to ancient Himalayan tradition of knowledge, Parshuram was the first to introduce inter- planetary weapons on this planet in ancient days, when the planet needed protection from catastrophes caused by the greed and pride of the ruling powers.

Parashurama has been mentioned in several scriptures - Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and Bhagavata and Kalki Puranas. He is famous for killing the Haihaya-Kshatriyas on the earth 21 times for their Ahankara (pride/arrogance). He wanted to spread & preserve the Vedic culture on Earth. He was born a Brahmin but is Kshatriya by Karma, or deeds. He is also known as Bhargava.

Parashurama is famous for killing the Haihaya-Kshatriyas on the earth 21 times for their Ahankara (pride/arrogance). He wanted to spread & preserve the Vedic culture on Earth.

Guru Parshuram

Parshurama's well known students were : 1. Bhishma - The son of Goddess Ganga. 2 Drona, the teacher of the Pandus and Kurus. and (3.) Karna. the great warrior of Mahabharat Parashurama was the guru of both Bheeshma (Devavrata) and Dronacharya. Also, the Sudarshan chakra (or Sudarshan Vidya) is said to be given by Parashurama to Krishna.

Birth of Lord Parshurama

Parashurama was the Great Grandson of Bhrugu Rishi, after whom the "Bhruguvansh" has been named. Bhrugu's Son, Rucheek, married King Gadhi's daughter, Satyavati. The son of Satyavati Jamadagni and Grandson was Parashurama. Jamadagni married Renuka, daughter of King Prasenjit. They had five sons, Parashurama was the youngest.

Legends
Once King Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahasrarjuna) and his army visited Jamadagni, a brahmin sage, who fed his guest and the whole army with his divine cow Surabhi; the king demanded the magical cow and Jamadagni refused because he needed the cow for his religious ceremonies. King Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahasrarjuna) sent his soldiers to take the cow and Parashurama killed the entire army and the king with his axe. In return, the princes beheaded Jamadagni the father of Parshuram.

When Parashurama returned home he found his mother crying hysterically. He asked why she was crying, she beat her chest 21 times. In a rage, Parashurama vowed to exterminate the world's Kshatriyas 21 times. He killed the entire clan of Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahasrarjuna), thus conquering the entire earth. He offered his dead father's soul tarpana with the blood of the kings and warriors he slew. He then conducted the Ashwamedha sacrifice, done only by sovereign kings, and gave the entire land he owned to the priests who performed at the yagya.

Parashurama in the Ramayana

Lord Rama in the Swaibar of the princess Sita daughter of King Janaka broke the bow of Shiva given to the King Janaka by Parashurama.. By breaking the bow it produced a tremendous noise that reached the ears of Parashurama. Parashurama arrived after hearing the sound of the bow of Shiva breaking. But Sita approached the sage. and able to secure the blessing "Saubhagyawati bhavah" .from Parashurama.

Parashurama in the Mahabharata

It is mentioned in the Mahabharata that Parashurama was the teacher of the warrior Karna. When Karna came to Parashurama after being rejected from the school of Parashurama agreed to teach Karna, believing him to not be of Kshatriya birth and gave him the knowledge of the extremely powerful Brahmastra weapon.
Parashurama decided to slay Bhishma and fought with him for twenty three days, when Bhishma refused to marry Amba At the end when Bhishma was about to use the most deadly weapon namely "Pashwapastra". against Parashurama, all Gods rushed to Bhishma and requested him not to use this weapon against Parshurama Bhishma refrained it from using it. In the end, all Gods and Parshuram himself showered praise on Bhishma and acknowledged that Bhishma is truly invincible.

Jain Version on Parshurama

According to Jain version of Parashurama, he was killed by Chakravati Subhoum. Subhoum was the son of Sahasrarjun and 8th Chakravarti of the total 12 Chakravartis. The Jain version is available in Trishasti Shalaka Purush, the famous Jain book on 63 great people of ancient times.

Kalki Purana on Parshurama

The Kalki Purana states Parashurama will be the martial guru of Sri Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of Lord Vishnu. It is he who instructs Kalki to perform a long penance to Shiva to receive celestial weaponry.

Later life of Parshuram

Parashurama became an ascetic and practiced penances, mainly on the Mahendra Mountains. in his later life and gave up violence. The territories he received from the Kshatriyas were distributed among the Brahmrishi Brahmins. They ruled these lands for many centuries. Parashurama also retrieved from the sea a virgin-land which was a stretch of coastal-area to the west of Western Ghats of India a part of the land of Kerala from the sea.

Lord Ram

Yesterday was "Shri Ram Navami." I was unable to write about him due to my unavailability. Thus, I got late. Anyway, this is all about The Great Seventh incarnation of Bhagwan Narayan (Vishnu). Let's say Him : Happy Birthday to you.

Lord Ram is known as the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Ram, the perfect avatar of the Supreme Protector Vishnu, has always been popular among the Hindu deities. Ram is the symbol of courtesy and virtue, a man of values and morals. Ramchandra is Maryada Purushottama, which means the perfect man. Lord Ram is considered to have taken birth on the earth to destroy the evil forces of the age.

Lord Ram, in the words of Swami Vivekananda, is "the embodiment of truth, of morality, the ideal son, the ideal husband, and above all, the ideal king". Ram is widely accepted to be an actual historical figure - a "tribal hero of ancient India" - whose deeds form the great Hindu epic of Ramyana or The Romance of Ram, written by the ancient Sanskrit poet Valmiki. According to the Hindus belief, Ram lived in the Treta Yug. Although historians are of the conviction that Ram was not particularly deified until the 11th century AD. Tulsidas' wonderful version of the Sanskrit epic "Ramyana" into "Ramcharitmanas" greatly enhanced the popularity of Ram as a Hindu god and gave rise to various devotional groups.

Virtues of Ram

Shri Ram was a paragon of virtues. Ram was not only kind and affectionate but generous and considerate of feelings for all around him. Lord Ram had a marvelous physique and captivating manners. Shri Ram had a magnanimous personality. He was extremely noble, generous, chivalrous and fearless. He was very simple and absolutely free from flamboyance.

Lord Ram is considered as a son unequalled in the world, and resembled Dasaratha in each and every aspect of good qualities. He never spoke a lie throughout his life. He always offered respect to the scholars and the elders, people loved him and he adored the people. His body was transcendental and outstanding. He was eloquent, attractive and adjustable to circumstances. He knew the heart of each and every human being on the earth (being omniscient). He had all the conceivable qualities of a king's son and was dear to the people as their own hearts.

Lord Ram was endowed with incredible transcendental qualities. The earth personified adored him, who was possessor of such virtues, who was indomitable, who was brave, and who was the unequalled Lord of all. To put succinctly, Sri Ram's life was a life of holy compliance, of stainless purity, of matchless simplicity, praiseworthy contentment, commendable self-sacrifice and remarkable renunciation.

Matsyavatara - The First Avatar of Lord Vishnu

Today is Matsya Avatar Jayanti and hence this is about Matsya Avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Matsyavatar - The Fish incarnation. This is The FIRST AVATARA of Lord Vishnu in Krita Yuga.

At the end of one of the Kalpas, after a day's strenuous work, as nightfall was approaching Brahma felt sleepy. As his eyelids closed and his mouth opened involuntarily for a yawn the Vedas slipped out of his mouth without his noticing. But a demon by name Hayagriva did not fail to notice this and hurried to devour the Vedas. Sri Vishnu who is all pervading and omniscient observed this and decided to retrieve the Vedas and restore them to Brahma to enable him to go ahead with his work of creation during the next Kalpa (day break).

While Sri Vishnu could have wrested the Vedas from the demon by his sheer will-power (Sankalpa), he chose to wait for performing a two-in-one feat of conferring his blessings on a Bhakta, SATYAVRATA by name while destroying the demon. As the deluge (Pralaya) was near at hand, he decided to descend `down to earth' in the form of a `fish' to accomplish both the tasks.

Satya Vrata was a great and good King. Once he went to the river KRITAMALA for offering water (Argya) during Sandya vandana. A small fish came into his hands as he cupped his palms to lift water. He dropped it back in the water. But every time he lifted water the fish was sure to get into his hands. The King left it in a tub but it grew so fast that the tub could not hold it. The king transferred into a well, pond, lake, river and finally the sea as it overgrew so rapidly that none of them could contain it. Satyavrata was amazed, when the fish revealed himself as Lord VISHNU. When the Lord asked the king what he wanted, he did not desire anything for himself. He did not even want Moksha. All that he sought was that even during the impending Pralaya; he should be instrumental in saving the life of worthy souls from destruction.

The fish told him that on the 7th day from then a great deluge (Mahapralaya) would take place when a severe tornado would rip through the Universe and destroy it. But, if Satyavrata could muster herbs, seeds and a pick of beings he wanted for the next Kalpa and keep ready, the fish would send a spacious boat in which all of them as also the Saptarishis (7 sages) would be accommodated and saved. The fish advised that Vasuki, the serpent should be brought and used as a rope for fastening the boat to the horns of the fish. Satyavrata did exactly as advised by the fish and the entire crew was saved. As the boat sailed throughout the night of Brahma, Lord Vishnu taught Satyavrata and the Saptarishis what is known as “Matsya Purana.”. Thus, Vishnu saved true devotees from destruction and endowed them with divine knowledge. During the 7 day waiting period the Lord in his gigantic fish form sought after the demon Hayagriva, killed him in a straight fight and retrieved the Vedas.

Thus, He accomplished the three tasks of saving the righteous, destroying the demon and retrieving Vedas for establishing Dharma. This SATYAVRATA later became the Manu during Chakshusha Manvantara.