Linga Purana .. part 7

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LINGA Purana part…7 Namaste

Let us Continue Reading Puranas. Puranas are also a Treasure to Sanathana Dharma. Agni Purana, Brahma Purana, Garuda Purana, Markandeya Purana, Varaha Purana, Matsya Purana Vishnu Purana, Linga Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana, Vamana Purana Let us start read one by one . We Finish reading AGNIPURANA , Brahma Purana ,Garuda

Purana and Markandeya purana Now we will continue reading Linga Purana .same like

before I will post as part by part.

I Know while reading Manusmriti to read

Other puranas may be difficult , but as you know at least to taste our great values in Sananthana Dharma One Human life is not enough, so I try my level best to spread this values to my respected friends.

If anyone miss to read or interest to read my

previous postings Chanakya Neetisastra,

Kautiliya Arthasastra , Vidura niti or

Tiruvallurs Tirukkural,and Uddhavagita or any part of Manusmriti ,Agnipurana,Brahma Purana, Garuda Purana, Markandeya purana pls mail to me , I will send again to you.

I humbly request you to forward this values to your family, friends and to your groups. Allow all people from different religion to understand the value of our Sanathana Dharma. At least let them learn and then let them criticize.

I am not a scholar to modify any of this laws or puranas or its languages suitable for modern life .I Humbly request you to read it and think in a modern scientific way. Like in Bhagavadgita Chapter 18 text 63 it is said by lord Krishna Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.

As my Guru told me

One need not worry too much about the source of certain knowledge. Just adopt in our life if they are good. If needed refine the knowledge by way of addition, deletion, modification and correction. Also try to understand the meaning of Different Castes , it is not by birth it is by his performance.

Here we continue the translation of the text of the Linga Purana in Short at the currently available form :

 

Linga Purana .. part 7Parashara There used to be a rakshasa named Rudhira and there used to be a king named Kalmashapada. The rakshasa entered the king’s body, so that Kalmashapada became a demon. The sage Vashishtha had a son named Shaktri. As a demon, Kalmashapada ate up Shaktri and his brothers. (The story of how this happened is not given in the Linga Purana. But it is a story that is recounted in the Mahabharata and is as follows. King Kalmashapada belonged to the Ikshvaku line of kings. He had once gone to the forest and

had become very thirsty. While looking for some water, the king met Shaktri. There was a very narrow path along which even two people could not walk abreast. Since he was very thirsty, Kalmashapada asked Shaktri to give him the right of way. But Shaktri insisted that, as a brahmana, he possessed the right of way. Kalmashapada thereupon struck Shaktri with his whip and Shaktri in turn cursed the king that he would become a rakshasa. Kalmashapda’s first act as a rakshasa was to eat up Shaktri and his hundred brothers. To return to the Linga Purana, the sage Vashishtha could not bear the shock of his sons being killed. Vashishtha’s wife was Arundhati. With Arundhati, the sage climbed a mountain and the couple flung themselves down from the peak so that they might die. But the earth had no desire to permit the death of such great sage. She adopted the form of a woman and broke the couple’s fall. "Please do not

kill yourself," she told Vashishtha. "You are needed by the world." Shaktri’s wife was Adrishyanti and she too tried to dissuade her father-in-law from committing suicide. "I am expecting," she informed Vashishtha. "If the two of you kill yourselves, who will look after the son when he is born? He is, after all, Shaktri’s son. Please stay alive for his sake." While this conversation was going on, the baby who was in Adrishyanti’s womb began to recite the Vedas. This was a miracle indeed and Vashishtha did not at first realize where the sound of the recitation was coming from. But Vishnu appeared and told the sage, "You will have a grandson who will bring glory to your line. He will be a great devotee of Shiva’s. It is he who is reciting the Vedas. Please stay alive for his sake." Vashishtha was dissuaded. In due course, Adrishyanti gave birth to Parashara. When Parashara grew up,

he asked his mother, "Where is my father? Why do I not have a father like other children do?Your father Shaktri was eaten up by a rakshasa," replied Adrishyanti. "Eaten up by a rakshasa," exclaimed Parashara. "I will pray to the god Shiva. Through my tapasya. I will attain great powers. And with my powers I am going to burn up the entire universe. There is no point in retaining such an evil universe where one’s father is eaten up by a rakshasa." Vashishtha persuaded his grandson that such a general destruction of the universe would not be in anyone’s interest. The universe had done no particular harm. If anyone had committed a crime, it was the rakshasa who had performed the dastardly deed. Parashara resolved that he would use his powers to destroy the rakshasas. With this end in mind, Parashara started to pray to Shiva. Shiva was pleased at these prayers and granted Parashara some amazing

powers. With these powers, Parashara got to see and talk to his dead father. And he used the powers to burn up all rakshasas. "Please stop this destruction," Vashishtha told his grandson. "There has been enough of killing. If Shaktri died, that was written in his stars. The rakshasa was merely the instrument of what fate had decreed for my son. Do not kill any more rakshasas. Anger serves no purpose." Parashara followed his grandfather’s advice and was blessed by the sage that he would become well-versed in all the shastras. Vashishtha also blessed Parashara that he would compose the Purana samhita and the Vishnu Purana. ( Krishna Dvaipayana Vedavyasa was the sage Parashara’s son.) The Linga Purana now catalogues the kings of the solar and lunar dynasties. But these we will skip, as they are mostly a collection of names and are better described in other Puranas. It also gives Shiva’s thousand

names. These are repeated again later. Tripura There was a demon named Tarakasura who oppressed the gods. He was eventually killed by Skanda or Kartikeya, the son of Shiva and Parvati. (Tarakasura’s story is not given in the Linga Purana. It can be found in the Shiva Purana and in the Devi Bhagavata.) Tarakasura had three sons named Vidyunmali, Tarakaksha and Kamalaksha. These three resolved to avenge their father’s death and started to perform very difficult tapasya so that they might obtain boons that would make them invincible. After a long period of mediation, they managed to please Brahma. "You have pleased me," said Brahma. "What boon do you desire?Please grant us the boon that no being in the universe may be able to kill us," requested the demons. "That is a boon that

cannot be granted to anybody," said Brahma. "If you so desire, set fairly difficult conditions for your death. But immortality is a boon that I cannot possibly grant you." The three brothers consulted and arrived at the following condition which seemed to be fairly impossible to satisfy. Each of them would build a city (pura) and the three cities would normally be distinct. But once every thousand years, the cities would come together. (The cities were in the sky.) When the cities came together, if anyone could manage to shoot down the cities with a single arrow, that would be the appointed method of death for the three demons. This seemingly impossible condition Brahma agreed to. A danava named Maya was the architect for all the demons and he built three cities for Tarakasura’s sons. Tarakaksha’s city was made of gold. Kamalaksha’s of silver and Vidyunmali’s of iron. Inside each of the cities, Maya built several

wonderful palaces. The three brothers lived in these cities happily, with their companions, the other demons. Incidentally, the demons were great devotees of Shiva. But the gods were not at all happy. They were oppressed by the demons of Tripua. (The word tri means three and since there were three cities or puras, they were collectively referred to as Tripura.) The gods sought Vishnu’s help so that Tripura might be destroyed. "I understand your problem and you have my sympathies," said Vishnu. "But unfortunately, I can do nothing. The only person who can destroy Tripura is Shiva. But there is a problem. The demons are devoted to Shiva; they are not evil. Under the circumstances, Shiva will not take up arms against them. We will have to resort to some trickery. Why don’t all of you go and start praying to Shiva? I will think of a way whereby the demons can be dislodged from the righeous path." The gods went away

to meditate. And Vishnu used his powers of illusion (maya) to lead the demons astray. He sent Shakyamuni (the Buddha) to preach tot he demons. Shakyamuni was so glib of tongue that he made ready converts among the demons. They all became his disciples and gave up worshipping Shiva. This was the moment that the gods had been waiting for. They prayed to Shiva that the evil demons might be destroyed and Shiva agreed. Vishvakarma, the architect of the gods, built a chariot for Shiva to ride in. Brahma himself offered to be the charioteer. Shiva ascended the chariot and rode into battle. Nandi joined him with the ganas and the gods accompanied the army to aid in the fight. Numerous were the weapons that the gods took with them. They rode on elephants, horses, lions and buffaloes. Shiva graced this army of gods the way the mooon graces a collection of stars. The army advanced and came to where Tripura was. Shiva raised

his bow and applied the divine pashupata weapon to his bow, waiting for the three cities to come together. As soon as this happened, Shiva let fly the arrow and the flaming arrow burnt up the three cities of the demons. All the gods, including Brahma and Vishnu, worhsipped Shiva. The words art means enemy. Because Shiva destroyed Tripura, he is known as Tripurari. The Linga Purana next describes the rites that must be followed in worshipping Shiva. In particular, a special rite named pashupata vrata is described in great detail. Will Be continue on part 8

 

with regards

dilip

Bagavad Gita chapter 6 sloka 5

uddhared âtmanâtmânam

nâtmânam avasâdayet

âtmaiva hy âtmano bandhur

âtmaiva ripur âtmanah