SrInivAsaKalyANam - Sri Venkateswara Temple of North Carolina

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ego” on Bhrigu’s foot which also gave the sage his enormous power). Eventually the sagerealized his mistake and considered Vishnu as worthy of receiving the sacrificial offerings.Sri LakshmI who resides in the chest of Vishnu was terribly offended by the disrespect shown bythe sage towards her consort and in a huff she left Vishnu to go live in bhUlOkham (earth) anddid intense penance to purify herself. In due course Vishnu was heart-broken by the departure ofLakshmI. He too went down to earth and took his abode in VenkaTagiri in an anthill under atamarind tree.The Past: In trEtAyugam Sri LakshmI was born as a daughter to sage Kusatva as VEdavati and didpenance wishing to marry Vishnu. When RAvaNa abducted sItA in panchavaTi, the fire god Agniintercepted him and told him that the sItA he was carrying was a fake and that the real sItA was with him.RAvaNa left the sItA he was carrying and took VEdavati (from Agni) instead with him. After RAvaNa’sannihilation VEdavati (as sItA in captivity) perished in the fire ordeal that Rama ordered. Agni, however,delivered both VEdavati and the real sItA to Rama. Rama told VEdavati that he was sworn to monogamybut he would accept VEdavati later in Kaliyugam. Accordingly VEdavati was born as a daughter to theking AkAsa Raja, who raised her as PadmAvati (vide infra).In dwAparayugam YasOdA (Krishna’s foster mother) was sad that she did not witness Krishna’swedding to Rukmini and Satyabhama. Krishna promised her that she would witness one such inKaliyugam. Thus YasOdA was born as VakuLAdEvi and served Sri VarAhamurthy (third avatar ofVishnu) who was dwelling in VenkaTagiri (see below).When Vishnu was living in the anthill at VenkaTagiri for a long time without food, Lord Shivaand Brahma decided to take the form of a cow and calf, respectively, to serve him. BhUdEvitook the form of a cowherdess and sold the cow/calf pair to the sOzha king who ruled thatterritory. The cow and calf were added to the palace cattle population and were allowed to grazein the hills. The cow located the anthill where Vishnu was living as SrinivAsa and emptied herudder of milk at the anthill to feed him. It happened every day. This resulted in the cow goingdry at milking time in the palace grounds.The cow and calf sold to sOzha kingThe cow feeding the Lord in the anthillThe king wanted to know why this special cow would not yield any milk despite grazing thewhole day. The cowherd followed the cow one day and caught her in the act of draining milkfrom her udder at the anthill. He hurled his axe at the cow but Lord SrinivAsa came out of the
anthill and took the blow on his head. He bled profusely. At that sight the cowherd fell down anddied on the spot. The cow went to the palace with blood stains and started bellowing. The kingfollowed the cow and reached the anthill. Lord SrinivAsa cursed the king to become a demon forthe fault of his cowherd. When the king asked for forgiveness, the Lord told him that he wouldbe born in the future as a king again in the name of AkAsa Raja and Lakshmi would be born tohim as a daughter. At that time Lord SrinivAsa would marry his daughter. The king’s cursewould be eliminated when he offers a crown to Lord SrinivAsa.The Denouement: The sOzha king was reborn as AkAsa Raja but he was childless. He did ayagna and ploughed the field. He unearthed a lotus flower on which was found a female baby.He took her to the palace, named her PadmAvati and raised her.AkAsa Raja finds the child PadmAvatiPadmAvati grew up to be a beautiful maiden. In the mean time VakuLAdEvi (YasOda in thepast) who was serving Sri VarAhamurthy adopted Lord SrinivAsa as her son. Lord Srinivasawhile roaming around VenkaTagiri came upon an encounter with Princess PadmAvati,recognized her, and fell in love with her (reminiscent of Rama and sItA in Mithila). He then sentVakuLAdEvi to the king to seek PadmAvati’s hand in marriage for him. PadmAvati too waspining for him. Lord SrinivAsa also took the form of a fortune teller woman, went to the palaceand told the queen that it is preordained that the proper match for PadmAvati was SrinivAsa.When VakuLAdevi approached the queen about the wedding of PadmAvati to SrinivAsa, thequeen and the king protested initially because SrinivAsa was a commoner but agreed afterconsulting with his advisors. Suka, the parrot sage, fixed an auspicious day for the wedding andit was duly celebrated with KubEra lending money to SrinivAsa for the lavish wedding.
Page 1: SrInivAsa KalyANamThe story of Srin

SrInivAsaKalyANam - Sri Venkateswara Temple of North Carolina

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?