Vinatasuta-The Mighty Garuda

Picture Courtsey:Harekrsna

When we hear the name Garuda, the first thing that comes to our mind is the image of a huge eagle on the sky. But he is no ordinary bird, but a divine one. Until I read about Garuda Vaibhavam (greatness), I had not given much thought to Garuda whose idol is found in most Vaishnavaite temples. After having acquainted myself more about the greatness of Pakshiraja, my perspective of Him has vastly changed. This post is intended for those who have not heard or known much about this celestial bird Garuda and His greatness.

Let me begin with a sloka in Garuda dandakam

Garudam akhila- veda- neeDaadhirooDham (neeDa + adhirooDhanam),

dwiShat peeDanOthkanTita (dwiShat + peeDana +uthkanTita)

akunTa VaikunTa - peeTee- krita - skandhameeDe,

swaneeDa-agati - preeta - rudraa - sukeerti - sthanaa- bhoga - gaDhOpagooDha

sPuratkantaka - vraata - vedha -vyathaa - vepamaana - dwigihvaadhipa -aakalpa-

viShpaaryamaaNa-sPataavaaTkaa-ratna-rOchiscHataa-raaji-neeraaajitam,

Kaanti-kallolinee-raajitam.

A rough translation as gathered from the net would be

I praise Garuda, who is glowing with a flood of tejas, established in the Vedas, loves to punish the wicked, invincible, the vehicle of Vishnu, illumined by the aarati from a row of glowing gems from an array of shaking hoods of the celebrated serpents, who are trembling with pain caused by the passionate outbursts, when Rudra and Sukeerti (two wives of garuda) of sumptuous bosoms, intimately embraced him (Garuda) when he returned (victorious) to their nest

 Vinata suta, son of Vinata, the mighty Garuda is the vahana (mount) of Sriman Narayana and he is Veda himself. The reference to this can be seen in Gajendra moksham and the Ramayana. Born under Swati nakshatra, He is a nitya suri, the one who stays with Vishnu always. Garudaazhwar as he is popularly known  is also known by several names like Garuthmaan, SuparNan, Pannakaasanan, , Pakshiraajan, Daarkshyan, Pushpapriyar, MangaLaalayar, KshEmakaaree, Periya TiruvaDi, JayagaruDan, ,SuvarNan, Suparnai. etc. (Vide GaruDa PuraaNa)

Garuda is also called Periya Thiruvadi as he is the eternal vahanam for Perumal. We all know that Hanuman acted as Sri Rama's vahanam on certain occasions and known as Siria Thiruvadi.. But Garuda was Lord’s vahanam in all His Manifestations

 Birth of Garuda:

Sage Kashyapa was married to two sisters, Kadru and Vinata. Each of them was given the option of choosing the number of children they wished to beget. While Kadru chose to have a thousand brave radiant sons,Vinata sought two sons who would surpass the thousand sons of Kadru. Both were granted their wishes.

After 500 years, the 1000 eggs of Kadru hatched and tiny serpents emerged from them bringing Kadru unbounded happiness. When this news reached Vinata, she became restless with impatience as her eggs had not yet hatched .In her haste, she rashly broke one of the two eggs. To her initial surprise came out a beautiful red hued bird that was well formed up to his hip but found to her shock the bird was not fully developed below the hip. The little bird on coming out became angry with his mother for her impetuosity in not letting him grow to his complete form. He cursed her to slavery for 500 years and said that her redemption would come from her other son who will liberate her from slavery.

Since he was red hued he was called as Aruna. He later became the charioteer of Surya, the Sun god It is said that the chariot has only one wheel called the Kala Chakram, pulled by odd number of horses (seven) by a charioteer who is deformed and despite these impediments the Sun fought darkness to bring light all around. The few moments before the actual sunrise, when the sky is red hued, is called as ARUNODAYA signifying the colour of Aruna and later it becomes bright SURYODAYA.

After 500 years Garuda was born to Vinata with beautiful and strong wings, sharp and curved nose and radiant like the Sun and Agni

Meanwhile Kadru and Vinata had a bet that the tail of Uchashravas was black. Vinata said it was a white horse with a white tail, Kadru said it was a white horse with a black tail. They agreed that if the horse had a black tail, then Vinata would be a slave for Kadru for her life. Now Kadru hatched a plot to make the tail appear black. She asked her 1000 serpent sons to go and wind themselves on the tail of the horse and make it look like a black tail. The serpents did not wish to be a part of this devious plan and refused to do so. Kadru was wild with rage that her own children were disobeying her and cursed them “I curse you my children that you will die in the sacrificial fire that Janamejaya would eventually perform”. Scared, the serpents agreed to do what their mother bade them to do and in return asked her to take back the curse. She replied that she could not take back the curse but some of them would be saved by a Brahmin who would stop the sacrificial fire midway. Hearing this all the serpents went and wound themselves on the tail of Ucchaishravas and from a distance it seemed the tail was black. Hence Kadru won the bet by deceit and Vinata became her slave for life.

As days passed by Garuda asked his aunt as to how he could relieve his mother from the curse. She replied, possibly to ensure the longevity of her children, that if he could bring the Amrit, the elixir of immortality from Indraloka and give it to her, she would release his mother from slavery. It was a tall order and the nectar was guarded heavily with many daunting barriers like big encircling fire, a sharp impenetrable fence and two venomous giant snakes to overcome

Undaunted Garuda immediately set out to get the nectar. After a war with many warriors and successfully beating the hurdles he took the pot of Amrit in his beak and set out towards his home. Now Indra threw his weapon Vajra towards him.  Though .It did not hurt the mighty bird, Garuda shed one feather in deference to the great sage Dadichi from whose backbome this weapon was made. Pleased with him, Indra permitted Garuda to take the nectar with him but to ensure it is not to be distributed. Garuda agreed to the condition

Garuda, after placing the pot of Amrit on a bed of Darba grass, informed his aunt Kadru that his mission was accomplished and that she should free his mother from slavery.Kadru did accordingly. Meanwhile the serpents rushed in wanting to taste the nectar. Garuda requested them to finish their ablutions like bath before touching the holy Amrit. When they were gone, Indra took the pot of Amrit and disappeared. The grief stricken and disappointed snakes then tried to lick the dry and sharp darba grass blades and cut their tongues giving rise to snakes having forked tongues.

After freeing his mother from slavery Garuda was soaring high majestically in the sky, when the Supreme Lord Sriman Narayanan Himself appeared before him and asked him to seek a boon and Garuda in turn asked Lord Narayanan Himself to seek a boon too. The Lord said happily, “Garuda-you should be below me always “signifying that Garuda should become His mount (vahana).

It was Garuda’s turn to ask”i should be above you always” The Lord smiled and Garuda found a place on the flag of Sriman Narayana.The reference to this is from Mahabharata-Adi Parva

Garuda the saviour in Ramayana:

Picture Courtesy:Knowqout

In the battle between Ravana and Rama, Ravana sent his son Indrajit, who had derived his name by conquering Indra.He, had acquired the power to become invisible and had also obtained from Brahma, the powerful Nagastra that could send arrows with poisonous serpents to bite and bind the opponents.Indrajit being invisible, Rama and Lakshmana could not identify and eliminate him. In this unethical fight, Rama and Lakshmana were rendered immobile being bound by venomous snakes and they became unconscious. When this news reached devalok, Garuda flew down speedily to the battle field. At the mere sight of Garuda, the snakes ran helter skelter for saving their lives from their feared enemy. Even before he descended, the sound of Vedas of which he is a swarupam and the strong and gusty wind from his wings removed the naga bandhanam and freed Rama Lakshmana .The touch of his wings healed the wounds restoring them to their might.

Gajendra moksham and Garuda

Picture Courtsey: Harekrsna

King Indradyumnan who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu was cursed by Sage Agasthya as the king remained seated when Agasthya walked in showing his ego and Ahankara. He was cursed to be born as an elephant who would be absolved from the curse only when he surrendered to the almighty totally. Thus was born Gajendra an elephant who lived in the forests near Mount Trikuta. In the nearby lake lived a crocodile. This Crocodile was a gandharva in his previous birth and he playfully pulled the legs of the sage Devala while he was bathing. Since the gandharva had shown disrespect, he was cursed to be born as a crocodile till his liberation from the curse by the lord himself.

One day Gajendra, went to pluck lotus from the lake, the crocodile caught the elephant’s leg by its powerful jaws causing much pain. Despite his strength and stamina, the elephant could not free himself from the crocodile. The latter was more powerful in water and dragged the elephant deep into the water. This tussle continued for 500 years with the elephant relying on his strength to free himself. When he realised at the end that he had no more strength and by purva vasanas recognised that God alone can save him from his plight, he surrendered totally to the Lord Vishnu and prayed for His help crying “Adi moolam, Adimoolam.”

Hearing this Vishnu jumped on Garuda his vahana and commanded him to go speedily to the lake where Gajendra was struggling. Garuda flew with all his strength but he could not keep up to the speed thAT Vishnu wanted. Then Vishnu said, he would instead carry garuda as He could not leave Garuda being an integral part of Adi moolam.The authentication of Vedatma (the lord) is given by Veda (garuda) and both are inseparable .Hence Vishnu appeared with Garuda and killed the crocodile with the Sudarshana chakra. Both Indradyumna and Gandharva were liberated. The story emphasizes the proximity of Garuda to God.

The two incidents illustrate that Garuda vaibhavam has reference in Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavatam

In conclusion let us recite this slokam usually said in obeisance at the sannidhi of Garuda in temples

GaruDaaya namas tubhyam sarva sarpendra satravE

Vaahanaaya mahAAvishNO: Daarkshyaaya amita tEjasE