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| 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:
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| 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.
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Gajendra moksham
and Garuda
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| 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
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