Wisdom of the Seers

We have heard a very popular sloka that is as follows – Rathe tu Vaamanam drustva Punarjanmam na vidyate || It means if we see Vaamana or Lord Jagannath on the Chariot during the Rath Yatra or the Car festival, we will never have to take rebirth again. In other words, we will get salvation or moksha or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. But a question comes to our mind that why Lord Jagannath is described here as ‘ Vaamana ’? To know the answer we have to refer to the following sloka – मधुसूदनो वैशाखे ज्येष्ठे त्रविक्रमः पतिः। आषाढे वामानाधीशः श्रावणे श्रीधरः स्मृतः॥ भाद्रवे हृषिकेशश्च पद्मनाभोऽश्विनाधिपः। दामोदरश्च कार्त्तिके मार्गशीर्षे च केशवः॥ पौषे नारायणस्वामी माघाधिपश्च माधवः। फाल्गुने गोविन्दो ज्ञेयो विष्णुश्चैत्रेश्वरोऽपिच॥ It means the combination of Hindu months and their presiding deities are as follows - वेशाख - मधुसूदन , ज्येष्ठ - त्रिविक्रम , आषाढ़ - वामन , श्रावण - श्रीधर , भाद्रव - हृषीकेश , आश्विन - पद्मन

As per Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism, there are four proper goals or aims which are to be achieved in human life. They are - Dharma (Righteousness), Artha (Wealth), Kama (Rightful Desire) and Moksha (Salvation or Liberation). Moksha is the ultimate goal of the human life which liberates a soul from the endless cycle of birth and death. How can one attain Moksha ? The ancient holy texts describe about various ways to attain  Moksha  or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. There are descriptions of holy cities which bestow  Moksha  upon the visitors . Like - Ayodhya Mathura Maya Kasi Kanchi Avantika | Puri Dvaravati chaiva saptaita moksadayikah || ~ Garuda Purana It means that the Sapta Puri or the seven holy cities [Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Haridwar), Kasi, Kanchi, Avantika (Ujjain), and Dwarika Puri] bestow  Moksha  upon people who visit them. Again… Dole tu Dolagovindam Chape tu Madhusudanam Rathe tu Vamanam drustva Punarjanmam na vidyate || It means th

Lord Hanuman is an important God as far as Hinduism is concerned. He is one of the Chiranjeevis or the immortals. Apart from his most popular name Hanuman, he is also known as Anjaneya (Son of Anjana), Maruti (Son of Marut, the Wind God), Bajrang Bali (the strong one who has limbs as hard as the Vajra) etc. We may wonder why he was named as Hanuman. There are two stories regarding this. The first story is from Bhavishya Purana. It says – When Hanuman was a child, he mistook the Sun as a fruit and flew towards it to devour it. When he devoured the Sun, darkness prevailed everywhere and all were worried. Seeing this, Ravana, the demon king tried to free the Sun by taking hold of the tail of Hanuman and hung in there. But still Hanuman did not release the Sun from his mouth. After that a fierce fist fighting took place in between Hanuman and Ravana for a whole year. At the end Ravana got tired and tried to escape. But Hanuman did not let him go. At this moment Rishi Vishrav