Anant Chaturdashi is also the last day of the Hindu festival of Ganeshotsav. It is generally the tenth or eleventh day after Ganesh Chaturthi, and all the Ganesh idols brought into homes and communities are immersed in the sea or nearby lakes and rivers . There was a Brahmin named Sumant.He was a vasistha gotra muni. From his wife Diksha he had a daughter named Sushila. After the death of Diksha Sumant married Karkash, who began to give a lot of trouble to Sushila.[citation needed] Sushila married Kaundinya, and both decided to leave the house to avoid the harassment of the step-mother. On the way they stopped near a river. Kaundinya went to take bath, and Sushila joined a group of women who were performing worship. They told Sushila that they were worshipping Anant. What kind of worship is this? Sushila asked.[citation needed] Anants Vow. They told her that it was Anants vow. Then they explained to her the importance of that vow. Some fried Gharga (made of flour) and anarase (special food) are prepared. Half of them have to be given to the Brahmins. A hooded snake (cobra) made of darbha (sacred grass) is put in a bamboo basket. Then the snake (shesh) is worshipped with scented flowers, oil lamp and incense sticks. Food is offered to the snake and a silk string is kept before the god, and tied to the wrist. This string is called anant, it has 14 knots, and is coloured with Kumkum. Women tie the anant on their left hand and men on their right. The purpose of this vow is to obtain divinity and wealth, and is kept for 14 years. After listening to this explanation Sushila decided to take the Anant vow. From that day she and her husband Kaundinya began to prosper and became very rich. One day Kaundinya, noticed the Anant string on Sushilas left hand. When he heard the story of the Anant vow, he was displeased and maintained that they had become rich, not because of any power of Anant, but because of the wisdom he had acquired by his own efforts. A heated argument followed, and at the end Kaundinya took the Anant string from Sushilas hand and threw it into the fire. After this all sorts of calamities happened in their life, and finally they were reduced to extreme poverty. Kaundinya understood that it was the punishment for having dishonoured Anant, and decided that he would undergo rigorous penance until God Himself appeared to him. In Search of Anant : Kaundinya went into the forest. There he saw a tree full of mangoes, but no one was eating the mangoes. The entire tree was attacked by worms. He asked the tree if he had seen Anant, but got a negative reply.[citation needed] Then Kaundinya saw a cow with her calf, then a bull standing on a field of grass without eating the grass. Then he saw two big lakes joined to each other with their waters mixing with one another. Further he saw a donkey and an elephant. To every one Kaundinya asked about Anant, but no one had even heard this name. Then he became desperate and prepared a rope to hang himself. Then suddenly an old venerable Brahmin appeared before him. He removed the rope from Kaundinyas neck and led him into a cave. At first it was very dark. But then a bright light appeared and they reached a big palace. A great assembly of men and women had gathered. The old Brahmin went straight towards the throne. Then Kaundinya could no longer see the Brahmin, but only Vishnu instead. Kaundinya realized that Vishnu himself had come to save him, and that Vishnu was Anant, the Eternal One. He confessed his sin in failing to recognize the Eternal in the string on Sushilas hand. Anant promised Kaundinya that if he made the 14-year-vow, he would be free from all his sins, and would obtain wealth, children and happiness. GURPUR VARDARAJ VENKATRAMAN DEVASTHANANTHU AMGHELE KUTUMBE NOPI . Govinda Govinda
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 11:25:05 +0000
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