Garuda and the Tiny Bird

High in the reaches of Mount Kailash is the abode of Lord Shiva. One evening Lord Vishnu came to see Lord Shiva. He left behind at the entrance Garuda, the half-man, half-eagle composite, who served as his vehicle. Garuda sat alone, marveling at the natural splendor of the place. Suddenly his eyes fell on a beautiful creature, a little bird seated on the arch crowning the entrance to Shiva’s place. Garuda wondered aloud: “How marvelous is this creation! One who has created these lofty mountains has also made this tiny bird – and both seem equally wonderful”.

Just then Yama, the God of death who rides a buffalo, came passing by with the intention of meeting Lord Shiva. As he crossed the arch, his eyes went over to the bird and he raised his brows in a quizzical expression. Then he took his eyes off the bird and disappeared inside.

Now, in the ancient Hindu thought, even a slight glance of Yama is said to be the harbinger of death. Garuda, who had observed Yama’s action, told himself, “Yama looking intently at the bird can mean only one thing – the bird’s time is up. Perhaps on his way back he will carry away the bird’s soul with him”.
Garuda’s heart was filled with pity for the helpless creature and he resolved to save the bird from the clutches of death. He scooped it up in his mighty talons, rushed to a forest thousands of miles away and left the bird on a rock beside a brook. Then he returned to Kailash and regained his position at the entrance gate.

Soon after, Yama emerged from inside and nodded to Garuda in recognition. Garuda greeted the God of death and said: “May I put a question to you? While going in, you saw a bird and for a moment you became pensive, why?”

Yama answered him thus: “Well, when my eyes fell on the little bird, I saw that it was to die in a few minutes, swallowed by a python, far away from here in a forest near a brook. I wondered how this tiny creature would traverse the thousands of miles separating it from its destiny in such a short time. But there are no such serpents here, high on Kailash, and I was briefly puzzled”. Then I forgot. Surely it must have happened somehow”. Saying this, Yama smiled and went away.

Did he know about Garuda’s specific role in the matter? Nobody can know for sure. Again, Garuda marveled at the turn of events had taken unfolding Karma. The term Karma technically incorporates both an action and its consequence. Thus Garuda’s Karma consisted of the act of carrying away the bird and also its consequent snatching by the cruel hands of destiny. Hence, a deed, pure in its content, led to an apparently unfavorable outcome.

Through this subtle tale, we are made to confront a dilemma which constantly recurs in our own lives, namely, the relative impurity and purity of an action. Is an action to be deemed positive or negative solely on the basis of the result it generates? Or, is there some other criterion? Indeed there is. What determines the nature of the Karma is the will or intention behind an act.

One of the most significant instructional references to Karma comes from the Bhagavad Gita, which says: “You have the right only to work, but not to the fruits thereof”. Significant here is the fact that we are entitled only to act, and have ‘no right’ over the ensuing results. This profound assertion is not mere discourse, but rather loaded with sound practical advice, which can act as a sensible strategy for whatever we set out to achieve.

Hayagriva - King of Demons

There was a demon named Hayagriva, with a face of horse. He was the king of demons. His sole motive was to stop the humans from becoming more powerful than the demons. Hayagriva wanted to establish the demon clan as the most superior one. Therefore, he made several attempts to disrupt the progress of the human class. And after learning that Lord Vishnu had handover the four Vedas to Lord Brahma, he decided to steal them to stop the sacred texts from reaching the humans. Hayagriva succeeded in stealing Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda from Brahmaloka. Then Hayagriva went and hid himself deep in the oceans.

During those times, there was a highly virtuous and pious king named Satryavrata later known as Manu. He was a great admirer of Lord Vishnu, regularly worshipped Lord Vishnu and wished to meet Him. So Lord Vishnu decided to pay a visit to Manu.

One day, the king was doing his morning prayers at the river. When he took some water from the river in his cupped palms, he found a tiny fish in it. When he wanted to drop the fish in the waters, it requested him to give shelter for fear of being eaten away by bigger fishes in the river. The King obliged and carried the fish to his palace and dropped it in a vessel.

With the fish growing in size rapidly, King Manu had to change the container to bigger ones, finally when none of the containers was enough to contain the fish, it was eventually transferred to a pond, then to a lake , then to river Ganges and then finally to the ocean. The fish then revealed himself to be Lord Vishnu and told him that a flood would occur within seven days that would destroy all life.

Brahma knew that the people on earth will not be able to make use of the Vedas until they are purified. He knew that social values had degenerated, and hence, the need for re-establishing humanity had risen. Therefore, he sought help from Shiva to destroy humanity only to produce a conducive atmosphere for a revival of the human race. Vishnu knew about Shiva's plan to cause massive floods. Therefore, he incarnated in the form of Matsya (a fish).

Meanwhile, the fish instructed the king Manu to collect seeds, herbs, animals and to assemble the Maharishis at one place. It also advised that a huge ship be built and kept in ready condition. The great floods started swallowing the earth. The King had by then gathered all the collected seeds, animals, herbs and Saptarishis in the huge ship along with serpent Vasuki. Then Lord Vishnu tied himself to Manu’s ship using Vasuki as a rope and protected them from the storm and the floods.

The huge flood occurred destroying the earth. The destruction stopped and the boat was safely brought back on the land. Once the great floods subsided, the demon Hayagriva was exposed. Hence, after killing Hayagriva and retrieving the Vedas, the Matsya avatar of Vishnu saved Manu, his wife, the Saptarishis (who represented knowledge) and one set of each of the other living beings.

Rise of new civilization - In the end, he handed over the Vedas to Manu so that he could use them for the welfare of humankind. All the seeds gathered were thrown on earth and the representatives of the different animal species started procreating. This marked the beginning of a new civilization and a new yuga.

Rishi Bharadwaja and the Vedas

There lived a great sage named Rishi Bharadvaja. He had intense desire to master the Vedic knowledge. But he knew that he can live only for a maximum hundred years. So he executed severe penances and pleased Lord Indra.

Indra appeared before him and the sage requested Indra, “Please give me hundred more years so that I can complete studying the three Vedas”.
When the end of his 100 more years approached, he again prayed to Indra and and asked for 100 more years. Indra granted. In this way he did five times. Indra said, “Thathasthu (let it be so)”. Then the sage Bharadwaja studied the Vedas continuously.

When he prayed again to Indra for further longevity, Indra appeared before him and he decided to instruct the rishi. He uttered the three vyahritis “Bhuh”, “Bhuva”, and “svah” and created three huge mountains. When the sage saw the mountains he thought, “Probably this represents the vedic knowledge I’ve mastered. The three mountains may represent my mastery over the three Vedas”. To his surprise, Indra took little mud from each mountain and it became his handful. He said to the sage, “This is what you’ve learnt from the three Vedas. The rest is what you need to know. It may take many many lifetimes to do this”.

The sage was shocked. He thought, “I’ve extended my visa(!) 5 times to stay here so that I can complete the study of Vedas, still I’ve done only a bit study. It means Vedas cannot be completely studied by anyone”. Indra said, “The Vedas are unlimited. Except Lord Vishnu nobody can know them completely. The best thing is to realise the purpose of the Vedas. The goal of all the Vedas is Lord Hari. Meditate on Him and fulfill the goal of all the Vedas”.

Then the sage went to Mattapalli (a place in Andhra pradesh), purified himself by bathing in river Krishna and meditated on Lord Narasimha. Being pleased with his penance, Lord Narasimha appeared and bestowed him a residence in Vaikunta.

Usually, scholarship in Vedas and a person’s ability to recite them with perfect pronunciation is taken as the qualification for considering a person to be “Spiritual”. However the quantum of Vedic study and one’s ability to recite them is not as critical as understanding the Supreme Lord who is the goal of the Vedas.

Because when one understands Lord Narayana who is the goal of Vedas all the vedic knowledge is revealed to him. On the contrary if a person knows all the Vedas, there is no guarantee that he’ll understand the Lord, as it is only by the Lord’s mercy that we can understand Him. And it is not possible for any person to study the Vedas completely. Because it is said,”vedo vai anantah” (Vedas are endless). So the goal of all the Vedas is to realize the Supreme Lord who is the central theme of the Vedas.

Shri Krishna confirms this in the Gita by saying, “vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah’ – By the study of all the Vedas, I’m alone to be known.