The Sacred Ganga (River Ganges) - Vedicyagyacenter.com

Vedic Yagya Center_____________________________________________________________________________P.O. Box 500271 ● Austin, TX - 78750 ● Tel: 888 835 7788 ● Fax: (512)-788-5694 ●www.vedicyagyacenter.com ● yagnya@vydic.orgThe Sacred Ganga (River Ganges)Part I.Ganga origin:GANGA MATAVedas & Sanatana Dharma always been giving high respect to the river Gangaand treated her a mother as she is the most important source of life andsustenance for all. Ganga is one of the most sacred rivers. River Ganga wasalways personified as a Goddess in Santana Dharma. She holds a veryimportant place and is treated & respected as a mother by all the Hindus.

Ganga Devi is the eldest daughter of Himavanta,King of the Mountains and his wife Menaka Devi(not the Apsara Menaka). She is therefore anelder sister of the Goddess Parvati Devi. Inanother version Ganga’s origin was from thefeet of Vishnu (Vishnu Pada Gaamini) whichwas collected by Lord Brahma in hisKamadalam (a small round water holdingcontainer with a small handle, generally held byRishis to store the sacred water), when hewashed the feet of Vishnu and from then onwards, under the authority of the Lord Brahma.It is believed that bathing in the River Ganga,frees one of all their sins and helps in theattainment of liberation from the ocean of life.Hence every one must try to take bath in theRiver Ganga at least once in their life time.GANGA MAYYAIt is also strongly believed that, when theremaining ashes of the dead person are immersed in the River Ganga, all their sinswill be pardoned and they get an easy entrance in to the Heaven. This is the reasonmany people travel from different and even far off parts of the world to try toimmerse the remaining ashes (after the cremation) of their beloved ones in to thewaters of the River Ganga.Story of the Ganga Devi’s descending to Earth (Ganga Avataranam):Even before the Tretayuga (Sri Rama’s Avatar time), One of the very early ancestor’sof Sri Rama, there was an emperor Sagara (Lord Sri Rama’s ancestor) who had sixtythousand sons through meditational power from one wife and another son who wasvery handsome, powerful and very good natured person from his elder wife. On oneoccasion, the emperor performed 999 very grand Ashwavamedha Yagyas of worshipfor the good of the kingdom. He was performing the 1000 th one, when God Indrastole the Yagyas Ashwa (Yagya’s Horse), which was one of the integral parts of theYagya, and hid it in Kapila Muni’s Ashram which was Netherworld, beneath theearth, deep in the bottom of the ocean. So, Sagara had sent all his 60,000 sons insearch of the horse and bring it back so that he could complete the Yagyasuccessfully.

All the sons searched entire earth, in and out and found the horse in Patala loka orthe Netherworld, next to sage Kapila, who was deep in meditation. Believing that thesage must have stolen the horse, they insulted him and disturbed his deep penance.The enraged sage opened his eyes that were shut in several hundreds of years,looked at the sons of Sagara with fury and they were all instantly burned down toashes and killed. Anyway, Sagara’s elder son somehow found the horse, brought itback and the Yagya was duely completed. But Sagara and his other family memberscould not do anything to help redeem the souls of his dead 60,000 sons. Hence theirsouls were wandering in agony as restless souls seeking salvation.Then, later after couple of generations, one of the descendent, King Bhagiratha, sonof Dilip and one of the descendants of Sagara, learnt about his ancestors pitiableplight and took a vow to bring Ganga, who was at that time residing only in heaven,down to Earth so that her waters could cleanse their ancestors souls and send themto heaven.Bhagiratha meditated for Lord Brahma forthe Ganga to come down to Earth for manyyears. Then, Lord Brahma agreed to sendGanga to visit the Earth. But at the sametime warned Bhagiratha that Ganga, withher might, speed and force could sweep ordrown the Earth while descending fromheaven to earth, if her nature wan notcontrolled. He also advised Bhagiratha toMeditate for Lord Shiva, who alone hadmight & strength to control her. Thisalarmed Bhagiratha, who then againmeditated for Lord Shiva to help him andcontrol the force of Ganga's descent.GANGA DESCENDS FROM HEAVENLord Shiva was pleased with Bhagiratha’s good intention to redeem his ancestor’ssouls and determination. He promised to help Bhagiratha. Lord Shiva then openedhis matted hair and stood up straight, with His strong hands held on his waist waswaiting for Ganga to land on to his head before it landed on the earth. Ganga was soproud of her immense strength, force and speed. She thought that Shiva will not beable to hold her might and landed on to Lord Shiva’s head with full force like a hugewater fall. She landed with full might and continued to fall relentlessly from heaven.As she was jumping up and down and waving forward and back ward with full furytrying to land on to the earth with full force. Lord Shiva grew his matted hair alsotremendously and held her with utmost ease, very effortlessly. Ganga was shocked

and angered and struggled even more to show her might and tried very hard toescape from Lord Shiva’s matted hair.All the Gods, angels, souls, creatures along with Bhagiratha were standing in awelooking at this divine scene. Ganga with her sacred, white, pure milk like look andwith her divine shine like that of 1000 moons shining at the same time anddescending from heaven to the head of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, shining like 1000suns put together radiantly standing with his might and holding Ganga within hismatted hair. Many water creatures like all kinds of fishes, crocodiles, huge whales allflowing down in the Ganga waters. Added to that, so many Gods, angels and Rishiscame down to view this wonderful sight, their divine energy and meditationalforces all come out at the same time was so illuminating that in matter of momentsthey could all see no longer. In the mean while many suddenly started jumping in tothe flow to cleanse all their sins. It was sight so divine that this can only bevisualized but cannot be described in words well enough to capture a vision so pure,beautiful and incomparable.Lord Shiva, was very playfully holdingand with a smile tied up Ganga tightly inhis matted hair and held her tightly notletting her escape at all. Ganga tried veryhard but was now very tired and bowedwith humility and remained in LordShiva’s head in His hair knot with a smile.The flow from the Heaven stoppedabruptly. Lord Shiva with Ganga flowingfrom his matted hair knot is known as“Kapardi”.Ganga came sweeping down arrogantlyand fell on Shiva's head. Shiva calmlytrapped her in his matted hair, so that shecould only be let out in small streams.Shiva's touch further sanctified Ganga. AsGanga travelled to Patala to release theSHIVA AS KAPARDIpained souls, she also created a differentstream to remain on Earth to help purify unfortunate souls there.

Bhagiratha who was dismayed in shock andwith amazement so far suddenly realized thatthe Ganga for which he worked so hard for solong was now captive in Lord Shiva’s mattedhair knot. He again meditated to Lord Shivaand prayed to the Lord to release Ganga forthe redemption of his 60,000 ancestor’s souls.Lord Shiva was pleased with Bhagiratha andlet out a very small amount of Ganga waterand thus Ganga flowed following Bhagiratha.Bhagiratha was leading and Ganga wasfollowing. Ganga was so happy and she wasjumping up and down, going here and thereand running like a young, beautiful maidenadorning herself with flowering bushes andtrees that came in her way. Ganga was flowingfrom the mountains and in to valleys washingup everything from her path in anuncontrollable happiness. In her joyful moodshe forgot the force of her might and startedsweeping of villages in her way.GANGA FOLLOWING BHAGIRATHAGanga as ‘Jahnavi’:Thus flowing in this way, she has accidentally wiped off the small hut of a MahaRishi called Jahnu, whose meditation was also disturbed by her turbulence. Heimmediately meditated upon a mantra and with his mantra Shakti (Power) filled thewhole Ganga in to his right palm and drank it all in one gulp. Suddenly, Bhagiratharealized that Ganga was not following him any longer. Looking at Rishi Jahnu, heunderstood, what must have happened. Then again, Bhagiratha prayed to RishiJahnu, asked his forgiveness and requested him to release Ganga water. Rishi Jahnureleased Ganga from his right ear with his meditational power for Bhagiratha.Hence, Ganga has acquired the name "Jahnavi" (daughter of Jahnu).Ganga as ‘Tripadaga’:Finally, Bhagiratha with HIS utmost determination succeeded in taking Ganga waterto the Nether world. When the ashes of the 60,000 ancestors of Bhagiratha wereimmersed and touched by the Ganga, their souls got salvation and all were happy.Hence Ganga is also called "Tripathaga" (One who travels in three worlds) as she isthe only river to follow from all the three worlds – Swarga loka (heaven), Prithvi or

Bhoo loka(earth) and, Patala loka (Netherworld) means the one who travels in thethree worlds.Ganga as ‘Bhagirathi’:Because Ganga came down to earth due to Bhagiratha's sincere efforts, hardpenance and strong determination, the Ganga river is also known as Bhagirathi. Thisis the reason, there is a popular term known as "Bhagiratha prayatna or BhagirathaYatnam" which is used to describe valiant efforts or difficult achievements whichneeds unbreakable determination.……………We will continue with other interesting facts and legendsabout Ganga in our next issue – February 2013 News letter.