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| What is the secret of Garuda, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu? |
Interesting story of Shri Hari's vehicle Garudji!
These secrets of Garuda Dev will surprise you! After all, what is the secret of Lord Vishnu's vehicle Garuda?
Why is he given special importance in Hindu religion, what is the secret of his birth and how did he become a god from a bird?
Everyone must know about Lord Garuda. This is the vehicle of Lord Vishnu. Lord Garuda is also known by the names Vinayaka, Garutmat, Tarkshya, Vainteya, Nagantaka, Vishnuratha, Khageshwar, Suparna, and Pannagashan. Garuda is considered an important bird in Hinduism as well as Buddhism. According to Buddhist texts, Garuda has been called Suparna (with good wings). There are many stories about Garuda in Jataka tales also.
It is believed that there was a species of Garuda, which was considered intelligent and its job was to carry messages and people from here to there. It is said that it was such a huge bird that it could pick up an elephant with its beak and fly away.
There were two birds like Garuda even in the Ramayana period, which were called Jatayu and Sampati. Both of them also used to roam in the Dandakaranya area. Distance had no importance for them. According to local belief, there was a battle between Ravana and Jatayu in the sky of Dandakaranya and some of Jatayu's body parts fell in Dandakaranya, that is why there is a temple here.
Garuda is considered the best among birds. Along with being smart and intelligent, it has the ability to fly at high speed. There is a difference between a vulture and an eagle. It is important to know why Garuda is more popular and spread throughout India. There are many stories about Garuda in the Puranas. Garuda is the most important character in Ramayana.
After all, what is the secret of Lord Vishnu's vehicle Garuda?
Bird Pilgrimage: There is a pilgrimage site 60 kilometers away from Chennai called 'Pakshi Teerth'. This pilgrimage place is on top of Vedagiri mountain. For many centuries, a pair of Garudas descended from the distant sky during the afternoon and then returned to the sky after consuming the food grains given by the temple priest.
Hundreds of people are already present there to have darshan. According to the priest there, in Satyayuga, 8 Manasputras of Brahma had become Garuda due to the curse of Shiva. Of them, 2 have been freed from the curse at the end of Satyayuga, 2 at the end of Treta, 2 at the end of Dwapar. It is said that the 2 who are left now will be free at the end of Kaliyuga.
Garuda is the god bird: Garuda was born in Satyayuga, but he was also seen in Treta and Dwapar. Daksh Prajapati's daughter named Vinita or Vinata was married to sage Kashyap. Vinita laid two eggs during delivery. From one, Arun was born, and from the other, Garudha. While Arun became the charioteer of Surya's chariot, Garuda accepted to be the vehicle of Lord Vishnu.
Sampati and Jatayu were the sons of this Arun. In childhood, Sampati and Jatayu took a long flight with the aim of touching the solar system. Disturbed by the unbearable heat of the sun, Jatayu returned midway, but Sampati kept flying.
On reaching near the sun, Sampati's wings got burnt due to the heat of the sun and he fell on the beach and became unconscious. A sage named Chandrama took pity on him and treated him and blessed him to regain his wings after seeing the monkeys who were searching for Shri Sitaji in Treta.
War with Gods in Satyayuga: There are many stories described in the Puranas about the bravery of Lord Garuda. It is said that he fought with the gods and snatched the nectar pot from them. Actually, Rishi Kashyap had many wives, two of which were Vanita and Kadru.
These two were sisters, who were jealous of each other. Both of them did not have sons, so husband Kashyap gave a boon to both of them for a son. Vanita asked for two powerful sons while Kadru asked for a thousand snakes in the form of sons who were to be born in the form of eggs. Being a snake, Kadru's thousand sons were born from the egg and started working as per the instructions of their mother.
A bet was made between the two sisters that whose son would be stronger, the loser would have to accept his slavery. Here the snake had taken birth but no son had yet emerged from Vanita's eggs. In this haste, Vanita broke an egg before it could ripen. From the egg came a semi-developed baby whose upper body was like that of a human being but the lower body was semi-mature. His name was Arun.
Arun told his mother that 'even after father's advice, you lost patience and did not allow my body to expand. Therefore I curse you that you will have to spend your life as a servant. If her son who emerged from the second egg could not free her from this curse, she would remain a slave for life.
Out of fear, Vinata did not break the second egg and due to her son's curse, she lost the bet and started living as her younger sister's slave.
After a very long time, the second egg burst, and from it emerged a giant Garuda whose face was like that of a bird and the rest of the body was like that of a human being. However, he also had giant wings attached to his ribs. When Garuda came to know that his mother was his sister's slave and also came to know why, he asked his aunt and the snakes for a condition to get rid of this slavery.
The serpents prayed for the liberation of their slavery churned the nectar and asked for the nectar. Garuda immediately set out towards heaven to collect the nectar. The gods had kept three stages of protection for the safety of the nectar, first Big curtains of fire were spread on the stage. In the second there was a wall of deadly weapons rubbing against each other and in the end, there was a guard of two poisonous snakes.
Before even reaching there, one had to compete with the gods. Garuda crowded everyone and scattered the gods. Then Garuda extinguished the fire of the first stage by taking the water of many rivers in his mouth. In the next path, Garuda reduced his form to such an extent that no weapon could do any harm to him, and holding the snakes in both his claws, he killed them with his mouth. Picked up the nectar pot and headed towards the earth.
But then Lord Vishnu appeared on the way and being pleased with Garuda's lack of greed towards him even after having the pot of nectar in his mouth, he blessed Garuda that he would become immortal for life. Then Garuda also asked God for a boon and God asked him to become his rider. Indra also gave a boon to Garuda that he would be able to eat snakes as food, on this Garuda also promised to return the nectar safely.
At last, Garuda handed over the nectar to the snakes and placed it on the ground, and said, "Here is the nectar pot." I fulfilled my promise of bringing it here and now it has been handed over to you, but it would be good if you all take a bath after drinking it.
When all those snakes went to take a bath, suddenly Lord Indra arrived there and took back the nectar pot. But some drops fell on the ground and stopped on the grass. The snakes pounced on those drops, but they caught nothing. In this way, Garuda's condition was also fulfilled and the snakes did not even get the nectar.
In Treta Yuga: When Ravana's son Meghnath had tied Shri Ram with a snake loop while fighting with Shri Ram, then at the behest of Devarshi Narad, Garuda freed Shri Ram from the bondage of the snake loop by eating all the snakes of Nagpash. When Lord Rama got tied in the snake's noose, Garuda became suspicious of Shri Ram being God.
To clear Garuda's doubts, Devarshi Narad sends him to Brahmaji. Brahmaji sends him to Shankarji. Lord Shankar also sent Garuda to a crow named Kakabhushundiji to clear his doubts. At last, Kakabhushundiji dispelled Garuda's doubts by narrating the sacred story of Ram's character.
Due to the curse of sage Lomash, Kakabhushundi had become a crow. Lomash Rishi gave him the boon of Ram Mantra and euthanasia to be free from the curse. He spent his entire life in the form of a crow. Even before Valmiki, Kakabhushundi had narrated Ramayana to Garuda. Before this, Hanumanji had written the entire Ramayana and thrown it into the sea. Valmiki was a contemporary of Shri Ram and he wrote Ramayana when Ram was crowned after the killing of Ravana.
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