Vishwamitra and Maneka

[puzzled]

Menaka was a stunningly beautiful Apsara who captured the hearts of the Devas, Suras and Asuras alike. An Apsara is a celestial nymph or a celestial maiden, with spiritual powers. Youthful and vibrant, they are also well-versed in all the fine arts. They are married to the Gandharvas and serve Indra in his court, by singing and dancing to the music created by their husbands. Apsaras are believed to be capable of changing their shape at will. The four most famous Apsaras are Urvashi, Rambha, Tilottama and Menaka. Out of them, Menaka was the one who was the most beautiful, as also the most powerful. Fearing that Vishwamitra's steep spiritual rise would enable him to overthrow Indra and rule Devaloka, Indra ordered Menaka to go down to Earth and break his penance. Accordingly, Menaka appeared in front of Vishwamitra and tried her level best to distract him with her dance and music.

Finally, Vishwamitra gave in to her charms. He felt lust and passion well up inside him when he saw her swimming naked in a lake near the waterfall. He left his penance to be with her and the two of them made love for years together. Though Menaka had come with a mission, she herself fell deeply in love with Vishwamitra and the two shared a passion experienced by none else. Vishwamitra came to know of Indra's devious trick and was enraged at his cowardly act. However, he was well aware of Menaka's genuine love for him and therefore, he merely cursed her that she would be separated from him forever. Menaka left for the heavens and there, she discovered she was pregnant with Vishwamitra's child. She gave birth to Shakuntala and left the infant at rishi Kanva's ashram.

Vishwamitra was enraged to find out how he had been duped by Menaka and the Devas and he also felt ashamed of himself that he had lost all the virtue he had gained through his many years of penance and ascetism. He distanced himself from the mother and child and got back to his penance.

 

[puzzled]

Even the greatest of Rishis who did tapasya for 1000s of years fell for their vices.

 

he's like  nope, i didn't see that, that's not my baby, i know nothing about it, take it away       lol!

[GurjantGnostic]

Be more impressive if he took care of his own while doing Naam Simran. 

[Guest]

20 hours ago, GurjantGnostic said:

Be more impressive if he took care of his own while doing Naam Simran. 

Exactly ! But ancient india is filled with such anecdotes in which people for spiritual pursuits have even foresaken their families. Buddha also left his newborn son and family and kingdom and left for forests for meditation. 

9 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

The sakhi itself contains a sensible message, and just because the subject is male (who's seduced by a female), the moral can still apply vice versa for a female who is spiritually inclined, and is "tempted."

Many of these sages , only a few of whom the Vedic hymns were revealed in a highly archaic language called Vedic Sanskrit , after years and decades of intense meditation . But most of these sages are depicted as angry and short tempered and not rid of their ego. Vedas were revealed to them, and many of them had occult powers riddhi siddhian but they are reported to even curse people if pisssed off. 

Durvasa for instance, who's' even mentioned in GGS was a very short-tempered person and wouldn't think twice before cursing someone and his curses often came true. 

Vishwamitra (and his disciple lineage) is author of a couple of Mandals (books, total 10) of RigVeda (oldest extant religious scripture of indo-european languages, most of it still undeciphered because of highly archaic obscure language). 

RigVeda for instance begins with a hymn attributed to his son MadhuChhand . 

Vishwamitra often is reported to have fights with another scholar and Vedic sage of his time Vashisht . Vishwamitra brought a king to his ruin (read story of Harishchandra) because he disturbed him accidentally while the sage was doing tapp in forest.

So most of these sages , despite the gyaan they had were riddld with haumai and lobh moh krodh. 

 

[Guest]

It is also important to note the Vedic Indra is different narrative from Puranic Indra.

Vedic Indra is the slayer of demons , and is the most praised deity in RigVeda. He is the king over council of gods. And vishnu is his friend obedient to him.

Whereas in puranas tables are turned. Indra is shown as weak ruler of heaven who often loses it to the demons (asur) and then rushes haplessly to Vishnu who is cool as cucumber and always rescues him. 

[Guest]

This 1m 50s video of first hymn of rigveda beautifully sung is attributed to Vishwamitra's son , in praise of "Agni" (the fire).

What do you think these people worshipped ? I think people 4 thousand years had a natural inclination towards fire worship , as fire was very mystical to them and cooked their foods, lit their nights , and saved from wild animals. Its not surprising that humans gradually started worshipping fire. Or is the fire simply a metaphor for the ultimate monotheistic being ?

Strangely these things were going on in Punjab and the Vedas as scriptures were compiled in Punjab.

 

 

[MisterrSingh]

3 hours ago, AjeetSingh2019 said:

This 1m 50s video of first hymn of rigveda beautifully sung is attributed to Vishwamitra's son , in praise of "Agni" (the fire).

What do you think these people worshipped ? I think people 4 thousand years had a natural inclination towards fire worship , as fire was very mystical to them and cooked their foods, lit their nights , and saved from wild animals. Its not surprising that humans gradually started worshipping fire. Or is the fire simply a metaphor for the ultimate monotheistic being ?

Strangely these things were going on in Punjab and the Vedas as scriptures were compiled in Punjab.

 

 

It originated from sun worship; same with the Egyptians who worshipped Ra. The tribes modified the deities according to local customs and cultures.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, MisterrSingh said:

It originated from sun worship; same with the Egyptians who worshipped Ra. The tribes modified the deities according to local customs and cultures.

What I meant was are these "forces of nature" deity just a thin veil around the one, absolute reality that governs the universe . 

After all, in GGS at places vedas are spoken highly of, isn't it ?

Perhaps agni is more than just the fire then. Agni is in our bodies too btw as fire in stomach and body temperature