Incarnations of Lord Visnu - Page 3

Matsya(Fish) Incarnation
There was a king named Satyavrat. One day, he was doing worship by offering water on the bank of a river. He took some water in his palms. He saw a small fish in that water.
The fish said, "My dear King, why are you throwing me in the water of the river, where there are other aquatics who can kill me? I am very much afraid of them."

The merciful king Satyavrat decided to give protection to the fish. He put the fish in his kamandal(a small round shaped vessel) and brought it to his residence. But in one night that fish grew so much that the kamandal was very small for it.

He put the fish in a large well. Within a moment, the fish became so big that the well was too small for the fish's comfortable stay.

He put the fish in a lake. But the fish became so big that it excedded the extent of the lake water.

He tried one water reservoir after another, each lake bigger than the previous one. But all of them proved to be very small for the fish.

Finally Styavrat put the fish in ocean. The fish said, "In the ocean, there are many powerful and dangerous sharks that will eat me. Therefore you should not throw me in this place."

After hearing these sweet words from the fish, Satyavrat could understand that the fish was none other than Lord Vishnu. He propitiated the matsya(fish) incarnation of Vishnu again and again.

Fish(God) said, "O king, on the seventh day from today, the world will be submerged in water. er of inundation. A large boat sent by me will appear before you. Then you should collect all types of herbs and seeds and load them on that boat. Then, accompanied by the seven rishis and by all kinds of living beings, get aboard that boat. The body luster of the great rishis will show you light. Attach the boat to My horn using great serpent Vasuki. I will pull the boat so long the flood continues. During the journey, you will learn Vedic knowledge from Me."

After saying this, the fish disappeared. After seven days, gigantic clouds pouring water swelled the ocean more and more. Thus the ocean began to overflow onto the land and flood the entire world. Satyavrata saw a boat coming near. He collected herbs and seeds, and, accompanied by saintly rishis and all kinds of beings, he got aboard the boat. A large golden fish appeared. It has a very huge horn.

Following the instructions formerly given by God, the King anchored the boat to the fish's horn, using the serpent Vasuki as a rope. While moving, God, in the form of a fish, explained to Satyavrat the Vedic knowledge.

In the current birth, Satyavrat has been reborn as king Shraddhadev. He is also known as Vaivast because he is the son of Sun god Vivasvan. He has got the post of Manu. He is the seventh Manu.
The story given above happened in the time of sixth Manu, who was known as Chakshus Manu. The fish incarnation also happened at the beginning of the time of first Manu, Swyambhuv Manu. Then God, in the form of fish, killed a demon named Haygriv, who had stolen Vedic knowledge from Brahma and was using this knowledge for wrong purposes.

I heard that when Hanuman burned Lanka down, Maydanav (Mandodari's Dad) helped rebuild it. Did he help in building the city initially??? or only after Hanuman burned it down???

He did not help build it initially. Initially it was built only by Vishwakarma.

Hey akhl, could you post a detailed story about Buddha avatar...I still have some confusions about that one.........

If you could discuss abt his family also, that would be great.

Thanks!!!

Buddha Incarnation
Puranas call Buddh as an incarnation of Vishnu. But Buddhists often reject this claim. Many believe Gautam Buddh as the Buddh incarnation mentioned in Puranas, but some say that Buddh incarnation is yet to come. Here I am writing about the famous Buddh called Gautam Buddh.

When Gautam Buddh was born, his name was Siddharth. Gautam was his family name. Therefore, he was called Siddharth Gautam. His father was Shoddhodan. Shoddhodan was the chief of a tribe called Shakya in Kapilvastu city in Kosal state. Siddharth's mother was Mahamaya devi.

Being king of a tribe, Shuddhodan provided luxurious life to Siddharth. He even tried his best to keep Siddharth safe from the worries of life. But, having seen various worries like old age, disease and death, Siddharth was convinced that material weath should not be the ultimate goal of life.

Siddharth was born in Lumbini(now in Nepal). When his mother Mahamaya devi was pregnant, as per tradition, she went to his parents place to give birth. But she gave birth to Siddharth on the way in Lumbini. She passed away soon after giving birth. Suddharth's mausi(mother's sister) Mahapajapati raised Siddharth.

When Siddharth became young, he was tall and very handsome. His face was calm. He was given military training. Since he was the son of the chief of a tribe, military training was a must for him. Moreover, he also had to show his military skills to prove his worthiness for marriage. When he was 16 year old, then he married Yashoda (roughly of the same age). They had a son named Rahul.

Siddhartha left house at the age of 29 and became a mendicant. He first went to Rajgir. King Bimbisar of Magadh was so impressed with Siddharth that he wanted to make Siddharth a king. Siddharth had still not attained enlightenment. He rejected Bimbisar's offer but promised to visit Magadh after gaining enlightenment.

Five more young men, who were also looking for enlightenment joined Siddharth. For 5 to 6 years, they studied under many teachers. Siddharth learnt many things but was not completely satisfied with what he learnt. Initially he tried to gain enlightenment by starving. He became very weak. He felt that this was only making him weak and not giving him any knowledge. Then, he started eating moderately. He gave the knowledge called as the middle way, a path which is between self-indulgence and self-mortification.

Later, his five companions felt that Siddharth was not going on correct path and they left him. He decided to gain knowledge by meditation. He ate a little milk and rice given by a village girl named Sujata. After that he started meditation under a peepal tree in a place, which is now called as Bodh Gaya. After 49 days, he got enlightenment. He was 35 year old then.

On gaining enlightenment, Siddharth was called as Buddh(i.e. enlightened). Since any enlightened person can be called as Buddh, therefore Siddharth is distinguished from others by calling him as the Buddh, Gautam Buddh, Shakyamuni Buddh(because he was born in Shakya clan).

After gaining enlightenment, Gautam Buddh went to Varanasi and gave first teaching to his five previous companions. They together formed a group i.e. Sangh. In time, more people joined that group. From Varanasi he went to Rajgir(capital of Magadh) to meet King Bimbisar. Bimbisar donated him a place for monastery, where Buddh taught for a few months.

King Suddhodan sent delegations to Buddh with message that Buddh should come back to Kapilvastu. First nine delegations joined Buddh's sangh and did not deliver the message. The tenth delegation gave the message and then joined the sangh. Buddh then decided to visit Kapilvastu. He went to Kapilvastu by foot. It took 2 months. He preached Dharma on the way.

In Kapilvastu, Buddh's cousins, son Rahul(who was 7) and many others joined the sangh.

After a few years king, Buddha heard that his father Shuddhodan was not well. Shuddhodan wanted to learn whatever Buddha had found. Buddha went to his father and explained to him his teachings. After King Suddhodan passed away, then Buddh's mausi Mahapajapati, wife Yashoda and some other women met Buddh because they wanted to join the sangh. Initially Buddh was reluctant but later agreed.

Buddh's cousin Devdatt tried to kill Buddh many times but failed.

When Buddh was 55, he made Anand his chief attendant. Buddh died at around 80. Before his death, he told his disciples that he was going to leave his body. His passing away is called as Parinirvan - also Mahanirvan. His final words were "All composite things are temporary."

Originally posted by: akhl

His final words were "All composite things are temporary."

What language was this statement in (in the purana....)........I just want to know.....and if you can........can you please right it in that language here.......I think it would sound really cool........cause I can't translate that to Hindi or Sanskrit.......cause I don't know how to say composite or temporary............when I speak.....I usually just use the word temporary......lol.....as for composite........i doubt I even use that word in those languages........

Oh........and what was the link between Buddha and King Ashoka of Maghada.....I know that Ashoka basically fought wars.........took over all of India........and then he gave up his weapons and became a sanyaasi.......Did Asoka get inspired by Buddha, or did Buddha come after Asoka's time.......

Are they even linked in any way, besides the fact that both were expert warriors who gave up their weapons and chose penance????????

I am writing the stories of Buddha not from Purana but based on Buddhist texts and historical records. Buddhist texts are mostly written in Pali.
Buddha came much before Asoka. In fact, when Asoka was born, Buddha had already died.

[quote]Are they even linked in any way, besides the fact that both were expert warriors who gave up their weapons and chose penance????????[/quote]
As I wrote in my previous post, Buddha came much before Ashoka. Ashoka got inspired by Buddhist teachings and converted to Buddhism. But Buddha had died long back. Some Buddhist monks initiated Ashoka into Buddhism.
Before Ashoka became a Buddhist, Buddhism did not have many followers. Ashoka was instrumental in spreading Buddhism far and wide.
It is true that both Buddha and Ashoka were princes and gave up weapons but there are three big differences between them.
1. Ashoka was an emperor. His father Bindusar and grandfather Chandragupt Maurya were emperors. They ruled over many states. But Buddha's father Shuddhodan did not rule over even one state. Rather, he was just the chief of a trible(kabila).
2. Before giving up weapons, Ashoka killed many people. But Buddha never killed anybody. Ashoka was initially very cruel and later became full of mercy. Buddha was always full of mercy.
3. Buddha became a sanyasi. But Ashoka remained a king even after becoming a Buddhist.

Let me add something interesting about Ashoka.
The famous science fiction writer H.G. Wells once wrote about Ashoka:-
"In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who called themselves "their highnesses", "their majesties", and "their exalted majesties" and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day."

If you read about Ashoka, then you will be amazed. I hope a TV serial is made on Ashoka. If properly made, it will be far better than the serial on Prithviraj Chauhan. (Though it will not have much of romance 😉 )

This is great!!

I really learned a lot from the Budd story.

OH......the stories are from Buddhist texts........I see..........

Is this story similar to the ones mentioned in Hindu Puranas.....or is it completely different???

As far as I know, the basic story is the same: Buddha disregarded all royalties to spread knowledge........he traveled to China, as well as other parts of Asia in the process.....