Three is a Temple for Lord Shiva, where Dronacharya resided and where Aswathama was born.
Lord Shiva let Milk flow for Aswatahama.
Aswathama,Tapkeshwar Tempel.
The Pandavas worshiped Shiva here.
The Shiva Linga here has water dripping down on it through out the year.
The Tapkeshwar Mahadev cave temple is built upon the banks of a Dehradun seasonal river.
From Dehradoon main city , this temple is located ~ 5.50 km away towards Garhi Cantonment area .
Shiva,Tapkeshwar.
The name ” Tapkeshwar ” is due to a reason that inside the cave , a steady drop of water falls from the ceiling on the top of the shivlinga.
According to a story Rishi Dhrona’s son Ashwathama Birth took place at this place .
Lord Shiva made milk flow from this cave for Ashwathama . Mahrishi Vyasa also after very hard worship of Lord Shiva , got the boon of “Amaratwa ” here.
Dronacharya was very poor and he had even a Cow to provide milk for His son Aswathama.
Drona went and met his class mate and friend King Draupada, father of Draupadi, and requested for wealth.
Draupada insulted Drona saying that a poor Brahmin can never be a friend of a king and sent Drona back.
Drona came home desolate.
He could not provide Milk for the Child Aswathama.
Aswathama cried near the Shiva Linga and his tears fell on the Shiva Linga.
Shiva then let Milk flow for the child.
How To reach.
Airport.Dehradun.
Railway Station.Dehradun.
Bus Station.Dehradun.
Dehradun, Uttarkhand is well-connected by Air, Train and Bus with the rest of India,
I often tell my friends and children that living for long time is painful.
Ashwatthama use Narayanastra.
For , beyond a certain age, say after 50 years , everything that happens is Life to an individual, is ‘Action Replay’
One would have seen and gone through nearly all aspects of Life.
And there are no surprises .
To live through the same thing in Life, is monotonous.
One more factor is that even if one wants to take leave of this world, it is not in one’ hands.
I have observed that it is those who have a zest for Life and want to live more, die suddenly .
On the other hand those who feel that they have served their time seem to live and linger on.
It is painful if one falls ill and depends on others for discharging daily functions.
Imagine remaining Immortal!
Nothing can be more painful than this.
And if you were to be cursed to be alone and wander alone..!
This has happened to Aswathama, son of Dronacharya.
Aswathama was agreat warrior.
During the Mahabharat War, Drona was killed by Dhristathyumna against whom Drona vowed not to bear arms.
Aswathama could not come to terms with it.
As the war drew a to a close, Duryodhana was also killed by Bhima by dubious means, of hitting Duryodhana below the waist in a mace fight.
Duryodhana lay dying a mountain stream.
Aswatahama, angered at this, used an Astra and had all the children of Pandavas killed, save Parikshit who was saved by Krishna.
Duryodhana abused Aswatahama informing him that Children had nothing to do with war and anyway the children of the Panadavas were as much his own,that Aswathama wiped out his own clan by killing these children.
And he died.
Aswathama became more agitated.
He came to the war field and sent in Narayanstra.
There are three powerful Astras.
Brahmastra, Pasupatastra and Narayanstra.
Naranaystra is the most powerful and to my knowledge this is the only instance where it was used.
This astra would wipe out every thing in the universe nd there is no stopping it.
At the time of Aswataham sending down this Astra Narada and Vyasa, who were present in the battle field warned not to use Narayanastra.
Despite this warning Aswathama sent the Astra.
It started destroying everything in its wake , starting from the Heavens.
Arjuna was speechless.
Krishna advised every one that the only way to stop the astra is to lay down Arms and prostate before it.
Everyone did so.
The Astra did not hurt any one and came back to Aswathama asking him to assign a Target, failing which it would kill him.
Aswathama could not retract the Astra as he did not know how to retract it, knew only to send it.
Krishna asked Arjuna to take the Astra and aim it.
Arjuna told Krishna that he knew nothing about Narayanastra.
Narada told him,
Krishna tells you, do it’
Astra has to have a Target,
Either it is your life or the Emerald in Your Head. (This emerald is precious and ensures success)
Aswathama assigns the Emerald as the target.
Arjuna takes it.
Then Vyasa and Narada cursed Aswathama,
You shall remain a Chiranjeevi, Immortal through out the Time Cycle.
You shall remain till the end of Prakrutha Pralaya.
And you shall wander the forests, friendless.
A lesson in both how killing children is the greatest t sin and how half baked knowledge is dangerous.
Hoe Rajapakshe heard this story before killing children in Lanka.
2.Mahabali who was slain by Lord Vishnu in the Avatar of Vamana/Trivikrama.
3.Vyasa-who compiled the Vedas and wrote the Mahabharata,some consider him as an avatar of Vishnu, though his name does appear in the ten Avatars of Vishnu.
4.Hanuman-Disciple and devotee of Rama .
5.Vibheeshana-Brother of Ravana, who defected to Lord Rama.
6.Kripa-military guru of the princes in the Mahabharata.
7.Parashurama-Avatar of Vishnu.
The common criteria for all the immortals is Bhakthi, surrender to God.
All of them are the devotees of Lord Vishnu, except Parashurama, who was a devotee of Lord Shiva.
For Aswathama, Immortality has been granted as a Curse.
Post follows on this.
In addition to this there are eight more Immortals.
They are,
Jambavan, Markandeya, Devapi, Maru, Saptarishis, Bhusunda (Crow),Banasur(son of King Bali) by Boon of Shiva, and Udal.
Of these eight Chiranjeevis, Udal seems to be an interpolation after 13th Century.
“Udal (full name Udai Singh) was a Rajput general in the army of Chandel King Maharaj Parimard Dev Burman (also known as Parmal or Parimal) of Mahoba in 12th-13th century AD. He was younger brother of Alha. Parmal raised Udal as his own son, since he was born after the death of his father Dassraj, who – a general himself – was killed in the service of Parmal(wiki)
As none of the parameters tried, have lived up to reasonable classification, it was decided t go into the causes of Behavior, because it is behavior that determines the Life of an Individual and has an impact on the Society.
Behavior is mostly determined by the Genes,expressed in the form of dispositions.though the Hindus were aware of the environment playing a vital part.
Karna also says the same to him when he was appointed the Chief of the Army after Bhishmacharya.
Aswathama, after the death of his father Drona’s death, seeking to avenge his death and thinking that he would please Duryodhana, kills all the offspring of the Pandavas, save Parikshit, informs Duryodhana of his deed.
Duryodhana , bleeding to death, says to him,
‘You, in your anger have killed my sons, for Pandavas are my brothers,it is a different issue that I had to fight them.
That does not mean that their children are my enemies.
As a Brahmin, you should have thought of this.
At least , as a Kshatriya, you should have compassion ,Kshama,
You did neither.
You are now neither a Brahmin by disposition or a Kshatriya by duties”
Karna, though a Kshatriya by birth , was not recognized as such, because he was brought up by a Charioteer,
Viswamitra was a Kshatriya by birth, became a Brahmin by disposition and gave the world the Gayathri mantra, the sacred mantra of the Hindus.
Parasurama, a Brahmin by birth is not revered as such for killed his mother at the bidding of his father and he avenged the Kshatriyas for having killed his father Jamadagni for 21 Generatiosn till he was vanquished by Lord Rama.
Nor his Father Jamadagni’s name is among the Gothras of Brahmins for he bade his son to kill his wife.
His wife Renuka Devi, though of Brahmin lineage by Birth and Marriage, after resurrection was made a Minor Deity, called Mariamman.
Now we come across an interesting concept,
That of assigning Caste to God!
Vishnu is a Kshatriya.
Brahma is a Kshatriya.
These two perform the functions of Protecting, Creating respectively.
As these two activities lead to Births and Deaths, Samsara,- these activities are of a Kshatriya.
Siva is called a Brahmin for He dispenses Knowledge, not to be confused with Rudra, the Annihilator.
The term Siva means ‘Auspicious’
He is the embodiment of Sat, Chit, and Anandam(Being,Consciousness and Bliss).
His mouth formed the Brahmin (teacher or Priest), his two arms were made the Rajaanya (Kshathriya or warrior), his two thighs the Vaisyaa (traders or Agriculturist) and from his feet the Soodhra (worker or servant) was born.(Purusha Sooktham)
Another seeming contradiction is that while The Vishnu Purana is categorized as a Sathva(Noble,Pure,Diligent,Calmness) Purana while Siva Purana as Tamasa Purana( Indifference)
Probable that these are so named as to indicate the qualities of the Reader , Vishnu Purana for Karma,Bhakti Yogins while Siva Purana for karma Yogins(Non action , action with detachment)!
Ravana was a Brahmin by birth but by duties he was a Kshatriya.
He was respected for his knowledge and compassion .
His fatal flaw was to lust after other’s wife.
His status as Kshatriya did not affect his status as a Brahmin as Lord Rama performed Tharpana for him for Brahmahathi Dosha(the sin of slaying a Brahmin) at Rameswaram; normally Tharpana is not performed by the Victors if the slain were to be Kshatriyas unless they happen to be relatives, for example by the Pandavas for the Kauravas.-Pandavas performed the Tharpna for the slain Kauravas..
It may be noted that Birth alone does not determine the Caste, though it is also a factor.
Disposition, performance of duties, the way one is brought up determines the Caste.
An interesting fact is that while Kshatriyas can become Brahmins, Brahmins can never become Kshatriyas in its full connotation
Ravana was an exception who could balance both the functions, that of remaining a Brahmin by Wisdom and Knowledge and a Kshatriya by the performance of his duties.
As shown in the case of Aswathama, a Brahmin becomes neither, in fact without a Caste, if he vacillates between Kshatriya Dharma and Brahmana Dharma.
Therefore, the Classification of Caste is determined by , mainly Four factors.
1. Realizing Brahman, Reality
“O Arjuna, the duties of sudras, kshatriyas, Vaishyas and brahmanas are attributed according to the qualities determined by their own deeds.” image credit:.mallstuffs.com
2.tendencies.
3.Dispositions.
4.How one is brought up and whom he marries.
Now let us see how the word Caste has come into our Lexicon.
There is no word to denote ‘Caste’ as we understand it now in Hindu Thought.
“The English word “caste” derives from the Spanish and Portuguese casta, which the Oxford English Dictionary quotes John Minsheu‘s Spanish dictionary (1599) to mean, “race, lineage, or breed.”[5] When the Spanish colonized the New World, they used the word to mean a “clan or lineage.” However, it was the Portuguese who employed casta in the primary modern sense when they applied it to the many in-marrying hereditary Hindu social groups they encountered upon their arrival in India in 1498.[5][6] The use of the spelling “caste,” with this latter meaning, is first attested to in English in 1613.[5](wiki)
This is totally alien to Hindu Concept.
Caste is called as Varna , indicates disposition, disposition.
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