Chapter 18: chapter 18

Gandharv, yaksh and dev showered flowers on Indra. Vishnu and Shiv appeared infront of dev, congratulated Indra on his success. Lord Vishnu told Indra to reoccupy his position again and ascend the throne of swarga. He told,"Dev! Remember Dadichi's sacrifice ever! It's his generosity that made you regain your positions again! Indra! Never repeat mistakes in anger. Keep this Vajrayudh with you forever and punish all the culprits, destroy all sinners with it.. Dadichi's sacrifice is a great lesson for humans. Dadichi even though sacrificed his body, attained his lord Shiva's sannidhya. Because of his immense sacrifice, Shiva had united him in himself giving him permanent spiritual happiness. A sacrifice for the benefit of others never becomes useless and it surely benefits in later for the person who did the sacrifice ."Narayan blessed all the deities, they reached heaven gleefully and continued holding their positions as usual. Brihaspati too rejoices at the victory of his students. Everything became normal in heaven, Lord Vishnu gave an euphoric grin.Yagnavalkya meanwhile started teaching Laxmi third stage of Yoga, Asana,"Asana means practice of physical postures. Asana is the most crucial stage in Ashtanga yoga prakriya. Our main aim of performing this yoga is the union with supreme. How can we concentrate on him if our body doesn't cooperate??? How can we meditate with concentration if our muscles are pulling or legs are aching?? As body and mind are inseparable, this stage helps in keeping our body steady thus enabling our minds to focus more on him.Laxmi! I'll tell you Jatabharat's story, which teaches the importance of concentration. Many years ago, there lived an ardent Vishnu devotee named "Bharat". He was the prince of Ujjain, but left his kingdom, family, all pleasures and came to "Saligramam", accepting sannyasam. He started conducting severe penance to attain moksha. He adored Vishnu in such a way that he thought only about him even in his dreams. He constructed a hermitage in the middle of forest and continued his life there. He had given up comforts, ate fruits that are available in the forest, worn clothes of a sadhu, abandoned all his wealth and meditated for Vishnu with utmost devotion. One day, he had gone for bathe in a river, a pregnant deer too came there to drink water. It suddenly gave untimely birth to it's baby and died unfortunately because of the pains. Bharat saw the baby, felt pity on it and brought it to his ashram. He started feeding it, brought it up.It grew up in his hermitage, used to play around ashram, enchanted him and Bharat became attached to it. He lured it as his own son. Everyday it used to come out from hermitage in the morning, wander around the forest and returned evening. He had lost his concentration in his penance as his mind was always filled with thoughts of safety of the deer. He was always afraid whether any wolf would eat it. He couldn't keep his mind properly in Vishnu."From Vaikunth, Narayan felt delighted seeing Laxmi's hardship, determination to get him. Meanwhile Brahma manasputra, king of earth and Vishnu's obsessed devotee, Daksha Prajapati came and venerated him,"Pranam my Aaradhya! Jagatparipalaka! I'm conducting a yagna tomorrow for the welfare of my people. Please bring an elegance to it with your arrival Nadh"Narayan felt in mind," Daksh! I'm Vishnu, creator of even your father, I am aware of everything. I know that you are conducting yagna neither for people not for your kingdom, but only to take revenge on Mahadev"TO BE CONTINUED...