Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik: 3 Read online

  Did Surya have any bhakts (devotees)?

  The most famous one was Samba, Krishna’s son. There’s a festival called Samba Dashami during which Surya is worshipped.

  Samba is falsely lured by his stepmother, Nandini. He rebuffs her advances. Krishna sees them and, despite Samba’s explanation, curses him with skin disease. A rishi tells him that only one god can help him—Surya. When Samba is cured by Surya, he builds the temples in Konark, Modhera and Kashmir. Interestingly, in science too, sunlight plays an important role in healing skin diseases. There’s vitamin D, of course. It seems that Ayurveda doctors knew that skin problems could be cured with sunlight.

  What is Surya’s role in navagraha?

  In astrology, Surya is the central deity. Around him are the moon and other planets. The stars—his wives—are behind him. You worship the sun and all the others get worshipped too since he is the head of all the grahas.

  Is the surya namaskar connected with mythology?

  It is believed that the surya namaskar was invented by Hanuman for his guru, Surya. Yoga is always done facing the east. The east is very important for any major task. So in India, we say left is vama, but right is dakshina. That’s because when you face the east, the south is to your right, the north is to your left and the west is behind.

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  Fathers

  Brahma is considered the creator of Brahmanda, the universe. So would it be right to call him the first father of the Puranas?

  That would be correct. But the father concept is a bit complicated. Paintings show Brahma seated on a lotus, which emerges from the navel of Vishnu. So is Vishnu Brahma’s father? A father also has a father, his father too has a father, and so on. Who was there right at the beginning? Who knows? Even the gods came later. This is what the famous creation hymn of the Rig Veda says.

  Brahma is called Pitamaha or grandfather, not father. And all living beings may have a father like Kashyapa, Pulitsa, Saptarishi or Prajapati—whose father is Brahma. So he is definitely a father. But the words ‘creator’ and ‘father’ are different. Prakriti, nature, has no creator, because it is sanatana, eternal. It is the living beings—who experience hunger (bhookh) and desire (bhog)—who are created by Brahma. So he is the grandfather only of all living beings, not of all creation.

  The concept that prakriti is eternal is common to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Brahma arrives within prakriti. The story goes that there is an ocean called Kshir Sagar upon which lies Shesh Naga on whom Vishnu sleeps. From his navel arises a lotus on which Brahma sits. Brahma is the father of Prajapati and Saptarishi who are born of his mind, so are his Manasputras, and who marry several devis from whom different living beings are born. This long story exists to show the difference between creator and father.

  Who are the fathers of Vishnu and Shiva?

  The answer to this will depend on the book you read. In the Shiva Purana, Shiva created himself; he is svayambhu (self-created). In the Vishnu Purana, it is said that Vishnu created the world and Shiva appeared later. In the Shiva Purana, Vishnu comes later. These are sectarian differences. In the Shakta parampara, Devi is the mother of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and there is no father. The word ‘father’ does not occur here, so Brahma is not Shiva’s father. There is no relationship. He is self-created, and at best, he is Devi’s son. But the word ‘father’ is never associated with Shiva. In the Vedas, Vishnu is said to be the son of Aditi and is known as Kashyapaputra, while in the Vishnu Purana, Vishnu too is svayambhu.

  We can see images of Shiva as a father with Parvati and Ganesh.

  In art, in paintings from the mountainous regions, you’ll see Shiva as a loving father, although he shies away from responsibility. All responsibility lies with his wife. This is seen in folk tales—he is a vairagi, an ascetic, who does not know how to manage household responsibilities. But there are many images in which he is seen holding Ganesh on his shoulder, or playing with him and his sons while the mother cooks. You won’t find a similar story of Vishnu. Vishnu is a worldly king and the protector of the universe. You will not see images of him as a father although Kamadeva is shown as his son, who is an irresponsible god and converts everyone into a bhogi (participant in the world). But you won’t see pictures of him sitting on Vishnu’s lap.

  This is an irony. Shiva, who is an ascetic, is shown with a family life and as a loving father, while Vishnu, the preserver and protector of the world, is not depicted as a father. Nor are Rama and Krishna. This is something worth thinking about.

  So will you call god father or mother?

  In English, you’ll say god is my father. In India, in Hinduism, the word bhagavan is masculine, feminine and also neuter. When we talk of bhagavan it’s not one entity; we talk of prakriti and atma. If we consider atma as god, it is masculine; if we consider prakriti, it is feminine. In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna says the world is born from me, we think it is masculine. But Krishna says he has two yonis (wombs)— purusha and prakriti, that is, atma and the material world. Here, the father becomes the mother too. So Krishna is called Vithai or mother Vitthal in Maharashtra. The gender gets mixed. Bhagavan has no gender. Once you give it a gender, one that is anant (eternal and endless) is made finite or limited within a boundary.

  What is the difference between the words pita, pitr, putra, etc.?

  The belief is that this is Bhu-loka, where we live. After death, we’ll go to Pitr-loka or the land of the ancestors. The dead ancestors wish to be reborn in Bhu-loka, which is possible only if they’ve left behind sons here. So during the shraddha ceremony, sons make pind-daan and promise their ancestors that as they gave them birth, so will they bring them back, creating the cycle of life and death (ritu chakra).

  The concept behind what happens to someone who does not have a child is very strong. In the Rig Veda, Yama is childless when he dies, so he gets stuck in Pitr-loka. In the Puranas, it is said that a childless person will go to a kind of hell called Putta. He’ll suffer there forever, as he’ll never be able to return to Bhu-loka. So the putri (daughter) and putra (son) are ‘those who will save you from Putta’. When you don’t have children you do shraddha in which you accept the entire Brahmanda, the entire next generation, as your children. You adopt them mentally. Sometimes, there is real adoption too.

  Having children is a very important part of manava dharma (human duty/morality). Kanya-daan also sends you to heaven. This is considered maha-daan because she’ll bear children for another vansh (lineage). So putra and putri are important: putri will look after another vansh and putra our own. In a patriarchal society, lineage is important because property travels through men. Varna (caste) and gotra (lineage) also travel through men. As the child saves the parent (pita) from hell, helping him in his rebirth, there is a strong relationship between the two generations. Thus we have the concepts of Putta, putra, putri and pitr (dead ancestor).

  The word preta also comes from here. If you don’t have a family, nobody will do your pind-daan. You’ll then be stuck in Bhu-loka and your atma will not achieve peace and will wander around like a ghost (preta). Pitr are those on the other side of the Vaitarni river and preta are those stuck on this side of the river in Bhu-loka. There is a Pitr Paksh that happens between Ganapati puja and Dussehra. Many shops are shut during this time. A puja is done at that time for all the pretatma. It’s the shopkeepers’ way of telling them, ‘We’ll help you, but please don’t wander around as bhoot and obstruct our business.’

  Pitr are given great importance in rituals. Living beings are alive because of food. During rituals, food is served to the gods, oneself, putra and pitr. The upper half of the right hand offers food to the gods, the palm bends backwards for oneself, towards the left for the putra and with the thumb on the right for the pitr. This is to tell them, ‘We’re feeding you, but don’t enter the house.’ Flesh is created through food and to convert preta into pitr food becomes very important. These are all correlated concepts.

  Dashratha was Rama’s father. Krishna had Vasudeva and