Naag Panchami
Naag Panchami
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj (Shri Maharaj Ji) explains the significance of Naag Panchami.
Once, King Pareekshit was hunting in a forest. Tired and thirsty, he entered the ashram of a sage Semeeka with the hope to get some water to quench his thirst. The sage however was engrossed in deep meditation and could not hear the king repeatedly asking for water. Pareekshit, was the emperor of the entire Earth. Never in his life had he been so disrespectfully ignored. He misunderstood the sage’s silence to be a great insult to him. In a fit of fury, he picked up a dead snake and put it around the meditating sage’s neck (to insult him) and left the Ashram.
As soon as he left, the sage’s sons came back after a bath in the river and were infuriated seeing a dead snake hanging around their father’s neck. One of his son, Shringi, went into meditation, to find the offender who had committed this unpardonable offense. Realizing that King Pareekshit was the offender, he put a curse on King Pareekshit that he will die due to being bitten by a vicious snake named Takchhak, after seven days.
When sage Semeeka came out of his meditation, he learnt about the incident and the curse put on Pareekshit by his son Shringi. Sage Semeeka was shocked to hear that such a just, religious and king has been cursed to die in seven days. He reprimanded his son saying an austere must not become a victim of anger. One can lose all his hard earned religious merits, by one wrong action taken in anger. However, the sage was also aware that Shringis’s curse was irrevocable as he was “Satya Vaak Paripaalak”. Out of mercy and kindness towards the pious king, sage Semeeka sent his disciple Gaurmukh to inform Pareekshit about the curse of Shringi.
Pareekshit realized his mistake and after crowning his son Janmejaias the king, left his kingdom and family members, to retire to the forest and repent for his misdoing. There he heard a seven day discourse of Shrimad Bhaagwat Mahapuran from Swami Shukdev Paramhans. As per the curse, he was bitten by the poisonous snake Takchhak on the seventh day, but by the grace of Swami Shukdev Paramhans, he had already achieved the ultimate goal of life.
Meanwhile, Janmejai was infuriated by his father’s death. He decided to conduct a yagya, in which he incited all the snakes to come out from their burrows and fall into the yagyafire. Many snakes died like that.Eventually, Sage Narad came over and inquired about the cause of Janmejai’s ruthless actions. Janmejai narrated the entire story and indicated that he was avenging his father’s death. Narad Ji explained to him that by killing all snakes, he was transgressing against God since this was an interruption to God’s creation. He also advised him that the scriptures proclaim that one should be merciful towards everyone. Janmejai on the other hand was torturing the entire species of snakes!! He said, “if you are angry, kill that snake who bit your father. Why kill other innocent snakes”.
Then for the atonement of his sin, Narad ji suggested Janmejai to put an end to this cruel yagya and seek forgiveness by worshiping all remaining snakes. Janmejai stopped his Yagya and worshipped all the remaining snakes respectfully.
This Naag Panchami story inspires us to control anger, be just and merciful to all creatures. Misuse of powers, especially on helpless creatures, is a great sin
.
Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj (Shri Maharaj Ji) explains the significance of Naag Panchami.
Once, King Pareekshit was hunting in a forest. Tired and thirsty, he entered the ashram of a sage Semeeka with the hope to get some water to quench his thirst. The sage however was engrossed in deep meditation and could not hear the king repeatedly asking for water. Pareekshit, was the emperor of the entire Earth. Never in his life had he been so disrespectfully ignored. He misunderstood the sage’s silence to be a great insult to him. In a fit of fury, he picked up a dead snake and put it around the meditating sage’s neck (to insult him) and left the Ashram.
As soon as he left, the sage’s sons came back after a bath in the river and were infuriated seeing a dead snake hanging around their father’s neck. One of his son, Shringi, went into meditation, to find the offender who had committed this unpardonable offense. Realizing that King Pareekshit was the offender, he put a curse on King Pareekshit that he will die due to being bitten by a vicious snake named Takchhak, after seven days.
When sage Semeeka came out of his meditation, he learnt about the incident and the curse put on Pareekshit by his son Shringi. Sage Semeeka was shocked to hear that such a just, religious and king has been cursed to die in seven days. He reprimanded his son saying an austere must not become a victim of anger. One can lose all his hard earned religious merits, by one wrong action taken in anger. However, the sage was also aware that Shringis’s curse was irrevocable as he was “Satya Vaak Paripaalak”. Out of mercy and kindness towards the pious king, sage Semeeka sent his disciple Gaurmukh to inform Pareekshit about the curse of Shringi.
Pareekshit realized his mistake and after crowning his son Janmejaias the king, left his kingdom and family members, to retire to the forest and repent for his misdoing. There he heard a seven day discourse of Shrimad Bhaagwat Mahapuran from Swami Shukdev Paramhans. As per the curse, he was bitten by the poisonous snake Takchhak on the seventh day, but by the grace of Swami Shukdev Paramhans, he had already achieved the ultimate goal of life.
Meanwhile, Janmejai was infuriated by his father’s death. He decided to conduct a yagya, in which he incited all the snakes to come out from their burrows and fall into the yagyafire. Many snakes died like that.Eventually, Sage Narad came over and inquired about the cause of Janmejai’s ruthless actions. Janmejai narrated the entire story and indicated that he was avenging his father’s death. Narad Ji explained to him that by killing all snakes, he was transgressing against God since this was an interruption to God’s creation. He also advised him that the scriptures proclaim that one should be merciful towards everyone. Janmejai on the other hand was torturing the entire species of snakes!! He said, “if you are angry, kill that snake who bit your father. Why kill other innocent snakes”.
Then for the atonement of his sin, Narad ji suggested Janmejai to put an end to this cruel yagya and seek forgiveness by worshiping all remaining snakes. Janmejai stopped his Yagya and worshipped all the remaining snakes respectfully.
This Naag Panchami story inspires us to control anger, be just and merciful to all creatures. Misuse of powers, especially on helpless creatures, is a great sin
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