Srimad Devi Bhāgavatam 1.5.1 — Story of Hayagrīva

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Download the Śrīmad Devī Bhāgavatam Part 1, Skandhas 1-5: https://archive.org/details/srimaddevibhagavatampart1/page/n365 1-4. The Ṛṣis said: “O Sūta! Our minds are merged in the sea of doubt, hearing this your most wonderful saying, surpising to the whole world. The head of Janārdan Mādhava, the Lord of all, was severed from His body! And He was afterwards known as Hayagrīva, the horse-faced! Oh! what more wonder can there be than this? Whom the Vedas even praise, Whom all the Devas rest on, Who is the Cause of all causes, the ādi-deva Jagannāth (the Lord of the universe), Oh! how is it that His head came to be severed! O highly intelligent one! Describe all this to us in detail.” 5-9. Sūta said: “O Munis! Hear all attentively the glorious deeds of the supremely energetic Viṣṇu, the Deva of the Devas. Once on a time the eternal Deva Janārdana became tired after the terrible continuous battle for ten thousand years. After this the Lord Nārāyaṇa seated Himself in padmāsana in some lovely place on a level plot of ground; and placing his head on the front of his bow with the bow strung and placed erect on the ground, fell fast asleep. Viṣṇu, the Lord of Ramā, was exceedingly tired and thus he fell soon into deep sleep. At this time Indra and the other Devas, with Brahmā and Maheṣa, began a sacrifice. 10-13. Then they, for the sake of success, went to the region of Vaikuṇṭha to meet with the Deva Janārdana, the Lord of sacrifices. There the Devas, not finding Viṣṇu, came to know by dhyāna (meditation) where Bhagavān Viṣṇu was staying, and thither they went. They saw that the Lord Viṣṇu, the Deva of the Devas was lying unconscious, being under the arms of yoga-nidrā. Therefore they took their seats there. Seeing the Lord of the universe asleep, Brahmā, Rudra and the other Devas became anxious. 14-18. Indra then addressed the Devas: ’O best of the Suras! Now what is to be done? How shall we rouse Bhagavān from His sleep? Now think of the means by which this can be effected.’ Hearing Indra’s words Śambhu said: ’O good Devas! Now we must finish our sacrificial work. But if the sleep of Bhagavān be disturbed, He would get angry.’ Hearing Śaṅkara’s words, Paramesthī Brahmā created vamrī insects (a sort of white ants) so that they might eat up the forepart of the bow that was lying on the ground causing the other end to rise up and thus break His sleep. Thus the Devas’ purpose would, no doubt, be fulfilled. Thus settling his mind, the eternal Deva Brahmā ordered the vamrīs to cut the bow string. 19-22. Hearing this order of Brahmā, the vamrī spoke to Brahmā, thus: ’O Brahmā! How can I disturb the sleep of the Devadeva, Lord of Lakṣmī, the World-guru? To rouse one from one’s deep sleep, to interrupt one in one’s speech, to sever the love between a couple husband wife, to separate a child from his mother—all these are equivalent to brahmāhatyā (murdering a Brahmāṇa). Therefore, O Deva! how can I interrupt the happiness of sleep of the Devadeva? And what benefit shall I derive by eating the bowstring, so that I may incur this vicious act? But a man can commit a sin if there be any interest of his; I am ready to eat this, if I get a personal interest.’ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gnowly/message