(Original Post on October 7 , 2009 at http://fabsab-fantasies.blogspot.com/2009/10/unveiling-mystery-of-syamantaka.html)
I have finally started blogging ! I have been thinking of writing a blog-for the past..errrrrr…1 year !
Ha ! I did start a blog –in march ! earlier this year, wrote a paragraph & then dozed off ! Hmmm….I find that blogging requires a lot of patience-a trait which I totally lack. This is well evident from my first blog ! Now coming to the stage 2 of writing a blog –“choosing a exquisite topic”. This stage is perhaps a quite tedious one.I wanted to be different in choosing a topic-thought about writing on nature(Groan ! Not again ! I have read many -many blogs and I guess there are many more to read ),thought of writing some technical(oh no ! my first “complete” post is not going to be nerdy!).
Well I finally decided to write something mythological ! Huh? Well …I guess I am not very good at mythological stories …still persuaded myself to write atleast one post .
On the Ganesh Chaturthi day, earlier this year, I was having a glance at the sky ,having a look at the fascinating clouds. Suddenly a strange thought perturbed my mind. I was reminded of the words of my high school teacher-“On the Ganesh Chaturthi night, one must not have a look at the moon !”
Sheeeeeeeesh ! I turned away the sky , wondering why this thought confounded me. I am not a very “orthodox” person believing in all kinds of myths. However I am interested in a few epics like the Ramayan or the Mahabharat . Its not a question of whether any supernatural force exists or not . The 2 epics do deal with “ideal human beings” – something which we hardly find in this mortal world. It is this thought that drives me through each and every story related to Ramayan –it fascinates me !
Another thought struck my mind then- the story of how the moon was cursed by Goddess Parvati. Hmmm….I started “googling” on this topic in the internet and I found that the solution to this “seeing the moon “ is to read the Story of the Syamantaka Jewel. I had a glance of it in the Wikipedia-the word “Syamantaka” enlightened my mind. Well it dealt with a story of Lord Krishna- the relationship of Lord Krishna with Ganesh Chaturthi entangled my mind in deeper mysteries. This story appears in the Vishnu Purana and also in the Bhagavad Gita. Its all about Lord Krishna seeing the reflection of the moon on the Ganesh Charturthi night. It is believed that who ever sees the moon on the Ganesh Charturthi night will get a false accusation of anything that is evil –say a theft.
So did this happen to Lord Krishna- he was falsely accused of stealing the Syamantaka jewel from Satrajit who had received the jewel from the Sun God himself. The jewel is believed to produce 1.5 tons of gold wherever it remained . Apart from this it was also believed to bring success , happiness and prosperity to its neighbourhood. Lord Krishna had asked Satrajit to present it to the king which Satrajit had obviously refused. Later the jewel was stolen and Lord Krishna was accused of stealing it.
The story goes on with Lord Krishna tracing the jewel, having a enormous fight with Jambavan (the famous bear of Ramayan) and then recovering the jewel. The jewel is perhaps the most famous jewel of the Indian mythology –some refer it as the famous Koh-i-noor diamond.
Reading this story I was relieved of my perturbed mind. The important thing to be noted here is not the reference to any beliefs or superpowers. The mind is perhaps the one of the biggest mysteries of the world. Its often perturbed with many mysteries ,strange thoughts. Its your duty to quench the thirst for knowledge. This will lead to the eternal satisfaction. Here’s a good reference to anyone who is interested in knowing more about the Syamantaka jewel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syamantaka
-Sarang
Thoughts Engrossed 