24 Monday Nov 2014
Posted in Garuda in Hinduism
A Gayatri is a sacred prayer or mantra which is chanted in a specific form. Here is the Garuda Gayatri:
Om Thathpurushaya Vidhmahe Suvarna Pakshaya Dheemahe Thanno Garuda Prachodayath.
TRANSLATION:
Om, Let me meditate on that great living being,
Oh, Bird with golden wings, give me higher intellect,
And let the God Garuda illuminate my mind
Here is a link to a Youtube performance:
27 Monday Oct 2014
Posted in Garuda in Buddhism, Garuda in Hinduism, Uncategorized
This is a remarkably simple and comprehensive guide to animals and their connection with deities in Buddhism and Hinduism, with many links :
22 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Garuda in Hinduism, Uncategorized
Garuda has his own small Upanishad from the Atharva Veda: 🙂
14 Wednesday Mar 2012
Posted in Garuda Amulets, Garuda in Buddhism, Garuda in Hinduism
Two new metal masks for my collection. A little repainting needed. 🙂
27 Friday Jan 2012
Posted in Garuda in Buddhism, Garuda in Hinduism, Garuda LInks
I am delighted that Michael Slouber has been in contact with me and informed me of his wonderful website on Garuda Medicine:
Michael, already a distinguished lecturer and author, is completing a PhD thesis on the subject and the information on his website alone is simply astounding, applying academic rigour and real enthusiasm to the subject.
We share to conviction that Garuda is a deity who deserves to be elevated in terms of the perception of importance to both Hindu and Buddhist practice.
I look forward to the thesis and the book which I hope will follow, which must surely be the primary source of information about Garuda.
How wonderful!
16 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Garuda in Hinduism, Garuda LInks
Here are some links to resources about Garuda for use with children:
First some images on Youtube to the backing track of Amy Lee (Evanescence) – one of my all time favourite artists:
Next, the story of Garuda:
Finally, some episodes form the tale of Garuda:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhqhm8_lord-krishna-garuda-birth-of-garuda-kids_fun
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhqh9y_lord-krishna-garuda-great-devotee-kids_fun#rel-page-1
Some legends which may easily be simplified for children:
17 Thursday Nov 2011
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This content appeared in a very early post with kind permission from Khandro, but was not copied over very well, and didn’t include all the relevant info and pictures.Indian MythologyGaruda (Jap. Karura) is a mythological bird usually described as having a human form with the head of a bird. Created from the cosmic egg that also hatched the 8 elephants supporting the universe, he was fully mature when hatched. Garuda can easily traverse the universe from end to end. It can kill and eat poisonous snakes with no harmful consequences to itself.
Garuda and the Sacred Kusha GrassThe Hindu epic, Mahabharata, tells of the connection between Garuda and sacred kusha grass [Poa cynosuroides,] the same kind of grass provided as a meditation seat for the Buddha.
Garuda and the Kumbh MelaThe Hindu festival, the Kumbhmela, is held at a different spot on the shores of the Ganges every 12 years. At the beginning of 2001, Allahabad was the focus for this largest of the world’s gatherings. It is one of four spots where Garuda is believed to have rested during a battle with demons over the pot of divine nectar of immortality. Garuda’s flight lasted 12 divine days, or 12 years of mortal time, so the Kumbh Mela is celebrated at each city of 3 towns, alternating among them every three years. South IndiaAccording to South Indian legend, in Kanchipuram an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, who was a sculptor, carved a Garuda image out of wood. Having been correctly carved according to the Shilpa Shastras, the figure came to life. It flew into the air, heading towards the south. At the village of Parakkai, the Garuda took a dip in the tank in front of the temple there, exclaiming with delight. Then he rose again and hovered around the temple deity as if doing pradakshina (Tib. kora, devotional circling.) An artisan working on a pillar at the temple saw the bird and for some reason, hurled his chisel at it hurting its right wing. The bird fell to earth crying, “Madhusudhana,” to the man’s disbelief. The famous 4-armed stone image of Vishnu was later carved and installed on that spot.
In NepalNear Nagarkot in Nepal there is a Vishnu temple dating to the time of King Manadeva, who is also associated with the stupa of Bodhnath. In the courtyard is a pillar inscribed with one of the earliest histories of Nepal. The place is called Changu Narayana. Atop the pillar is a kneeling figure facing the shrine known as the Manadeva Garuda since the moustached face is believed to represent the king. Buddhists also worship at this temple, where the deity is called Hari-vahanodbhava-Lokeshvara. Śakra (or, Shakra) is the name that Buddhist scriptures give to the king of the god realm, Indra. He appointed the garudas to guard Mount Sumeru and the Trāyastrimśa heaven from the attacks of the ashuras (“titans” or opponents of the gods.) Garuda the Compassionate ObserverIn the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Garuda is a guardian of Lord Shiva. A tale is told how once, perched on Mount Kailash, Garuda noticed a tiny bird. He was struck by the contrast between the majesty of Kailash and Shiva’s palace, and the delicacy of ” . . . a beautiful creature, a little bird seated on the arch crowning the entrance to Shiva’s place. Garuda wondered aloud: “How marvelous is this creation! One who has created these lofty mountains has also made this tiny bird — and both seem equally wonderful.” Just then Yama, the god of death appeared, riding his black buffalo. Garuda noticed that the gaze of the Master of Death briefly fell upon the bird, but then he continued on his way into the abode of Shiva. Since a mere glance from Lord Yama presages death, Garuda’s heart was filled with pity for the tiny bird. He gently picked it up and flew off with it clutched carefully in his powerful talons. He took it far, far, away to a deep forest where he gently placed it on a rock beside a rushing brook. Then he returned to Kailash and assumed his customary position at Shiva’s gate. When Yama emerged from his consultation with the Great God, he nodded to Garuda in Yama answered, “When my eyes fell on the bird, I saw that soon it would find its death in the jaws of a great python. But there are no such serpents here, high on Kailash, and I was briefly puzzled.” Again, Garuda marveled; this time at the inevitability of the process which is karma. Himalayan Buddhist TraditionIn some cultures, the garuda acquired the lower body of a bird and became known as a kinnara or shang-shang. The shang-shang is associated with Buddha Amoghasiddhi (Unerring Accomplisher,) whose consort is Green Tara. Amoghasiddhi is the Buddha of the northern direction and is representative of the skandha Samskara. He is depicted as green, with his hands in the abhaya — the “do not fear,” or protection, mudra. He is the conqueror of “thirst.” That is, working with visualizations and other Vajrayana methods that focus on him, we can transmute yearning that leads to attachment — that which is often simplistically expressed as “desire” or “greed.” Another of his symbols is the vishvavajra or double vajra that stands for Foundation and also, for resolve and stability.
In the Kalachakra tradition, Garuda bears the speech chakra. His mantra is Om Pa Kshim, Swaha. The Shangpa lineage is named for the garuda and it is the lineage emblem.
Cha Khyung (Bird-Garuda) was a mountain deity of Rebkong, Tibet, an area on the west side of the river in Amdo province. After he was subjugated by Padmasambhava he became a worldly protector. Kyunglung or, Garuda Valley, lies to the southwest of Mount Kailash. Once the capital of the land called Zhang Zhung, it was the site of the Silver Palace (Khyunglung Ngulkhar,) the ruins of which are still there in the upper Sutlej Valley of India.
When Buddha Was a Suparna
Once while on a gambling junket to Varanasi (formerly anglicized as Benares,) he had a love affair with his host’s extraordinarily beautiful chief wife, Sussondi. She had been informed of the garuda’s gorgeous appearance by palace attendants, and he was smitten as soon as she entered the gaming room. Under the cover of a dark and dangerously violent wind that the suparna had stirred up, they flew away to his island home. There, they made passionate love, but then he had the nerve to return to the host-king’s palace — without her. Meanwhile, Sagga, the magical minstrel of the King of Benares, was sent to search for the missing Queen. On board ship, his song was so wonderful that a makara emerged from the ocean depths in excitement and smashed it to bits. He drifted on a plank that finally landed under a banyan on Seruma. Queen Sussondi, walking alone by the shore, recognized the nearly-drowned man and took him to her quarters to revive him. She had to hide him in case the garuda should recognize him, of course, and with Sagga living in secret there in her quarters, one thing led to another. Six weeks went by until a ship from Benares landed to provision there, and Sagga made it successfully back to his home having fulfilled, at least to a certain extent, his royal mission. Skillfully and with delicacy, he sang of his adventure and his longing to the King and his faithless guest, the suparna, who even joined in with his wonderful voice. On hearing Sagga’s story expressed so skillfully, the garuda understood its significance. Though he was the most splendid of all creatures, he had not been able to keep Sussondi for himself alone. Now filled with regret, he flew away to fetch her and returned her to the King. In that lifetime, he never again visited Benares. There, in Jeta’s Grove, Buddha then told The Four Noble Truths and all about the births revealing also, that the long-ago King of Benares had been his own student, Ananda. IndonesiaToday Indonesia is largely Muslim, but the culture is rooted in its past as the ancient playground of Indian rajahs. The legendary Isle of Seruma may well have been somewhere in that extensive archipelago. Hence, besides embodying stamina and determination, the garuda’s association with luxury and sensuality is probably why it was chosen as the emblem of Indonesia Airlines.
Brother ChhepuIn Nepal, the “mask of protection” is the face of a garuda-child called Chhepu. Folklore tells of his origin. He was one among the three brothers, Garuda, Chhepu and Hitimanga. Their mother had requested her husband to help her produce a son
Hybrids
~ Loden Sherap Dagyab Rinpoche. Buddhist Symbols in Tibetan Culture. Wisdom Publ., Garuda in its form as part-human is certainly in this category. Garuda Bherunda is a double-headed form that may have led to the Austro-Hungarian and American forms called the Double Eagle (as in the title of J. P. Sousa’s famous march.) The Two KinnaraThere was once a hunter who caught a pair of kinnara alive in the Himavanta forest. (As you know, the body of such creatures is human but the feet, wings and tail are those of a bird.) The hunter took them to the king, who asked why he had brought them. Were they offerings? Could they be roasted and eaten? The hunter answered that kinnara have two interesting qualities: they have sublime voices, so if you can get them to sing they are able to do so more beautifully than people. The second interesting point is that kinnara dance wonderfully, much more beautifully than people. The king commanded the kinnara to sing and dance, but even after being ordered two or three times, they just stood there looking at the king. The king, seeing that the kinnara would neither sing nor dance, then ordered his minister to have them roasted for dinner. Confronted by this dreadful situation, the female kinnara (called kinnari cf. canary) sat last spoke up:
CanarySome etymological speculations: kinnari = canary, the warbling yellow bird; kinor is Biblical (and modern) Hebrew for the melodious ancient harp or lyre, the musical instrument whose shape provides the name for the freshwater lake at the north eastern tip of Israel, “Gennaseret” ie. the “Sea” of Galilee, source of the Jordan river. What is relevant here is the association with sweetness, either in the sound of its waves lapping the shore, the sweetness of its water or that of the fruit which grows by it. The garuda is certainly related to the simurgh of Persian mythology. A related creature is the rukh or roc of The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment ( a.k.a. A 1000 Nights and a Night.) Both these mysterious creatures of a class known to mythologists as wundervogel, are distinctly but entirely birds.
_________________________________________________________________ Vishnu: In one version of the Indian cosmogony, Vishnu is the ground giving rise to the lotus upon which Brahma sits and through whose agency the world arises. Lord Vishnu sleeps and dreams, all the while sweating universes through his every pore. He lies comfortably upon the Tortoise, Kashyapa, who floats on the Profound Ocean which is the ground of all existence. [ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ] [ more Garuda ]
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11 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Garuda in Hinduism, Garuda Purana Wisdom, Uncategorized
I am indebted to Tormod Kinnes for kind permission to use the following material from this website: http://oaks.nvg.org/sa1ra10.html.
(Copyright remains with Tormod Kinnes. )
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Garuda Purana Essentials |
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Introduction
Puranas are usually written in the form of stories told by one person to someone else. Purana texts might have been written all over India, although Vyas is traditionally considered the compiler of them. Common ideas are found throughout the various Puranas. The age and origin of Puranas vary greatly, and they have been added to in the course of time as well. In Puranic texts sectarianism has crept into ancient mythology, usually with one god extolled above others. Puranas are structured similarly, but are devoted to or they extol different gods, even though various Puranas contain the same stories or similar stories. About eighteen of the many texts called ‘Puranas’ are called Mahapuranas, great puranas. Dimmitt and van Buitenen have listed twenty – the numbers in brackets are verses each contains):
There are also at least twenty Puranas more to be found.The Garuda Purana is in the Atharva-Veda and is classified as one of the Vishnu Puranas. More on Puranas
The Puranas constitute a class of literature that deals with legends of gods, asuras (demons), sages and kings of old, and contans abstracts of works in arts, sciences, medicine, grammar, dramaturgy, music, astrology and other subjects, affords insight into different phases and aspects of Hinduism – its mythology, idol-worship, theism, pantheims, love of God, philosophy, superstition, festivals and ceremonies. Puranas are “folk encyclopedies” of ancient and medieval Hinduism. [From a definition – Gpu xvi] Puranas also tell of duties among men, and they are written in an easy, flowing style. About eighteen surviving Puranas are called more important than other Puranas. The Garuda Purana is among the main ones, who – to repeat – deal with quite similar material. This means Puranas is an eclective genre. The speaker of the Garuda Purana is Garud(a), who narrates it to Kasyapa, who tells it to Vyasa, to in turn narrates it to Shiva. The work has three parts (kandas). They are Acara kanda (also called karma kanda) of 240 chapters, which deals with karma; preta kanda (dharma kanda), which deals with dharma (law, justice, etc.); and Brahma kanda (moksha kanda), which speaks of liberation, freedom (moksha) [Gpu ix-xx] The Garuda Purana was produced through several stages, and was subjected to revisions and redactions. And therefore it is difficult to fix the date of the Purana as a whole, writes J. H. Shastri. Further, as a Purana devoted to Vishnu, the Garuda Purana gives prominent place to him, before Shiva, Brahma, and other ancient, Vedic gods. Although the work describes Vishnu as the Supreme Being, that does not exclude attention to or honour of other deities. The supreme deity can be realized by knowledge and not worship (kriya), it is held (Gpu III 12:59), and the Purana holds that the individual self and the Supreme Self are identical. To realize this is liberation, explains Shastri, and tells the Lord is eternal and formless (etc.). [Gpu xxvii-xxxv]. The content of this Purana reflects a sad fact: that in the Puranic literature of AD 500 to 1000, sectarianism creeps into mythology, and one god is extolled above the others. The tendecy to theism in the Puranic universe exalts several supreme gods who are not prominent in the Vedic pantheon (the ancient assembly of gods and goddesses). Of prime interest are cosmology, myths, and ascetics who sometimes eclipse the old gods through their tapas (penance). In the Puranic world-picture the mountain Meru stands at the centre. Some interpret Mt. Meru symbolically to mean the spine. There are seven layers of heaven, and the summit of heaven is the world (loka, level) of God the Creator. Puranic myths develop around the notion of four yugas (world ages): (1) The Satya or Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali-Yuga. In the order given, they show increasing deterioration of moral and features and social conditions. “The more Kali-Yuga, the more predicaments”. Each yuga has its “dawn” and “dusk” (skandas). – Tormod Kinnes
Garuda Purana Essentials
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  Shastri, J. H. ed. The Garuda Purana, 3 Vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1978.
Comparesearch.eb.com/eb/article?tocId=9061934&query=puranas&ct= search.eb.com/eb/article?tocId=59831&query=puranas&ct=
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 USER’S GUIDE to abbreviations, the site’s bibliography, letter codes, dictionaries, site design and navigation, tips for searching the site and page referrals. [LINK]© 2005–2011, Tormod Kinnes, MA. [E-MAIL] — Disclaimer: LINK] |
09 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in Garuda in Hinduism, Garuda Purana Wisdom
I have created a new page for the full text of the magnificent scritpure of the Garuda Purana. It is an abridged version, as the Purana has 19,000 lines. 🙂
The Purana contains much wisdom which is relevant to all, although Hindus and Buddhists will recognise some of the Dharma.
I have also created a new Category called ‘Garuda Purana Wisdom’ which will act as a home for all related posts.
The Garuda Purana is one of the Vishnu Puranas. It is in the form of a dialog between Vishnu and Garuda, the King of Birds. The second section of this Purana (given here) deals with issues connected with death, particularly funeral rites and the metaphysics of reincarnation. Portions of the Garuda Purana are used by some Hindus as funeral liturgy. Indeed, some consider it unlucky to read this text except during funerals.
Of interest are the intermediate states between birth and rebirth, which roughly correspond to the western concepts of Hell and Heaven. Since this was written during the medieval era, it is possible that the writer of this text had contact with Christianity. Earlier Hindu texts do not elaborate about ‘hell’ and ‘heaven,’ at least not to this extent, and the subject is completely absent in the oldest texts. Here, the torments of Hell are described in terms that would not be out of place in a Baptist revival tent (or Dante, for that matter). In addition, the four-square city of Yama, the God of Death, is reminiscent of the heavenly city in Revelation. However, these are way stations between incarnations (or, as termed in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Bardos), not a permanent destination.
Source:
01 Tuesday Nov 2011
 Karura 迦楼羅, Karura-Ō 迦楼羅王 (Skt. = Garuda) Bird of Life, Celestial Eagle, Half Bird Half ManORIGIN = HINDU MYTHOLOGY Member of the TENBU. One of EIGHT LEGIONS Guarding Buddhism. One of 28 LEGIONS Guarding the 1000-ARMED KANNON BODHISATTVA. One of KANNON’S 33 BASIC MANIFESTATIONS.
Karura 迦楼羅
Karyōbinga (Skt. = Kalavinka) 迦陵頻伽 LEARN MORE
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The oldest collection of Indian hymns, the Rig Veda says:
< Kite for annual festival in Parakkai.
Garuda is king of the class of beings known as 
Hybrids, or what we might call monsters such as creatures like 
A Purana is a holy text among Hindus (and Buddhists and Jains). The word purana means “of ancient times”. Puranans are old works, a group of religious texts. There are many puranas. What most of them have in common, is a build-up that tells of creation, genealogies of the kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and describes Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography. In other words, a Purana is a collection of myth, legend, and genealogy, and tells versions of how the world was made.
The most unfortunate women sinned against their husbands
The amount of sleep, fears, and riches is not evenly distributed among people. City folks tend to suffer most.
Going for wealth, delicate pleasures, and freedom are worthy goals in Hinduism. Do not wait to secure your happiness, then.
Unfortunate women sin against their husbands, and then by stages get whiny, nervous and fearful and mad as a result. Wise women, on the other hand, secure their calm and happiness by reciting mantras, doing daily chores like milking, keeping good company, and thinking of God. They may also reach right action.
Sanskrit = Garuḍa (the Devourer), Chinese = Jiālóuluó
Khyung Garuda ཁྲོཾ 
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