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Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Q: Tell us about ‘Akshya Tritiya’. I was wondering if this day happens every year?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Today is celebrated as a very auspicious day in India. It’s called Akshaya Tritiya. It is related with many stories. One of the stories is that, on this day the Ganges (a holy river in India) came to Earth to purify mankind.
It is every year. Akshaya Tritiya is the third day after the new moon. Fifth day after the new moon is when Adi Shankaracharya was born. That is why my parents also kept my name Shankar, because I was born on the same day. The main knowledge of Adi Shankara is only one thing, everything is perishable. Thoughts come and go, feelings come and go. One day everything disappears. But you are the light that stays forever. It is also associated with two instances of Lord Krishna.
What happened is, once the five Pandavas, (the five brothers from the Mahabharata epic) and their wife were in exile. At that time a saint called and said, ‘I am going to have food with you.’ When the message came, they had no food. They had already had eaten and had kept their pots away. The lady, Draupadi (the wife of the 5 Pandavas) prayed to Lord Krishna. At the same time, Krishna came to their house and said, ‘Oh I am very hungry.’ When he came in, he saw that there was only one grain of rice stuck to the pot. He picked that one grain of rice and ate it, and turned the pot into an Akshaya Patra. Akshaya Patra means that which never finishes.
When the saint came with 400 people, Draupadi could feed all of the who came from the same pot. The more she took from the pot, the more would come from it. It would never go down. So it is a common expression in India to say, 'This is an akshaya patra', which means it always keeps giving.
The other story is, Krishna had a friend who was very poor. His name was Sudhama. Sudhamameans a good place, or a very benevolent place. So, one day his wife said, ‘We are living in such poverty and Krishna is so rich. Why don’t you go and get something from him. He is such a close friend.’ Sudhama said, ‘Okay, I’ll go, but I can’t go to a friend empty handed. I have to take something'. So his wife packed three handful of puffed rice in a scarf and gave it to him. It is like rice crispies.
When Sudhama goes to Krishna and Krishna welcomes him, and washes his feet. The story goes that they were such good friends and in the friendship there was so much love that Sudhama forgets to give the rice to Krishna and also forgets to ask him for anything. He came to ask him for a favor but he could not ask him anything because he was so overwhelmed with love. They were so close that he forgot to ask. He could not ask. He could not even speak.
When he was about to leave, Krishna asked, ‘Hey, you have brought me something? Give it to me. I know your wife has sent something. Why are you not giving it to me. Come on, give it.’
Krishna took the rice and he ate one handful, then he ate the second handful, by that time his wife Rukmini came and said, ‘I want to take the third one’. While all this was happening, Sudhama left without asking him for anything. When he reached home, he found his house flooded with riches and gold. That’s the story.
So, people today buy gold and they gift each other. Today if you get anything, it will always grow. You gift, or you buy, it all grows. That is the belief. Like that there are some more stories also. But right now this is good enough.
http://qnawithsrisri.artoflivinguniverse.org/
