indian sages

8/4/2019 Indian Sages

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Sage Agastya

About , Parents and Family:

Sage Agastya was son of Pulastya and elder brother of Sage Vasishta. He married

daugher of Vidarbha King called Lopamudra also called as Kausitaki and

Varaprada. Therayar and Tholkappiar were two of his diciples.

Works :

Many mantras of Rig Veda, most ancient text available, were compased by Sage Agastya and his

diciples.

One of the earliest treatise on Tamil grammer called Agattiyam or Agastyam was composed by SageAgastya. Lord Siva himself taught Tamil language to Agastya.

References :

He had many yogic powers and siddhis.. He once turned King Nahusha into a serpent and restored him

to his original form afterwards.

He used to stay in a hermitage on mount Kunjara situated south of Vindhya mountains.

He was known to have eaten up a Rakshasa named Vatapi who wanted to kill the Sage with his special

powers.

Lord Rama along with Sita devi and Lakshman visited the sage in his hermitage. Agastya accompainedLord Rama to Ayodya on his return.

The Lalitha sahasranama, which describes the 1000 names of the mother Goddess (Known commonly as

Gowri, Parvati or Durga), was first revealed to the world when Hayagriva, a manifestation of Vishnu,

taught the same to Agastya.

Agastya is said to have composed the Aditya Hridayam, a hymn to Surya, and taught the same to Rama

just before the war between Rama and Ravana.

Once he asked Vindhya mountains, which were growing in height day by day, to facilitate his passage

from North to South India. Vindhya mountains obliged the sage and bent low enough to enable him to

pass over and promised not rise until Sage returns. Agastya settelled down in the south permanently andtrue to it's word, Vindhyas nerver grew further.

Sage Agnivesa

About, Parents and Family:


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Sage Agnivesa was one of the earliest writers of the ancient Indian health and medicinal system called

Ayurveda. He was disciple of Sage Atreya Punarvasu. He was believed to have lived in 500 BC 1000

BC.

According to Caraka Samhita, Indra taught Ayurveda to Suryadeva, who passed it on to Sage Atreya

Punarvasu who in turn passed it on to six of his disciples : Agnivesa, Bhela, Jatukarana, Parasara, Haritaand Ksarapanii. Sage Caraka who wrote Caraka Samhita, a treatise on Ayurveda, was disciple of Sage

Agnivesa.

Works:

Caraka Samhita, a masterly book on Ayurveda was written by his disciple Sage Caraka The original

works of Sage Agnivesa, called as Agnivesa Samhita, is not available now but were available for quite

sometime in ancient India.

References :

Sage Angiras


Sage Angiras was one of the Manasaputra of Lord Brahma . He was one of the

saptarishis, the seven great sages and also one of the ten Prajapatis or progenitors

of mankind. In later times Angiras was one of the inspired lawgivers and also a

writer on astronomy. Surupa and Swadha were his wives and Utatya, Samvartana

and Brihaspati were his sons.

Works:

Sage Angiras along with Sage Atharvan composed the fourth veda called Atharvan. He was mentioned in

other Vedas too.

Sage Ashtavakra


Sage Ashtavakra was son of Sage Kahola and Sujata, daughter of Sage Uddalaka.

Kahola was disciple of Sage Uddalaka. Because of the curse of Sage Kahola, thechild was born with eight bends and hence called Astavakra.

Works:

Ashtavakra gita was recited by Sage Ashtavakra to King Janaka of Mithila. According to Ashtavakra gita,

one's true identity can be found by simply recognizing oneself as Pure Existence and that as individuals

we are the Awareness of all things.


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References :

Sage Ashtavakra reference can be found in Mahabharata.

Sage Astika


Sage Astika was son of Jaratkaru and sister of great serpent king Vasuki. King

Janamejaya, son of Parikshit conducted a yagna to completely eliminate serpent

race and Taksaka, the snake king who was responsible of his fathers death. Sage

Astika persuades the king to give up his persecution of the serpent race thus saves

Taksaka.

Works:

References :

Sage Atri


Sage Atri was one of the ten Maanas Putra (brainchild) of Brahma and one of the

Saptarishis, the seven great sages. He was also a teacher of Ayurveda and father

of Aatreya. His wife was Sati Anasuya, sister of Sage Kapila. As a boon from Lord

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, she had Chandra, Dhattatreya and Durvasa as kids.

Sage Atri was father of Sage Atteya Punarvasu, who was teacher of Caraka.

Works:

Sage Atri was teacher of Ayurveda.

References :

As per Ramayans Aranyakanda, Lord Rama along Sita Devi and Lakshman visited Atri muni and Sati

Anasuya, wife of Atri gave a discourse on duties of wife to Sita Devi.

Sage Bharadwaj


Sage Bharadwaj was one of the greatest sages the world had seen. He was father

of Ayurveda medicinal system. He wrote a book on Vimanika Sastra (Aircraft

Technology) several thousand years ago. Shusheela was his wife. Garga Muni and

Katyayani were his children. Sage Atreya Punarvasu was his disciple.


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Works:

He was father of Ayurveda learnt it from Indra and taught to his disciple Sage Atreya Punarvasu who in

turn taught this knowledge to Sage Angiras and others.

His treatise on aircraft technology is called Vimanika Sastra wherein he explained about various types ofAircrafts, their construction methods and development of materials, several thousand years before Wright

Brothers. He wrote the Yantra Sarvasva, which covers astonishing discoveries in aviation and space

sciences, and flying machines - well before Leonardo DaVinci's time. Some of his flying machines were

reported to fly around the earth, from the earth to other planets, and between universes. His designs and

descriptions have left a huge impression on modern-day aviation engineers. He also discussed how to

make these flying machines invisible by using sun and wind force. Viman Shastra speaks of 31 kinds of

machines and their specific places in the plane.

Maharshi Bharadwaja discovered different types of light rays

References :

Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita went to Chitrakuta during Aranyavasa on the advise of Sage Bharadwaj.

Brigu Maharshi

About :

Bhrigu Maharishi was a manasaputra of Lord brahma. He married Usha, daughter

of Hiranya Kashipa. Sage Shukracharya was his son.

Works:

Bhrigu Samhita was authored by Bhrigu maharshi. The text was about astrology

and considered the first text on astrology. He compiled it on the advise of godess Lakshmi to eliminate

poverty of Brahmins. He complied about half a million Horoscopes and Janma Kundlies based on

different planetary positions. Using these Horoscopes, the past, present and future of any person can be

predicted. However, most of these works were lost during invasions by foreigners and only very limited

potion is available now.

References:

Bhrigu Maharshi once wanted to find out who was supreme amongst the divine trinity of Brahma, Vishnu

and Shiva and visited all three and concluded Lord Vishnu was supreme of all the three.

Brhigus


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Bhrigus or Bhargavas, were a family of sages that belonged to the legacy of Bhrigu Maharishi. They

were mostly priests and a few were warriors. Brigus had composed part of Atharvan veda. These were

Brahmins and gurus for Asuras. Sage Sukracharya was one of the prominent Bhrigus.

Sage Bhringi

Sage Bhringi was a great sage and a great devotee of Lord Shiva. He used to

worship only Shiva and not Godess Parvathi. In order to make him realize that

Parvathis was part of him, Lord shiva transformed himself into Ardhanariswara.

Even this could not make sage to worship Parvathi. This had angered Parvathi and

she cursed him to become like skeleton bereft of any shakthi, energy. The sage

became very meek and was unable to even stand on his own. Seeing the plight of

this ardent devotee, Shiva blessed him with a third leg.

Saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Mayapur in the town of Nadia, Bengal on 18th

Febrauary, 1486. He was second son of Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Devi. He was

married to Lakshmidevi and after her death, married to Visnupriya.

He was a great proponant of Vaishnav school of Bhakthi yoga and a social

reformer. He was a great scholar and a great Bhaktha. He popularized the chantingof Hare Krishna mantra and worshipped Sri Krishna along with Radha Rani. The

followers of this Bhakthi movement are known as Gaudiya Vaishnavas.

This movement was taken to west by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the last century. He named

this movement as The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)

Sage Durvasa

About :

Durvasa was born to Sati Anasuya and Sage Atri by the blessings of Lord Shiva. Hewas well known for his short temper.

Referances :

There is a story in Shrimad Bhagavatam about the confrontation between King

Ambarish and Sage Durvasa. Ambarish was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Once, Ambarisha was

performing a Vratha and Sage Durvasa arrived at the end of the ceremony. Sage Durvasa was well

received by King Ambarisha. Sage Durvasa went to bathe in the nearby river and asked the king to wait
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until he returned. However, king had to break his fast as the auspicious moments approached and there

was no trace of Durvasa. So, on the advice of Sage Vasishta, king Ambarisha broke his fast. Durvasa

came to know about it and took offense. He created a demon to kill king Ambarisha. King Ambarisha

prayed Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu's Sudarhsana chakra came to the rescue of the king and killed the

demon. It continued to chase the Sage Durvasa. Fearing for his life, Durvasa went to Lord Brahma and

Lord Shivafor protection but was advised to take refuge with Lord Vishnu himself. Lord Vishnu suggested

the sage to seek pardon with the knig. Durvasa pleaded the king for mercy and the king prayed to Lord

Narayana to recall Sudharshana chakra (wheel) and thus saved the sage.

As per Mahabharata, he gave a boon to Kunti, wife of Pandu, with the help of which she could invoke any

Devata of her choice and have his son.

Once during Pandava's exile in forest, Sage Durvasa along with disciples visited them. Pandavas were

having Akshaya patra which used to give them food daily. But on this occasion, even Draupadi finished

her meals and kept the vessel washed clean. Pandavas were well aware of the sages short temper and

were worried on how to arrange the food for the sage and his numerous disciples. Draupadi prayed to

Lord Krishna for help. Lord Krishna asked Draupadi to search for any trace of food sticking to the

Akshaya patra. Draupadi found a lone morsel of rice and Lord Krishna ate it. This had satisfied the

hunger of the sage and his disciples and they blessed the Pandavas and left.

Sage Garga

About :

Sage Garga or Garga Muni was son of Sage Bharadwaj. He was family priest of

King Nanda. Gargi, the well known female sage, belonged to Garga family.

Works :

He was the author Garga Samhita, a book on the life of Lord Krishna.

Sage Jamadagni

About :

Sage Jamadagni was a Rig Vedic Sage and a descendant of Sage Bhrigu. His wife

was Renuka. Parashurama was his son.

References:

Once he suspected his wife Renuka and ordered his sons to kill her. None of the

sons ventured but the last son Parasurama came forward, beheaded her, and

beheaded all his brothers. Pleased with this act, Sage Jamadagni offered to grant a boon to Parasuram.

Parasurama asked his father that his mother and brothers be restored to life.
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Sage Jamadagni was killed by king KarthaVeeryarjun as he refused to surrender the divine cow,

Kamadhenu to the king.

Sage Jaimini

Sage Jaimini was the student of sage Parashara. And also a disciple of Sage

Vyasa.

Works:

He propounded one system of astrology called Jaimini Astrology and philosophy

called Purva Mimamsa or Karma Mimamsa. Jaimini Astrology was a subset of

the text Brihat Parashara of Sage Parashara.

Sant Jnanadev

Sant Jnanadev was born in 1275 AD at Alanda, near Pune in western India.

Vittalpanth and Rukmabai were his parents. Vittalpanth came back to Grihastha life

on the advise of his Guru, Sripad Yati after taking Sanyasa earlier from the same

guru. He was outcasted for this act by the then powerful Brahmin community of his

village. Sant Jnanadev too underwent many hardships in their hands during

childhood. . Sant Jnanadev was a great devotee of Sri Panduranga Vittala.

Works:

Sant Jnanadev wrote a brilliant commentary on Bhagavat Gita, known as Jnaneshwari. He also authored

Amritanubhava , a book on Jnana. He was also elected as President by Sanskrit scholars of Varanasi.

Jnanadev lived only for 22 years but his contributions for Bhakthi movement were astounding. He was

the founder of Warkari Sampradaya in Maharastra, Western India. He lived only for 22 years. His

Samadhi is still present in Alandi.

Sant Kabir Das

Kabir was born in 1398 AD. He was a great poet and a weaver by profession. A

great devotee of Lord Rama, he was one of the proponents of the Bhakthi

movement. He was born to a Hindu but grew up in a Muslim weavers family.

Ramananda was his guru from whom he took initiation.

Works:

His greatest work is Bijak. His Dohas are quite popular all these years in North

India.

References :

The Holy Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhs contains several hundred verses of Kabir.


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Sage Kanada

Sage Kanad was worlds first proponent of Atomic Theory. He lived in 6th century

BCE. Ulka was his father and his original name was Kashyapa. Seeing his interest

in minute particles, Sage Somashama gave the name Kanada to Kashyapa.

Works :

His works include Vaishashika, the celebrated Atomic Theory. He proposed the

Atomic Thoery of matter in a very systematic manner. As per Vaisheshika Sutra, the atoms are eternal,

infinitesimal. He stated that the atom is indivisible and the world is made up of atoms. He stated that

each Paramanu has tendancy to combine with another. So when two Paramanus combined the result

would be Dwinuka (Bi-atomic). Similarly when four Paramanu or two Dwinuka combine the result would

be Chaturanuka or quadruple atom.

He stated that an object appears to be light in water than air because the density of water is greater thandensity of air.

Sage Kanadas Sutras were far more advanced than those proposed by Greek philosophers a few

centuries later. Perhaps, these Indian ideas could have traveled to Greek during interactions between

Indians and Greeks.

Sage Kapila

Maharshi Kapila was the first proponent of Samkya system of philosophy. His

parents were Kardama Muni and Devahuti. Sati Anasuya was his sister.

Works:

Sankhya consists of several chapters by Kapila Muni.

References :

In Bhagavad gita, Sri Krishna says, he is Sage Kapila among great sages. In another reference, he burnt

60,000 sons of King Sagara to ashes. These sixty thousand men were searching for Ashwamedha Horse

and finally came to Sage Kapilas hermit. They started insulting the sage thinking he was the one who has

stolen the horse. This enraged the sage and he turned all of them to ash. Much later, sage Bhageeradha,

their descendant did tapas and brought river Ganga to the earth and washed away their sins.

Sage Kanwa

Maharshi Kanwa was a well known sage. He was the one who found baby

Shakuntala in the forest. Sakuntala grew up in his ashram. Rest of the story is quite


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interesting. Mahakavi Kalidas wrote Abhijnana Shakuntalam on the life story of Shakuntala and King

Dushyanta.

Sage Kashyapa

Sage Kashyapa was the son of Marichi, who was one of the Manasaputra of Lord

Brahma. Sage Kasyapa married all the thirteen daughters of Daksha Prajapathi.

Aditi and Diti were two of them. Agni, Adityas and Daityas were sons of Kashyapa.

Works:

Sage Kashyapa compiled the worlds first Dictionary and thesauruses called

NIGHANTU before 3000 BCE. It contains glossary of various Vedic words subject-wise. He was the

author of the first Vaasthu Sastra which gives rules for the construction of Houses, Cities and Temples.

Several ancient cities were constructed as per the rules of Vaasthu Sastra.

References:

Kashyapa was the chief priest and guide for Parashurama who eliminated Kshatriyas from the world. The

present day Kashmir was formed after Sage Kashyapa drained a massive lake to produce.

Madhavacharya

Sri Madhavacharya, also known as Swami Vidyaranya, was born to Mayanacharya

and Srimatidevi in Pampaksetra, Karnataka in 13th

century AD. He was proponent of

the Advaita School of philosophy.

Works :

He wrote commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Brahmasutras.

In his life time he also wrote many books and commentaries, including his commentaries on the

Bhagavad gita, the ten Upanishads and the Brahmasutras. His Sarva-Dharshana-Sangraha, was a

compendium of sixteen known Indian Schools of philosophies. He also authored Parasara Madhaviya in

Sanskrit.

His contributions to Mathematics are unparalleled. He postulated several mathematical theories. The

present day Taylor series of Sine and Cosine functions, Newton Power series, Gregory Leibnitz series for

the Inverse Tangent, Leibnitz power series ..etc were first postulated by Sri Madhavacharya several

centuries before they were postulated by modern day mathematicians.

References :

He inspired Harihara and Bukka Raya to establish Hindu kingdom to save Hindu Dharma from the

onslaught of barbarians. It became a common practice for the Muslim invaders to burn libraries, kill men

and pillage any thing sacred. Harihara Raya and Bukka Raya were forcibly converted to Islam earlier by

Sultan of Delhi. The kingdom established was known as Vijayanagara Empire.


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Sage Muchukunda

Sage Muchukunda was a great sage and lived during Lord Krishnas time (3200

BCE). Once the great Yavana king, Kalayavana decided to invade Sri Krishnas

kingdom who was the only warrior who could possibly defeat him. To avoid bitterwar, Sri Krishna intentionally ran away from the battle field and hide in a dark cave

where Sage Muchukunda was practicing Tapas. Kalayavana too entered the cave

chasing Sri Krishna and found Sage Muchukunda. Mistaking the sage to be

Krishna, Kalayavana attacked the sage. This enraged the sage and Kalayavana

was burnt to ashes by sages yogic powers.

Sage Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna was a great Indian philosopher and scientist lived in Ist century AD. He

was father of the science of chemistry. He preached Buddhism in China during Han

Dynasty. He wrote many books on Metullargy, Ayurveda and Buddhist philosophy.

Another Buddhist saint Kumarajeevan translated many of his books to Chinese.

His more popular books include Ras Ratnakar, Rashrudaya and Rasendramangal

on Chemistry and Arogyamanjari, Kakshaputatantra, Yogasara and Yogasatak

mainly on Ayurveda. His Uttaratantra deals with preparation of medicinal drugs.

Nagarjuna introduced addition of metallic compounds into Ayurvedic drugs which was mainly dealing

with Herbs and Vegetable products until then. Methods for extraction/preparation of many metals like

gold, silver, tin, copper, zinc ..etc were mentioned in Ras Ratnakar. He was the founder of Alchemy.

Guru Nanak

He was the founder of Sikh Dharma. He was born on 15th

April 1469 in Talwandi

near present day Lahore, Pakistan . Mehta Kalu and Tripta Devi were his parents.

Guru Nanak married Sulakhni and had two sons named Sri Chand and Lakshmi

Das.

Guru Nank learnt several languages like Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. The life

stories of Guru Nank are available in writings called Janamsakhis. Guru Nanks

teachings were recorded in the Sikh holy book of Adi Grandh transcribed by Bhai

Gurdas.

Guru Angad succeeded Nank as second Sikh guru. The Guru parampara continued until the 10th

guru

Guru Gobind Singh.

Guru Nanak is revered by Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims alike.


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Narada Muni

Sage Narada is a celestial musician and great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was

Manasaputra of Lord Brahma. He is best known as Kalaha-Priya (mischief monger)

and a wandering seer who always moves with his Veena chanting Narayana -Narayana

References :

Narada Munis reference is found in each and every Purana and all Yugas. Sage

Valmiki also known as Adikavi, the first poet of the world, wrote Ramayana on the advice of the Narada

Muni. A robber by profession, he became a poet after he started chanting the name of RAMA.

Narada taught the Ashtakshari mantra OM NAMO NARAYANAYA to Bhakta Prahlada, son of demon king

Hiranya Kasipa.

Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa

Sri Ramakrishna was born on 18 February, 1836 at Kamarpukur near Calcutta,

India. His original name was Gadadhar Chatarjee. Khudiram and Chandramani

were his parents. He was married to Sarada Devi.

He was born into a very poor Brahim family. He was appointed as temple priest for

Kali temple at Dakshineshwar and became a great devotee of Kalika Devi. He was

probably the only sage in recent times who could see the God and communicate

with God directly, God in the form of divine Mother Kali. He considered all women,

including his wife as embodiment of divine mother Kali.

A seer by name Totapuri initiated Sri Ramakrishna into Advaita Vedanta. Sri Ramakrishna teachings

were universal and he taught people to realize the God through their own experience.

Swami Vivekananda was one of his greatest diciples along with Swami Brahmananda, Swami

Shivananda, Swami Saradananda and others. Sri Ramakrishna Mission was started by his diciples after

his death in the year 1886.

Millions of people as a great sage and a messenger of God revered Sri Ramakrsihna Paramahamsa.

Sri Ramanuja

Sri Ramanuja was born in 1017 AD at Sri Perambadur in South India. His original

name was Ilaya Perumal and his parents were Keshava Somayaji Deekshitar and

Kanthimathi. Peria Nambigal was his guru.

He was a great Vaishnavite and exponent of Vishishtadwaita which is monotheistic

and combines Advaita philosophy with Vishesha (attributes).


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He was married but renounced the worldly life later. He travelled all over India and wrote several books

on philosophy and commentaries. His nine works are referred as Navaratnas(Nine Gems). Sri

Bhashyam was one of the them, which was a commentary on Brhama Sutras of Veda Vyasa. His other

works include Vedanta Saara, Vedartha Sangraha, Vedanta Deepa, Nithya Grantham, Gita Bhashy ..etc

all compiled in Sanskrit.

He established Yatiraj Mutt in Karnataka. He died at the age of 120 years in 1137 AD. His Samadhi waslocated inside the Sri Ranganatha swamy temple in Srirangam.

Samardha Ramadas

Swamy Samartha Ramdas was born in 1607 AD on Sri Rama Navami day in Jamb

village near Aurangabad, Maharastra. His original name was Narayana and Suryaji

Pant Thosar and Ranoobai were his parents.

Samartha Ramadas did intense Tapas for 12 years near Panchavati on the bamks

of river Godavari. Later he took up journey to many sacred places in the North and

Southern India. Everywhere he found to his dismay utter tyranny, religious

persecution and destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim rulers. He was heart-

broken to see the pathetic condition of the once glorious country under foreign rule. Moved by all this, he

took an owe to protect the motherland.

He sent a word to Chatrapathi Shivaji, the Maratta King after he returned to his place. Samarda

Ramadas blessed Shivaji and preached him to defend the motherland with full strength and force.

Ramadas gave inspiration and guidance to Shivaji throughout his life.

On the advice of Shivaji, Ramadas stayed at Sajjangadh, a place with very beautiful natural surroundings.

At Sajjangad, he wrote a book called Dasabodha. He died in 1682, two years after the death of Shivaji.

Adi Shankaracharya

Adi Shankaracharya was the main proponent of Advaita philosophy. He was born in

the 8th century AD at Kaladi in Kerala. However, some Shankar Mutts ascribe him

to belong to 500 B.C.E. Shivaguru and Vishishta Devi were his parents. Govinda

Bhagavatpada was his guru.

Works:

He was a great advocate of Advaita Vedanta (Non-Duality or monistic system of thought). His worksinclude Atmabodha, Vivekachudamani, Saudaryalahari, Bhaja Govindam etc. and commentaries on

Veda Vyasas Brahma Sutra, Bhagavadgita and many other Upanishads. He composed Shivandalahari

on Lord Shiva at Srisailam.

He was instrumental in reviving Hinduism. He was founder of the Dasnami Sannyasa Tradition. He

established four Matts for resurrection of Hindu religion. They were Jyothir Mutt at Badrinath in north

India, Sarada Mutt at Sringeri in Soth India , Govardhan Mutt at Jaganath Puri in eastern India and Kalika

Mutt at Dwarka in western India. He appointed four of his students to lead these mutts. They were


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Trotakacharya in Badrinath, Sureshwaracharya in Sringiri, Padmapada in Puri and Hastamalaka in

Dwarka.

He died at a very young age of 32 years at Kedarnath, North India.

SaptaRishis - The Seven Great Sages

Saptarishis are the seven great sages of India. They are part of this because of

their yogic powers and contributions to the world. They are Vasishta, Marichi,

Angirasa, Atri, Pulasya, Pulaaha and Krathu.

Some other references mention other sgaes as part of the seven sages like Sage

Bharadwaj, Sage Agastya, Sage Viswamitra, Sage Bhrigu, Sage Gautama, Sage

Kanwa ..etc.

Sage Shukracharya

Shukracharya was guru of Rakshas. He was son of Brighu Maharshi and Ushana.

He was student of Angirasa and Gautama. He married Urjaswathi and had four

sons by name Chanda, Amarka, Twaashtra, Dharaatra and a daughter by name

Devayani.

Works:

He learnt Mrutha-Sanjeevani Mantra from Lord Shiva. He wrote a book called

Shukra Neethi, which is a treatise on Economics and Politics. Planet Shukra (Venus) and ShukraVaar

(Friday) ware named after him.

References:

He left his Guru Angiras as his guru was showing favoritism towards his son Brihaspathi. He then went on

to study under Gautama Maharshi. On the advice of Sage Gautama, he did great Tapasya for Lord Shiva

and got Mrutha Sanjeevani Mantra as a boon. Using this Mantra (Hymn), the dead can be brought back

to life.

He accepted to be guru of Asuras as his rival Sage Bruhaspathi was guru of Deva.

Once Sage Shukracharya wanted to stop Raksha king Bali from giving a boon to Lord Vishnu. Lord

Vishnu came to him in disguise of Vamana muni and was trying to help Devas by eliminating the king.Realising this, Shukracharya shrank himself and entered the vase. He lost one of his eyes when Vamana

poked the vase to release water.

Sage Bruhaspati asked his son Kacha to learn Sanjivani Mantra from Sukracharya. Kacha went to Sage

Shukracharya and joined him as student. Sukracharya daughter Davayani fell in love with Kacha.

Rakshas tried several times to kill Kacha so that the Mantra wouldnt reach Devas. But every time Kacha

was brought to life by Sukracharya using Sanjeevini Mantra at the request of his daughter Devayani.

Once they killed Kacha and mixed his ashes in a drink and made Sukracharya to drink it. Now any


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attempt by Shukracharya to revive Kacha would kill himself. So Sukracharya first brought Kacha to life in

his stomach, then taught him the mantra and asked him to revive him once he was out of his stomach.

Kacha did exactly what he was told to do and brought his guru back to his life. But later when Kacha

decided to leave his guru and Devayani, he was cursed that he could never use the mantra. However, he

could still teach the mantra to others.

Sukamuni

Sukha Muni was son of Veda Vyasa. He recited Srimad Bhagavatam to King

Parikshit, heir of Pandavas, to help him attain Mukti during his last days. Srimad

Bhagavatam is life story of Lord Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Once his father Veda Vyasa asked his son Sukha Dev to go to King Janaka and

learn about Brahma Avastha from him.

Madhavacharya

Sri Madhavacharya, also known as Swami Vidyaranya, was born to Mayanacharya

and Srimatidevi in Pampaksetra, Karnataka in 13th

century AD. He was proponent of

the Advaita School of philosophy.

Works :

He wrote commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Brahmasutras.

In his life time he also wrote many books and commentaries, including his commentaries on the

Bhagavad gita, the ten Upanishads and the Brahmasutras. His Sarva-Dharshana-Sangraha, was a

compendium of sixteen known Indian Schools of philosophies. He also authored Parasara Madhaviya in

Sanskrit.

His contributions to Mathematics are unparalleled. He postulated several mathematical theories. The

present day Taylor series of Sine and Cosine functions, Newton Power series, Gregory Leibnitz series for

the Inverse Tangent, Leibnitz power series ..etc were first postulated by Sri Madhavacharya several

centuries before they were postulated by modern day mathematicians.

References :

He inspired Harihara and Bukka Raya to establish Hindu kingdom to save Hindu Dharma from the

onslaught of barbarians. It became a common practice for the Muslim invaders to burn libraries, kill men

and pillage any thing sacred. Harihara Raya and Bukka Raya were forcibly converted to Islam earlier by

Sultan of Delhi. The kingdom established was known as Vijayanagara Empire.


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Maharshi Valmiki

Maharshi Valmiki was the Adikavi, the first poet of the world. He wrote the immortal

epic poem called Ramayan, the life story of Lord Rama. His original name was

Ratnakar and a robber in a forest by profession.

Once he met Sage Narada and was inspired by him to give up his profession. Hetook up ascetic life and started living in an ashram, chanting the name of the Lord.

One day he saw a pair of beautiful birds on a tree. Suddenly, a hunter came from

nowhere and shot down one of them with his arrows. Enraged by this sight, Valmiki

cursed the hunter and the curse came in the form of a beautiful Sanskrit Sloka. This was the first poem by

Sage Valmiki. He was later advised by Lord Brahma and Narada to record the life story of Lord Rama for

the good of the world. This epic is present day Ramayana. Ramayan was written in sanskrit much earlier

than Mahabharat and so can be safely dated before 3500 BCE.

Sage Valmiki not only wrote Ramayana, he was infact part of the story himself. He gave shelter to

Sitadevi who was left in the forest. Her two sons, Lav and Kush grew up in his Ashram.

Sage Vasishta

Sage Vasishta was one of the Saptharishis, the seven great sages. He was

Brahmarishi and guru of Devas. Arundhati was his wife.

Yoga Vasishta, a great philosophical work, was narrated by the sage to Lord Rama

when Rama was disinterested in life.

Sage Viswamitra

Sage Vishwamitra was son of King Gadhi. His original name was Kaushika. King

Gadhi was son of Kushanubha and grand son of King Kusha. Sage Viswamitra was

the author of some sections of Rigveda and also composer of Gayatri Mantra. He

was father of Shakuntala through Menaka. King Bharata was son of Shakuntala.

Once king Kaushika visited Sage Vasishtas ashram along with his army. He was

surprised to see that Sage Vasishta was able to feed the entire army with the help

of calf Nandini, daughter of the famous Kamadhenu cow. The king thought that the

cow would be more useful for him than the sage and expressed the same to Sage Vasishta. He grew

angry when Vasishta refused to handover the cow to him and he ordered his army to capture the cow

forcibly. But Brahmarshi Vasishta defeated the king with his yogic powers.

The king realized that the yogic powers were far more superior and decided to relinquish kingdom and did

Tapasya for Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva blessed him many powers and weapons. The king became a

Rajharshi and was known as Vishwamitra, meaning friend of universe. He could not become Brhmarshi

for several more years because of his short temper.


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He was also guru of Lord Rama. He took prince Rama and Lakshmana to forest for the protection of

Yagna. There after, he lead them to Mithila, to participate in the Swayamvaram of Sita Devi. Lord Rama

successfully lifted the Shiva Danushu and married Sita Devi.

Viswamitra Gotra and Kaushika gotra are still in vogue now.

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekanandas original name was Narendranath Dutta. He was born on

January 12, 1863 in KolKata, India. His parents were Viswaanath Dutta and

Bhuveneswari Devi. Swami Vivekananda was disciple of Ramakrishna

Paramahamsa.

Swami Vivekananda spread the Vedanta philosophy and tenets of Hinduism in the

western world. With his soul stirring speeches, he became an inspiration to millions

of people across the world. Ye are the children of God, he proclaimed while

addressing the Parliament of Religions, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye

divinities on earth - sinners! It is a sin to call man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up,

lions! and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and

eternal.

He was very much against believing in miracles. What were the great powers of Christ, he asked, in

miracles and healing, in one of his characters? They were low, vulgar things because he was among

vulgar beings... Any fool could do those things. Fools heal others, devils can heal others. I have seen

horrible demoniacal men do wonderful miracles. They seem to manufacture fruits out of the earth. I have

known fools and diabolical men tell the past, present and future. I have seen fools heal at a glance, by the

will, the most horrible diseases. These are powers, truly, but often demoniacal powers.

He wrote books on Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakthi Yoga and Jnana Yoga.h

Veda Vyasa

Veda Vyasa was one of the greatest vedic sages of the country. He was the author

of the legendary Mahabharat. Veda Vyasa whose original name was Krishna

Dvaipayana, was son of sage Parashara and Satyavati. Dhritarashtra, Pandu,Vidura and Sukhamuni were his sons.

Besides Mahabharat, he authoured seventeen other puranas and Brahma sutras.

Guru Purnima is celebrated on his birth day every year as he is guru of gurus.

He is one of the seven chiranjeevis (immortls). Ashwathama, Bali, Hanuman, Vibhishana, Parashurama

and Markandeya are the other chiranjeevis. Some consider Kripacharya is also Chiranjeevi.


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Sage Yajnavalkya

Sage Yajnavalkya was son of Devarta. Mahamuni Vaishampayana was his guru.Maitreyi and Katyayani were his wives. Chandrakanta, Mahamegha and Vijaya were

his sons.

He learnt Taittiriya Smahita from his guru Vaishampayana. However, once his guru

was angry on him and asked him to omit the entire knowledge he learnt from him.

Then Sage Yajnavalkya decided to worship Sun god and acquired fresh Vedic

knowledge from him directly. His discourses with his wife Maitreyi about absolute

Self was called Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Sage Yajnavalkya was also the author of Yajnavalkya Smriti,

Yajnavalkya Shakha, Pratijna Sutra, Satapatha Brahmana, and Yoga-Yajnavalkya.

indian sages

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