A Tale from Baikunthdham

Are you aware of the story of the gatekeepers of Baikunthdham?

There were two brothers posted as the gatekeepers of Baikunthlok, Jay and Vijay… they played pivotal roles in three ancient stories of Indian mythology and tales related to the avatars of Lord Vishnu as Mortal.

Jay and Vijay, were cursed to leave their place in Baikunth and live like mortals, by fours sages called Kumaras, because they stopped the Kumaras from entering Baikunthlok to meet Shri Hari Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu, heard about the curse and was sympathetic to his devoted gatekeepers. While he could not undo the curse so he gave Jay – Vijay a choice.

Vishnu told them that they can either take birth as Vishnu’s devotees for seven times or they can take birth as Vishnu’s enemy for three times before they can come back to Baikunthlok.

Both Jaya and Vijaya did not want to stay away from their beloved lord for a long time. So they chose the second option of taking three births in the hopes of coming back sooner.

In their first birth, they were born as Hiranyaksh and Hiranyakshypu. They were Vishnu’s enemy and were killed by Varaha and Narasimha avatars, respectively.

Their second birth was as Ravan and Kumbhakaran. They were the main antagonist of the Ramayan. They were ultimately killed by Vishnu’s avatar, Ram.

In their third and last birth, they were born as Shishupal and Dantavakra. They were minor characters in Mahabharata, and their stories are easily missed in the grand epic. Both were killed by Vishnu’s avatar, Krishna.

Story of Hiranyaksh

In the first birth, Jay was born as Hiranyaksh - an asur, all he knew was a life as a powerful Asura who wanted even more power.

He worshipped Lord Brahma, did tapasya for long time and ultimately pleased Brahma ji and ask for Immorality as result to his Tap. Brahma ji told him that he cannot grant immorality and he should ask for something else.

Hiranyaksh thought for a while and asked for a boon to be indestructible by humans and animals. Brahma ji asked for details of the animals, so he shared a list of various animals who could never be able to harm him. Lord Brahma granted him this wish, knowing that it is effectively making him immortal.

Over time, Hiranyaksh started tormenting everyone on Earth. After a point, he decided to steal mother earth herself, he stole her and hid her in the cosmic sea, thus creating a lot of chaos.

Seeing this, Lord Vishnu inquired about the boon given by Brahma ji and realized that not all animals were listed by Hiranyaksh. Lord Vishnu then took the form of a Boar or Varaha and went inside the cosmic sea to look for Hiranyaksh and rescue Mother Earth.

Hiranyaksh was overconfident of his powers and challenged the Boar for a fight. Lord Vishnu as Varaha impaled Hiranyaksh with his tusks, thus killing him instantly.

Then Varaha picked Bhudevi on its tusks and brought her out of the cosmic sea and placed Bhudevi in her original position.

Varaha went back to Baikunth Lok, and Jay’s one life was over.

Varaha avatar depicts the arrival of land-based life forms on earth. After the aquatic and amphibious forms, big and powerful animals ruled the earth.

Story of Hiranyakashyap

In the first birth, Vijay was born as Hiranyakashyap. Sage Kashyap and his wife Diti had two sons- Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyap.

While Hiranyakashyap was doing tapsaya of Lord Brahma, Indra and his men attacked his kingdom and win the war against asuras. Indra decided to hostage his wife in case Hiranyakashyap retaliate again. But Narad Muni stopped Indra from doing so. Narad accepted Kayadhu ( Hiranyakashyap’s wife ) who was pregnant at the time as her daughter and used to tell her stories about Lord Vishnu. She and her unborn baby would go on to become one of the biggest devotees of Lord Vishnu.

 Meanwhile, Brahma was really pleased with Hiranyakashyap’s devotion, and granted him any boon that he wished for. He asked for immorality as his brother. He asked Lord Brahma to grant him a boon that would allow no man, god or animal created by Brahma to kill him. Also, nobody could kill him at day or night, and no one could kill him in heaven or on earth. Also, no can could kill him with a weapon, or kill him either inside or outside his house.

Hiranyakashyap, after seeing the condition of his kingdom, attacked Devas and banished them for devlok. He brought back his wife Kayadhu and son Prahlad to his kingdom. Prahlad was devotee of Lord Vishnu and used to sing praises all the time, which angered his father Hiranyakashyap.

Hiranyakashyap was furious on Prahlad for worshipping Lord Vishnu, as he vowed to revenge Vishnu for killing his brother Hiranyaksha. He ordered all sorts of tortures and tacts to kill Prahlad, but he remained unharmed. Eventually, He decided to call his sister Holika, and asked her to make him sit on her lap and burn him to his death. He thought that this plan would work at least, but it was Holika, who was immune to fire, who burnt down to ashes.

He angrily dragged Prahlad and asked him if his Lord Vishnu was present in the room with them. Prahlad told him that the Lord was everywhere, and in frustration Hiranyakashyap mocked Prahlad and asked him if his Lord was present in a pillar next to them. Prahlad told him that he was. In rage, Hiranyakashyap kicked the pillar, and out came a ferocious being who was half man and half lion.

The creature screamed in a booming voice, that he was Narasimha, one among the ten avatars of Vishnu, who had come down to earth to kill Hiranyakshipu. He held Hiranyakshipu in a vice like grip and dragged him to the threshold of the door, which was neither outside nor inside his house. He placed him on his lap, which was neither sky nor the earth, and killed him with his claws at twilight, without using any weapons.

After killing out, the half lion half man gave out a loud roar, which scared away all the asuras in fright. No one dared to approach the beast, but Prahlad went up to him with utter devotion in his eyes and thanked him for saving his life. 

Prahlad was made the king of his father’s kingdom, and he ruled with utmost honesty and goodwill, which also changed the ways of the asuras.

To be continued...