Garuda was so beautiful, magnificent and fearsome that the gods sang beautiful verses in his praise. They not only praised, but were afraid too of his power strength and splendour. Throughout the Mahabharata, whenever there is something big and unknown, the individuals who see it often burst out into praise. Praise is one way by which the mind is able to explore deeply into a person, object or situation. Praise is a means of learning and understanding. This is how so many verses of praise have emerged for so many gods, animals, birds and even natural forces. Even we can try it in our life. When there is a subject or a person which seems a tough nut to crack, try praise. It works.
When everybody praised him, Garuda realised that his body was very huge and hence a bit intimidating too. So he chose to reduce it in size. Carrying his brother Aruna on his back, Garuda flew between his father Kashyapa and mother Vinata’s house which were on either sides of the ocean. For his beautiful golden feathers, Garuda also got the name Suparna.
Ruru, who was listening to this story, asked why the sun wanted to burn the world and what the gods did to make him think so. Pramati said the sun and the moon discovered that Rahu from the side of the Asuras was sitting in disguise on the side of the devas and since then he was angry. Rahu also tried to eclipse the sun and eat him up once.
The sun was lamenting about his predicament. He said even seeing Rahu eclipsing him, the gods did not do anything to stop it. So he was now ready to destroy the world. Saying so, he was burning the earth on the western side with his rays.Seeing this, the rishis and the devas went to Brahma and asked what was the cause for so much heat even as the sun had not shown up at dawn. They were convinced that there was some intentional destruction of the world happening.
Brahma said the sun was planning to turn the whole world to ashes. He said he had a solution for the problem: Aruna, the son of Kashyapa, can be made the charioteer for the sun. He will absorb all the hot rays of the sun and the sun will rise at dawn with a cool orange glow. This will be a blessing to the gods, rishis and all the world. On the directions of Brahma, Aruna did all that was needed to be done and became the charioteer of the sun to quell his anger against the world.
The author is Sevak, Chinmaya Mission, Tiruchi; brni.sharanyachaitanya@gmail.com; www.chinmayamission.com