Immortality is what human beings seek for, but demise is inevitable. It is the law of the universe that everyone who has taken birth is bound to have an end to its journey of life and start a new journey towards the heavenly abode. Even, whenever Tridev have taken birth on the Earth, the Mrityulok, are bound to follow the law of mortality and have had an end to their avatars. Mortality is the event that even avatars of God are not unaffected by. As per Hindu Mythology, 8 immortals have defied the law of mortality in the universe and are presumed to exist even now and beyond till life on Earth exists. In this blog, we are describing the names of 8 Hindu immortal Gods who defy the death.
“Ashta Chiranjivis”
Ashwastthama
Dronacharya, the Guru or teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas worshipped lord Shiva for many years to be blessed with an exceptionally dexterous child with the mettle no less than the Lord himself, the destructor of the Universe aka Lord Shiva. He was blessed with a son, who was named Ashwastthama. He had a supernatural gem whittled on his forehead right from the time of birth which enabled him to be more influential than any other alive life. The mystic powers of Gem made him above the emotions and feelings that human beings come across. The gem restricted him to feeling hungry, weary, thirsty, aging process and ailments. The gem almost granted him immortality and defied demise.
Krishna cursed Ashwastthama as he killed Draupadi’s sons while they were sleeping thinking that they were the five Pandavas. After knowing the truth, he released the eventual weapon Brahmastra on Pandavas. Sage Vyas asked him to take his Brahmastra back which Ashwastthama denied and directed it towards Uttara’s womb who was the wife of Abhimanyu. Immensely annoyed Krishna for the misdeed of the brutal killing of a foetus cursed him with painful immortality after removing his gem. It is expected that he is still alive and the journey of his agony is still in continuation.
Also Read: Krishna and Meera- The undying Love Story
Ved Vyasa
Veda Vyasa is the most illustrious saint in Hinduism. His real name is Krishna Dvaipayana and is the son of Satyavati and Saint Parashara. He is known to be one who differentiated Veda into 4 parts, Puranas and the written epic Mahabharata with the help of Lord Ganesha. The meaning of his name Ved means holy books and Vyas refers to the classifier of the holy books of Puranas. He was honoured with the name Ved Vyas after he categorized the Vedas into the main 4 Vedas i.e., the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharvaveda. He holds the pride of writing eighteen Puranas. His Son Shuka was the narrator of Bhagwat Puran. He is also the Father of Dhritrashtra, Pandav, and Vidur as two sons of her mother Satyawati died in her second marriage to the King of Hastinapur. She asked Ved Vyas to give the heirs to Hastinapur.
Veda Vyasa is one of the most revered saints of Hindus who is anticipated to be born in Treta Yug and is expected to exist all through Dwapar Yug and Kal Yuga. He is expected to be immortal till life on earth exists. As said earlier, Ved Vyasa means editor of Vedas. His Vedas are an eternal part of Hinduism even today. Life of Vedas will be as long as life on Earth exists. He is single Manavatara and therefore, enjoys immortality through his epics and Avatar. He is still believed to be alive. The word Guru is linked with Purnima (the full moon day) and is dedicated to him as it is his birthday. It is also believed that he completed his Vedas on his birthday only, therefore, the Purnima of Ashadha month of the Hindu calendar is celebrated as Guru Purnima.
Hanuman
Hanuman is Shiva who took birth in the womb of Monkey queen Anjana, the wife of Kesari, the Lord. Initially named Pawan Putra and Anjani Putra, got a new name Hanuman when God Indra broke his jaw with his thunderbolt. ‘Hanu’ refers to broken Jaw and ‘Man’ means human being. The deity had phenomenal powers which he forgot due to the curse of a saint whom Hanuman troubled during his childhood. He was reminded of his powers by Jamvanth who was a bear and an advisor in Sugreev’s army. Hanuman is a God whose name when chanted sway away the troubles and suffering of his devotees. The ardent worshipper of lord Rama of Ayodhya spent his entire life worshipping Lord Rama and his wife Goddess Sita who were the incarnation of lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.
He helped Lord Rama in bringing back Maa Sita from Lanka by conquering the king of Lanka, the Ravan. The monkey Avatar of Shiva had innumerable miraculous powers that were gifted by almost of Hindu Gods like Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, Agni, Surya, Yam, Varun, Vishwakarma, Yam, etc. Hanuman is part of Mahabharata also and was seated near the flag of the chariot of Krishna and Arjuna. He heard Bhagwat Geeta also as he was on chariot when Krishna narrated Bhagwad Geeta Path to Arujina. It is believed that when Lord Rama was returning to Vishnu Lok, he asked Hanuman to accompany him. The Bajrang Bali refused to leave the Earth and decided to serve the devotees of Lord Rama with protection till life on Earth prevails. Hanuman himself chose to stay immortal to worship Lord Rama as he believed the Name of Rama was bigger than Shri Ram Chandra Himself.
Chant the Hanuman mantra for vitality and protection
Vibhishan
The younger brother of Ravan was the sole devotee of Lord Rama in Lanka. He was the first to help Hanuman in knowing the location of Mata Sita in Lanka when Hanuman reached Lanka in search of Maa Sita. Born in a family of demons, Vibhishan didn’t have any traits of a demon. He was generous, humble and always chose to be on the right path. He warned Ravan to return Sita to Lord Ram, but to the bad luck of Ravan, he refused. He Guided Rama against his brother because he knew his brother had committed an unforgivable sin. Vibhishan was a prince named Satyavrat who never lied and preached honesty.
When Ram was returning to his heavenly abode, he asked Vibhishan to maintain peace and promote honesty in the world. Since then, it is believed that Vibhishan got immortality. Another belief is that Brahma, the creator of the universe blessed him with immortality seeing his honesty and adherence to truth and humanity.
Maha Bali
Bali or Mahabali was a Demon King with his capital in the Indian state of Kerala as per the present name of the city. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and was a generous and honest king who believed in justice. To promote justice and modesty in the world, he conquered Earth, heaven, and the underworld (Patal Lok). Frightened by the power, supremacy of the demon king, all Gods contacted lord Vishnu to restore their dynasties. To establish his supremacy in the Universe, Bali conducted Ashwamedha Yagna (Yagya or Hawan).
Lord Vishnu, in the avatar of Vaman (A small Brahmin Boy), went to meet Bali who was granting charity to the masses. Vaman asked for space equal to three paces of his feet. Bali said yes to him and asked to take three paces of feet. The little Brahmin grew in size phenomenally and in just two paces he covered all the three lokas. With no other space left for the third pace of Brahmin, Mahabali bowed down and asked Vaman to keep his third place on this head. Amused with the devotion of Maha Bali, Lord Vishnu on the request of Maha Bali himself allowed him to visit Kerala once a year to confirm the well-being of his people. Since then, Onam has been celebrated to welcome the Maha Bali on Earth. He is one of the immortals as per Hindu Scriptures.
Kripacharya
Kripacharya is the incarnation of Lord Brahma during the age of Mahabharat. The fourth incarnation of the creator of the universe was born to Saradvan and Janapadi. He was adopted by King Shantanu. He was a guru in Hastinapur at the time of Mahabharata and had to be by the side of Kauravas despite knowing the truth. He remained loyal throughout his life towards the unjust king Dhritrashtra and Duryodhan as serving the state was his first duty being the chief guru of the state. Kripacharya is said to be immortal or Chiranjivi due to his honesty, reliability, discipline, and unbiased approach. He is said to remain alive till Kalyuga. His mortality is mentioned in a few Hindu scriptures.
Parshurama
Parshuram is the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu out of his ten Dashavatars. He was born into a Brahmin family to eliminate Earth from evil powers. He was trained to be a warrior by Lord Shiva and equipped with in-depth knowledge of weapons and warfare. Lord Shiva on seeing his dedication gifted Parshuram axe and Rudramsha which was a component of lord Shiva. The gift of Shiva, Rudramsha lead him to be immortal. Know complete story of Parshuram Avatar at Ask Ganesha.
Markandeya
Rishi Markandeya took birth in the kinfolk of Bhrigu Rishi. He was born to sage Mrikanda and Manasvini (his wife). His lifespan was declared just 16 years by God. He had in-depth knowledge of Vedas and other Hindu scriptures. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva and got engaged in austerities on knowing his fate of a short life of 16 years. He worshipped lord Shiva on his 16th birthday. When Yama came to take him, Lord Shiva saved his life and granted him immortality.
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