Sokha Baba
Every question on the site tagged Sokha Baba, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A Kuldevata widely worshipped across Bihar, Nepal, and Uttar Pradesh — another name for Virabhadra in his benign child form (Bala Virabhadra), who took a vow in the Ganges to remain gentle after his fierce nature nearly cost a devotee's life.
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Sokha Baba: the kuldevata who is Virabhadra, Shiva's gana
The speaker says Sokha Baba is a deity worshipped especially as a Kuldevta in Bihar, Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and other regions. His original form, the speaker says, is Virabhadra, the Gana of Lord Shiva; "Sokha" is simply a name Virabhadra came to carry. He says the full story was gathered by asking elders, learned men and adepts of tantra how Virabhadra came to be worshipped in Nepal, appeared in Mithilanchal and was worshipped in Bihar.
Bala Virabhadra: the child form taken to save Pingala's son from Bankasura
The speaker says that when the widow Pingala's turn came to send her son to Bankasura, she went with him and, while the demon went to bathe, invoked Virabhadra. He appeared with a thousand arms and a blaze so fierce that mother and son were terrified, so for his devotees he took the form of a child, Bala Virabhadra, called Pingala "mother" and promised to kill the demon that day. Bankasura, delighted at three meals instead of one, reached first for the child; the moment he did, Virabhadra resumed his vikaral form and killed him.
How Virabhadra came to be called Sokha
The speaker says that because Bankasura had swelled his body with mayavi siddhis to match Virabhadra's thousand-armed form, the weight of his corpse sank the stretch of island between the battle site and Pingala's home, leaving water all around. Virabhadra returned to his child form, told Pingala to take him in one fold of her anchal and her son in the other, and drank up the whole ocean so a path appeared; after dropping them home he released the water from his belly, which is said to be why sea water is salty, a story also told of the sage Agastya. Because he dried (sokh) the sea, the speaker says, his name became Sokha.
Virabhadra's oath in the Ganga: why Sokha Baba is worshipped in a gentle child form
The speaker says the revived Madhava, still afraid, asked why he had been brought back, and Virabhadra, yielding to his devotee, admitted he had fetched the Amrita Kalasha. Madhava then agreed to worship him on one condition: since he was so Ugra and forgave no one's fault, he must go into the Ganga and swear on Gangajal never to be established anywhere in that fierce form, to stay gentle, to work for his devotees' welfare, and never to kill or harm them in rage over small faults. Virabhadra took Ganga water in his hand and made that Sankalpa. That, the speaker says, is why he is worshipped in many places in his child form; Madhava became his first devotee, and Virabhadra came to be worshipped under the name Sokha.
Amrita left in Madhava Bhagat's little finger
The speaker says the story about the Amrita Kalasha is that Madhava took it and began bringing many other people back to life with it. Virabhadra then reasoned with him and took the pot back, but by his grace placed a small portion of the amrita in Madhava Bhagat's kanishthika, the little finger. From here, the speaker says, the first worship of Virabhadra begins.
Why do temporary remedies against a troubling pitr keep failing?
That this is an experiential subject. As far as you take it along tantratmak, so far the pushing to and fro will go on — you catch it from this side, bind it, sift it, shove it off to that side; after two years or a year it slips loose again, comes back again, and the weeping and wailing begins that we had it bound, this was done, that was done. If you wish to stay caught in all this, then keep running to the sokha and the ojha, and it will keep happening. And if you want a solution once and for all, then do this.
Shiva's mala mantra, the Panchanana mantras or the Shiv Raksha Kavach may carry it, as may Virabhadra, Renuka, Sokha Baba or Banni Mata for whoever holds them as kula deities.
If the listener is making Bhagwan Shiva's prayoga — his mala mantra, or the mantras relating to his Panchanana swaroop if he has done their japa, or the Shiv Raksha Kavach — he may. Along with that, the subject of Bhagwan Virabhadra has been placed on the channel, and of Bhagavati Renuka; and those whose kula devi-devatas are Sokha Baba or Banni Mata may make their prayoga properly too.
What do bhagat and sokha-ojha types do with a house's negative energies?
He says it also happens often that on some trouble arising, you go and get it examined somewhere, and these bhagatvaal people, or such sokha-ojha people who practise bhagatai, get the negative shaktis themselves given a place in the house by calling them Baba — telling you that these are Baba, they are protecting your house, offer puja in their name.
Why should one not wait for a sokha, baiga or tantrik?
If you do not do it, he says, you will sit on in hope and expectation of showing it to some sokha or other, to some baiga, to some tantrik. By the time those people perform their kriya and tell you to do this and that, things will already have gone bad. Do not give that much time for it to take hold.
Who are Sokha Baba and Gauraiya Baba?
Asked who Sokha Baba, Gauraiya Baba and Banni Parmeshwari are, the speaker says that one of Shiva ji's chief ganas is Virabhadra Maharaj, and it is Virabhadra who in later times came to be worshipped as Sokha Baba in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar region; and as Gauraiya Baba, another of his ganas — but these are worshipped in two forms.
Is a full mantra-bearing procedure available for Gauraiya Baba and Banni Mata?
The speaker says that if one asks for their complete, regular information together with mantras, it will not be obtained in that swarup — not for Gauraiya Baba and not for Banni Mata. Their chief swarups, however, can be gone into: for Sokha Baba it comes to Virabhadra.
What are the root forms of Gauraiya Baba and Banni Mata?
The speaker says Gauraiya Baba's swarup is that of Bhringi; and Banni Parmeshwari has two swarups. One is Banni Mata, who was brought from Uttarakhand, and there is a full katha of how she came into that region — that is the swarup of Kalika, the very swarup of Bhagavati of which he has given the Kalika Yogini sadhana.
Who is the kul devi where Sokha Baba is worshipped?
The speaker says that with Virabhadra — that is, Sokha Baba — people have now also had Sati Maa worshipped, or she became worshipped in later times; but the main puja alongside Sokha Baba will be that of Bhadrakali, because Bhadrakali is the shakti of Virabhadra, his wedded consort. Where Sokha Baba is worshipped, Bhadrakali becomes the kuldevi; where Bandi Parmeshwari is worshipped, Sokha Baba automatically becomes the kul devata.
Should Sokha Baba and Shringi both be worshipped together?
The speaker says the puja of both will have to be done: Sokha Baba will be Virabhadra and these will be Shringi, so the puja of both will be done together. On Bhairav Ashtami, he says, do chiefly the puja of Sokha Baba.
If Gauraiya Baba is the kul devata, who is the kul devi and kul Bhairav?
The speaker says that if the kul devata is Gauraiya Baba, then in the form of kul Bhairav it is he himself who will remain. The kul devi would have to be looked for, if none was seated later. What has happened, he says, is that in the present time lok shaktis have been seated alongside great shaktis, so how can he speak about a new one.
Who is Sati Banni Mata?
Banni Mata has been called a form of Bhadrakali, the speaker says. He has said many times that the Jayanti Mangala Kali mantra is the finest for those whose kuldevi is Banni Mata, because Bhadrakali comes within it. Names get corrupted and become different; and since Sokha Baba and Gauraiya Baba are worshipped alongside both, it is understood that the shaktis are one. Even if by distinction one takes them as two, still the form is held to be that of Bhadrakali; and in the Kashi kshetra, where the temple stands, the same form is held — Bhagavati Bhadrakali present in the patal kshetra.
What can be done about a shakti seated in a village house as "Bhairav" forty years ago?
A listener says his great-grandfather was a sokha and seated some shakti in the village calling it Bhairav; it has been worshipped for forty years, no longer cuts calamity, and is becoming a cause of untimely death. The speaker asks whether it was seated in the house or in the village, establishes that it is in the village house, and says that having grown entirely old it will now behave in just that way — and that the grandfather, who was himself a sokha, seated it himself and will not have passed on the secret before going.
What does the word sokha mean?
The bhagats in a village, who have knowledge of the rural bhagatvaal, are called sokha. And if you are asking about Sokha Baba, who is worshipped in place after place as a kul devata, then that is a swaroop of Virabhadra ji.
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