Virabhadra
Every question on the site tagged Virabhadra, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A fierce form manifested from Lord Shiva's wrath, worshipped in households alongside Goddess Bhadrakali/Bandi Mata, associated with the Gomed Ganapati remedy.
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Fierce kul deities bound by Shiva's oath: Rudrabhishek and 14 days of bilva havan
Taking the example of a family whose kul deities are Sokha Baba and Banni Mata, the speaker says people get offended — who could bind them? — but repeats that by Shiva ji's shapath and dohai even these two shaktis will stop. If it seems that the fierce shaktis among your kul deities — even Virabhadra himself, Bhadrakali herself — are being held back, it is because they keep the honour of a devotee's vachan: someone has laid a laag saying "Prabhu, do not hear", so they do not hear. Then you take refuge in Mahadev: do Rudrabhishek, or abhishek by the names of the twelve Jyotirlingas, and with Mahadev's ashtottara shatnam, the Tatpurusha mantra, or the Vedic Shiva mantras with Gayatri for those who wear the yagyopavit — whatever you can manage — offer ghee and til on Bilva samidha from Pratipada to Chaturdashi, 14 days, at least 108 ahutis daily. Such deities will come out of bandhan; if savari used to come on anyone it will come again; and if you had received a sign of the binding, you will receive a sign again that they are free, and the family will prosper.
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.
Origin of Virabhadra at Daksha's yajna
The speaker says that when Sati burnt herself in the fire of Daksha's yajna, Lord Shiva tore out a lock of his matted hair and struck it on a Himalayan peak; the lock split in two, and from one piece Virabhadra and from the other Bhadrakali appeared. They destroyed Daksha's yajna. Virabhadra cut off Daksha's head and threw it into the yajna fire, and killed every sage, Bhrigu and Aryama among them, who used his siddhi to stop him or stood with Daksha in Shiva's insult.
Shiva's boon to Virabhadra: worship as a kuldevata in later ages
The speaker says that once the task for which Virabhadra had been created was finished, Lord Shiva blessed him with a boon, since he is a direct part of Shiva himself: in a later age he would be worshipped as a Kuldevta, and his strength would always serve the protection of dharma. This boon, the speaker says, is the root of his later worship as Sokha Baba.
Virabhadra's wrath pacified by marriage to Bhadrakali
The speaker says that even after the boon, Virabhadra's anger did not subside and kept wreaking destruction, while he also felt remorse for having killed so many sages. To calm him, Bhadrakali, who is his shakti, herself proposed a worldly marriage; the two married with fire as witness, as forms of Shiva and Shakti, and only then did his anger settle. Once calm, the speaker says, his remorse for the sages grew much stronger.
Virabhadra's penance for slaying the sages and where it ended
The speaker says Virabhadra did Tapasya at many places to quiet his remorse for killing Daksha and the sages. He compares it to Kaal Bhairava, who cut off Brahma's head though the fault was Brahma's, yet still incurred Brahmahatya in the human world and wandered until the skull fell from his hand at Kapal Mochan in Kashi. Virabhadra's penance began at Kankhal in Haridwar, where the yajna had been, and continued at other tirthas; by a folk tale, which he says is not found in any shastra or purana, it ended at Lodhas village (Kawalesar Dham) in Itarhi block, Buxar, Bihar, from where he went to his own loka.
Bankasura: the island demon still worshipped at Surajpur in Chhattisgarh
The speaker says the demon Bankasura is still worshipped at a temple in Surajpur, Chhattisgarh, with full Bali rites, by the local Bhagatvaal and learners of tantra vidya. In the puranic age this Bankasura tormented the islands toward Lakshadweep and Lanka, killing many people, but his rule was to eat only one person a day. The islanders and their king made a treaty with him: one human would be sent to him daily if he stopped his rampage. Among them lived Pingala, a widow devoted to Virabhadra, with her son.
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.
Slain demons who asked to be worshipped: Bankasura granted Surajpur
The speaker says that as he was being killed, Bankasura, who had gained certain siddhis, folded his hands and asked to be worshipped, and that this has always happened in tantra and in the stories: Mahishasura asked for a place of worship beside Bhagavati, the tantrik Bhairav at Vaishno Devi asked for his own place, Durgamasura had Bhagavati take the name Durga after him, and Kolhasura had the city of Kolhapur named after him. Virabhadra granted Bankasura the region that is today Surajpur in Chhattisgarh, saying he would be worshipped there when such an age came. The speaker adds that tantra has a separate vidhan for worshipping rakshasas, with siddhis of a tamasic kind; in time someone did that sadhana and Bankasura became worshipped there.
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.
Sadashiva as Virabhadra's guru, called Dinkar Maharaj in Nepal
The speaker says the folk tales hold that Virabhadra's guru is Lord Sadashiva Mahadev. In the tales, especially in the Nepal region, Mahadev is also addressed as Dinkar Maharaj. He points out that Dinkar is properly a form of Bhuvan Bhaskar, the Surya deity, yet in the role of guru Shiva is called Dinkar Maharaj.
Why Virabhadra sadhana is rare: an ugra deity who forgives no error
The speaker says Virabhadra is an extremely Ugra and fierce deity: when people first began worshipping him, he forgave not even the slightest mistake in his puja and killed the offender outright as for an unpardonable crime. Even now, he says, those in the tantra field who do his sadhana find his mantra and his siddhi very hard, and only very rare sadhaks attain that kind of siddhi.
Sadashiva directs the devotee-less Virabhadra to Madhava, son of the Brahmani Hira Moti
The speaker says that because Virabhadra was so fierce, no devotee was willing to serve him for fear of being killed over a slip. Virabhadra went to his guru, Sadashiva, saying he had no devotee and asking how he would find one so that Shiva's boon could come true. Sadashiva told him that beyond the Himachal region, beyond Kankhal, lived a very old Brahmani, named Hira Moti in the Nepal version, whose son Madhava had been born by Shiva's grace and was fit to be his devotee; he should go, show his power and make him his devotee. The speaker says this was a test arranged by Shiva as lila. When Virabhadra introduced himself to the Brahmani she was terrified at the idea of serving such a fierce god and sent him to her son, who was outside.
Madhava's test of Virabhadra: a pyre without axe or fuel, and his leap into it
The speaker says Madhava, afraid of worshipping so fierce a deity, set Virabhadra a condition: fell a sandalwood tree without an axe, split it, build it into a pyre on the bank of the Ganga, and light it without any fuel or means. Virabhadra did all of it. When the fire blazed, Madhava circled the pyre and jumped in, reasoning that if he died he would neither live nor have to become the devotee of a god whose wrath no one could bear. Seeing this, Virabhadra felt it would be a stain on him that his devotee had died this way.
Amrita Kalasha from Indra: Madhava revived, a second son Sadhak Ji, the Brahmani made young in the Ganga
The speaker says Virabhadra, though all-capable, in the lila ran to Indra and begged the Amrita Kalasha. Meanwhile cowherds who had seen it told the old Brahmani that her son had burnt himself on the pyre, and she resolved to die too, saying she had feared from the start that so fierce a god could never be worshipped. Virabhadra appeared, promised to revive her son and give her two sons instead of one, and told her to enter the Ganga, where her old age would leave and her eyesight and youth return. She refused at first; after he pleaded repeatedly he made a Sankalpa over the ashes and rained amrita on them. Madhava came back to life, a second son named Sadhak Ji appeared as his brother, and when the Brahmani entered the Ganga she got back her youthful body.
Karik Ji Maharaj: the Nepal and Mithila deity whose first bhagat was Sadhak Ji
The speaker says that in the Nepal region another deity, Karik Ji Maharaj, is worshipped, and he is worshipped especially in the Mithilanchal region too. Karik Ji Maharaj's first bhagat, he says, was that same Sadhak Ji, the second son whom Virabhadra brought forth for the Brahmani.
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.
What is the Hessonite (Gomed) Ganapati used for?
Worshipped in Aghora traditions alongside Vira, Kshipra, or Uchchhishta Ganapati, it is highly effective for pacifying severe Masana afflictions, curses from intentional abortions, or in households dedicated to Bhadrakali/Bandi Mata and Virabhadra.
Kalika and Virabhadra are protective shaktis whose pujan is done at home
The discussion to be held the next day, in which the group will learn about Kalika and Virabhadra, who are protective shaktis, and about the many other shaktis of that kind whose pujan is done at home, or what happens and how when the need arises.
Daksha's yajna and the conflict, Virabhadra and Mahakali, and the Andhak daitya remain to be described
The whole description of Daksha's yajna and the conflict will be discussed the next day. In it the group is to learn about the shaktis — in what manner a shakti manifests, and by which mantras which shakti manifested that helped in the destruction of Daksha's yajna: how Virabhadra, Mahakali and which other shaktis came. Also the subject of the Andhak daitya, who, the speaker says, hung upon Shiva's trishul for many kalpas; even now one form of his remains hanging, and in another form he was established as one of Shiva's ganas.
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.
Can Parvati be worshipped with Durga's 32 names?
Absolutely, the archan of Bhagavati Parvati can be done with the 32 names of Durga ji. To Mithilesh Pandey ji he says that when it is Bhagavati and Bhagavan Virabhadra, then do it with their Ashtottar Shatnam — begin from right here.
Is it Maa Kali in the original form, or Bhadrakali?
The speaker says he has clarified this many times: it is the swaroop of Bhadrakali and of Virabhadra ji that is obtained.
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.
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.
How is a lok devata like Sokha Baba worshipped for special grace?
The speaker says he told above and tells again that Virabhadra and Bhadrakali are chiefly worshipped. If you want special grace and special pujan, then, as he has said before, the method of worshipping lok devi-devatas is of a limited measure — there are no particular mantras there. Pandit ji become very pleased and have the pujan done with the Purush Suktam and the Shri Suktam; and if you have it done through a good pandit ji of your own place, that is, the kul purohit who has the knowledge. But if you want something special, then you will have to go to their root swarup — Sokha Baba, that is Virabhadra, and their Parmeshwari, that is Bhagavati Bhadrakali.
What are the benefits of wearing a mundmala?
It is awesome for that, the speaker says wryly — but why do you need to wear a mundmala; if you are a householder, do not get entangled in the business of a mundmala. Bhagwan Sadashiva has worn the mundmala only when he has been apart from Bhagavati Sati in each birth, when he has been in the tantra kshetra, or when he has been with Bhagavati in the form of Bhairavi and Bhairav. A mundmala should not be worn just so. Nowadays people are making rules that there are various sorts of rule, a man is wearing it and living at home, and people also put up photographs wearing a mundmala; but go within, he says, and see how much effect it casts and in what manner.
How long does a genuine Bhairav sadhana take?
If you wish to go into the tantra kshetra, he says plainly: of the sadhana of Bhairav it is said that Bhairav gives his mantra himself. From the time you are initiated by such capable siddha sadhaks and go into such a parampara, the sadhana is of twelve years — whether it be of Bhagavan Virabhadra or of Bhagavan Bhairav.
The Chandi Kavach, Bhadrakali's veer kavach, Shiva's Aghor kavach, Virabhadra's and Panchmukhi Hanuman's
He says that in earlier times, what used to happen was that the brave warriors who went into the army had that very nyasa performed upon them for the sake of obtaining victory in war. In the same manner, he says, take the Chandi Kavach in the Shri Durga Saptashati and the like, the veer kavach of Bhagavati Bhadrakali, the Aghor kavach of Bhagavan Shiva, the raksha-granting kavach of Bhagavan Virabhadra, the kavach of Panchmukhi Hanuman ji — all these kavachas endowed with fierceness. The nyasa of all these kavachas: nyasa of the kavach here means the nyasa of the whole kavach.
Who may take up the sadhana of Bedi Hanuman ji?
Why do you wish to do the sadhana of Bedi Hanuman ji, he asks the questioner. If you are initiated in tantra, then it is all right, you may do Bedi Hanuman ji; but do his sadhana only when you will have done the preliminary sadhanas. Do sadhana of this kind only if your brahmacharya does not break, if everything is right, and if you are strong in mind — otherwise, if you have made any error after doing all these sadhanas, then folding your hands there will be of no use. He cites Daksha Prajapati, who went on speaking the Panchakshari mantra of Bhagwan Shiva at the last moment, and whose head Virabhadra ji blew off; so do the Bedi Hanuman ji sadhana with thought and understanding.
Which sadhana is advised for a listener asking about protection deities?
Do the sadhana of Bhagavati Bhadrakali and of Virabhadra, the speaker tells the questioner.
What is the household sequence of daily worship the speaker gives to a woman?
First give water to Surya and water to Tulsi ji — but if you are not giving water to Tulsi ji on Sunday, then do not give it. After that, guru pujan, Ganpati pujan, Batuk Bhairav's pujan, Hanuman ji's pujan, and thereafter Bhagavati's pujan and then Shiv ji's. In between, after Hanuman ji, do the puja of Lakshmi Narayan or of Ram ji if you do it. If you worship Kuber before Shiv ji, or if your kuldevi and kuldevata are Sokha Baba, Gauraiya Baba, Banni Mata or Bandi Parmeshwari, then at the time of Shiv ji's pujan do the dhyan mantra of Virabhadra and Bhadrakali with whatever pujan paddhati you have.
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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