Story of Vakratundavatara of Lord Ganesha

Indra is a position. Indra is appointed in that position. Indra’s tenure is one Manvantara—one-fourteenth part of a Kalpa. A Kalpa is 4.32 billion years. In this, Indra changes 14 times.

The present Indra is Purandara. His name is Purandara—Indra of the present Manvantara, Vaivaswata Manvantara.

Do you know who is going to be the next Indra?

Mahabali. He is waiting in Pathala to become the next Indra when the next Manvantara starts.

The day of coronation of Indra as the king of Devas is a celebration time in Swarga, Amaravati, every year.

On one such occasion—

Indra was seated on his simhasana. Everyone came—Devas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Nagas, all the Munis, even Rakshasas, they all came.

Parameshwara came with Devi Parvathy, Ganesha, Karthikeya, and his whole retinue of Bhuta Ganas. Mahavishnu came with Lakshmi Devi and all his Parshadas. Brahma came, flanked by the Vedas. Surya came along with the other planets. Agni, Varuna, Vayu—they all came.

All were seated in Indra Sabha.

Stories were told by Munis about various incidents of the past. Gandharvas played music. Apsaras danced.

The Apsara called Rambha danced. Seeing her, passion rose up in Indra. He wound up the celebrations in a hurry. Everyone went back to their own places.

Indra took Rambha into a forest for privacy, a beautiful forest, and started enjoying with her there. His passion kept on increasing. He never thought about going back.

At that time, Sage Durvasa wandered into that forest.

Seeing him, Indra panicked. He left Rambha and stood shivering in front of the sage.

At that time, Indra’s veerya fell on the ground, and from that was born an Asura.

Indra returned to Amaravati and started regretting what he had done. He should not have allowed himself to be overpowered by passion, overpowered by lust. He even forgot how much time he had spent with Rambha there in the forest.

This was quite unbecoming of the king of Devas.

Moreover, he had caused the birth of an Asura. He didn’t know what all was going to happen in the future.

The veerya of Indra had fallen on Bhumi, Mother Earth. She took care of the Asura as her own child.

He grew as big as the Himalayas itself. Very cruel by nature. He didn’t like seeing anybody better than himself.

So, Bhumidevi kept his name as Matsara, befitting his nature—Matsarasura.

At the age of five, his Upanayana was done. He learned the Vedas.

This is one point to be noted here. Asuras also learn Vedas. They also know mantras. They also aspire to go to Swarga.

They fail because they do not follow the protocol of rituals mentioned in the Vedas.

This is mentioned in the Veda itself.

This is why they fail to stay as rulers of Swarga, even when they capture Swarga from time to time.

They are not attaining Swarga by merit. They are attaining it by brute force.

Indra attains his position after doing 100 yajnas. The Asuras, they don’t have patience. They try to capture Swarga. That’s why they fail—because this is against divine order.

Divine order is—work hard and earn results.

This is mentioned in the Veda. Asuras don’t even bother to wear Yajnopaveeta when they perform yajnas. That way, they break the protocol, violate procedure, and they fail.

Matsarasura was very intelligent.

He married the daughter of another Asura called Durbuddhi. Her name was Madakara. Very beautiful. Very smart and capable.

One day, something got into his mind—

‘I should conquer the whole universe. Rule the whole universe. I should do tapas for this.’

He went to Asuraguru Shukracharya and got initiated into Panchakshara Mantra—‘Om Namah Shivaya’—and performed tapas with Panchakshara Mantra.

He took Paashupatee Deeksha and did tapas for 1000 divya varshas, aiming to propitiate Mahadeva.

Intense tapas.

Asuras can do this. They won’t follow procedures of rituals. But they do tapas very well.

As the intensity of his tapas increased, the power of his tapas started masking Surya, dimming his light. It became more and more difficult to enkindle Agni. Agni became weak.

Devas went to Mahadeva and pleaded for mercy.

Bhagawan, along with Parvathy Devi and the Devas, went to see what was happening.

Matsara had just turned into bones and skin. There was only prana in his body. He was covered by a termite mound.

All were surprised. Even Rishis were surprised to see such intense tapas.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi