VARUNA
Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
August 13, 2016
Varuṇa
was intently tearing through in the sky. His object of search was his
twin brother Ahura Mazda (Mighty Lord of Wisdom). He wrote in the sky,
“Where are you, my twin brother?” Varuṇa
and Mazda were brothers separated at birth. He vanished in thin air,
unseen by anybody. Varuṇa
had the uncanny ability to identify anyone from great distances. Years
later, Varuṇa
found out Mazda was taken to Persia and became the god of Zoroastrians.
He inculcated in his devotees three tenets: Virtue in Thoughts, Words
and Deeds. There is a ‘vr’ in Virtue, Virile Man…’Vr’ also means
‘encompass,’ or ‘cover.’ Naturally Varuṇa’s
name starts with a ‘Vr.’
He
is the Lord of the sky, waters…
Varuṇa
sent a sky mail to Ahura and received a reply, moments later, “I am
fine, my twin brother. I am quite happy where I am. My devotees adore
me. I hear you are doing fine. I am mighty happy about you.”
Varuṇa
thought to himself that one day he would meet his twin brother in
person. He worked hard to stay at the top of the celestials with Indra
and Agni. As his twin brother Mazda, he was the Lord of
ṛta (Dharma),
the Law of ethics.
Wherever the
sun’s rays reached, Varuṇa
had his informants sending dossiers of miscreants and law breakers.
He even boasted he
was
Viṣṇu.
A liar was
pulled up and punished. He was more a friend than a brother with Mitra
and Aryaman. Mitra made it his life mission to inculcate a strong work
ethic by waking people up with the rising sun and send them to work.
Aditya was
their mother. Mitra is ultra-vegetarian and a protector of all beings
and objects.
The gods made
Mitra and Varuṇa
the Upholders of the Law. You can see that Aditya’s sons are noble
souls. Mitra’s twin brother was the Greco-Iranian Mithras. I did not
know he immigrated to Greece.
Varuṇa
and Mitra were handsome and shone like the sun. They imbibed Soma juice
for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
They
were the celestial stallions. The men implored them to induce love in
woman they wanted as partners.
They accompanied the kings in battles
for success. They withheld rain from oppressors. Once a king’s daughter
had blemishes on her skin. By magic incantation they removed them.
Recalcitrant rogues, they cursed, to
develop dropsy by weakening their hearts and liver.
Since Varuṇa
is the Lord of waters, he helps those who dowse and divine for water
before they dig wells.
Makara is an acquatic animal, his transport and ride.