Lord Krishna Killed Aghasura and rekindled life in his dead friends

When Lord Krishna was enjoying His childhood pastimes with His friends, one Aghasura demon became very impatient.He was sent by Krishna's maternal uncle king Kansa to kill krishna. Aghasura was unable to see Krishna playing, so he appeared before the boys intending to kill them all. This Aghasura was so dangerous that even the denizens of heaven were afraid of him. Although the denizens of heaven drank nectar daily to prolong their lives, they were afraid of this Aghasura and were wondering, "When will the demon be killed?" The denizens used to drink nectar to become immortal, but actually they were not confident of their immortality. On the other hand, the boys who were playn immortality is confidently assured.

The demon Aghasura appeared before Krishna and His friends. Aghasura happened to be the younger brother of Putana and Bakasura, and he thought, "Krishna has killed my brother and sister. Now I shall kill Him along with all His friends and calves." Aghasura was instigated by Kamsa, so he had come with determination. Aghasura also began to think that when he would offer grains and water in memory of his brother and kill Krishna and all the cowherd boys, then automatically all the inhabitants of Vrndavana would die. Generally, for the householders, the children are the life and breath force. When all the children die, then naturally the parents also die on account of strong affection for them.

Aghasura, thus deciding to kill all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, expanded himself by the yogic siddhi called mahima. The demons are generally expert in achieving almost all kinds of mystic powers. In the yoga system, by the perfection called mahima-siddhi, one can expand himself as he desires. The demon Aghasura expanded himself up to eight miles and assumed the shape of a very fat serpent. Having attained this wonderful body, he stretched his mouth open just like a mountain cave. Desiring to swallow all the boys at once, including Krishna and Balarama, he sat on the path.

The demon in the shape of a big fat serpent expanded his lips from the land to the sky; his lower lip was touching the ground and his upper lip was touching the clouds. His jaws appeared like a big mountain cave, without limitation, and his teeth appeared just like mountain summits. His tongue appeared to be a broad traffic way, and he was breathing just like a hurricane. The fire of his eyes was blazing. At first the boys thought that the demon was a statue, but after examining it, they saw it was more like a big serpent lying down in the road and widening his mouth. The boys began to talk among themselves: "This figure appears to be a great animal, and he is sitting in such a posture just to swallow us all. Just see - is it not a big snake that has widened his mouth to eat all of us?"

One of them said, "Yes, what you say is true. This animal's upper lip appears to be just like the sunshine, and its lower lip is just like the reflection of red sunshine on the ground. Dear friends, just look to the right and left hand side of the mouth of the animal. Its mouth appears to be like a mountain cave, and its height cannot be estimated. The chin is also raised like a mountain summit. That long highway appears to be its tongue, and inside the mouth is as dark as in a mountain cave. The hot wind that is blowing like a hurricane is his breathing, and the fishy bad smell coming out from his mouth is the smell of his intestines."

Then they further consulted amongst themselves: "If we all at one time entered into the mouth of this great serpent, how could it possibly swallow all of us? And even if it were to swallow all of us at once, it could not swallow Krishna. Krishna will immediately kill him, as He did Bakasura." Talking in this way, all the boys looked at the beautiful lotus-like face of Krishna, and they began to clap and smile. And so they marched forward and entered the mouth of the gigantic serpent.

Meanwhile, Krishna, who is the Supersoul within everyone's heart, could understand that the big statuesque figure was a demon. While He was planning how to stop the destruction of His friends, all the boys along with their cows and calves entered the mouth of the serpent. But Krishna did not enter. The demon was awaiting Krishna's entrance, and he was thinking, "Everyone has entered except Krishna, who has killed my brothers and sisters."
Krishna is the assurance of safety to everyone. But when He saw that His friends were already out of His hands and were lying within the belly of a giant serpent, He became, momentarily, aggrieved. He was also struck with wonder how the external energy works so wonderfully. He then began to consider how the demon should be killed and how He could save the boys and calves. Although there was no factual concern on Krishna's part, He was thinking like that. Finally, after some deliberation, He also entered the mouth of the demon. When Krishna entered, all the demigods, who had gathered to see the fun and who were hiding within the clouds, began to express had also entered the mouth of the demon.

While the demon was trying to smash Krishna and His companions, Krishna heard the demigods crying, "Alas, alas," and He immediately began to expand Himself within the throat of the demon. Although he had a gigantic body, the demon choked by the expanding of Krishna. His big eyes moved violently, and he quickly suffocated. His life-air could not come out from any source, and ultimately it burst out of a hole in the upper part of his skull. Thus his life-air passed off. After the demon dropped dead, Krishna, with His transcendental glance alone, brought all the dead boys and calves back to consciousness and came with them out of the mouth of the demon. While Krishna was in the mouth of Aghasura, the demon's spirit soul came out like a dazzling light, illuminating all directions, and waited in the sky. As soon as Krishna with His calves and friends came out of the mouth of the demon, that glittering effulgent light immediately merged into the body of Krishna within the vision of all the demigods.

For Sri Krishna it is not at all difficult to award one the opportunity of merging with His eternal body. This He awarded to Aghasura. Aghasura was certainly the most sinful living entity, and it is not possible for the sinful to merge into the existence of the Absolute Truth. But in this particular case, because Krishna entered into Aghasura's body, the demon became fully cleansed of all sinful reaction and thus merged into the supreme soul and attain salvation.

Also read, Lord Kapil and his teachings to his mother Devahuti:

http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/08/lord-kapil-and-his-teachings-to-his.html

*** Hare Krishna ***

Lord Kapil and his teachings to his mother Devahuti

Lord Kapil was incarnation of Lord in the age of Satya yuga. He appeared as the son of sage Kardama Muni and Devahuti. 

Kardama Muni was one of the Prajapatis. When he took up great austerities, Lord Vishnu arranged Devahuti as his wife. Kardama Muni got married to Devahuti putting a condition that after she begets children he will leave home to accept Sanyasa, the renounced order of life. Devahuti meditated on Kardama Muni and thus her father arranged the marriage.

After marriage Devahuti began to serve Kardama Muni with great love while Kardama Muni remained in devotion to Lord. With great respect and pleasing speech she always gave the best service to Kardama Muni. She turned very thin as she neglected her body in service to her husband. This went on for a long time. And one day Kardama Muni saw her with love. He was moved with her service.

Kardama Muni was a mystic. With his mystic power he created wonderful mansions. Maid servants of these mansions welcomed Devahuti and decorated her as queen. They bathed Devahuti and decorated in the most pleasing manner and thus she regained all her beauty. Kardama Muni then began his family life with his wife in a kingly manner.

Kardama Muni and Devahuti had nine wonderful girls. All nine girls had beautiful bodily features with fragrance like that of lotus flowers. They appeared just like lotuses of different colors. Kardama Muni and Devahuti brought them up very nicely.

When Kardama Muni was about to leave to forest to Sanyasa as Devahuti already had nine children, Devahuti began to shed tears. She told to her husband that when all daughters go away after marriage what will be her condition. She begged Kardama Muni for a son.

Kardama Muni considered her concern. He asked Devahuti to serve Supreme Lord with faith. He married all his nine daughters to sages of their temperaments. Later Supreme Lord appeared in the womb of Devahuti as Lord Kapila. Lord Kapila’s birth was celebrated in three worlds. Kardama Muni took renounced order of the life and went to forest.

Here at home lord kapila was brought up by Devahuti with great love and devotion. One day when Kapil muni was sitting in meditation. Mata devahuti came to him and asked for divine knowledge. Then Lord kapil start from rock-bottom fundamentals. 

This teaching of Lord Kapil is called as Kapila Geeta.

Lord starts explaining....

It is the mind that is the villain of the piece. Both for the bondage of the jiva and for its release from bondage, it is the mind that is responsible.  When the mind attaches itself to the sense objects, bondage arises. On the other hand if mind attaches itself to the Lord, it becomes the cause for the release.  The self-centered thoughts of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ give rise to the vices of desire and greed. When these dirts are washed off from the mind, it becomes pure.

The word used here is ‘kama-lobhadibhir-malaih’. Desire and Greed are called ‘malam’. So also one should stay away from the ‘malam’ of desire and greed.  Mind should be in its own pure state. When it is rid of all that ‘malam’, in that state, says the Rishi, mind has none of the mundane misery or happiness. That is when man sees his own prakriti powerless. That is when he has transcended the effects of prakriti. He then sees no difference, no second, and no relationship to anything or anyone. There is no place in space where he is not already there.  It is in that mind the Absolute reflects itself. And there is no other way to achieve this than to have association with sadhus.

When a holy association is there, first we get shraddha in the spiritual quest, then enthusiasm for the same and then bhakti towards the Lord. “shraddha ratir-bhaktir-anukramishhyati”

It is the association with the holy that will generate, through the continuous contemplation of My glories, a distaste for sense gratification here and hereafter.

bhaktyA pumAn jAta-virAga aindriyAt dRRiShTa-shrutAn mad-rachanAnucintayA (III – 25 – 26).

For devotees who are attached to devotional service even moksha is not more attractive. I am their loved one like their soul,friendly like their son, trusted confidante like their friend, mentor like their guru and respected like their favourite God. Their minds are always fixed on me. This is all that is needed for mukti.

In order to attain this mukti, one should desist from the mundane distractions of prakriti.  The knowledge of the Self is the ultimate cure for removal of Ignorance that binds the heart to the world of prakriti. What is the Self? The Self or the Purushha is the One who has pervaded the entire universe. He is attributeless. He is beyond the prakriti. He dwells in every antah-karaNa (Inner Organ). He shines by Himself. He is beginningless, sourceless.

anAdir-Atma Purushhah nirguna prakritaih parah /

pratyag-dhama svayamjyotih vishvaM yena samanvitam // (III – 26 – 3)

Wise men attribute to Prakriti the relationship of Cause and Effect as well as the agency of action. And they point to the Purushha that transcends the Prakriti, as the cause of enjoyership of happiness and unhappiness.

The five gross elements (earth, water, fire, air and space)

The five subtle elements (sound, touch, form, taste and smell)

The four internal senses (manas, chittam, buddhi and ahamkara – receiver-mind, storer-mind, analyser-mind and ego)

The five senses of knowledge

The five senses of action

These twenty four - constitute the prakriti or the manifested stage of existence, also called the qualified presence of brahman – sagunasya brahmana sannivesha. Time is the twenty-fifth element. What is manifested as Time outside is the Purushha within.

Even though the Purushha is situated in the Prakriti (the body envelopment) He is devoid of all attributes, He is unchanging and He has no claim to doership. So He is not touched by any of the Gunas (modes) of Prakriti. On the other hand when He slips from this state and identifies with the GuNas, then overcome by the Ego, he thinks he is the doer. And this involves him in the samsara of births and deaths. Such a jiva overcome by the gunas has to come out of it by a self-analysis.

And here the Acharya Kapila gives a powerful analogy.

The presence of the Supreme Lord can be realized just as the sun is realized first as a reflection on water, and again as a second reflection on the wall of a room, although the sun itself is situated in the sky. The self-realized soul is thus reflected first in the threefold ego and then in the body, senses and mind.

An explanation is necessary for this analogy.  The topic is how one recognises that the Supreme is the One Power behind every action and every presence in the universe. Imagine a room in which there is a large vessel of water that receives direct sunlight and reflects it onto the opposite wall in the room. What is the source of this light on the wall? It is the reflected Sun in the water (contained in the vessel). And what is the source of that reflected Sun?  The actual Sun in the blazing sky. So also we individuals seem to be having awareness of the outside world.  The source of our awareness is our consciousness within. But this consciousness itself is a reflection of the real supreme Consciousness, the reflection being in our own ego-mind.

After elaborately detailing the process by which Prakriti produces the manifold of this material universe, Kapila takes up the topic of yoga-sAdhanA. First he details the prerequisites such as execution of prescribed duties, avoidance of prohibited actions, and satisfaction with what one obtains by God’s Grace, worship of the Guru, moderation in eating, non-violence, truthfulness, brahmacharyam, austerities, and silence. Then he goes on to describe the different limbs of yoga-sadhana. A few characteristic shlokas from this description may be recalled:

prANAyAmair-dahed-doshhAn

dhAraNAbhishca kilbishhAn

pratyAhAreNa samsargAn

dhyAnenA-anIshvarAn guNAn

Meaning, By pranayama (exercise of control of breath) the physical faults are burnt; By dharana (fixing of the concentrated mind) one burns off the sins; By pratyahara (withdrawal of senses from their outward attractions) one destroys the attachments to sense objects; By dhyAna (meditation) one vanquishes the undivine qualities. (For pranayama, dharana, pratyahara and dhyana).

And the meditation should be on the unique form of the Lord. Here the form of the Lord is sculpted by beautiful word-bricks by Sage Kapila in 13 memorable shlokas (III -28 – 21 to 33) which deserve to be memorised and recited in the original, in order to transmit the real flavour of the description.  It is not just the collective form of the Lord that is meditated thus. Each of His limbs is imagined and looked at with concentration and one goes on meditating on His limbs from toe to head. His lotus feet, His legs and thighs, the waist, the navel, the chest, the neck, the face, the smile – on each one of these one should stay long by meditation. 

By such meditation one gradually develops pure love for the Lord. One’s hairs stand erect through excessive joy. The intense love generates streams of tears. The mind withdraws from all material distractions. As if attracting a fish to a hook, the mind now attracts the Lord. The real identity of the Self is seen and all pleasure and pain are seen in their true colours as products of the Ego. The jivan-mukta that he is, has no cognition of his own body whether it is sitting, standing, moving or acting, just as person blinded by intoxication does not realize the presence or absence of clothing on himself.

The body, however of the jivan-mukta holds on along with the senses until the prarabdha karma remains. But, for the one who has made the ascent to samadhi-yoga there is neither the cognition of the body or the universe associated with it. Indeed, when one has woken up, the dreams that were being witnessed earlier have no more any reality.

Just as offsprings and wealth are considered distinct from oneself, so also is the Purushha different from one’s body that is taken by affection to be oneself.

The blazing fire is different from the flames, from the sparks and from the smoke, although all arise from the same blazing wood. So also the Self known as the Seer, bhagavan or brahman is distinct from the senses or the mind. As fire shows up in different forms because of the shapes of wood in which it burns so also does the Self show up in prakriti in different manifestations according to the gunas. The yogi therefore stands firm in his own svarupa of the Self, by conquering the prakriti which hides his own Self and which takes the form of both cause and effect.

Following this the sage Kapila answers questions of Devahuti regarding the path of Bhakti which will lead to the Realisation of all that has been explained in terms of Prakriti and Purushha.  Bhakti, says Kapila, is known in terms of nine categories by the motivation which manifests it. The motivation could be – in the ascending order of commendability  

•        Violent ends (This is adhama-tAmasa bhakti)

•        Pride (This is madhyama-tAmasa bhakti)

•        Jealousy (uttama-tAmasa bhakti)

•        Sensual ends (adhama-rAjasa bhakti)

•        Wealth (madhyama-rAjasa bhakti)

•        Fame (uttama-rAjasa bhakti)

•        Eradication of Sins (adhama-sAtvika bhakti)

•        Pleasure of the Lord (madhyama-sAtvika bhakti)

•        Duty (uttama-sAtvika bhakti)

But all of them have the commonality of “bheda-darshana” (which is conscious of the multiplicity of the deities and recognises the differences) as well as “idol worship” (worship of specific manifestations of the Ultimate). Over and above these, there is the nirguNa bhakti, defined as follows:

Having heard about Him, one gets addicted with devotion that does not see any distinction, without any expectation of results, to the Purushhottama, who lives in the deepest hearts of all, like the waters of the Ganges that keeps on going to the ocean. That is the characteristic of nirguNa bhakti, the bhakti of the highest kind, higher than the nine categories mentioned above.

And the Lord continues, as if inspired:

I am present in every living entity as the Self. Those who neglect or disregard this omnipresence and engage themselves in the worship of the Deity in the temple, they are only making a show of themselves. That is like offering oblations into ashes instead of in the Fire. He who thinks of Me, residing in the bodies of others, as different from his Self can never attain peace of mind. He never pleases Me even if he worships with proper rituals and paraphernalia. As long as one does not realise the omnipresent Me as resident in His own heart, so long has he to worship Me through images, performing all his prescribed duties.

The fortunate mother, Devahuti, who had all this teaching straight from the Lord Himself, who manifested as her son, followed the path that was chalked out by Him and in due time she reached that supreme abode glorified by Him.

Also read about Lord Krishna's Damodar Leela story:
http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/08/lord-krishnas-damodar-leela-liberation.html

*** Hare Krishna ***

Lord Krishna's Damodar Leela (Liberation of Nalkuber and Manigreev)

After tying Krishna With Mortar (Ukhal) Yashoda set about doing some household job. Krishna sat down on his knees and caused the mortar to tumble down so that it could roll when drawn. Now he began to crawl on his knees towards the twin trees standing in front of the house.The twin trees were, in fact, the two sons of Kubera--the god of wealth. Their names were Nalkuber and Manigreev. It was because of a curse that they had been turned to trees. The story goes that once these two brothers, after taking wine, were having their bath in the company of their wives. All of a sudden, Saint Narda happened to come there. Seeing him, both the ladies put on their clothes and got aside. But both the brothers, intoxicated as they were, kept standing naked before the saint. The saint could not tolerate their impertinence and uttered a curse on them," Go and stand as trees in Gokul for ever."

Hearing the curse, the wives of both the brothers got worried and they beseeched the saint to excuse their husband s. the saint replied, "They will be rid of this curse when Shri Krishna will appear in Gokul". Since the curse was uttered these trees had been standing in front of Nand Baba's house. So, to keep up the word given by Saint Narda to the wives of the two brothers, Krishna dragged the mortar crawling in between the trees. The mortar got stuck up between them and when Krishna exerted force, the trees got uprooted and fell down. As soon as the trees fell down, they changed into their real forms as sons of Kubera. With folded hands, they began to praise Krishna and after seeking his permission, they returned to their place. 

Nand Baba and Yashoda came out running. They untied their son Krishna and fondled him time and again whereupon Krishna began to smile.

Note: Damodar means "One who has rope around his belly'. Dam - Rope, Udar - Stomach/Belly

Also read about:
1. Sri Sri Damodarashtakam - Prayer to Krishna in month of Kartik (in Sanskrit, English, Its meaning and Video)
http://krishnaseva.blogspot.com/2014/05/sri-sri-damodarashtakam-in-sanskrit.html

2. Krishna Leela - His mercy on poor fruit seller:
http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/08/lord-krishnas-mercy-on-poor-fruit-seller.html

*** Hare Krishna ***

Lord Krishna's mercy on poor fruit seller

Once Krishna was happily playing in his home. Just then, he heard at a distance, a fruit seller’s voice. She was trying to sell her fruits. She called, “Juicy fruits, buy juicy fruits.” Little Krishna’s mouth started watering at the thought of those nice juicy fruits. He looked around in the house to see what he could find in exchange. He had seen His parents bartering grains for other goods.  He grabbed a handful of grains from the house and ran towards the fruit seller. His tiny hands could hold only a little. In a hurry, he also dropped half of the grains on the floor. By the time he reached the fruit seller, he just had a few gains left. He offered those to the fruit seller and said     " Could you please give me those mouth watering fruits from your basket in exchange of this?" After requesting, baby Krishna showed the grains that he had in his hand.

The fruit seller was filled with love with the child’s innocence. She was so charmed upon seeing the beautiful form of little Gopal with little hands carrying few grains in exchange of fruits.  Even though she was very poor, she happily took the grains from Krishna and gave him as many fruits that his tiny hands could hold. Gopal was very happy and He smiled at her. With a smile and satisfaction on her face and basket on top of her head, she walked towards her home. 

Little did she know that there was a huge surprise waiting for her. As soon as she took the basket off the head and put it down on the floor, she could not believe her eyes at what she saw. All the little pieces of grain that Krishna had given her had turned into valuable pieces of jewels that filled her basket. 

This is Bhakti. Krishna doesn’t care about what we have done or who we are, because ultimately we are all eternal souls. If we simply offer a little love to Lord Krishna, He reciprocates with an ocean of infinite love. If we take one sincere step towards Krishna, Krishna is willing to run thousands of steps towards us. He just wants to see our sincerity.

Also read about Kaliya Daman lila of Shri Krishna:
http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/08/krishna-leela-kaliya-daman.html

** Hare Krishna **

Krishna Leela - Kaliya Daman

Kaliya (कालिय) was the name of a poisonous Naga living in the Yamuna River, in Vrindavan. The water of the Yamuna for four leagues all around him boiled and bubbled with poison. No bird or beast could go near, and only one solitary Kadamba tree grew on the river bank.

The proper home of Kāliya was Ramanaka Dwipa, but he had been driven away from there by fear of Garuda, Garuda had been cursed by a yogi dwelling at Vrindavan so that he could not come to Vrindavan without meeting his death. Therefore Kāliya chose Vrindavan as his residence, knowing it was the only place where Garuda could not come.

Once Krishna and herdboys were playing ball, and while playing Krishna climbed up the Kadamba tree and hung over the river bank, the ball fell into the river and Krishna jumped after it.  Krishna goes down into the river with the intention of sporting in its water.  This enraged the hideous monster Kāliya & he rose up with his hundred and ten hoods vomiting poison and wrapped himself around Krishna's body. Thus attacked by Kaliya with his whole brood Krishna appeared to faint away under their murderous onslaught. On seeing Him apparently slain by His enemies the cowboys and all the assembled milkmen filled the air with their loud lamentations. When the Brajvasis came to know that Krishna is enveloped in the coils of serpent they were stunned out of fear and fell down. Even the cows, bulls and small calves became overwhelmed with grief and started crying. All the Brajvasis including animals were just on the point of death as they had dedicated everything to Krishna: their lives, property, affection, activities everything was for Krishna. 

But Krishna soon showed that He was quite safe and He forthwith climbed up the hoods of Kaliya and assumed the weight of the whole universe, started kicking and dancing on it. As if Krishna wanted to entertain the grief stricken Brajvasis. He danced in an infinite variety of the most marvelous of figures. The pressure of Krishna’s Feet crushed the towering pride of the myriad-hooded monster. Kaliya lowered his hoods and vomited blood. But the Dance of Krishna did not cease. Kaliya was found tottering towards death when his wives came out of the river and with palms joined in prayer begged Krishna to spare the life of their husband. 

The prayers of the wives of Kaliya who had faith in Krishna moved the Son of Nanda to have mercy on Kaliya. Krishna now desisted from His terrific Dance on condition that Kaliya was to quit the river at once and to betake himself to his original home in the island of Ramanaka. Krishna gave him His assurance that Garuda would now do him no harm, as he would respect the print of His Feet on hoods of Kaliya. The water of the River was now rendered immune from all poison and became as sweet as it was before the advent of Kaliya.

Kāliya, recognizing the greatness of Krishna, and surrendered, promising he would not come to vrindavan again and would not harass anybody. So Krishna pardoned him and then let him go free to leave the river and go to Ramanaka Dwipa.

One of the main reason Krishna did not kill kaliya is, Kaliya in his past birth was the sage” Vedshira” who had performed severe austerities.  The rishi Vedshira lived in a beautiful ashram and once the “Ashvashira” muni entered in his ashram, seeing him coming, the sage Vedshira shouted on him and said” You are not supposed to perform any penance here, just get out of this place”. Seeing envious and full of hatred behavior ashvashira muni cursed him and said” You are behaving like a serpent who is always angry and envious to others, therefore I curse you to become a snake”.

Kaliya’s wives said "One cannot come in contact with Krishna without having executed pious activities in devotional service in his previous lives”. So, all those are worshipping Krishna must have performed great austerities in their previous lives. Kaliya was fortunate to have realistic and mature wives.  The Nagpatnis instead of cursing Krishna said” The punishment which you have so kindly offered is exactly befitting and that is your purpose to annihilate the disturb elements within this world”, so we think it is benediction and your mercy upon us, as even when you punish, the sins are eradicated”. Kaliya’s wives knew that our job is to please Krishna-not to be against him.

This is what association of Krishna does; it washes your sins, kills the impurities in you and sends you back to the supreme god. Either you kill the power or you kill the powerful-result the same. Krishna is the intelligence of the intelligent.

Also know about the birth story behind Karan and Pandavs:

http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/08/story-behind-birth-of-karna-and-five.html

*** Hare Krishna ***

Story behind birth of Karna and Five Pandavas

Kunti (or Preeta) an adopted daughter of KuntiBhoja was appointed by her father to serve sage Durvasa, who was known for his extreme tempers and spiritual powers.

Kunti served the sage with reverence and discipline, pleased by her devotion the sage granted her a boon, he taught her a mantra to invoke any of the heavenly gods and get a powerful son from him, and the mantra was only valid for 5 times.

Birth of Karna: 

Kunti delighted and very curious to test the powers of the boon invoked the Sun. The Sun God appeared in front of her, being a maiden she was worried of the consequences of bearing a child. She requested Sun God to forgive her, that she invoked him in her girlish fickle mind. The Sun God did not agree to go without fulfilling the purpose of his visit as it was shameful for a Sun God to do so and that other demi-gods will talk lightly of him.

However he granted her another boon to become a virgin again after the birth of the child. Thus by the grace of the Sun God a child was born. Kunti scared of others knowing her shame placed the child in a basket and left the basket in a river. It was found by a charioteer Adhiratha and his wife Radha, they named him Vasusena and he became famous as Karna.

Birth of Pandavas: 

King Pandu while hunting in the forest, shot arrows and killed two deer while they were in sexual union. The deer were actually a sage and his wife who had morphed their body. For his foolish act of killing them at that intimate time the King Pandu was cursed to die if he ever embraced any woman.

Both Kunti and Madri, the queens of Pandu thus remained childless, Pandu desirous of having children was growing unhappy. Kunti revealed to him the story of her boon. Pandu delighted by the story, pleaded her to bear him a child.

Kunti and Pandu discussed whom to invoke and decided that they would like to have a son who is in righteousness (Dharma) as great as the Dharamraj. They both meditated for few days to purify themselves and then invoked Dharamraj; Dharamraj appeared and blessed them with a boy. Thus Yudhisthira was born.

After some days, Pandu and Kunti invoked Wind God desiring a son as powerful as him, blessed by the Wind God, Kunti gave birth to Bhima, who did mighty deeds when he grew up.

Now desiring a son who is both powerful and virtuous they invoked Indra, the king of demi-god realm. Thus Arjuna was born.

Pandu convinced his first wife Kunti to give the mantra to his second wife Madri, so that she too can bear him a son. Madri invoked Ashwini twin-Gods, thus Nakula and Sahadeva were born.

Also know about the ashta-siddhis:

http://krishnaseva.blogspot.in/2014/06/from-srimad-bhagavatam-ashta-siddhis.html

*** Hare Krishna ***