The story of the great Chyavana maharṣhi, the vaidyanipuṇa, is well known.

Chyavana Maharshi was the son of Bhṛgu Maharṣhi and Pulomā Devi. Once Bhṛgu Maharṣhi asked Agnideva to protect Pulomā, who was a garbhavati, till he comes back and went away. A rākṣhasa by name Puloma came and asked Agnideva "is she Pulomā?" (if yes then he was planning to take her away!). Agnideva did not know what to do. If he tells the truth Bhṛgu Maharṣhi may get angry, else he may get anṛta-doṣham. So finally after being forced by Puloma, Agnideva said "She is the wife of Bhṛgu Maharṣhi." Immediately Puloma took the form of a varāham and forcibly took Pulomā. In this, from her garbham, the baby slipped and fell down (and hence was known as "Chyavana" - means something falling down).

The baby had the tejas of Brahma and Puloma rākṣhasa turned into ashes on seeing Chyavana Maharshi. Later Cyavana Maharshi did many years of tapas and became a very great ṛṣhi. He and his wife Sukanya had dadhīci, pramati and āpravān as santānam. After a long time passed, once Chyavana Maharṣhi did 12 years of tapas inside water. During his tapas, some fishermen came and as usual threw there fishing net and were trying to catch fish. To their surprise, they saw Chyavana Maharṣhi caught in their nets. The fishermen trembled with fear. But Chyavana Maharṣhi said "it is not wrong to do your duty. Please do not be afraid that you disturbed my tapas". But the fishermen thought they were responsible for stopping the tapas of the Maharṣhi and reported their mistake to their King, Nahuṣha (ancestor of Bhagavan Sri Rama Chandra).

The Maharṣhi told the King that it was not the mistake of the fishermen, they were just doing their duty. In addition he said "Please decide a rate for me and give that money to the fishermen, since their effort must not go waste." King Nahuṣha did not know how to rate the Maharṣhi. He offered his artha-rājyam. Chyavana Maharshi said that won't be enough. Then the King said then take my entire rājyam! Chyavana Maharshi said that is not the appropriate rate for him. Meanwhile a Maharṣhi named Kavijāta came and told the King "Please offer one cow. That will be equivalent to a ṛṣhi." Knowing the greatness of the cow from Chyavana Maharshi, Nahuṣha gave away a best quality cow to the fishermen and sent them off.

The fishermen were not any less in good character. They thought "we can get money anytime. Let us utilize this chance and get godāna phalitam by giving this cow to the great Maharṣhi." Thus they gave off their cow to Chyavana Maharshi. Chyavana Maharshi blessed all of them with svargalokam praapti.





When can someone do the Go daana (donation of cow)?





"daana" (donation) is a terminological word. Daana can be offered in accordance with the Shastra, or as a form of expiation, or to get punya alone. It has country-time-character-materials rule. Means in which country we give daana, at what time we give daana, what type of character the daana giver (donater) has, what type of material is given in the form of daana, all these are considered and all these are very important while doing the daana.





Shastra has confined only Brahmana to accept the daana. The reason is, that Brahmana should engage in the study of Shastra only, without making any money and also should never ever expect money from others. A Brahmana's first and most important job is to study the GREAT Shastras and to teach the GREAT Shastras. What others give in the form of daana may be accepted by a Brahmana and with this daana alone the Brahmana and his family should make a living through out the life term.





Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras are worthy of Kanyaadaana, Annadaana, Vidyaadaana and Abhayadaana.





Whereas Godana is for a Brahmana only.





But you may get a question that, a cow should not be given to a shudra or anybody when he / she is in need? The answer to this is definitely to a Shudra or to anybody the cow can be given, but it falls into the category of dharma called paropakaara (philanthropy) and help. Whereas it doesn't comes under the daana category.





A man desirous of crossing the Vaitarani river, should do the daana to a correct Brahmana and this Brahmana should be a Bhagavan Sri Vishnu bhakta. If one gives the daana to a Brahmana who is not at all following any dharma, then the daana will be an useless daana. Thus, while making any daana one should always remember that, daana should be given to a true follower of the GREAT SANATANA DHARMA and also should be a true bhakta of Bhagavan Sri Vishnu.





There is no doubt if anybody makes the daana of a Go (cow) to any poor & needy person and this will definitely will bring lots of punya to the daani (donater). But this doesn't falls in the category of daana. But instead it will form in the category of paropakaara (philanthropy).





Let us all understand this with an example:





Let us consider that a man is very hungry. If we give some food to him without knowing his background or without knowing who is he or without knowing his gotra, then this will be called as annadaana.





But we should also note that the food which we give should be prepared in the correct way. Also one should note that, we should not give food which is not fresh food or should never ever be a stale food. Or, if we give the food which is prepared in the hotel or the food which is the left over of either at home or at hotel will be called as paropakaara (Philanthropy) and can't be considered as a daana.





Here one may get a question that the punya which we get in doing daana is more or doing paropakaara is more?





When a daana or paropakaara is done, then the punya a daani (donater) gets is completing dependant on the the person who accepts the daana or paropakaara, means it depends on whether the person who accepts the daana or paropakaara is a Bhagavan Sri Vishnu bhakta or not, and also whether he is a good sajjana (one who follows the GREAT SANATANA DHARMA) or not. A person if he give the Go (cow) in the form of daana, then the daani (donater) may go to the Vaikuntta, means the daani may get the moksha / mukti. But again it all depends on the previous karmas also.





In philanthropy, virtue is rewarded on the level of usefulness. For example if a small worm has fallen into the water and if someone saves the life of that worm by lifting it carefully without harming that worm, then that person will get the highest punya which one can't get doing the highest daana.





Thus a man must be a daani and also a paropakaari.





Now, let us understand that if someone is incapable of doing the daana of a living Go (cow), then if someone does the daana of metal Go (cow), can that daani (donater) can get the punya or not?





People who worship everyday the Devadhenugan (great cows of the svargaloka - here Devadhenugan means - Deva means Demigods, dhenugan means cows, thus the total meaning of this are the cows which are from the svarga loka) like Kamadhenu, Nandini, Surabhi etc, can be given daana of these types of cows in the metallic form. With this one can get the 'pratima daana' punya and not the punya of the daana of the real / living cow.





Those who are not able to give the daana of real / living cow then if that person gives the daana of the 'graasa' (in english it is called grass - please watch carefully the the English word grass is taken from the Sanskrit word 'graasa'), then the punya the daani (donater) gets is more then the daana of the real / living cow.





There is a saying in our great Shastra called, "दानात श्रेयोनुपालनम" | ("daanaat shreyonupaalanam"). If one does the "paalana" (means looking after the cows) of the cows, then this work is considered as the work which gives more punya then doing the daana of the Go (cow). This is because for cows, the most important food is "graasa" (grass). Thus the punya of doing daana of "graasa" is much more, then doing the daana a real / living cow.





The greatness of the great "gograasa" (cow's grass) is very high, because the steps followed during the "shraaddha" is very hard. If a person doesn't do the "shraaddha", then in the next life that particular person will be born as a "chaandaala", this is very much clearly said in our great "shastras". But many times, for a person due to various reasons, he may not be able to do the "shraaddha". Thus during this time, if that person does the daana of the "graasa" (grass), so that at least one cow will get completely satisfied after eating it, then his "pitrugan" (ancestors) will become happy. This is the greatness of the daana of the "graasa" and this is the greatness of our GREAT Shastras.





Doing daana of the "gograasa" (cow's grass) is not at all difficult. Thus if someone who is incapable of doing the "godaana" (donating cow), then that particular person can do the daana of "graasa" and after doing the daana of "graasa", that particular person will definitely get huge amount of punyas (highly good deeds).



Sri Maha Lakshmi Devi and Go (cow) story



Once Sri Maha Lakshmi Devi requests the Gomaata (cow) to give a little place inside the body of the Gomaata. But Gomaata very humbly and respectfully informs to Sri Maha Lakshmi Devi that already her body is full of different Devatagan (Demigods) & also with svayam Bhagavan, thus there is no place for Sri Maha Lakshmi Devi. Then Sri Maha Lakshmi Devi requests to give a place at least in her dung - cow dung (Gomala).



Thus it should be noted that, even the cow dung (Gomala) is very auspicious as svayam Sri Mahalakshmi Devi is present in that Gomala.



Gomaata is highly respectable in Sanatana Dharma and highly auspicious in the Hinduism.



Wherever somebody gives hardships to Gomaata that place and those people will have to face heavy troubles not only in this life, but also in there next many many lives along with their family members.





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