Garud as Vahan of Shri Vishnu

Garuda, the Mighty Eagle: Garuda is a large, mythical Eagle, which appears prominently in Hinduism. Garuda was said to be the king of birds, and the Vahana of Lord Vishnu. Garuda was immensely powerful, and was so huge that he could even block the sun.

He resembled a bird with the head, wings, talons and beak of an eagle and the body of a man. Garuda was the eternal enemies of the nagas, or serpents, and used to kill them and eat them. Garuda’s image is often used as a charm to protect a person from snakes or snake bites, as it was thought that snakes were afraid of him, and did not harm his devotees. Garuda Vidya is a hymn used to cure all kinds of snake poison and remove all evil from this world.

He is known by various names, like Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, among others. There is an Upanishad in his name, the Garudopanishad, and a Purana, the Garuda Purana is sang in his devotion. The earliest mention of Garuda is in the Vedas, by the name Syena. It is written that the mighty bird was responsible for bringing nectar to earth from heaven. One of the five faces of Panchmukhi Hanuman is that of Garuda’s, which points towards the west. He is known to have powers that can heal any kind of poison from a person’s body. Garuda wears the serpent Adisesha on his left toenail and Gulika on his right cerebral vortex. His sacred thread is formed by the great snake Vasuki. The belt of his hip is formed by the dreaded cobra Takshaka. He wears Karkotaka as a necklace around his neck.

The snakes Padma and Mahapadma are his earrings. He wears the snake Shankachuda in his divine hair. He is often accompanied by his two wives, Rudra and Sukrithi. These are all mentioned in Vedanta Desika’s Garuda Panchashath. Garuda also represents the five Vayu in us, prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana by the five forms that he takes of Satya, Suparna, Garuda, Tarkshya, and Vihageshwara.Garuda, being the eternal devotee of Lord Vishnu, plays a major role in the Dwapar Yuga when Lord Krishna, Vishnu’s Avatar, and Satyabhama ride on Garuda to kill Narakasura. Lord Hari rides on Garuda to save the great devotee elephant Gajendra in another instance.

Garuda wanted to get amrit from the gods to free himself and his mother, Vinata from the slavery of his stepmother, the snakes. He asked his mother how he could get the amrit. Vinata replied, "You will have to fly to the kingdom of Indra, the king of the gods and get it. But for flying such a distance, you need to have lots of food to make you strong. You should go to the ocean and eat the nishada (a tribe of fishermen). This will satisfy your hunger. But a brahmin lives with the Nishada, do not eat him. Garuda followed his mother's instructions and ate the Nishada but by mistake he swallowed the brahmin too. Soon after, he felt a fire burning in his throat and he immediately released the brahmin.

Even after eating the Nishada, his hunger was not satisfied and so he went to his father, Sage Kashyapa. Kashyapa said, "At some distance, you will find an elephant dragging a tortoise. The two of them were sages in their previous birth. They were brothers who had quarrelled over property. They had cursed each other to become an elephant and a tortoise. If you eat both of them, your hunger will be satisfied." So Garuda went and ate the two animals. Then he flew towards the kingdom of Indra to get the amrit. When the gods came to know that Garuda was coming to take the amrit from them, a fierce battle started between them but Garuda defeated them easily.

Then he went to the place where the amrit was kept. Huge flames surrounded the vessel containing the amrit. Garuda went to the ocean and swallowed lots of water to put out the flames. As he moved towards the amrit, he noticed a big wheel with sharp spokes revolving in front of the vessel. Garuda became small in size and flew between the spokes of the wheel. Then he saw two ferocious animals guarding the vessel. He flapped his wings rapidly and blew dust into the eyes of the monsters and blinded them. Eventually, he reached the vessel and took it away using his talons.

Garuda could have drunk the amrit himself and become immortal but he had to offer it to the snakes to free his mother. This selfless act of Garuda impressed Vishnu, who granted him a boon that he would become immortal even without drinking the amrit. But Vishnu asked him to prevent the snakes from drinking the amrit. Garuda took the amrit to the snakes who released Vinata and Garuda from slavery at once. Vishnu and Garuda. As they were about to drink the amrit, Garuda stopped them and said that they should clean themselves first. The snakes agreed and went to clean themselves first. In the meantime, the gods were furious with Garuda for stealing the amrit and wanted to stop him.

Indra tried to attack Garuda and a battle followed. Garuda smashed Indra's thunderbolt but Indra managed to escape with the amrit. However, a few drops of amrit fell on the ground and the snakes licked it. The amrit was so strong that it burnt their tongues and made them forked. This is the reason why snakes have forked tongues. Meanwhile, Vishnu was watching everything from a distance and was pleased with Garuda's strength and determination. He made him the king of all birds. In return, Garuda agreed to become Vishnu's mount and since then, Vishnu is always accompanied by Garuda. Jay Shri Vishnu