Article compilation : Rama Chintakunta Sage Garga, better known as Garga Muni, is one the famous rishis from Vedic age. He was ardent devotee of Lord Narayana and the family priest of Yadus. He was in the court of King Ugrasena (paternal grandfather of Lord Krishna) but left the palace when Lord Krishna’s parents were jailed by Kamsa after the prophecy of Akashavani that Kamsa would be killed by the eighth son of his sister Devaki. After that he became the family priest of Nanda (foster father of Lord Krishna) in Vrindavan. Sage Garga is one of the famous saints in the field of astrology. He was well-versed in Vaastu Shastra and Ayurveda. His other contributions to the Indian literature include Garga Samhita. It has all the episodes of Lord Krishna’s life and it is believed that whoever reads or listens to Garga Samhita, Lord Narayana would bless them with prosperity and sons. In his version of Krishnavataar (Garga Samhita/Past times of Lord Krishna) Sage Garga marries Radha Rani to Krishna may be to signify the eternal relationship of Love between Krishna and Radha. It is a strong belief of devotees of Lord Krishna that Radha and Krishna are one soul; they are not separate from each other in any way. Sage Garga is the one who suggested the name of Krishna to Nanda Maharaj in the naming ceremony of Krishna and Balarama as it came to his intellect when he was meditating. Balarama (the elder brother of Krishna) is said to be good-looking and cute like Lord Rama, hence given the name Rama and as it is predicted that he is going to gain lot of energy in future, he was named as Balarama/Baladeva. Sage Garga made this ceremony to be performed silently as there is a scope for Kamsa to get to know about the fact that the eighth son of Devaki is alive and he may harm the kid. Lord Krishna is the incarnation of Lord Narayana on this earth. In this regard, there is one famous story goes about Sage Garga who realized that the Little Krishna whom he sees everyday is none other than his Istha Daiva (favorite form of God) Lord Narayana. As Sage Garga was a family priest of Nanda Maharaj, his wife Yashoda allotted him some area of their house for his worship and other activities of spiritual practice daily to be performed without any disturbance. Sage Garga wakes up every morning and after taking bath, he cooks some porridge to offer Lord Vishnu everyday while he was worshipping. Everyday, this was the first activity of Sage Garga in his daily routine. One day as he was worshipping Lord Vishnu with ardent devotion by chanting his names and singing his glories, offered the porridge as Prasad and requesting him to consume it. He kept his eyes in the closed state. Lord Krishna who was a small kid was playing in front of their house and listening to the ardent devotion of Sage Garga came and started eating the porridge. His mother Yashoda was happened to pass by the apartment of Sage Garga at that time. As Krishna was already known for his notoriety in doing mischief and playing pranks on others in the whole Vrindavan, mother Yashoda got enraged at the act of Little Krishna and she started scolding him for eating away the porridge which was offered to God by Sage Garga. At this Krishna answered that Sage Garga is the one who offered him the porridge to eat. At this Sage Garga was shocked and said that Krishna is lying but Krishna kept on insisting that Sage Garga is the one who offered him the porridge. After a while, Sage Garga realized that Little Krishna is none other than Lord Narayana himself in the human form and then he prostrated before Little Krishna. Sage Garga is well-versed in astrology and he is the one who predicted that Little Krishna will become a great warrior and will be well-known for his extraordinary intelligence and political prowess. He also warned Nanda Maharaj about the troubles this boy is going to face as a part of his childhood life in Vrindavan. He also predicted that Krishna will be savior of whole mankind. The eternal relationship between Sage Garga and Lord Krishna cannot be broken. At every point of Krishna’s life we can find Sage Garga. Sage Garga was the son of Sage Bharadwaja and Susheela and grandson of Deva Guru Brihaspati. Susheela was a princess and because of her Sage Garga inherited Kshtriya qualities and his descendants are known as Brahma Kshtriyas. Some of the Brahmin descendants of Sage Garga are believed to have migrated to western direction and known as Yavanas. This might be the reason that there is similarity found in Greek mythology with the Indian mythology. They are known as Gargacharyas. Sage Garga was a half-brother of Dronacharya, Guru of Kauravas and Pandavas, as their father was same (Sage Bharadwaja) and brother of Devavarnini (Kubera’s mother and wife of Sage Yajnavalkya). He was brother-in-law of Sage Yajnavalkya. Gargi, a famous female sage, is born in the family line of Sage Garga. Sage Garga is also known to be the Guru of Karthaveerya Arjuna who was great warrior and Brahma Jnani, but was killed by Sage Parashurama as he humiliated his father Sage Jamadagni because of his haughtiness of prosperity. Sage Garga’s hermitage was in Dunagiri on the banks of River Ganga. River Gangas is believed to get its name on the name of Sage Garga. In this connection one story goes which gives strong proof of spiritual prowess of Sage Garga. According to Narada Purana, there were three demons who were always troubling the passers-by on the banks of River Narmada. Once when Sage Garga was passing by River Narmada and as part of their daily food hunt, these demons wanted to gobble up Sage Garga but they were not successful. Its being a common quality in sages/saints to be compassionate towards their fellow beings, Sage Garga realized that these three demons belong to noble births but were turned into demons because of curses of various reasons. Hence he sprinkled on them the Holy water of River Gangas with a Tulsi leaf and all the three demons were relieved from their curse. Sage Garga’s reference is found in Narada’s Bhakti Sutras where Devamuni Narada praises Sage Garga by versing “Kathadisviti Gargah” which means the devotion towards Almighty can be expressed by speech i.e., by reciting the stories and singing the glories of Lord Narayana to others. One is devoted to God can direct his intellect and mind towards God through listening, speaking and pondering on subtle spiritual topics. This is the Bhakti Yoga practiced and advocated by Sage Garga. Sage Garga belongs to the high order of Sages and he was blessed to be a close associate of Lord Krishna for whose grace many sages pray for thousands of years and all forms of Demi Gods long for the privilege to have a glance of his eternal form(the Vishwa Swarupa shown to Arjuna by Lord Krishna as part of process of teaching Bhagavadgita). Even we are privileged to discuss about this great yogi and through him we will have the grace of Lord Krishna bestowed on us.
