Narakasura: Mura’s master
When Vishnu incarnates as Varaha, He delves deep into Sagara and searches for Bhudevi. When Vishnu finally finds Her, He holds her aloft on His snout and brings Her out of Sagara exultantly. This union of the Varaha and Bhudevi leads to the birth of Naraka.
Naraka, the pious son of Varaha and Bhudevi, starts ruling over his kingdom Pragjyotisha. But Bhudevi knows that her son, Naraka will be killed by another avatar of Vishnu. So she seeks a boon from Vishnu and says, “Let my son become a powerful man and live a long life.” Vishnu grants her these boons.
Naraka starts associating with an asura called Banasura so everyone starts calling him Narakasura. In no time at all, Narakasura becomes the ruler of the entire earth and starts attacking Swarga too. He ousts Indra from Swarga, steals the earrings of the heavenly mother goddess Aditi, the umbrella of the sea god Varuna, a part of the Mandar mountain and kidnaps 16,000 women and keeps them all in his palace.
Vishnu allows a lot of time to pass because He has to fulfil the wishes of Bhudevi too. But when the time is right, Vishnu incarnates as Krishna and Bhudevi is reborn as Satyabhama. When Narakasura steals Aditi’s earrings, she rushes to Satyabhama to seek help. When Krishna and Satyabhama hear of the horrors that Narakasura was inflicting on all the beings of the cosmos, they become furious, engage in a war with him after which Krishna kills him with his Sudarshan Chakra.
Krishna and Satyabhama return the earrings to Aditi, the umbrella to Varuna and restore the Mandar mountain to its rightful place. Krishna then goes on to marry all the 16,100 princesses so that they gain a respectful place in society.
Before Narakasura breathes his last, he asks his mother for a boon and says, “Let people celebrate my death with colourful light.” That is why we call the day before Diwali as Naraka – Chaturdashi.
Mura: The demon with five heads
We find Mura’s story in the Bhagavat Puran. Rishi Kashyap’s son Mura is a demon with five heads who goes on to become one of the guards of Narakasura’s kingdom Pragjyotisha.
Mura feels awed when he sees the powers of the devas. He knows that the devas usually defeat the asuras and demons. He feels the only way to become invincible is by having the powers that the devas possess. So he performs a penance to please Brahma. When Brahma appears before him, Mura says, “Anyone I touch, including the gods and devatas, should be reduced to ashes.” Brahma grants him the boon and disappears.
Mura assumes he is invincible and attacks the yakshas, gandharvas, devas and kings who rule the earth first. He then goes to rishi Vashistha’s ashram. But rishi Vashishtha is busy performing a yagna. So he says, “O Mura, your powers are of no use here. So don’t disturb my yagna in any way. If you wish to become truly invincible why don’t you attack Yama, the lord of death?”
Mura follows Vashishta’s suggestion and attacks Yama. Yama in turn tells Mura, “What will you gain by killing me, O Mura. The minute you kill me Vishnu will recreate another Yama with his cosmic powers. If you wish to become invincible in the entire cosmos, you should direct your powers towards Vishnu.”
Mura goes straight to Vaikuntha to fight lord Vishnu. Vishnu ignores Mura for a long while. Mura manages to get Vishnu’s attention after a while and says, “O Vishnu, I wish to reign supreme in the cosmos. You are the only one who is stopping me from becoming the supreme leader. Let us wage a war and find out who is mightier – You or I.”
Vishnu looks at Mura calmly and says, “O Mura, power and supremacy mean nothing to me. I will gladly give it to you. But tell me, dear Mura, why is your heart trembling. Are you scared that you might lose your powers if I defeat you?”
Mura looks at Vishnu with a mixture of shock and surprise. He wonders if Vishnu can read his mind. And without thinking twice Mura touches his heart to check the veracity of Vishnu’s words – and is instantly reduced to ashes. Vishnu then cuts Mura’s body to shreds with his Sudarshan Chakra and flings it in different directions. We call Krishna as Murari whenever we want to remind ourselves of the follies of being egoistic.
Does Mura really have five heads? That is one thing we can never know for sure. What do his five heads symbolise? Is it a metaphorical reference to his ego? Both Narakasura and Mura have fragile inflated egos. They are filled with pride and think highly of themselves. We cannot find even a trace of humility in their characters.
Narakasura and Mura foolishly assume that they are always doing the right thing – because everything rightfully belongs to them anyway. Kidnapping women, stealing things that belong to others, wreaking havoc wherever they go – without caring about the consequences and the impact their behaviour has on others….are all clear signs of vanity and ego.
Perhaps that is why Mahaprabhuji addresses Krishna as Murari in the very first verse of the Shree Yamunashtakam. The message is clear. We can vanquish our ego with humility and faith in a higher power. And all said and done we are mere manavas after all. We do get carried away by our success and riches. But we can rein in our egoistic tendencies very easily if we read the stories of Krishna’s glorious conquests and decipher the metaphorical messages He sends our way.
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