Devaki had the greatest fortune of giving birth to Sri Krishna. But before this divine event she had to undergo several hardships – spent several years in jail; see her six new born sons getting killed at the hands of Kamsa. Devaki had to undergo all these sufferings as a result of a curse. Legend has it that Devaki in her previous birth was Aditi, the wife of Sage Kashyapa. The Sage also had another wife Diti. Aditi became pregnant and gave birth to Indra. Diti too was blessed by Sage Kashyapa that she too will give birth to a brilliant son. Aditi did not want anyone greater than Indra so she hatched a plan with Indra to kill the son of Diti in the womb itself. For this evil purpose, Indra took became small as a microorganism and entered the womb of Diti and killed the baby in the womb. Diti who came to know about the reason for the sudden abortion, cursed Indra that He will never be the ruler of three worlds. She cursed Aditi to be born on earth and spend ti

Vipasa is the ancient name of Beas River and it is mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. There is an interesting story as to how Vipasa River got its name. Legend has it that a man-eating Rakshasa entered the body of King Saudasa. He then roamed around forest eating human beings. One day he devoured all the 100 sons of Sage Vasishta. Unable to bear the loss of his sons, the sage attempted to kill himself. But all his attempts failed. He then bound his arms and legs with strong ropes and plunged into Beas River, which was in full flow breaching its banks due to rain. It is said that the river loosened the knots of the Sage and took him safely to one of its banks. As it unbound and saved the Sage it came to be known as Vipasa. The term Vipasa means unbound.

Untade Maruti Mandir at Rasta Peth in Pune is a famous Hanuman Temple. The name of the temple is unique – ‘Unt’ means camel. It is believed that the camel cavalry an army division of the Raste, a feudal family, had established the temple. The temple is located on the Mudaliar road and is a quite big temple, mainly due to families in the region donating for the development of the temple. He is the guardian deity of the region.   The murti of Hanuman worshipped in the temple is about 9 feet tall and it faces west. Hanuman is depicted as kneeling on his right knee. The left leg is folded and is firmly on the ground. The left hand is resting on the knee. The right hand is in Abhaya mudra – protector of his devotees. The tail rests near the left feet.  Tuesdays attracts hundreds of devotees to the shrine. The most important festival is the Hanuman Jayanti festival.

Four kinds of virtuous men worship me, O Arjuna, the dissatisfied, the seeker of (systematized) knowledge, the seeker of wealth and the wise, O best among the Bharata (Bhagavad Gita chapter 7. verse 16). Swami Vivekananda explains the verse Shri Krishna says in the Gita (7.16), ‘Four classes of people worship Me: the distressed, the seeker of material things, the inquirer, and the knower of truth.’ People who are in distress approach God for relief. If they are ill, they worship Him to be healed; if they lose their wealth, they pray to Him to get it back. There are other people who ask Him for all kinds of things, because they are full of desires—name, fame, wealth, position and so on. They will say, ‘…, I will make an offering to you if I get what I want. If you are successful in granting my prayer, I will worship God and give you a part of everything.’ Men not so material as that, but still with no faith in God, feel inclined to know about Him. They study phi