The story of origin of tides or waves in sea as per Hinduism is associated with Sage Aurva. The story is found in the Vamana Purana. Legend has it that Sage Aurava, performed intense meditation, or Tapas, for several years. The intense austerities and rigours penance of the Sage resulted in the creation of Vadavagni – a sacred fire. Brahma entrusted Saraswati River with the sacred task of depositing the Vadavagni in the sea. The sacrificial fire of Sage Aurava was deposited in the sea by Saraswati River. Here it took the form of a horse and lives forever. Regular exhalations of the horse result in waves, or tides, in the sea.

Story of the disappearance of Saraswati River is found in the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata. Varuna, the God of seas, abducted Bhadra, wife of Sage Utathya. The sage was a descendant of Sage Angiras. The Sage asked the Devas to mediate with Varuna. However, Varuna refused to give back Bhadra. An enraged Utathya undertook severe penance and meditation. By the power of his austerities, the sage dried up the waters of the world. He then asked Saraswati River to disappear into the sands and let the land deserted by her be impure. Without water all living beings suffered. Finally, Varuna relented and returned Bhadra. The sage then gave relief to living beings by returning water. This also entered the suffering of Varuna. But Saraswati River did not appear again.

It is not happiness that we need to achieve but bliss. This article from  Prabuddha Bharata questions our notion of happiness. Happiness Is The Wrong Goal Though we are bombarded since our childhood with the idea that to be happy is the goal of human life, the human condition does not show signs of being at peace with happiness. Therefore we need to overcome happiness. Since the period of cave dwellers, history has shown us that human beings have gone out of their way to seek disturbance. The cave dweller, for instance, could have merrily whiled away one’s time by just sustaining the body with the bountiful that the trees offered in the forest. No, that was simply not enough for the human being. There Is Not Authentic Happiness The growth of ideas in human civilization can be traced to the human pursuit of suffering. Ironically, almost all of the sources of global agony that we face today like climate change are the creations of the human intellect. So, while many mot