Durvasa 4

The sage would het up at the dead of the night and demand a sumptuous meal. Kunti would get tasty food in a veryshort time and request him to have it. Sometimes he would refuse it saying that he was not in a mood to eat. Kuntiwould never get upset at such strange behaviours of the sage. She continued to serve him with greater devotionand make him satisfied.

Durvasa was pleased and granted a boon

Sage Durvasa was greatly pleased with Kunti's devotion service and her prolite and graceful speech. He decided to bless her. The king used to visit her and enquire about how she had been serving the sage. He would meet the sageand ask him whether everything was going on to his satisfaction.
Oneday Durvasa was in a very relaxed mood and called Kunti to his side, "O blessed little princess, I am supremelyhappy with your service. Ask for boons which lesser mortals can never achieve in getting. I will grant them.""O revered sage I am blessed already. You are pleased with my service and I am really fortunate. That is a greatboon to me. Will I be able to get a better boon than that? I am happy to know that you are pleased." Kunti repliedwith her natural modesty.
Durvasa was intent on giving her something and said,'O blessed princess, if you do not want a boon, atleast takethis mantra, which I am sure, will help you in your need. When you chant this mantra having a god in mind, andinvite him, he will appear before you and grant you what you desire for, whether he desires or not he will beyours for a short time."
Though Kunti did not desire any such thing, she was scared to refuse it, for she knew that the sage would getangry and curse her. She agreed to recive it.
She had a bath, dressed herself in her best and came to the sage. He made her sit near him and initiated her to a mantra from Atharvasheersha.
Then he summoned the king and said,"Rajendra, I have spent almost a year in your palace happily. I am very pleasedwith your daughter;s sincere service. I must leave now. May God bless you" So saying sage Durvasa left the palace.The king congratulated his daughter for her great service to the sage.
When she was still a maiden, thoughtlessly she wanted to test efficacy of the mantra and the result was that shegot Karna as her son. After she got married, she got great and righteous sons like Yudhishtira, Bhima and Arjuna. Nakula and Sahadeva were born to her sister, Madri, another queen of king Pandu.
There is a place of pilgrimage between Prabhasa and Dwaraka and both these were holy places too. It was here thatsage Durvasa gave a boon to Vishnu and therefore the place is called Varadana Tirtha.
Devendra, the chief of gods had a courthall named 'Puskaramaline' and the court was called 'Sudharma'. Durvasawould be a regular invitee to Sudharma and he was held in high esteem by the devas. He was also an invitee atthe court of Lord Brahma.


Vratha undertaken by Maharshi Mudgala

There lived a great sage by name Mudgala in Kurushetra and he had acquired power to control his sense and desires. He would go to fields after harvest and collect corn spilled on the fields and live on that. This was called 'unchavritti'.This did not deter the sage from being a wonderful host. Once in fifteen days on the full-moon and newmoon dayshe would perform a yagya by name ishti and play host to a number of guests. He would eat food only on thosedays. He did not bear hatred to anyone. He was not jealous of others. He was the purest among the pure. Devendra, the cheif of gods would come in person to receive the 'havis' (oblations offered in yajna in the form of clarifiedbutter, grain, milk and soma) offereed by the sage.

On auspicious days he would perform yajnas and offer havis to gods and feed guests until the last grain of rice wasserved. If guests come after and feed till the last among the guests was satisfied. This way he would feed hunderedsof guests on those days.

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