The profanity begins at 38.5 min mark

Thousand Hands of Sahasrarjun

By Abhilash Rajendran 

Sahasrarjun, also known as Kartavirya Arjuna, is a famous king mentioned in Hindu Puranas and other scriptures. It is believed that Kartavirya Arjuna had thousands hands. There are numerous versions of the story of Kartavirya Arjuna but all stories have one thing in common and that is that he had thousand arms.

One of the most popular legends regarding the thousand Hands of Sahasrarjun is that he is an incarnation of the Sudarshana Chakra (Discus) of Hindu God Vishnu. Thus he is a manifestation of Chakradeva on earth to annihilate Adharma. Some scholars suggest that the Sudarshana Chakra has thousand spokes and each hand of Kartavirya represented a spoke in the Sudarshana Chakra.

Another legend mentioned in the Ganesh Purana suggests that Sahasrarjun was born without hands. Parents of Sahasrarjun prayed to God Dattatreya for a solution and it is said that Dattatreya blessed the baby with thousand arms.

Another popular view is that the thousand hands is a symbol – it represents the great strength and skills possessed by Sahasrarjun. The easy way to interpret and portray the talent that Sahasrarjun possessed was through numerous hands. It is said that he had superhuman strength and the power, skill and talent of thousand people put together. 

Hinduism says that there are 330 million Gods Mupathu mukkoti devargal. All these incarnations or forms of Gods are not to incite fear in the minds of common man but to show a man that God is in some form to rescue him from his suffering and misery. This is all to show that God can be in any form at any time and anywhere.

Moreover all these Gods are not different from one another. They take the form whichever is needed at that moment and the purpose. All the Gods are one and the same like how a man acts as a son, father and a husband in a single form. Krishna reveals the same during his Vishwaroopam in Kurukshetra war to Arjuna.

Lets briefly see what the different weapons symbolize and what they mean.

  • Paasa (Noose) – Ties oneself to dharma and means that its me who have tied you to the present situation.
  • Ankusha (Elephant Goad) – Controls the anger like controlling a mad elephant. Indicates that its me who controls your emotions.
  • Churi (Sword) – Treat every moment like handling a sword’s sharp edge.
  • Gadha (Mace) – Karma. You reap what you sow. If you do good things it will yield you good and if you do bad it blow you like getting hit by a mace.
  • Trishul (Trident) – Represent various trinities—creation, maintenance and destruction. And also past, present and future. Indicates that I’m the time (kaal).
  • Khatvanga (Skull with 8 coils of a snake) – Denotes the chakras of yoga indicating that the human body is controlled by me.
  • Khetaka (Shield) – Safety from all negatives. Indicates that I’m your shield.
  • Sankha (Conch) – Sounds Om. Announces that all this creation is within me and I’m everything.
  • Chakra (Discus) – Wheel of dharma, destroyer of adharma. Indicates that life is a cycle and adharma will get destroyed at the end.

From the above explanation it would be clear that these weapons are meant to indicate that God will be with us in all our doings. All theses weapons are shown just for the nature of the weapon and not to threaten the common man. They are shown to depict that He is the only supreme one and surrender onto his feet.

This is profane fire not taken from the altar. (Exod. 30:9).

Nadab and Abihu disregarded the solemn instruction they had been given, and filled their censers with a fire that did not originate from the holy fire of the altar of burnt offering.

They entered the tabernacle unprotected.5

Offering one’s own fire as a sacrifice and service to God rather than being guided by God’s principles amounts to nothing less than the works based sacrifice of Cain and the error of Saul. And God rejected them both (see Gen. 4:3–5, 1 Sam. 15:18–26).

This solemn story of sin and punishment is connected with the preceding chapter by a simple and. It would seem they ‘offered strange fire’ immediately after the fire from Jehovah had consumed the appointed sacrifice.

Their sin was aggravated by the timing of their sin. By this example of contempt, the people would end up following in their fragrant folly.6 This is the same error as Simon the sorcerer, and Ananias and Sapphira. Thus modern-day sons of Aaron, Nadab (evangelicals) and Abihu (Pentecostals), offer up strange fire, dismissing the commands of God.

They think they can use the holy things for their own ends. The point is these men’s entire purpose is to serve God for their own interests.

Most of Christianity is spiritually in a drunken stupor, unable to see a difference between the holy and the unholy, the sacred and the common: and as a result they are in transgression, much like Nadab and Abihu. So many churches are so completely void of the true fire of God that if the Holy Spirit withdrew fully from them, most wouldn’t realise for months, if at all.

We may think we can play games, but God is not mocked!

Excerpt taken from the book — Hellsong – The Music of Hillsong