Tat tvam asi?

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002, Sankaran Aniruddhan wrote:

> Actually, I have learnt exactly the opposite. As far as I've heard,
> sleeping with your head pointing towards North is a definite no-no. Any
> other direction is ok. Maybe this is a varying custom in different parts
> of India?
>

It could be, I hadn't thought of that.  The explanation I've heard is
that north and east are the directions of Indra and Agni while south
and southwest are particularly bad because they are the direction of
Yama and Nirrti.  There is a puranic story about the
birth of the Maruts which says Diti the mother of the Daityas was upset
that Indra (the son of her sidter Aditi) kept slaying her children so she
did tapa for a son who would destroy Him.  Indra was worried but could not
approach because of the power of her tapa until one day she accidently
slept with her head pointing south whereupon he entered into her and cut
the embryo into seven pieces.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/