Indian society seems to have a lot of connection with ‘gold’. Gold is always present in worship, marriage, charity, life and death. The reason for this is that gold is considered very sacred. It itself is the form of Lakshmi and was born along with her during the churning of the ocean. When Goddess Lakshmi originated from the churning of gems, she was adorned with jewelery from head to toe. All her jewelery was of gold and thus, like Goddess Lakshmi, gold was also considered sacred and her form.
There is mention of gold in the Vedas
Although the Vedas have described gold as the most sacred metal. It can purify someone just by touching it. If you pay attention to the elders in the house, you will find that they consider it necessary to wash hands before touching gold. If there is no Kusha panti in the Yagya-Havan, then you can take a resolution by touching the ring worn in your hand.
Sleep purifies body and mind
when during puja “Om apavitrah pavitro va sarvavasthaam gato’pi va, yah smretpundarikaksham sa bahyabhyaantarah shuchih” After the mantra is chanted, the host has to touch the gold ring worn on the ring finger of the right hand with his left hand. In this way, with the effect of this mantra, gold purifies both the external and internal parts of the body.
…but gold also has some impurities
But, gold has not always been sacred. There are some impurities in it and because of these impurities gold has also been called a sin metal. How paradoxical is it that in religious texts, on one page, gold is the most sacred and on the very next page, it is so impure that it can be called a sin metal.
Actually gold is also a cursed metal. It is considered the center of greed. Many sins have been committed in the world because of gold and when the madness of getting it goes to the head, then the stock of sins becomes many times bigger than gold.
How did gold become a symbol of sin?
The story of how gold from a virtuous metal became a symbol of sin has been described in the Puranas. It is mentioned in Devi Bhagwat Purana that Devraj Indra had killed Trishira, son of Tvashta. Trishira had three heads and was doing very difficult penance. Indra’s seat started shaking due to his penance. Apart from this, Trishira had performed a yagya for the gods in the absence of Devguru Brihaspati, but when it came to offering the yagya portion, he started offering the yagya portion to the demons with one mouth.
Seeing all this, Indra cut off the head of Trishira. Indra’s virtues were also destroyed by the sin of killing Trishira. He had to lose all his glory. Now Indra hid in a secret lake and started meditating there. There was an uproar in heaven due to the empty Indrasana.
Indra’s sin resides in gold
Then Devguru Brihaspati found Indra and divided the consequences of his sins into four parts. When women got the first portion, they started menstruating. When a part was given to the river, it started flooding. When the trees got the third part, they started producing gum and the fourth part was invested in gold. In this way, Gold remains a sinner till today because of bearing the burden of Indra’s sin.
Even in Mahabharata, gold is a symbol of sin.
A story of the sin of sleeping also appears in the Adiparva of Mahabharata. One day Maharaj Parikshit had gone to the forest for hunting. He was very tired, but had lost his way. During this time Kalyug came to him and said that because of you I am not able to change the era. There is still Dwaparayug on earth. So please give me space. Saying this, Kalyug king started asking Parikshit for a place to stay again and again.
It is said that the king, enraged by hunger and thirst, asked Kaliyuga to ride on his head. Before Kalyug could listen to him, he sat on the crown of King Parikshit.
Why did gold become the cause of sin in Kaliyuga?
The king’s crown was made of gold and thus Kaliyuga resided in all types of gold jewelery and gold. In this way, gold, which had maintained the identity of purity for three ages, became a sinful metal as soon as it came under the influence of Kaliyuga.
Therefore, in Kaliyuga, at the sight of gold, incidents of robbery, theft or sometimes even murder occur. Therefore gold is considered a sin metal.
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