om garudai namah. important to remember that he is visnu / narayna's vahana or vehicle. he is a great servant of the lord. the nicest deity of garuda ji i have seen is bhaktapur, nepal. its worth it.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.6.39

avaropya giriḿ skandhāt

suparṇaḥ patatāḿ varaḥ

yayau jalānta utsṛjya

hariṇā sa visarjitaḥ

SYNONYMS

avaropya — unloading; girim — the mountain; skandhāt — from his shoulder; suparṇaḥ — Garuḍa; patatām — of all the birds; varaḥ — the biggest or most powerful; yayau — went; jala-ante — where the water is; utsṛjya — placing; hariṇā — by the Supreme Personality of Godhead; saḥ — he (Garuḍa); visarjitaḥ — discharged from that place.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter, Garuḍa, the chief of birds, unloaded Mandara Mountain from his shoulder and brought it near the water. Then he was asked by the Lord to leave that place, and he left.

PURPORT

Garuḍa was asked by the Lord to leave that place because the snake Vāsuki, who was to be used as the rope for churning, could not go there in the presence of Garuḍa. Garuḍa, the carrier of Lord Viṣṇu, is not a vegetarian. He eats big snakes. Vāsuki, being a great snake, would be natural food for Garuḍa, the chief of birds. Lord Viṣṇu therefore asked Garuḍa to leave so that Vāsuki could be brought to churn the ocean with Mandara Mountain, which was to be used as the churning rod. These are the wonderful arrangements of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nothing takes place by accident. Carrying Mandara Mountain on the back of a bird and putting it in its right position might be difficult for anyone, whether demigod or demon, but for the Supreme Personality of Godhead everything is possible, as shown by this pastime. The Lord had no difficulty lifting the mountain with one hand, and Garuḍa, His carrier, carried all the demons and demigods together by the grace of the Supreme Lord. The Lord is known as Yogeśvara, the master of all mystic power, because of His omnipotence. If He likes, He can make anything lighter than cotton or heavier than the universe. Those who do not believe in the activities of the Lord cannot explain how things happen. Using words like "accident," they take shelter of ideas that are unbelievable. Nothing is accidental. Everything is done by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the Lord Himself confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10). Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram. Whatever actions and reactions occur within the cosmic manifestation all take place under the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, because the demons do not understand the potency of the Lord, when wonderful things are done, the demons think that they are accidental.

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King Pariksit, after hearing of the chastisement of Kaliya, inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami as to why Kaliya left his beautiful land and why Garuda was so antagonistic to him. Sukadeva Gosvami informed the King that the island known as Nagalaya was inhabited by serpents and that Kaliya was one of the chief serpents there. Being accustomed to eating snakes, Garuda used to come to this island and kill many serpents at his will. Some of them he actually ate, but some were unnecessarily killed. The reptile society became so disturbed that their leader, Vasuki, appealed to Lord Brahma for protection. Lord Brahma made an arrangement by which Garuda would not create a disturbance: on each half-moon day, the reptile community would offer a serpent to Garuda. The serpent was to be kept underneath a tree as a sacrificial offering to Garuda. Garuda was satisfied with this offering, and therefore he did not disturb any other serpents.

But gradually, Kaliya took advantage of this situation. He was unnecessarily puffed up by the volume of his accumulated poison, as well as by his material power, and he thought, "Why should Garuda be offered this sacrifice?" He then ceased offering any sacrifice; instead, he himself ate the offering intended for Garuda. When Garuda, the great devotee-carrier of Visnu, understood that Kaliya was eating the offered sacrifices, he became very angry and quickly rushed to the island to kill the offensive serpent. Kaliya tried to fight Garuda and faced him with his many hoods and poisonous sharp teeth. Kaliya attempted to bite him, and Garuda, the son of Tarksya, in great anger and with the great force deserving the carrier of Lord Visnu, struck the body of Kaliya with his effulgent golden wings. Kaliya, who is also known as Kadrusuta, son of Kadru, immediately fled to the lake known as Kaliyadaha, underneath the Yamuna River, which Garuda could not approach.

Kaliya took shelter within the water of the Yamuna for the following reason. Just as Garuda went to the island of the Kaliya snake, so he also used to go to the Yamuna to catch fish to eat. There was, however, a great yogi known as Saubhari Muni, who used to meditate within the water there and who was sympathetic with the fish. He asked Garuda not to come there and disturb the fish. Although Garuda was not under anyone's order, being the carrier of Lord Visnu, he did not disobey the order of the great yogi. Instead of staying and eating many fish, he carried off one big fish, who was their leader. Saubhari Muni was sorry that one of the leaders of the fish was taken away by Garuda, and thinking of their protection, he cursed Garuda in the following words: "Henceforward from this day, if Garuda comes here to catch fish, then--I say this with all my strength--he will be immediately killed."

This curse was known only to Kaliya. Kaliya was, therefore, confident that Garuda would not be able to come there, and so he thought it wise to take shelter of the lake within the Yamuna. But Kaliya's taking shelter of Saubhari Muni was not successful; he was driven away from the Yamuna by Krsna, the master of Garuda. It may be noted that Garuda is directly related to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is so powerful that he is never subjected to anyone's order or curse. Actually the cursing of Garuda--who is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam to be of the stature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Bhagavan--was an offense on the part of Saubhari Muni. Although Garuda did not try to retaliate, the Muni was not saved from his offensive act against a great Vaisnava personality. Due to this offense, Saubhari fell down from his yogic position and afterwards became a householder, a sense enjoyer in the material world. The falldown of Saubhari Muni, who was supposed to be absorbed in spiritual bliss by meditation, is an instruction to the offender of Vaisnavas.

When Krsna finally came out of Kaliya's lake, He was seen by all His friends and relatives on the bank of the Yamuna. He appeared before them nicely decorated, smeared all over with candana pulp, bedecked with valuable jewels and stones, and almost completely covered with gold. The inhabitants of Vrndavana, cowherd boys and men, mother Yasoda, Maharaja Nanda and all the cows and calves, saw Krsna coming from the Yamuna, and it was as though they had recovered their very life. When a person regains his life, naturally he becomes absorbed in pleasure and joyfulness. They each in turn pressed Krsna to their chests, and thus they felt a great relief. Mother Yasoda, Rohini, Maharaja Nanda and the cowherd men became so happy that they embraced Krsna and thought they had achieved their ultimate goal of life.

Balarama also embraced Krsna, but He was laughing because He had known what would happen to Krsna when everyone else was so overwhelmed with anxiety. All the trees on the bank of the Yamuna, all the cows, bulls and calves were full of pleasure because of Krsna's appearance there. The brahmana inhabitants of Vrndavana, along with their wives, immediately came to congratulate Krsna and His family members. Brahmanas are considered to be the spiritual masters of society. They offered their blessings to Krsna and the family on account of Krsna's release. They also asked Maharaja Nanda to give them some charity on that occasion. Being so pleased by Krsna's return, Maharaja Nanda began to give many cows and much gold in charity to the brahmanas. While Nanda Maharaja was thus engaged, mother Yasoda simply embraced Krsna and made Him sit on her lap while she shed tears continually..

Since it was almost night, and all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, including the cows and calves, were very tired, they decided to take their rest on the river bank. In the middle of the night, while they were taking rest, there was suddenly a great forest fire, and it quickly appeared that the fire would soon devour all the inhabitants of Vrndavana. As soon as they felt the warmth of the fire, they immediately took shelter of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although He was playing just like their child. They began to say, "Our dear Krsna! O Supreme Personality of Godhead! Our dear Balarama, the reservoir of all strength! Please try to save us from this all-devouring and devastating fire. We have no other shelter than You. This devastating fire will swallow us all!" Thus they prayed to Krsna, saying that they could not take any shelter other than His lotus feet. Lord Krsna, being compassionate upon His own townspeople, immediately swallowed up the whole forest fire and saved them. This was not impossible for Krsna because He is unlimited. He has unlimited power to do anything He desires.


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Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.19.14

tad ojasā daitya-mahā-bhaṭārpitaḿ

cakāsad antaḥ-kha udīrṇa-dīdhiti

cakreṇa ciccheda niśāta-neminā

harir yathā tārkṣya-patatram ujjhitam

SYNONYMS

tat — that trident; ojasā — with all his strength; daitya — among the demons; mahā-bhaṭa — by the mighty fighter; arpitam — hurled; cakāsat — shining; antaḥ-khe — in the middle of the sky; udīrṇa — increased; dīdhiti — illumination; cakreṇa — by the Sudarśana disc; ciccheda — He cut to pieces; niśāta — sharpened; neminā — rim; hariḥ — Indra; yathā — as; tārkṣya — of Garuḍa; patatram — the wing; ujjhitam — abandoned.

TRANSLATION

Hurled by the mighty demon with all his strength, the flying trident shone brightly in the sky. The Personality of Godhead, however, tore it to pieces with His discus Sudarśana, which had a sharp-edged rim, even as Indra cut off a wing of Garuḍa.

PURPORT

The context of the reference given herein regarding Garuḍa and Indra is this. Once upon a time, Garuḍa, the carrier of the Lord, snatched away a nectar pot from the hands of the demigods in heaven in order to liberate his mother, Vinatā, from the clutches of his stepmother, Kadrū, the mother of the serpents. On learning of this, Indra, the King of heaven, hurled his thunderbolt against Garuḍa. With a view to respect the infallibility of Indra's weapon, Garuḍa, though otherwise invincible, being the Lord's own mount, dropped one of his wings, which was shattered to pieces by the thunderbolt. The inhabitants of higher planets are so sensible that even in the process of fighting they observe the preliminary rules and regulations of gentleness. In this case, Garuḍa wanted to show respect for Indra; since he knew that Indra's weapon must destroy something, he offered his wing.

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Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.21.34

nirīkṣatas tasya yayāv aśeṣa-

siddheśvarābhiṣṭuta-siddha-mārgaḥ

ākarṇayan patra-rathendra-pakṣair

uccāritaḿ stomam udīrṇa-sāma

SYNONYMS

nirīkṣataḥ tasya — while he was looking on; yayau — He left; aśeṣa — all; siddha-īśvara — by liberated souls; abhiṣṭuta — is praised; siddha-mārgaḥ — the way to the spiritual world; ākarṇayan — hearing; patra-ratha-indra — of Garuḍa (king of birds); pakṣaiḥ — by the wings; uccāritam — vibrated; stomam — hymns; udīrṇa-sāma — forming the Sāma Veda.

TRANSLATION

While the sage stood looking on, the Lord left by the pathway leading to Vaikuṇṭha, a path extolled by all great liberated souls. The sage stood listening as the hymns forming the basis of the Sāma Veda were vibrated by the flapping wings of the Lord's carrier, Garuḍa.

PURPORT

In the Vedic literature it is stated that the two wings of the transcendental bird Garuḍa, who carries the Lord everywhere, are two divisions of the Sāma Veda known as bṛhat and rathāntara. Garuḍa works as the carrier of the Lord; therefore he is considered the transcendental prince of all carriers. With his two wings Garuḍa began to vibrate the Sāma Veda, which is chanted by great sages to pacify the Lord. The Lord is worshiped by Brahmā, by Lord Śiva, by Garuḍa and other demigods with selected poems, and great sages worship Him with the hymns of Vedic literatures, such as the Upaniṣads and Sāma Veda. These Sāma Veda utterances are automatically heard by the devotee when another great devotee of the Lord, Garuḍa, flaps his wings.

It is clearly stated here that the sage Kardama began to look to the path by which the Lord was being carried to Vaikuṇṭha. It is thus confirmed that the Lord descends from His abode, Vaikuṇṭha, in the spiritual sky, and is carried by Garuḍa. The path which leads to Vaikuṇṭha is not worshiped by the ordinary class of transcendentalists. Only those who are already liberated from material bondage can become devotees of the Lord. Those who are not liberated from material bondage cannot understand transcendental devotional service. In Bhagavad-gītā it is clearly stated, yatatām api siddhānām [Bg. 7.3]. There are many persons who are trying to attain perfection by striving for liberation from material bondage, and those who are actually liberated are called brahma-bhūta or siddha. Only the siddhas, or persons liberated from material bondage, can become devotees. This is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā: anyone who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or devotional service, is already liberated from the influence of the modes of material nature. Here it is also confirmed that the path of devotional service is worshiped by liberated persons, not the conditioned souls. The conditioned soul cannot understand the devotional service of the Lord. Kardama Muni was a liberated soul who saw the Supreme Lord in person, face to face. There was no doubt that he was liberated, and thus he could see Garuḍa carrying the Lord on the way to Vaikuṇṭha and hear the flapping of his wings vibrating the sound of Hare Kṛṣṇa, the essence of the Sāma Veda.

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The Lord was fighting on the back of Garuda, and Garuda was also helping the Lord by striking the horses and the elephants with his wings and scratching their heads with his nails and sharpened beak. The elephants were feeling much pain by Garuda's attack on them, and they were all dispersing from the battlefield. Bhaumasura alone remained on the battlefield, and he engaged himself in fighting with Krsna. He saw that Krsna's carrier, Garuda, was causing great disturbance to his soldiers and elephants, and in great anger he struck Garuda with all his strength, which defied the strength of the thunderbolt. Fortunately, Garuda was not an ordinary bird, and he felt the strokes given by Bhaumasura just as a great elephant feels the impact of a garland of flowers.

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enjoy!!!