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The ancient Vedic literature of India informs us that there three planetary systems in this universe: the upper, or heavenly planets; the middle planets, including the Earth; and the lower, or hellish, planets. The entire universe is enclosed in a  immense shell, which is millions of miles thick. Beyond this shell lies the spiritual world and the spiritual waters of the Karana Ocean.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam tells how once, long ago, a king named Bali Maharaja conquered all three planetary systems. Chasing the demigods - Lord Vishnu's deputed mangers of universial affairs, from their heavenly domains, he installed himslef as the king of heaven. Aditi, the mother of the demigods, aggreived at her sons' defeat, fasted and prayed to Lord Vishnu for twelve consecutive days. Pleased with Aditi, The Lord agreed to reinstate the demigods by incarnating as Vamanadeva, a dwarf brahmana beggar.
Lord Vamanadeva, appearing as the ideal brahmana (saintly priest), approached Bali Maharaja and begged him for three paces of land. When Bali agreed,  Vamanadeva kicked a hole in the universal shell with His toe. ausing a few drops of Karana water to leak into the universe. This water became the Ganges river, which is thus considered sacred and purifying, both because it comes from the spiritual world and because it touched the toe of Lrod Vamanadeva.
At first the Ganges flowed only in the heavenly planets. Then a great earthly king named Bhagiratha, who was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, desiring to have the Ganges purify the earth, prayed for the river to descend. The Ganges personified appeared before King Bhagiratha and agreed to fulfill his desire. But she had a reservation. "When I fall from the sky to the surface of the planet earth," she explained, " the water will certainly be very forceful. Who will sustain that force? I f I am not sustained, I shall pierce the surface of the earth, and then I shall glide down to the hellish planets."
To satisfy mother Ganges, King Bhagiratha prayed to Lord Siva, who is a powerful incarnation and the greatest devotee of lord Vishnu. When the king asked the powerful Lord Siva to catch the falling Ganges water on his head, Lord Siva agreed to the request, saying simply, "Let it be so".
Since that time, Lord Siva has been sustaining mother Ganges on his head, and the waters of the sacred river have been flowing on earth, purifying all those who come in contact with them. The Himalayan mountain and glacier from which the Ganges flows are still named after King Bhagiratha. According to the Vedic literature, anyone who bathes in the Ganges is cleansed of all material contamination and becomes eligible to be liberated and return to the eternal spiritual world, where the Ganges originates.
 


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