Shrimad
Bhagavatam & Advaita Bhakti - 5
Of
SvAyambhuva Manu and ShatarUpA there were two sons (Priyavrata and Uttanapada)
and three daughters (Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti). Devahuti was given in marriage to
Kardama-prajapati and we noted that this was the first ritual wedding in all universe in this kalpa of Brahma. Akuti
was given in marriage to the prajapati Ruchi. Brahma’s first nine creations for the purpose
of populating the world are called prajapatis. Prasuti
was given in marriage to Daksha-prajApati.
We shall now take up the story of Daksha.
The
Daksha-Prasuti couple had sixteen daughters.
Their countless descendents are spread all over the three worlds, says
the Bhagavatam. The ninth daughter Sati was
given in marriage to Lord Shiva belonging to the triad of Divinities
Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva. The first seven chapters of Skanda IV
deals with the events consequent to an ill-feeling that Daksha developed
towards Shiva. When this story was being told by Maitreya to Vidura the
latter asks a legitimate question: How did this ill-feeling start? And why was it so serious as
to lead up to the self-immolation of Sati?
And Maitreya recapitualtes the long story. Once all seers and sages assembled for a grand yajna.
When Daksha appeared there with all splendour, all in the assembly – except
Creator Brahma and Lord Shiva - stood up
to honour and receive him. Daksha grew indignant at the fact that he was not
paid the respect due to him by Shiva. Daksha gave a big
speech insulting and scandalising the personality of Shiva, casting him in the
role of an impure (*naShTa-shaucha*) and evil-minded (*durhRRidaH*)
person. ‘Though bearing the appellation of Shiva, meaning ‘auspicious’,
he is really inauspicious’ (*shivApadesho hyashivaH*) says Daksha. Some leading members of the assembly tried to
halt him from going on in this way. Unmindful of such advice, Daksha proceeded
to cast a curse on Shiva that he (Shiva) shall no longer get a share in the
sacrificial offerings in yajnas. And then Daksha left the hall.
Incidentally
in the whole of our Ancient purAnas,
there are only two
persons,
who criticised the Lord
straight in His face:
They are
Daksha and ShishupAla
Shiva
did not say anything in reply. But Nandikeshvara, the foremost devotee of
Shiva, could not brook the insult offered to the Lord and he issued forth a
counter-curse to the effect that Daksha’s head will change into that of a goat
and his Brahmana followers shall wander as beggars eating anything and
everything. Not brooking this curse on the Brahmana race the sage Brighu uttered a
counter-curse saying the followers of Shiva shall take to the path of heretics
instead of the path chalked out by the Vedas.
While this counter-cursing was going on, Lord Shiva also left the scene. The yajna
that had been started was conducted by those present and finished in due time.
Several hundreds
of years passed. Creator Brahma
nominated Daksha-prajApati as the head of all the prajApatis. This bloated up
his (Daksha’s) head. He performed a Vajapeya sacrifice wherein he did not
invite many Brahmana sages of great knowledge. In continuation he started a
major yajna named
Brihaspati-savaM. His daughter Sati,
the consort of Shiva, heard the news accidentally and pleaded with the Lord to
allow her to go and attend the yajna festival in her father’s home.
But Lord
Shiva said: Your father’s mind is tainted with malice due to excessive
arrogance and anger born of self-identification with the body. My dear,
Exchange of formalities in the form of rising from one’s seat, respectful
behaviour and salutation, etc. is properly done only by the wise. They do this
mentally with respect to the Supreme Person who is the indweller of every heart
and not to him who regards the body as his own Self. It is the absolutely pure mind which is
termed as Vasudeva because it is there that the Supreme Person is realized in
His unmasked glory. It is in the altar of such a mind that I wait upon with
obeisance Lord Vasudeva, who is beyond sense-perception: (IV – 3 – 23):
satvam
vishuddhaM vasudeva-shabditaM yadIyate tatra pumAn-apAvRRitah /
satve ca
tasmin bhagavAn Vasudevo hyadhokshhajo me namasA vidhIyate //
Therefore
you should never look at the face of Daksha, your father. If you ignore my
advice no good will come to you thereby. Having said this Lord Shiva became
silent. With a heart tormented by grief and anger, Sati,
clouded by her Nature, proceeded to her parents’ home. There, afraid of Daksha
who treated her with disrespect, nobody bestowed any attention on her except
her sisters and her mother. Seeing that no sacrificial offerings were allotted to
Rudra, she flew into a rage and reproached her father in faltering but angry
words: IV -4 – 11 to 23.
No one,
except you, father, would antagonize Lord Shiva who is unsurpassed and to whom
no one is dear or hateful, who is the beloved Self of all embodied beings.
People like you discover faults even in the virtues of others but there are
some pious souls who never do so:
doshhAn
pareshhAM hi guNeshhu sAdhavo gRRihNanti kecin-na bhavAdRRishA dvija / (4 – 12 –i)
My dear father, you
are committing the greatest offense by envying Lord Shiva, whose very name, consisting of two
syllables, shi
and va,
uttered with the tongue even once and that too casually, purifies one of all
sin. His command is inviolable. Lord Shiva
is always pure, and no one but you envies him: (4 – 14):
Yat dvyakshharaM nAma gireritaM nRRiNAM sakRRit-prasangAd-aghamAshu hanti taM
/
Pavitra-kIrtiM
tamalanghya-shAsanaM bhavAnaho dveShTi shivaM shivetaraH //
You are envious of Him
who is the friend of all living entities within the three worlds. For the
common man He fulfills all desires. His
lotus feet are resorted to by the bee-like minds of exalted souls, thirsting
for honey in the shape of the joy of absorption in the Absolute Brahman (4 –
15):
Yat pAda-padmaM mahatAM
manolibhiH nishhevitaM brahma-rasAsavArthibhiH /
Lokasya yad-varshhati chAshishho’rthinaH
tasmai bhavAn druhyati vishva-bandhave //
Him
whose lotus feet are resorted to by great devotees, honey-bees as it were in
quest of the nectar of the bliss of Brahman, to Him who is the friend and
benefactor of the universe, to Him who showers every kind of blessing on those
who seek it from Him, to Him you have added insult to injury.
And She
goes on like this. “I cannot bear to
continue in this body born of you. This body of mine is now despicable. Persons like you who engage in
fruitive activities by performing great sacrifices are concerned with
satisfying their bodily necessities by eating foodstuff offered as a sacrifice.
We can exhibit our opulences simply by desiring to do so. This can be achieved
only by great personalities who are renounced, self-realized souls. Do not entertain a false notion that you are rich and
powerful. I am ashamed to be called Dakshayani any more”. So saying She sat down and invoked air and
fire by yoga and
Her body was consumed by the fire so generated.
Sri Rudra heard about
all this and in anger created Virabhadra, a fiery formidable form, who, with a
large retinue of Bhuta-ganas invaded Daksha’s Yagashala, destroyed everything
and severed the head of Daksha himself.
Afterwards all the devas and Rishis
appealed to Brahma, who, together with Lord Vishnu, took them all to Sri Rudra Himself. Finally Rudra was appeased and he agreed to
come along with them to give back life to Daksha, but now with a goat’s head,
and to allow the yajna to be completed. Lord Vishnu announced at the finale of
the yajna as follows: “I am known as the supreme cause of the worlds, its soul,
its ruler, the witness of everything, the self-effulgent being and
attributeless Absolute. But in truth I am both Brahma and Rudra. I assume
different names appropriate for the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the
universe. He attains eternal peace who does perceive no difference among us three”.
Shuka winds up the
story by saying: “The daughter of Daksha, after giving up her body was born
anew in Mena, the wife of Himavan. She again chose Lord Shiva as Her beloved
husband”.
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