sati alone

 

                      Devoted to Sati alone

 

Days and night passed in shrill poise with no warmth, no bond, no cordial feeling or no dual either. Spiritual revenge is unique. Without attacking or allowing the defaulter to  justify or repent, husband Shiv lived like a person solely away from the presence of his chaste spouse. Sati grilled in repentance but got no opportunity to recreate the bond. Once she found celestial being passing through heaven to attend a function. Those guests informed her about a yagya about to be performed by her father Daksh. Finding that all celestial beings were invited there but not she and her husband, she felt hurt. The long worn gloom had driven her to try something to restore the normalcy in her life. She asked husband Lord Shiv to allow her to go to Mayakshetra to attend the yagya celebrations. Shiv knew that his father in law disliked him and had deliberately not invited him to convey his message. He suggested his wife to give up the idea of going there as one should never go to an  uninvited celebration. But when Sati insisted he asked her to go and sent some of his servitors with her to take care of her on her way.

 

 Sati reached her parental home and met with her other sisters and mother. All treated her with a faint smile. Sati was authoritative and entered the premises of function where golden thrones had been arranged for all guests except Lord Shiv. Unable to bear with the humiliation of her stoic yogi husband Sati lambasted her egoist father who also retaliated with brazen mockery to the couple. The long brewing anguish of alienation by husband Shiv had been gradually seeping into her heart. Heated diatribe with the father further infuriated her. Frustrated Sati cursed her father and sat down to renounce her body by pranayama. She heaved her last, leaving the premises of celebration turning into a cremation ground. All around uproar spread. Voices of wailing and sobbing women began to rent the air  where clarinets were about to be played. Servitors of Lord Shiv destroyed the premises and a battle ensued between guests and Shivganas. Narad took the message of mishap to his Lord Shiv. Shiv rose from his meditation throne. He banged his hairlock upon a rock. Two giant beings emerged- Veerbhadra and Bhadrakaalee. Both looked ferocious, ready to gulp down any number of enemies. They bowed in front of their creator and sought his command. “Go and destroy the yagya fully,” Commanded angry and furious yogi Shiv. A matchless battle followed. Even Lord Vishnu was defeated by Nandi and Veerbhadra.  As the king fell down, the battle came to a halt. Daksh was beheaded in the battle. Seeing peerless cavalry of yogi Shiv and his army, all celestial beings saluted him and begged pardon. When praised by beheaded Daksh, Shiv shed his anger and allowed the head of a goat to be transplanted over the torso of Daksh. Shiv was overwhelmed with grief to see the charred body of his wife. He held her corpse in his arms and roamed around mourning for her all the time. Wherever his tears fell down auspicious trees of Rudraksha grew up. Seeing him in such state of shock and grief, Lord Vishnu chopped off her corpse into fifty one pieces. Wherever her body-parts fell down, those places became shaktipitha where Divine Mother is worshipped even now.

 

                          Shiv was in such delirium that he swooned after it. Lord Vishnu embraced him and tried to bring him back to his consciouness. Having received strength from him to bear with the grief, Shiv became a wanderer. He made garland of Sati’s bones and put it round his neck feeling presence of his wife on his bosom all the time.  He smeared ashes of her remains all over his body to comfort himself.  His heart yet got no solace.  “O Sati! The Goddess of my life!” he screamed and fainted. All wisdom imparted by Lord Vishnu vanished from his mind.  Inert with grief and seething in the fire of separation from his better-half, he could not even concentrate on his favourite God Srikrishn. Seeing him lying unconscious under a tree, all deities felt great pity and fear as well. They all prayed to Lord Vishnu to pull out Shiv from the ocean of suffering that had drowned him fully and wholly. Lord Vishnu took all along with him and appeared there. Great sages saluted Lord Vishnu and sat quietly around unconscious Shiv. No one dare utter anything. All felt great pity. Who could believe that an indifferent Lord of Yogis such as Lord Shiv could ever go to such extreme of suffering in remembrance of his wife? They also longed to see as to how Lord Vishnu would console the grief stricken Lord Shiv, in such a condition.

There sat Lord Vishnu shedding tears silently at the plight of his beloved Lord Shiv. Seeing Shiv not responding to subtle signals, Vishnu lifted him up in his arms and made him lye in his lap. He touched Lord Shiv all over and patted him with love. As Shiv still did not open his eyes, Lord Vishnu said,-“O, rejoicer in self alone! Listen to me, please. Spiritual wisdom alone repels the pall of gloom from a suffering mind. You are the seed of spiritual wisdom, abode of all learning and laws, yet I enlighten you. Maya is so powerful that she causes suffering to all, inevitably. In tough time suffering always shrouds the mind. Good and bad time recur in everyone’s life. As time passes, suffering also goes away. Wise persons consider the happening of good and bad times as mere dream. Mahadeva! Awaken, please. You will get your Sati back in due course.” Hearing the name of Sati, Lord Shiv regained his consciousness. Lord Vishnu further said,-“As liquidity can not be separated from water; power to burn can not be separated from Fire, so Goddess Sati can not be separated from you.”  Hearing the assurance from Lord Vishnu that he would get his Sati back, Lord Shiv opened his bereaved eyes. Yet he knew not where he was and who the folk around him were. “O, the incarnation of brilliance! Who are you?  Who is Sati and who am I? Please tell...” he fumbled and fell again in delirium….  Seeing Lord Shiv still besides himself, all deities felt ineffably low. Lord Vishnu could not contain his grief and shed streams of tears that bathed the body of Lord Shiv. Lord Vishnu, then composed himself and said,-“O Shiv! You are immortal and embodiment of supreme wisdom. Sorrow has deprived you of all your wisdom. All creatures experience joy and sorrow in alternation. Mind is the seed that bears fruits of joy and sorrow. Karma is the tree that bears these fruits. God is only a divine light.  Bodies are of two types. One is mortal another is immortal. The mortal body takes birth and dies but the immortal body is permanent and never perishes.  Both of us are permanent. I live as Krishn with my consort Radha in Goloka; as Vishnu with my consort Lakshmi in Vaikunthalok. Male and female are inseparable as spirit and nature that create all beings. If you want to get Sati back then worship and please Divine Mother Nature. The stotra that you taught to sage Durvasa in the past must be chanted by you too… I bless you. Your suffering will soon end.” Assurance of Lord Vishnu pacified Lord Shiv. He got up and took bath in river Ganga. With all his heart he sat down to worship Divine Mother,-“Salutations to you Divine Mother Nature! You are omniscient, manifest as creation, and ever blissful. Durga! You are destroyer of evil, obstacles, an unfailing ship to carry one across the ocean of world, please be pleased. O Incarnation of intelligence!, Beauty, peace, piety, you manifest yourself as hunger, thirst, sleep and desire. You are Goddess Lakshmi in the lap of Lord Vishnu!, Goddess Savitri in the lap of Lord Brahma!; and Goddess Sati in my lap. You manifest yourself as day and night; cause and effect all the time. Please be pleased. All females are your reflections. You rule over the heart of Lord Srikrishn as Radha in Goloka. Srikrishn adores you and worships you all the way.  Be pleased with me. You protected me when I fell down from Heavens in the dual with Tripurasura. I am burning in the fire of separation from you. Please save me from this torture. Appear before me soon and buy my entire life for it.” Saying so, Lord Shiv became dumbfounded. Moved by his entreaties and pleased with his devotion, Goddess Durga appeared in Heaven, Her glowing form pacified lovelorn Lord Shiv. He went on narrating his searing suffering he had been going through ever since Sati deserted him. He showed her how he had been pacifying himself by wearing the garland of her bones and tried to soothe his body by smearing her ashes all over his body. All deities including Lord Vishnu prayed Goddess Durga to redeem Lord Shiv from the ocean of suffering.  Goddess Durga smiled and said in propitiating voice,-“Mahadeva! Be patient. You are dearer to me then my own life. O Lord of Yogis!  In all my lives you alone are my husband, my Lord and my soul. I will take birth as daughter of Himvant and wed you at appropriate time. Please grieve not.” Saying so, she disappeared. All deities greeted Lord Shiv and went back. Lord Shiv felt fathomless peace and bliss. He joined his folk and began to dance in joy.