॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Saturday, 29 October 2022 IV.04 - An adamant Sati goes to Daksha's Yajna and the worst happens.
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मैत्रेय उवाच
एतावदुक्त्वा विरराम शङ्कर: पत्न्यङ्गनाशं ह्युभयत्र चिन्तयन् ।
सुहृद्दिदृक्षु: परिशङ्किता भवान्निष्क्रामती निर्विशती द्विधास सा ॥
सुहृद्दिदृक्षाप्रतिघातदुर्मना: स्नेहाद्रुदत्यश्रुकलातिविह्वला ।
भवं भवान्यप्रतिपूरुषं रुषा प्रधक्ष्यतीवैक्षत जातवेपथु: ॥
T: Maitreya continues the sordid narrative. "Bhagavan Shiva became silent, realising that Sati was likely to die either way - if held back against her desire or if she went to Daksha's Yajna. Sati was tormented by the dilemma of seeing the good sense of what her husband had counselled, and her great impetuous desire to go to her family function. She strode to and fro in indecision. Then she started crying, unable to accept Shiva's advice not to go. She blasted Shiva with her burning eyes of anger."
Sati decided to go, and left in a terrible huff. The words here are स्त्रैणनिमूढधीः meaning "the indiscretion natural to a woman."
At once, the alarmed attendants of Lord Shiva rushed along, carrying her pet bird, her mirror and other womanly paraphernalia, and seated her on Nandi, holding a great umbrella over her.
Followed by a singing party with drums, conches and bugles, the entire procession was like a royal parade.
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Sati entered her father's Yajna place that was resounding with Vedic hymns, filled as it was with all sacred Yajna materials, and being attended by great sages and gods.
Unfortunately, Daksha, and those present who were afraid of Daksha, treated Sati with indifference and discourtesy. Of course, Sati's mother and sisters, with tears in their eyes and with glad faces, welcomed her and talked with her very pleasingly. But Sati was so upset that she did not reply to their words of reception and did not accept the seat and presents offered. The reason was that her father neither talked with her nor welcomed her by asking about her welfare.
Sati noticed that there were no oblations for her husband, Lord Shiva (as was duly offered to all the gods). Next, she realised how her father had purposely not invited Lord Shiva, and also did not welcome the great god's wife and his own daughter when Sati arrived. Naturally, she became greatly angry, so much so that she looked at her father as if she were going to burn him with her eyes.
Sati's followers, the ghosts and the gargoyles wanted to attack Daksha and kill him. Sati stopped them. She now vented her rage and frustration aloud to the assembly.
"Lord Shiva is supreme, the most beloved of all living entities. He is unrivalled. He is equanimous in outlook towards all. No one but you could be envious of him when he is beyond enmity!"
"It is clear that although a Brahmin, you, Daksha, are finding fault in others when Shiva never faults anyone. Indeed he extols even the slightest of virtues in others! Is it not unfortunate that someone faults such a one as Lord Shiva!? It is a symptom of someone who is body-centred and hence materialistic. Such persons have envy that will cause their downfall."
यद्व्यक्षरं नाम गिरेरितं नृणां सकृत्प्रसङ्गादघमाशु हन्ति तत् ।
पवित्रकीर्तिं तमलङ्घ्यशासनं भवानहो द्वेष्टि शिवं शिवेतर: ॥
T: "Sir, The two sacred syllables Shi and Va, even when uttered once, instantly erase all the sins of any man. Shiva has the purest reputation and nobody dares to defy him. By your hatred, you are showing how greatly different you are from the embodiment of auspiciousness, Lord Shiva!"
"Lord Shiva confers his grace on all, even the seekers of liberation. Do you think those much greater than you, like Lord Brahma, do not revere Shiva whom you call inauspicious!? He may be surrounded by ghosts and demons, ash-smeared, wearing a garland of skulls, roaming the crematoria, but yet Shiva enjoys the highest reverence from Lord Brahma and such. They pick up the flowers offered at his feet and place them on their own heads as most sanctified!"
"If one hears such blasphemy of the Lord, one should block one's ears, if unable to punish the offender. Or one should cut off the offender's tongue, and kill him. After that one should end one's life."
"Father, I have received this body from you, and hence I consider it unworthy. Just as someone who has ingested poison is advised to vomit it, I shall give up this body now."
"The important thing is to perform one's Swadharma while not criticising others. Those who have realised the self do not need to engage in Vedic rituals, just as the gods travel by the aerial route unlike men who need to walk on earth."
"There are clearly two paths mentioned in the Vedas. The first is the path of Karma Kanda and rituals for those who are full of material desires. The other path is that of detachment and austerity. These paths suit different temperaments. But there is a third, elevated category of realised souls who are beyond both."
मा व: पदव्य: पितरस्मदास्थिता या यज्ञशालासु न धूमवर्त्मभि: ।
तदन्नतृप्तैरसुभृद्भिरीडिता अव्यक्तलिङ्गा अवधूतसेविता: ॥
T: "Father, our path is that of the self-realised Avadhootas. How can one who is engaged in fruitive Yajnas and enjoying the food after sacrifices appreciate our path of renunciation and detachment from ritual formalities?"
"Father, I condemn myself because my body is contaminated by a relationship with a person who is an offender at the lotus feet of the greatest personality, Lord Shiva. When called "Dakshayani" by Shiva, alluding to my being your, Daksha's, daughter, my cheer and smile disappear instantly in shame. I shall therefore give up this body!"
Speaking these words to her father in the Yajna Shala, Sati sat down on the ground and faced north. Dressed in saffron garments, she sanctified herself with water and closed her eyes to absorb herself in the process of Yoga. Seated in a firm Yogic pose, she drew her Pranas (life breath) into her navel. Then she slowly raised it through her heart, throat and finally to between her eyebrows. She was giving up her body, which had been placed so lovingly by Lord Shiva in his own lap. She now ignited the fire of life within.
तत: स्वभर्तुश्चरणाम्बुजासवं जगद्गुरोश्चिन्तयती न चापरम् ।
ददर्श देहो हतकल्मष: सती सद्य: प्रजज्वाल समाधिजाग्निना ॥
T: Then Sati concentrated totally on the holy lotus feet of her husband, Lord Shiva, who is the supreme Guru of the world. Thus completely cleansed of all taints of sin, Sati relinquished her body in a blazing fire ignited by her meditation.
The universe was in tumult, distressed deeply by the way Sati had given up her body, owing to the unpardonable offence that Daksha had committed towards Lord Shiva as well as his glorious wife, Sati. Daksha would incur great infamy as he had become unworthy of his Brahmin status for not having prevented Sati's suicide.
In the chaos, Shiva's attendants who had come with Sati readied themselves to kill Daksha. Seeing them with raised weapons, Sage Bhrigu wanted to stop the desecration of the Yajna ceremony by those attendants. So he invoked the protector deities of the Yajna by uttering the appropriate mantras. Those deities called Ribhus were empowered by Soma oblations and warded off the attackers.
हन्यमाना दिशो भेजुरुशद्भिर्ब्रह्मतेजसा
T: "The attackers were scattered in all directions by the power of Brahma Tejas."
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
