Ardhanareeswara
(A form of Siva – half man and half woman)
Once Upon a time on Mount Kailas, the mountain of
delight, the great Lord Siva and Goddess Parvati were sitting
on a resplendent throne.
The place was filled with the scent of
fine flowers and incense. After granting the boons desired by
devas, rishis and other hosts of devotees, and dismissing them,
Lord Siva rejoiced in the company of Goddess Uma (Parvati).
The great God pleased Goddess Uma who was as beautiful as
goddess Rati and full of auspicious qualities and noble traits. In
a joyous mood the Goddess, who thought that her Lord’s
attention was entirely centred on her, slipped playfully behind
Him and in sport covered fondly the three eyes of Sambhu, the
Lord of the World, with her two hands resembling lotus petals
and asked merrily, “who is it?”
As soon as His three eyes (the Moon, the Sun and Fire)
were covered a dismal darkness spread over the universe for
millions of years, because half a trice for Siva is aeons for us.
The darkness produced by the playfulness of the Goddess proved
to be the cause of the untimely destruction of the worlds, for in
the dense darkness no activities were possible and consequently
living beings perished without giving birth to new generations.
Seeing this state of affairs, the ever glorious Siddhas
approached Sambhu with devotion and prayed to Him for the
well-being of the universe. In response to this prayer of devotees
and Siddhas, Lord Siva, the embodiment of compassion, said,
“Gowri! Leave my eyes alone”.
Immediately the Goddess
removed the obstruction to the Moon, Sun and Fire in the form of the eyes of
Hara. Light returned to the worlds. The
Lord then asked the Siddhas, who stood in an attitude of
worship, “How much time has elapsed?” and they replied, “Half
a second for you and millions of years for us”.
On hearing this
the Lord, who is an ocean of compassion, turned with a smile
to his beloved and graciously spoke some words on dharma
and artha. “It is not proper that you, who are the Mother of the
world, should do anything to dissolve it. At the appointed time
only I am the one to do so. You have by your folly produced an
untimely dissolution. How can you, the embodiment of love,
perform acts which cause pain to your creation? You, who are
compassion itself, should not even for sport do anything to
hurt others”.
On hearing Sambhu’s words, Uma was struck with remorse
and prayed to know what she could do in expiation of this fault of
hers. At this Lord Siva was pleased with the repentance and devotion
of the Goddess and said, “What penance can be prescribed for you
leaving me out? Besides you follow the path of dharma.
Therefore
I shall prescribe a penance for you in accordance with prevailing
practice. You may perform meritorious acts for the welfare of karmabhoomi (the earth, which is said to be the place most suited
for performing religious rites). People will acquire firm faith in
dharma by seeing your method of doing penance.
There is no
doubt about it. Your grace will make the earth realize its goal, which
is the maintenance of dharma, Goddess! The timeless Vedas declare
you to be the All. The city known as Kancheepuri is heaven on
earth. A little penance done there yields boundless results. I shall
remain there in the lotus of your heart in my formless state as the
Absolute Pure Being.
Therefore you need not suffer the pangs of
separation from me”. On hearing this, the Goddess at once
proceeded southwards with her companions.
At that time, in the kingdom of Kasi there was famine for
want of rain, and the people were suffering greatly as they could not get
food.
Seeing this on her way and taking pity on the
people, Devi created a big mansion by Her mere wish, took the
name of Annapurna and, with a vessel which never became
empty, fed thousands of people. Before long Her fame spread
throughout the country.
Meanwhile the king himself found that his granary had
become empty and was wondering what to do. When he heard
of the poor-feeding that was being done by this lady Annapurna,
he was greatly surprised at the ability of a mere woman and, to
test her, asked for the loan of few measures of rice.
He received
a reply saying that there was no question of lending but that he
could come there to eat. With a wish to test her ability, the king
and his ministers went there in disguise and ate the food that
was given. When the king found the inexhaustibility of the
food that was being served all round, he immediately realised
that this could not be done by any human agency but only by
divine power.
Therefore, after the meal, he went and fell at the feet of
Annapurna and prayed, “Great Mother, please bless us and grant
us deliverance”. Pleased with his devotion, the Divine Mother
assumed her original form and said, “My son, I am pleased with
your devotion. As I have stayed here so long, your country will
be relieved of the evils of drought. You will now have rain and
there will be no famine. I cannot stay here any longer. I must
go south for my penance. Rule the people well and be happy”.
The king prayed, “Even so, You should be available to us for
our worship”. So the Mother agreed and left. That is the reason
why She manifested herself as ANNAPURNA, and the place
where She was, is now famous as the Temple of Annapurna.
From there She went to Kancheepuram in the South. There
She saw the pure and holy waters of the Kampa and began to
practise austerities on the river bank. She put aside Her various
ornaments and instead wore beads of rudraksha. She threw away Her fine
clothes and wore for garments the bark of trees, and
smeared her entire body with holy ashes. She lived on ears of
corn picked by Herself and always repeated the name of Siva.
Thrice a day (morning, noon and evening) She bathed in the
Kampa, and lovingly shaped its sand into a Linga. Full of
devotion she worshipped it with leaves as traditionally prescribed.
She respectfully welcomed the holy sages (maharshis) who came
to see Her. The sages were filled with wonder at Her austerities.
On one occasion she had collected and cleaned the flowers
from the forest. Repeating mantras She began to worship the
Linga made of sand, on the bank of the Kampa, in the agamic
way. Siva wished to test her devotion and so made the waters of
the Kampa rise and overflow its banks.
Seeing a huge flood
approaching, Her companions warned Devi, who opened Her
eyes and saw the river in spate. Distressed at this obstacle to Her
worship, She at once embraced the Linga lest it should crumble
away and said to them, “What to do? Worship in progress cannot
be stopped, come what may. Only those who have acquired
merit can bring to completion their good actions in this world
and practise the dharma which is capable of fulfilling the desires
of the heart.
The Sivalinga is made of sand. It will dissolve in
the flood. If a Linga is to be destroyed, a true devotee should
also perish with it. This flood has risen up through the maya of
Siva to test the sincerity of my devotion. I will continue without
the least fear.
Friends! Go away quickly!” Saying this, Ambika
did not abandon the Linga which she was embracing, even
though she was fast being surrounded by water. She devoutly
adored the great Linga, clasped it to her heart, and with open
eyes meditated on Sadasiva with one pointed devotion.
Then a divine voice from the sky spoke: “Girl! This great
flood has subsided. You can now leave the Linga, noblest of
beings! This Linga worshipped by you will achieve everlasting
fame as the one worshipped by the gods and capable of granting boons. May
your penance be successful! May human beings
who see and worship this Linga – established for the
maintenance of dharma – attain the goal of their lives!
I myself
shine on this earth in the form of the effulgent Arunachala for
the liberation of mortals. Since it removes the cruel heap of
sins from all the worlds, and since bondage becomes nonexistent
when one sees it, it is named Arunachala (the Hill
that destroys bondage).
Rishis, Siddhas, Gandharvas, Yogis etc.,
come here and fervently worship it, forsaking the peaks of
Kailas and Mount Meru. You may go there and learn from
the Sage Gautama about devotion to me and about the glory
of Arunachala, and do more penance. I shall reveal to you my
effulgent form there in order that all the sins (of the world)
may be destroyed and all the worlds prosper”.
On hearing
these words which came from Siva in His formless state, Devi
said, “So be it”, and started at once for Arunachala.
Turning
to the rishis who wished to follow Her, She said, “Perform
your austerities on the banks of the sacred Kampa. This Linga
of sand, which removes all sins and brings in all kinds of
prosperity, bears the marks of my embrace. Worship it. Let
my devotees know that I shall be worshipped as Kamakshi,
since I fulfil their desires and bless them. Let them worship
me and obtain the boons they desire.”
She then came to Arunachala. The Goddess saw Siddhas,
yogis, rishis and devas there. All the Maharshis begged Her to
be their guest, but She said that She must see Gautama
according to Siva’s command. So they directed Her to his
ashram. Devi then went to the Gautama Ashram at the foot
of the Coral Hill (pavalakunru).
Satananda, the son of
Gautama, saw Her and full of devotional fervour invited and
worshipped Her as prescribed and requested Her to stay on
while he went to the forest to bring his father, Gautama, who
had gone to fetch Kusa grass. By that time Gautama had already started for
home and when Satananda saw him, he ran to his
father with great excitement and told him that the Divine
Mother had come to their ashram.
The whole forest in the
twinkling of an eye became green and full of flowers and
fruits. Gautama was surprised and asked his son if it was really
so. Satananda with a faltering voice said, “Mother Parvati
Herself has come.” Equally thrilled and elated, Gautama
hastened to the place, saw Parvati and worshipped Her.
After
Devi performed penance for a long time according to the
instructions of Gautama, Mahadeva finally appeared before
Her and said that He would grant Her whatever boon she
asked for. With great respect Devi prayed that She should
become half of Siva Himself saying, “I cannot live any longer
with a separate body, for if separate, I may make another
mistake like this and then shall have to undergo all the
hardships of penance and suffer the pangs of separation”.
Parameswara therefore acceded to Her request and so united
with Her as ARDHANAREESWARA (the Lord with a halffemale
form). This is how Amba, the Mother of the universe,
became one half of Siva. |
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