The impact of not worshiping Goddess Parvati before worshiping Lord Siva

The Karthika women, who brought up Lord Subrahmanya, went to the abode of Lord Siva, and requested Him to teach them the ashta siddhis. The Lord agreed. But while they showed a keenness to learn the use of these ashta siddhis, they ignored an important instruction of His, namely, that they should first worship Goddess Parvati, before they worshipped Him.

Lord Siva was going to be their guru. And it is imperative that anyone seeking instruction should obey the guru implicitly. But the Karthika women, by ignoring Parvati, did not pay heed to the instruction of their guru, namely, the Lord Himself. So the Lord said that they would forget the siddhis that He taught. They would have to go to Earth and become stones there. They would be liberated from that state by the Lord Himself. Thus the six women went to the Earth, and became stones in a place called Pattamangai. The place is in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, and is now known as Pattamangalam, said Raghubai in a discourse.

Under a banyan tree the women lay as stones for thousand years, and the stones were covered with falling leaves. The Lord then took the form of a gnani, and came to the banyan tree. He cast His merciful glance on the women turned to stones, and they came to life at once. What a miracle it was, like iron turning to gold! The women were lucky to have had the Lord's eyes rest on them. This is known as nayana deeksha. The Lord then put His hand on their heads. Thus they also got sparsa deeksha- deeksha by touch. Then the Lord taught them the eight siddhis.

The eight siddhis give one the power to take any form, to traverse all worlds, to make a light object heavy and vice versa, to control the planets, to subjugate even the celestials. These powers were conferred on the women by the Lord. However, He added that those who were His true devotees, would never use any of these powers. These powers would follow them as their own shadows, and reveal the greatness of such devotees to the world.

The Karthika women thus afford an example of what happens to those who ignore Parvati. The Lord and the Goddess are both to be worshipped for worship to be meaningful.

Read more...

The story of Lord Siva as bangle seller

Once Lord Siva took the form of one involved in penance and appeared before the wives of sages. He looked so handsome that it seemed the God of love, Manmatha, himself had come as a sage. The women ran towards Him. Their hearts melted at His sight. Such was their anxiety to make acquaintance with Him, they lost their weight instantly and their bangles slipped off! They then asked Him to return the bangles.

Lord Siva then indulged in some teasing conversation with them. They then looked into His eyes and saw images of some women in His eyes. The women were none other than these women themselves but they were unable to discern this. So they requested Him to hold their images in His eyes too.

The Lord replied that a handsome man could be seen in their eyes too, but they must have the capacity to discern this.

What He meant was that the Lord resided in everyone but only realised souls were aware of this.

The women then tried to embrace Him, but He eluded their hug, for He can be caught only in the net of bhakti. He is easily approached by His devotees but not by others, said Raghu Bai, in a discourse.

The women asked the Lord when He would return their bangles and He promised to return them soon. They tried to embrace Him, but He vanished.

The sages, whose wives had thus seen the Lord but failed to recognise Him, knew that the One who had appeared before them was Lord Siva.

Yet the sages' wives had sinned in trying to embrace someone other than their husbands. So the sages cursed their wives and said they would take another birth and that Siva would rid them of their curse.

The women were reborn accordingly. And when they attained marriageable age, Lord Siva appeared before them as a bangle seller. He displayed the bangles He had, and when He slipped them on the hands of the women, they had goose bumps. He then revealed His true form, and He ascended in a vimana.

As for the women, they were rid of their curse, because they were touched by the Lord, and thus rendered pure.

Read more...

Importance of Fasting

Feasting comes easily to us, since eating is one of the pleasures we never tire of. But fasting is what we should focus on, from the point of view of our spiritual well being, said V.S. Karunakarachariar.

But while cutting down on food may be good from the health point of view, how could it bring us spiritual benefits? When we fast, the Lord will be near us, and if He is near is, then we will not be troubled by bad thoughts.

That is why everyone is asked to fast for at least one day a month. Everyone must observe a fast on Ekadasi.

There are eleven culprits who trouble us — the five karmendriyas, the five gnanendriyas and our mind. That is why we are asked to fast on the eleventh day of every month, which is Ekadasi. It is no ordinary fast. We should not consume even water to quench our thirst. This is the best way to fast on Ekadasi.

But what of those who are unable to do this? The injunction is that they should not eat rice. So maybe some compromises can be made. They could perhaps eat some fruits, or drink some milk. Or, in the event of their not being able to keep rice totally off their plates, they could break the rice and make porridge with the broken rice.

But what they should not do is to consume whole rice grains. Thus, while it would be better if one could observe a total fast, shunning even water, the rules can be relaxed for those who are unable to adhere to such a strict fast.

Everyone knows the story of Lord Siva consuming the Halahala poison, and of Goddess Parvati holding His throat and thus preventing Him from swallowing the poison.

Lord Siva says that He transferred the ill effects of the poison to the stomachs of those who ate rice on Ekadasi. We are asked to fast for just one day every month. That cannot be too difficult for us, can it?

The fasting will help us think of God, and not keep our attention on worldly things. Our mind tends to move in all directions, except the right one, and it requires practice and concentration for us to keep our minds on God. Fasting is one way to help us achieve this.

Read more...

Religion has a place too!

In a Tamil work of literature, a story is told of how a discussion was once organised, in which many scholars participated. One of them was a devotee of Lord Siva, and He described Siva's qualities to the assembled gathering. He said that Siva was seen in eight things- the Sun, Moon, the five elements- namely earth, space, water, air and fire, and also in all atmas. He has no death. He has no birth. He lasts always and always has the same qualities.

Devotees sing of Him. But He is beyond our reach and beyond description. True devotees of the Lord do not even seek moksha. All they want is to worship Him in temples. It is said, for example, that the Linga in the Madurai Meenakshi temple in Tamil Nadu, is older than even the Himalayas. When compared with other mountains in this world, the Himalayas are younger. The Himalayas are a recent formation due to tectonic activity,. So Madurai, the Lord's abode is even older than Mount Kailas. No wonder then that the Lord's devotees want to worship Him there, and even prefer places like Madurai and Chidambaram, famous for Lord Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer, to moksha.

True devotees are so immersed in thoughts of Him, that to them all else in this world is unimportant, said K.Sambandan. If, while walking on the road, we were to see anything that glistens, our first reaction would be to think that it is perhaps a gold ornament that someone has lost. We may even try to take possession of it, if here is no one to claim it. But to one who has bhakti, a gold bar and a cake of mud have the same value. If such a one were to pass by a gold ornament, he would not even notice that it glistens. He will be indifferent to it.

And yet we cannot understand the Lord. That is because we try to analyse Him through our intellect. He can be known only through devotion, not through the intellect. Even scientists have professed their belief in God. Albert Einstein said, "Science without religion is blind." So while we must have regard for science, we must also realise that there are some things that even science cannot explain. So religion has a place too in life.

Read more...