A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam : 4.3 - Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, June  13, 2022. 06:00. 

The Glory of God : 

Chapter-4. The Stories of Siva and Sati, and Rishabhadeva and Bharata -3.

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News reached Lord Siva. He could have opened his third eye and burnt everybody if he wanted, but he had something else in his mind. He pulled a hair from his head and struck it on the ground. A fierce giant rose up.

“Order, master!” said the giant.

“Go and destroy the yajna of Daksha,” said Siva.

With the fierce retinue of Rudra, this giant called Virabhadra rushed to the sacrificial area of Daksha where all were seated, and when this fierce onrush of militant demoniacal forces entered the yajna, the ritviks, the priests performing the yajna, were frightened. They immediately invoked a counterforce from the fire, which rose up by the millions and attacked Rudra's retinue. There was a tussle between the two forces, but suddenly Virabhadra overcame all the opposition and severed the head of Daksha.

Rudra came to know all this. He was mad with rage. He ran, hugging the body of Sati, and rolled all over like a crazy person, as if he was dancing the final tandava of destruction before him. The whole world was terrified because nobody knew what he was going to do. He would not stand in one place. He ran from place to place—over the whole creation, as it were—holding Sati's body, looking as if he was inebriated and had lost his senses. He was conscious only of the dead body of his Sati, and was moving fiercely like a whirlwind, like a tornado, like a tempest.

All the gods were frightened. They went to Lord Vishnu and said, “Please do something. Everything is in danger. He is not going to leave her body; and what he will do finally, nobody knows.”

Then Sri Vishnu—Narayana—released his sudarshana chakra, which sliced Sati's body into little pieces; and because of the ravaging movement of Siva, the pieces were scattered and fell in seven different places. It is believed that all the spots where parts of Sati's body fell are shakti sthalas, and even today they are worshipped in various parts of India.

Then the gods, including Brahma and Vishnu, went to Siva. Vishnu greeted Siva and said, “Calm down. Please pardon this man Daksha. His behaviour was due to ignorance, and you should not punish an ignorant person. Calm down. Bless him. Let him be allowed to continue his yajna. After all, he is a foolish person, and are you going to be so enraged at the foolishness of this man?”

Then Lord Siva calmed down. But how could the yajna continue when Daksha's head had gone? So a goat's head was brought and fixed on Daksha, and he was enlivened to the person that he was. He immediately realised his mistake and prostrated—sashtanga namaskaram—before Lord Siva, and chanted the Rudra mantra, Namakam and Chamakam. Some people humorously say the mantra was made by uttering the sounds cha me, cha me, because goats make that sound. The yajna was completed. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva blessed the yajna, and everything went on well.

Here, in the tradition of the pantheon of the gods according to the epics and the Puranas, Lord Siva stands pre-eminent. He is not an ordinary god. It is impossible to describe what kind of person he is. He is a person who wants nothing for himself.

Lord Siva's name also occurs in the Mahabharata. One day, when Arjuna was seated with Bhagavan Sri Krishna at the close of the day's battle, Arjuna queried Krishna, “Master, may I ask you a question?”

“Yes, ask,” replied Krishna.

To be continued ....

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