Thus Spake the Divine - Shiva’s Consort; Narayana’s Sister

Thus Spake the Divine

Shiva’s Consort; Narayana’s Sister

I am telling you all these things to drive home the point that Ambal and Vishnu are one and the same. Let both be one; however Narayana in male form and Ambal in female are really great to look at. Thus, our mind seeks both. In that case, they can be considered as brother and sister. There are quite a lot of internal evidences in puranas that Ambal is the sister of Narayana.

What I want to tell you is that desire is the root cause of all sorrows. More so, when the desire is totally unjustifiable, it turns to lust. If a desire is unfulfilled, it leads to anger and frustration. Lust is the cause for birth. We kill ourselves with anger. Therefore, if we want to liberate ourselves from the cycle of birth and death, we should not let lust and anger come near us. Like how a water proof umbrella protects water from seeping in, we need a shield that is lust-proof, anger-proof and sorrow-proof. Is there such a shield?

Yes! Ambal’s grace is that shield. We may be very wealthy; we may be very healthy and beautiful. We may also realise that all these are with Ambal’s grace. However, so long as there is lust, hatred, fear and sorrow in our hearts, what is the use of all the wealth and health? True indication of Ambal’s grace is when we distance ourselves from desire, hatred, fear and sorrow.

The fundamental reason for hatred, fear or sorrows is nothing but deep-rooted love for “I”, which is indication of one’s body. This exclusive love for oneself leads to lust (kamam). If we can eradicate this lust, then, all other inherent problems vanish. Once that is done, we can experience the bliss of Moksha while being in this body itself.

If we whole-heartedly pray to Kamakshi, who is also called Kameshvari, She will exterminate the lust within us. It is Kameshvari who resurrects Manmatha after he is burnt by Shiva’s third eye. After that, she looks at Parameshvara, who has immolated Manmatha, with love flowing in her eyes. It may look apparently contradictory. First I said, Kameshvari will remove lust from our hearts and, immediately, I am saying that She has resurrected Manmatha, God of Love. There is no such contradiction. Let me clarify.

If Para Brahmam remains action-less and is devoid of any awareness of the Universe, how will we free ourselves from the clutches of Maya? Only to liberate us, Parameshvara showers compassion. We call that compassion as lust. The power that kindles compassion in Parameshvara is Kamakshi. It is nothing but supreme compassion that turns into lust with only the objective of protecting the entire living beings of this Universe.

Since She occupies half the portion of Shiva, She holds equal share in the third eye with which Shiva immolates Manmatha. Thus, She burns the lust of entire Universe. Mooka Kavi seems to utter frequently, “You who kindle lust in Shiva; destroy the lust of devotees”.

As Shiva’s Consort, she burns lust into ashes. She is also the sister of Narayana. Narayana is actually father of Manmatha. Many of you know that Brahma is the son of Maha Vishnu. But Manmatha is also Maha Vishnu’s son. In Mohini Avatara, Narayana gets a son from Parameshvara, who is Ayyappa. Like how unification of Shiva and Shakti brings Subramanya into being, Shiva and Narayana bring Ayyappa into being. Both Subramanya and Ayyappa are epitome of wisdom. Brahma, son of Narayana, is responsible for birth. Manmatha, another son of Maha Vishnu, is capable of infusing lust in living beings and facilitate the task of creation by Brahma.

I have told you that Kamakshi resurrects Manmatha and at the same time destroys lust within us. Can Narayana also destroy lust in us as Manmatha is his son? Yes He will! Who is Rama? He is an avatara of Maha Vishnu. If one utters Rama, Kaman (Manmatha) will not dare to come near him. By just chanting “Rama, Rama, Rama”, there are Sages, who have conquered the six evils of mind and attained Moksha. You may ask as to how it is possible as Vishnu and Manmatha are father and son. Out of great respect to Father (Vishnu), Manmatha will not dare to tread where Vishnu resides, says sage-poet Tulasi Das. Manmatha will not reach Shiva’s devotees fearing Shiva. Similarly, he will also not approach devotees of Vishnu out of respect for Vishnu.

Once, Maha Vishnu takes the twin avatara as Nara-Narayana. When these twins are doing tapas in Badrikashrama, some divine Apsaras came to interrupt the tapas. One of the twins, Nara, though an avatara, gets angry, which is a human attitude (Nara in Sanskrit means human). He roars ‘hum’. With that, Apsaras get frightened, escape and approach Narayana. There they play various tricks to attract Narayana.

Narayana is absolutely devoid of lust and anger. So, he is the least affected with their plays. He taps His thigh and there emerges Oorvashi, the most enchanting Apsara (Oorr means thigh). Looking at the incomparable beauty of Oorvashi, Apsaras feel ashamed and realise that their trick will never work on Narayana. Holding the enormous beauty of a woman within Himself, He remains supremely immaculate. The philosophy behind this is that beauty, which evolves from His Own Self, can never have any impact on Him in any way. Similarly, Brahma and Manmathan have evolved from Vishnu Himself. He is capable of eradicating both lust and the resultant birth.

Ambal, sister of Narayana, burns Manmatha to ashes as Shiva Shakti and then also resurrects him. This proves that She has absolute power to kill and create Manmatha; therefore he is under Her control. Thus, Manmatha will not haunt Ambal’s devotees. We always say “Shiva Shiva” when we hear some bad news or close our ears when we hear something obnoxious. But Mooka Kavi utters “Shiva Shiva” (in place of Aha meaning “Wow”) when he hears something awesome. His expression goes like this.

“shiva shiva pashyanthi samam

sri kamakshi katakshitha: purusha:

He says, “Aha! In case of devotees blessed with the grace of Kamakshi, a lot of great things happen! Shiva Shiva! What we see as different looks identical to them!” Here, by ‘great things’ he means the philosophy of Advaita.

Nowadays, we talk a lot about equality. But it is all sheer words. Devotees of Kamakshi are able to attain experience of Advaita with ease. To them, whatever seen is Param Porul alone. Mooka Kavi further goes on to say, “To him (Mooka Kavi) forest and home are identical; he is totally devoid of anger; to him, there is no differentiation between enemies and friends; lust totally abandons him and, therefore, red lips of a young woman and a heap of mud are identical to him. Mooka Kavi makes his point with rhythmic expression.

“loshtam cha yuvathi bimboshtam”

(Loshtam is a piece of mud. Oshtam is lip. The animal with big hanging lips is ‘oshtram’ or camel, ottagam in Tamil. Bimbam is the red fruit of ‘kovai pazham’. Bimboshtam is red lip as that of kovai pazham).

Mooka Kavi’s expressions remind us of what Krishna says in Gita. “Yogi sama loshtamcha kanchana”. Krishna says for a Yogi, both gold and mud are identical, whereas Mooka Kavi says woman and mud are identical.

Devotees of Kamakshi can never be impacted by lust, anger, sadness and fear. Similarly, if we constantly meditate on Her keeping away all aberrations, then, that is equivalent to attaining Moksha. Moksha is a state in which the differentiation that “She and we are different” vanishes and culminates into a stage where “She and we are one and same”. Maybe, initially, we can think of Her as different from us. But once we hold Her Lotus Feet tightly and keep meditating on Her, we will immerse into Her gradually. With a little effort from us, She will come forward towards us and gradually elevate us to Her level. Thereby, the wall between She and we will automatically be demolished and She will absorb us into Her.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.