Daksh in confrontation with Shiva.
Daksh in confrontation with Shiva.
O Brahmin, now I will tell you the stories of Daksh and Durvas, who were defeated because of their ego. Noble men should not only listen to it but also bear it in mind always. 1.
In ancient times, Prajapatis (patriarchs) together started to perform the sacrifice, on the bank of Bhagirathi river in the witness of all gods, goddesses and sages. 2.
Daksha Prajapati, who was appointed by Brahma as the chief of all the Prajapatis, suddenly appeared there as a blazing sun. 3.
He was very proud of himself and thought that he was far superior to everyone there. He, who was duly respected by all the gods, bowed down to Brahma and took his seat. 4.
He looked at the gods around and saw Shiva sitting on his seat meditating on Vasudev and being one with Brahman the supreme self. 5.
The egoistic Daksha immediately noticed that Shiva did not salute him, got angry, cursed Him and said to the Gods, ‘O gods, I am saying this neither out of jealousy nor ignorance. I want to tell you how good people behave generally.’6 - 7.
Thus by using dignified language, he was showing his innocence to the gods, and condemned Shiva in the process. 8.
‘He is a blot on reputation of the guardian deities of the quarters, this shameless Shiva! He has crossed the limits of propriety. He is very obstinate and has insulted me.
‘Being my son-in-law, his is like a disciple to me. He should have respected me keeping in mind my status and his relation to me. He has shown no respect by words or by rising from his seat when I came into this assembly. He has thus misbehaved. 9 - 10.
‘This Shiva is monkey-eyed, idle, associated with ghosts, a mendicant dwelling in a cemetery, wears a garland of skulls and smears his body with the ashes of funeral pyres.
‘In spite of being against it, I gave my daughter in marriage to him only because of Brahma’s advice. He is addressed as Shiva (auspicious), but in fact he is most inauspicious, unclean and wicked at heart.’ 11 - 12.
Daksh’s curse on Shiva; Nandi’s counter – curse on Daksha and the Brahmins.
Daksha got very angry and cursed Shiva, ‘This wretched Shankar may not receive any portion of sacrificial offerings as his share.’ He then departed for his abode. 13.
The divine bull Nandi in return cursed Daksha who was on his way back home. ‘This Daksha will not be able to attain knowledge of the true self. He will be indulged only in worldly pleasures and his face will turn into a goat’s.’ 14.
Nandi, with his eyes red due to anger from inflicting a curse on DakshaPrajapati, again cursed those Brahmins who supported him: ‘Those Brahmins who have fascination for heavenly pleasures will be deluded and will consume all types of food without any discrimination. Although they will be outwardly dedicated to scholarship for their livelihood they will wander everywhere aspiring for gifts and donations from others.’ 15 - 16.
Bhrgu’s imprecations of Shiva’s worshippers; Shiva’s exit.
Bhrgu Muni could not tolerate Nandi cursing the Vedic Brahmins. Becoming furious he pronounced a counter-curse on all the worshippers of Shiva. 17.
‘Let the followers of Shiva and those who are faithful to him become heretics and hostile to the Vedas and religious scriptures. Let them be void of purity and low in intellect. Let them adorn matted hair on their heads and bones on their bodies, smear ashes on themselves and attain such initiation involving offerings of liquor and wine to the Gods. 18 - 19.
Seeing Bhrugu cursing his devotees, Shankar became disple- ased and departed with his attendants to the Kailas Mountain. 20.
As it is impossible to perform sacrifices without offering oblations to Shiva, nobody, including gods, could perform sacrifice on the earth for a long time since. 21.
Satidevi insulted by Daksha immolates herself in Yogic fire.
Daksha went about performing a sacrifice without inviting Shankar. Really his pride had rid him of common sense. He invited all the gods and sages to perform the sacrifice, except Shiva. 22.
He had invited Brahma and Vishnu with utmost respect, but realising that Shiva had been intentionally insulted in the sacrifice, they did not attend. 23.
Daksha had invited all his daughters and their husbands with great love and respect. But due to the enmity with Shankar, he did not invite Sati (the wife of Shankar) though she was his own daughter. 24.
Sati was envious to see the divine ladies traveling by celestial cars to attend the sacrifice performed by Daksha. 25.
Though she was not invited by her father, typical of her womanly nature she was eager to attend the great event. In spite of Shankar repeatedly prohibiting her from attending the sacrifice, self-willed that she was, she ignored his advice and went there with some of her attendants. 26 - 27.
Due to the enmity with Shiva, although he saw her, Daksha ignored her presence. The self-esteemed Sati, being thus insulted by her father, became furious. 28.
Having seen the sacrifice without any offering to Rudra, she condemned Daksha angrily, and left her body instantly (fire- generated by the power of yoga) in meditation there. 29.
Daksha slain; his sacrifice destroyed by Virabhadra.
Then the attendants of Shiva proceeded to kill Daksha. In retaliation, the chief priest Bhrgu invoked gods from the sacrificial fire to counter them. 30.
Rubhu deities emerged from the sacred fire and began killing the attendants of Shiva with the terrific fire-branded weapons. Hence they ran away from the place. 31.
Narad reached the Kailas Mountain and told the news of all the events to Shiva who was obviously overwhelmed with anger. 32.
Through his matted hair he summoned Virabhadra, the chief of his attendants, and ordered him to kill Daksha immediately without any consideration. 33.
Thus ordered by Shiva, he (Virabhadra) with all his followers and soldiers suddenly appeared at the place of sacrifice where Daksha was seated. He made the whole earth tremble as if a huge mountain were tilting. He dug up the fireplace of sacrifice, burnt down the canopy, cut off Daksh’s head and threw it into the fire. 34 -35.
Those attendants of Shiva, along with Manimat and others, with their firebrand weapons, excessively beat all the gods and sages who had taken sides with Daksha. 36.
All of them ran away with their wounded and fractured bodies. Their mission accomplished, all the attendants of Rudra returned to Kailas. 37.
Days later all the gods prayed to Shiva for mercy. Shiva relented and hence Daksha came alive albeit with the head of a goat. 38.
Thus due to ego, Daksha met with disaster though he was a Prajapati – the patriarch. He was condemned in the world for insulting Shiva. 39.
Devotional life of King Ambarish.
O Brahmin! Now listen to the story of Durvas, the great ascetic and an incarnation of Shiva, and his defeat due to his ego. 40.
In ancient times, there was a great noble king of solar dynasty named Ambarish ruling over seven islands of the earth. 41.
He performed many great sacrifices to worship Vishnu. He took care of his subjects like a loving father. He observed so many vows and gave gifts to the people to please Vishnu. 42.
He possessed abundant wealth, which was unattainable even to the gods. But he knew that it was momentary. Hence, unattached as he was, he devoted himself to Vishnu alone. 43.
He was always associated with pious people following the path of nine-fold devotion and owned up unwavering allegiance to Vishnu. Hence Vishnu who was very pleased with him ordained that his divine discus Sudarshan shall always be available for the King’s protection and destruction of all calamities. 44 - 45.
Ambarish observing Dwadashi vow caught in dilemma due to Durvas.
Once, the King with his wife went to the forest Madhuvan to perform the ritual of the twelfth day of the month for one year so as to please Lord Krishna. 46.
At the end of the vow in the month of Kartik, he observed fast for three nights (and three days). He celebrated a great worship and gave ample gifts to the all people. 47.
On the twelfth day of that month, he satiated the Brahmins by giving them the desired food. And when he was about to conclude his three-day-fast, sage Durvasa arrived there. 48.
The King saluted and honored him as the most respected guest. He welcomed him by offering a seat and requested him to accompany him for lunch.
Durvas accepted the invitation and immediately went to the river Kalinidi to take bath. But while performing mid-day rituals, he was delayed there. 49 - 50.
In order to conclude the twelfth day vow, it was mandatory for the King to take food. As the sage was delayed, the King asked the learned Brahmins as to what he should do in order that it should not make injustice either to the sage or to his own twelfth day vow. 51 - 52.
The Brahmins advised him to conclude the fast of the twelfth day, by drinking a little holy water. That would neither affect the fast nor offend Durvas. As per the advice of the Brahmins, he concluded the fast by drinking some holy water. 53.
On his return, the egoistic sage Durvas, who thought that he deserved the highest respect, was annoyed when he came to know that the King had concluded the fast. He said: 54.
‘O merciless King! You are blinded by pride of wealth and your so-called devotion to Vishnu. You have transgressed the limits of tradition. You think of yourselves as being supreme and can be controlled by none.
I am your guest and you have honorably invited me. In spite of that, you have taken food without offering it to me. I will make you recompense your deed.’ 55 - 56.
Durvas trying to kill Ambarish, himself chased by Sudarshan getting no refuge.
Durvas, whose eyes had become red due to anger, invoked from locks of his matted hair, a demoness-fire of the magnitude that would cause cosmic dissolution, and ordered the demoness to kill the king. 57.
The King, who knew well that the human body is perishable, and the soul to be eternal, was not at all frightened even though he saw her advancing to attack him with sword in her hand. 58.
Then the Sudarshan wheel which was designated for his protection appeared, burnt her and chased the sage who being singed by the flames of that wheel was trying to run hither and thither to protect his life. 59 - 60.
Wherever the sage went, Sudarshan followed him as would death or shadow follow a being. 61.
The sage wandered in lower as well as upper worlds, and the abodes of the guardian deities of directions. But finding nobody to protect him, he surrendered to Brahma. 62.
Brahma said, ‘I am not capable of protecting you from Sudarshan’. Then, the sage surrendered to Lord Shiva, but he too echoed the words of Brahma. 63.
Rumbling the whole sky with the words ‘Protect me, save my life’ in high pitch, he came to the abode of Vishnu i.e. Vaikunth. He saluted Shri Hari and said, ‘Protect me. I have insulted your devotee unknowingly. Please be merciful, and save me from your wheel O lord!’ 64 - 65.
Durvasa advised by Vishnu surrenders to Ambarish
The sage suffered a lot due to his ego. (But, having listened to the words of Vishnu) He gave up all his pride and surrendered to the king. 68.
Although the king was a kshatriya, when the sage saw him from a distance, he prostrated himself on the ground in reverence and saluted him with folded hands, uttering ‘save me, save me’. 69.
Then the king praised and prayed to the Divine Wheel of Shri Hari and liberated the sage from his panic, and worshipped him with respect. 70.
O Brahmin! Thus the sage Durvas who was a terror to all, was compelled to suffer much because of his pride. Hence, a devotee should always distance himself from it. 71.
Thus, on this earth, there were so many kings and sages who suffered a greatly and were defeated due to their egos. 72.
O great Brahmin! Thus I have told you in brief the stories of Vasisth and others who were defamed due to greed. 73.
So, the devotees should always be cautious and destroy those great internal enemies. Only then devotion becomes fruitful without any obstacle. 74.
Suvrat said:-
Listening to Narayan Muni’s words, the Brahmin became very happy and saluted him and the whole group of devotees. 75.
Thus ends the fifteenth chapter entitled ‘The defeat of Daksha and Durvas due to excessive pride’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 15
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