Shakti: The Feminine Divine (2 page)

‘Drowning in self-pity is hardly the best way to go…’ Vishnu agreed gamely, allowing a pause. Brahma bristled, going over his words and tone, seeking in vain for a trace of mockery, until he was somewhat mollified. Vishnu continued, ‘There is hardly any need for you to persist with this macabre passion of yours. It is your destiny to take up the mantle of Creator, as you have perfected it over the aeons and thereby made yourself irreplaceable. You owe it to yourself and everything in creation to refrain from going to pieces and leaving us fatherless. I urge you to give up wallowing in your misery and playing the doomed lover!’

‘It is easy for you to talk, with your lotus-like penchant for detachment from all things worldly and other-worldly! You have no idea what it feels like to fall so madly in love, only to lose out to a loathsomely unkempt vagabond who is the undisputed doyen of death, destruction and decomposition. If that is not enough, I have to endure the sight of them rutting away for years and years!’

‘Now! Now! It is bad enough that you stalk them, but to blame them for your own perversion is downright unreasonable, wouldn’t you agree? Besides there is no need to endure anything; just shut your eyes and ears, then you won’t have to put up with
their
lovemaking,’ Vishnu replied dryly. ‘And I do know what you are talking about. It is possible to explain why the Goddess rejected you the way she did, but I must warn you that understanding does not necessarily bring with it solace or comfort.

‘Know that she spurned you because she cannot abide being pinned down, even if it is to a heart filled to bursting with love for her. The Goddess belongs to everybody, and cannot be claimed by anybody, regardless of who they might be. All such
attempts will be met with a prompt rebuff. You are not the first and you will not be the last to love her so hopelessly.

‘It may be your erroneous belief that your love for her is without blemish, but the truth is that it was far too aggressive and selfish, if not destructively obsessive. Your ego motivated you to do your utmost to possess her and keep her to yourself by locking her in a cage, built with the best of intentions no doubt, before throwing away the key. You may as well have attempted to imprison thought or frogmarch the mind into captivity. It was not the smartest thing to attempt; fortunately, she let you get away with it.’

Brahma shook his head with indignation. ‘If freedom is her ill-advised choice, you will admit it is unnatural of her, since the wise have always maintained that the female of the species will never be complete without a male. Besides, how do you explain the fact that she has opted to while away the aeons copulating with that dirty corpse-lover? Are you suggesting that she does not mind being enslaved by lust? Hardly ladylike of her, wouldn’t you say?’

‘I wouldn’t talk about her with that kind of disrespect if I were you…’ came the quiet reply. Brahma did not miss the edge his voice suddenly held, and was sufficiently cowed.

Vishnu continued, ‘Shiva and his Shakti belong to each other and they always have. He did not attempt to take her away from you; rather it was you who tried to forcibly take away something that was never yours. They are the two halves of a perfect whole and even if they are forced apart, they will always gravitate towards the other, as neither is complete without the other.

‘He is Purusha and she is Prakriti, as you ought to know. If he is the absolute reality then she is the concrete embodiment
of the same. Together they are Dyavaprithvi—the sky and the earth, locked together in permanent embrace. He showers his love and affection in the form of rain and renders her fertile. To reciprocate, she is fruitful and brings forth his children. They are the mother and father to the gods, man and beasts alike. Having fulfilled his duty, he would have retreated into his ascetic shell of total detachment, leaving the joys and cares of parenting entirely to his better half, but she does not let him withdraw from his children and serves as a conduit to allow his grace to touch those who need it the most.

‘She is the turbulent sea that runs wild with its powerful currents and he is the solid shore that waits patiently for her to return when she is ready. She is the stimuli to his senses, which savour and relish everything she has to offer. If she is the heat and light of day, he represents the coolness and dark of night. They are two halves of the same soul and when merged together, they take the form of Ardhanarishvara, and it is nigh impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends. When they are in this state, everything is as it ought to be.’

‘Isn’t that a most charming tale? I could listen to it forever, but it is so redolent of sweetness as to be nauseating,’ replied the Creator. ‘Moreover, here I was stupid enough to equate them with beasts in heat! Sky and earth, sea and shore indeed! I think that the debauched duo is far more reminiscent of the fly, which hovers around shit… But it still does not answer my question! Doesn’t she mind being trapped and joined to
his
hip or another appendage, further south of the border, for the rest of time?’

Vishnu rolled his eyes with impatience. ‘Can you not hear what you are saying? It defies belief that the progenitor of all things is behaving like a tantrum-throwing pubescent! If you
cannot stomach these things, shut your eyes and walk away, instead of sticking your nose where it does not belong and complaining about the stench! It ill behoves you to resent their happiness so much and if you keep this up, you may soon spend entire lifetimes as an unfeeling rock, while the birds use you for their latrine. And you wonder why the Goddess chose Shiva over you!

‘As I already explained to you, they were always meant to be together. He loves her enough not to shackle her to him with chains of attachment. Unlike others, especially you, he does not use love as an excuse to stake his claim, hold her captive to his will and then do as he pleases with her; not that he ever had a choice in the matter, of course. Most importantly, he respects her individuality and simply lets her be. Shiva is never insecure and is content to know that she will always be his better half, even when she needs solitude to follow her own whims to wherever they might lead her!’

‘I’ll thank you not to gush about that odious twosome and sing their praises! To think that I almost killed myself over them! Moreover, I would have done it too, except for the cold realization that it would not make a whit of difference to her whom I love so desperately or him whom I hate so passionately. You are right, though! In nursing my heartbreak all this time, I have allowed myself to waste away and dilute my essence, though I am still light years away from turning into a rock!

‘I am not one to waste my time mooning over what I cannot have and which I am probably better off without, anyway. Fortunately, I have realized the error of my ways, and from this point, I will hasten along an alternate path that will not endanger my well-being, but will nevertheless grab her attention and make her bemoan her lack of taste.

‘My mind will be my sanctuary where I will repair, to get away from the futility of this beastly existence, to devote myself to the performance of holy tapas, where futile love, jealousy, bitterness and every other dissatisfaction will be burnt up on the flames of my penance. I will then emerge, stronger and purer than ever, to take up the divine task of creation, which will prove forever that I am without equal. From now on, I refuse to care about the vulgar doings of those beneath me!’ With those parting words, Brahma walked away from his doomed love story, with bitterness in his heart.

‘I am delighted to hear that your innate good sense has prevailed,’ Vishnu murmured encouragingly to the retreating figure.

‘There is only one thing worse than a fool in love and that is the bigger fool who believes he is in love,’ he thought. Suddenly, he felt drained and thought longingly of the nourishing sleep that awaited him in Sesha’s coils, where he would get blessed rest until the time he was called again, to save the universe from the shenanigans of the gods and men.

While Vishnu slept nothing would exist, not even imperishable thoughts or the immortal soul. Consciousness would slumber along with him and naturally, without awareness, there is only nothing. In this state of tranquillity, past hurts would be swallowed up without leaving behind traumatizing detritus. Brahma would be reborn in a lotus blossom from Vishnu’s navel and a wondrous quest would get underway. Human life, with its seemingly inexhaustible shortcomings and foibles, would undertake a journey to transcend its limitations, so that it may return to merge with the sea of pure consciousness and become one with the divine.

It was time for him to depart as well, but Vishnu lingered,
pondering on the power of cyclical time before which god and man alike must bow down. A single day in the life of Brahma lasted 4,320 million human years and was known as a kalpa, which in turn was divided into the four yugas—Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali Yuga. At the end of such a long day, when he shut his eyes, it signalled the onset of night, which lasted for the same duration. It also signalled the end of the universe in a great flood of dissolution—pralaya. There were 360 such days in a year of Brahma’s life. Given the fact that he would live to be at least a hundred, for all intents and purposes, it may be said that he lived forever and beyond.

‘For someone who has had more years than even he is likely to have kept track of, Brahma can be somewhat infantile. Or there’s the equal possibility that senility has set in,’ Vishnu mused. ‘This has led to the unfortunate result that he often drives himself and everyone else to the very brink of madness and oftentimes succeeds in pushing them right over. He prides himself, and rightfully so, on the exemplary job he did as the Creator. The trouble is that perhaps he might be a little too good at it and once the process is completed, he becomes redundant. It annoys him that his “children” are entirely self-sufficient and have no use for him.’

Consequently, like a precocious infant seeking attention, Brahma would kick up a little dust whenever the mood hit him, or slyly manipulate events and situations to generate a whole lot of trouble, hoping that those afflicted would turn to him for help. Of course, he would then helpfully point them in the direction of a solution to the problems he had helped create. When he was feeling particularly perverse the Progenitor, with a touch of malice, would predicate a possible resolution that was designed to exacerbate an already tense situation and
worsen the predicament of the victims.

Even the current crisis Vishnu had resolutely headed off from a tragic culmination was not unprecedented. He thought back on the other versions of this very same conversation in the distant past, which were depressing reminders of what had happened back in time and could be expected from the remote future as well. It was not the first time the Divine Progenitor had allowed his passion for the Goddess and rancour for the Destroyer to befuddle his judgement and imperil the entire universe. Every time Vishnu had had to step in to clean up the mess.

Vishnu had previously declared that Shiva was above insecurity. It was true, as he never allowed his beloved to feel its sharp edge, as that would have meant running the imprudent risk of her taking flight and leaving him behind. However, there were times when he could be roused to jealousy. And it was just like Brahma to provoke him past his formidable endurance. In another age, Brahma had spouted four extra heads just so he could feast on the beauty of Shiva’s consort. The gentle victim had become tearful because of this intrusion into her person and Shiva’s anger had known no bounds. When a fifth head sprang up, as though with the express purpose of driving him over the edge, Shiva had responded with the characteristic ferocity that had been immortalized by legend. He tore out the offending head in one vicious movement and hurled it into the nothingness beyond.

Brahma had responded with all the pettiness he could muster from his humiliation. Channeling every ounce of ascetic merit he had accrued into the dripping blood from his fallen head, he had created a monstrous demon, which he then commanded to chase Shiva to the ends of the world, pound
him into pulp and sprinkle the remains on earth to feed the carrion birds. He then bestowed on the foul fiend the full destructive power of his calamitous hatred. Vishnu had had to slay Shiva’s tormentor and talk them into behaving themselves before they did incalculable harm to each other, as well as their charges who depended on them.

Shiva was content to leave it at that, but Brahma had been inconsolable, having been denied the satisfaction of seeing Shiva grovel at his feet in supplication for his very life. He had pronounced, ‘For the dread sin of killing Brahma, which shall henceforth be known as Brahmahatya, there shall be no expiation, and since Shiva is guilty, he will pay the price with death!’ Nearly hysterical with anger, the words spilled out of his lips in a jumble, speckled with his spittle.

‘No! He will not!’ Vishnu had shot back at him, effectively barring his passage with outstretched arms.

‘By the powers I have painstakingly accumulated over the aeons by my unstinting practice of tapas, my words cannot prove false! Step aside, Vishnu! You should know better!’

‘You are forgetting that I am Narayana, and my words will not prove false either! How can Shiva be held responsible for your death when you stand alive and annoying as ever in front of me? All he did was punish you for your temerity in ogling his wife with blatantly lascivious intent! I don’t blame him and if you have a shred of decency,
you
will apologize to
him
!’

Brahma had been appalled. ‘I will do no such thing! And mark my words, he will carry the skull that is all that remains of my severed head for the rest of eternity. It will serve as a reminder to all of the terrible penalty that was incurred for transgressing the rules of dharma and committing Brahmahatya. Shiva will be spurned by polite society and he
will forever remain an outcast, fit to associate only with the dregs of the universe!’

It was all Vishnu could do to restrain himself from severing Brahma’s remaining four heads himself, but he had mastered himself with effort, having no wish to stoop to the other’s level. But he would be damned if he was going to let Brahma get away with his mischief-mongering. ‘Shiva will carry your bloody skull all right, but he will not know a moment’s discomfort on its account. And the mortals you have created, showing far more good sense in their limited lifespans than you ever have, will worship him as the greatest of us all. To them he will be Mahadeva! Those who love him exactly the way he is will reap untold benefits and I will personally ensure it!’