Devi Bhagvatam 5:2:1:50

MAHĀKĀLI DHYANAM

Meditation on Mahākāli

From the Devī Mahātmyam [Mārkendeya Purana]

Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.

Om khaḍgaṁ chakra-gadeṣu-chāpa-parighāñ

chūlaṃ bhuśuṇḍīṁ śiraḥ

śaṅkhaṁ saṃda-dhatīṁ karai-stri-nayanāṁ

sarvāṅga-bhūṣāvṛitām

Nīlāśma-dyutimāsya pāda-daśakāṁ

seve Mahākālikāṁ

yāmastaut-svapite harau kamalajo

hantuṁ madhuṁ kaiṭabham.

Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.

Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.

Om, holding a scimitar, disk, mace, arrows and bow, lance, club, a skull and a conch shell in Her ten hands. The three-eyed goddess, Her body covered with ornaments, Her countenance with the brilliance of blue diamonds, with ten limbs. We offer our service to Mahākāli, She who Brahma praised for protection from the demons Madhu and Kaitava, when Vishnu was in sleep.

Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.

Book 5/Chapter 2/1:50

On the birth of Dânava Mahisa

1-2.   The king said :-- “Lord!  You have described fully the glory of the Mahâ Mayâ Yoges'varî; now describe Her Life and Character; I am very eager to hear them.  This whole universe, moving and nonmoving, has been created by Mahes'varî; who is there that desires not to hear Her Glory!”

3-7.  Vyâsa spoke :-- O king!  You are very intelligent; I will describe in detail all this to you; whoever does not describe Her Glory to the peaceful and faithful, is certainly lowminded?

In days of yore, a terrible battle ensued between the Devas and Dânava forces

on this earth when Mahisâsura was the Ruler of this world.  O king!  Mahisâsura went to the mountain of Sumeru and performed a very severe and excellent tapasyâ, wonderful even to the gods.  O king!  Meditating on his Ista Devatâ (the deity for his worship) in his heart, elapsed full ten thousand years, when Brahmâ the Grandfather of all the Lokas, was pleased with him.  The fourfaced Brahmâ, arrived there on his vehicle the swan, asked Mahisâsura “O One of virtuous soul!  Ask from me what is your desired object; I will grant thee boon.”

8.  Mahisa said :-- “O Lord, Lotus-eyed!  I want to become immortal!  therefore O Thou, the Grandfather of the Devas!  Dost thou do for me so that I have no fear of death.”

9-11.  Brahmâ said :-- “O Mahisa!  Birth must be followed by death, and death must be followed by birth; this is the eternal law of nature.  Then know this as certain that when one is born, one must die; and when one dies, one will be born.  O Lord of the Dânavas!  What more to say than this, that high mountains, vast oceans, and all the beings will die when time will come.  O Ruler of the earth!  You are virtuous; therefore ask any other boon than this immortality; I will grant that to you.”

12-13.  Mahisa said :-- “O Grand Sire!  Grant, then, that no Deva, Dânava, nor human being of the male sex can cause my death.  There is none among women who can cause my death.  Therefore, O Lotus-eyed!  Let woman be the cause of my death; how can women slay me!  The are too weak to kill me!”

14.  Brahmâ said :-- “O Lord of the Dânavas!  Your death will certainly occur, at any time, through a woman; O Highly Fortunate One!  No man will be able to cause your death.”

15.  Vyâsa said :-- Thus granting him the boon, Brahmâ went to his own abode; the lord of the Dânavas, too, returned to his place, very glad.

16.  The king said :-- “O Bhagavân!  Whose son was this powerful Mahisâsura; how his birth took place?  and why, too, did he get a body of a buffalo?”

17-26.  Vyâsa said :-- O king!  Rambha and Karambha were the two sons of Danu; these two Dânavas were far famed in this world for their pre-eminence.  O king!  They had no issues; hence, desirous of issues, they went to the sacred banks of the Indus (Pañcha Nada) and there performed severe asceticism for long years.  Karambha got himself submerged in water and thus began his severe tapasyâ; while the other, Rambha, had recourse to a juicy peepul tree (haunted by Yakshinîs) and there began to worship Fire.

Rambha remained, engaged in worshipping the Five Fires; knowing this, Indra, the

Lord of S'achî, was pained and hurried thither, being very anxious.  Going to Pañcha Nada, Indra assumed the form of a crocodile and caught hold of the legs of the wicked Karambha and killed him.  Hearing of the death of his brother, Rambha got very much enraged and wishing to offer his own head as an oblation to the Fire, he wanted to cut off his own head; he, being infuriated, held the hairs of his head by his left hand, and, catching hold of a good axe, by his right hand, was on the point of cutting it, when the Fire gave him knowledge, desisted him from this act and spoke thus :-- You are stupid;  Why have you desired to cut off your own head; killing one's ownself is a great sin; and there is no means of deliverance from this sin.  Why are you then ready to execute it?

Do not seek your death now; what end will that serve you?  Rather ask boons from me; thus you will get your welfare.

27-31.  Vyâsa said :-- O king!  Hearing thus the sweet words of Fire, Rambha quitted the hold of his hairs and said :-- O Lord of the Devas!  If thou art pleased, grant my desired boon that a son be born unto me, who will destroy the forces of my enemy and who will conquer the three worlds.  And that son be invincible in every way by the Devas, Dânavas and men, very powerful, assuming forms at will, and respected by all.  The Fire said :-- O highly Fortunate!  You will get your son, as you desire; therefore desist now from your attempting suicide.  O highly fortunate Rambha!  With any female of whichever species, you will co-habit, you will get a son, more powerful than you; there is no doubt in this.

32-50.  Vyâsa said :-- O king!  Hearing thus the sweet words of the Fire as desired,

Rambha, the chief of the Dânavas, went, surrounded by Yaksas, to a beautiful place, adorned with picturesque sceneries; when one lovely she-buffalo, who was very maddened with passion, fell to the sight of Rambha.  And he desired to have sexual intercourse with her, in preference to other women.  The she-buffallo, too, gladly yielded to his purpose and Rambha had sexual intercourse with her, impelled as it were by the destiny.  The she-buffalo became pregnant with his semen virile.  The Dânava, too, carried the she-buffalo, his dear wife, to Pâtâla (the lower regions) for her protection. 

On one occasion, another buffalo got excited and wanted to fall upon the she-buffalo.  The Dânava was also ready to kill him.  The Dânava came hurriedly and struck the buffalo for the safety of his wife; whereon the excited buffalo attacked him with his horns.  The buffalo struck him so violently with his sharp horns that Rambha fell down senseless all on a sudden and finally died.  Seeing her husband dead, the she buffalo quickly fled away in distress and, with terror, she quickly went to the peepul tree and took refuge under the Yaksas.  But that buffalo, excited very much and maddened with vigour, ran in pursuit of her, desiring intercourse with her.  On seeing the miserable plight of the weeping she-buffalo, distressed with fear, and seeing the buffalo in pursuit of her, the Yaksas assembled to protect her.  A terrible fight ensued between the buffalo and the Yaksas, when the buffalo, shot with arrows by them, fell down and died.  Rambha was very much liked by the Yaksas; so they cremated his dead body for its purification.  The she-buffalo, seeing her husband laid in the funeral pyre, expressed her desire to enter also into that fire.  The Yaksas resisted; but that chaste wife quickly entered into the burning fire along with her husband.

When the she buffalo died, the powerful Mahisa rose from his mother's womb from the midst of the funeral pyre; Rambha, too, emerged from the fire in another form out of his affection towards his son.  Rambha was known as Raktavîja after he had changed his form.  His son was thus born as a very powerful Dânava and became famous by the name of Mahisa.  The chief Dânavas installed Mahisa on the throne.  O king!  The very powerful Raktavîja and the Dânava Mahisa, thus took their births and became invincible of the Devas, Dânavas and human beings.  O king!  I have now described to you the birth of the highsouled Dânava Mahisa and his getting the boon, all in detail.

Here ends the Second Chapter of the Fifth Book on the birth of Mahisa Dânava in the Devî Bhâgavatam, the Mahâpurânam composed of 18,000 verses by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa.

Source:  Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda  

Devi Bhagvatam 5:1:1:54

MAHĀKĀLI DHYANAM

Meditation on Mahākāli

From the Devī Mahātmyam [Mārkendeya Purana]

Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.

Om khaḍgaṁ chakra-gadeṣu-chāpa-parighāñ

chūlaṃ bhuśuṇḍīṁ śiraḥ

śaṅkhaṁ saṃda-dhatīṁ karai-stri-nayanāṁ

sarvāṅga-bhūṣāvṛitām

Nīlāśma-dyutimāsya pāda-daśakāṁ

seve Mahākālikāṁ

yāmastaut-svapite harau kamalajo

hantuṁ madhuṁ kaiṭabham.

Om Namaś Chaṇḍikāyai.

Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.

Om, holding a scimitar, disk, mace, arrows and bow, lance, club, a skull and a conch shell in Her ten hands. The three-eyed goddess, Her body covered with ornaments, Her countenance with the brilliance of blue diamonds, with ten limbs. We offer our service to Mahākāli, She who Brahma praised for protection from the demons Madhu and Kaitava, when Vishnu was in sleep.

Om, I bow to the Goddess Chaṇḍikā.

Book 5/Chapter 1/1:54

On the superiority of Rudra over Visnu

1-5.  The Risis said :-- “The great legendary story, the life of S’rî Krisna, supremely divine, destructive of all sins, has been narrated by you, O Sûta!  But, O Blessed One! You, though highly intelligent, have dwelt on it not at a great length; hence many

doubts are cropping up in our minds.  A very difficult tapasyâ was performed by

Vâsudeva the part incarnate of Visnu, who had to go to forest to worship S’iva.  Next, it has been known that the Devî Pârvatî, the part incarnate of the Great Mother, the Mother of the universe, the Supreme, and Perfect offered boons to S’rî Krisna.  How did it then come to pass that S’rî Krisna, being himself the God, had to worship Pârvatî and Mahâdeva?  Is it that S’rî Krisna was inferior to Mahâdeva and Pârvatî?  This is our doubt.”

6-7.  Sûta spoke :-- “Hear then, the reasons, O noble Risis!  that I heard from Vyâsa; I will now sing before you those meritorious deeds S’rî Krisnâ.” The son of Parîksit, the intelligent Janamejaya had also the same doubts that you now have, when he heard the story before from Vyâsa; and he asked the same questions that you now ask.”

8-11.  Janamejaya said :-- “O son of Bhagavatî!  I have heard from you much about the Supreme Goddess, the Highest Cause; still the doubts are not leaving me.  O Fortunate One!  Krisna the Deva of the Devas, the Visnu incarnate, worshipped Sambhû and had to perform dire penances; this is my great wonder!  He is the soul of all the Jîvas, the One Ruler and Lord of this world and He is able to confer all the Siddhis; how is it, then, that the Lord Hari had to perform very difficult asceticism like an ordinary mortal.  He who is able to create this universe, moving and non-moving, He who is able to preserve and destroy it, why did He practise such a terrible penance.”

12-54.  Vyâsa said :-- “True it has been said by you that Vâsudeva the Janârdana, is the destroyer of the Daityas and He is able to create and preserve the Devas and do all other acts for them.  But the Great Lord assumed a human body; therefore he had to perform his duties like a man and observe the Varna and Âs'rama Dharmas pertaining to human beings.  Respecting the elderly persons, worshipping the spiritual teachers, doing service to the Brahmânas, adoring and propitiating the Devas, feeling sorrow at times of sorrow, feeling pleasure at times of happiness, feeling dejection or expressing censure or scandal, or having sexual intercourse with women, in other words, to feel lust, anger, greediness and other passions when their proper time arises.  All these are natural to all human beings; how can, then, S’rî Krisna though intrinsically of pure qualities, become Nirguna (devoid of human qualities) when he assumed a human body which is Saguna, i.e., with qualities.

O Ruler of men!  The extinction of the Yâdava race by the curse of Gândhârî, the

daughter of Subala, and the curse of a Brâhmin, Krisna's leaving his human coil, the stealing away of his wives, the robbing of their wealth on the way by the dacoits of the Âvîra tribe, Arjuna's becoming powerless to hurl any weapons on those dacoits,  Krisna's not knowing anything about the stealing away of Pradyumna and Aniruddha from his Dvârkâ palace, these all correspond verily to exertions and failings appropriate to human bodies.  Again the Risi Nârâyana is the part incarnate of Visnu, and Vâsudeva is the part incarnate of the Risi Nârâyana; hence what wonder is there, if Vâsudeva be seen to adore and propitiate S’iva? 

S’iva is the God of gods; and He is the Lord of all the causal bodies that exist; in the state of Susupti (deep sleep).  In this respect, S’iva is the creator of Visnu and Visnu worships Him in this light.  Râma, Krisna and others are all part incarnations of Visnu; so there is no wonder if they worship S’iva.  The letter A is Bhagvân Brahmâ ; the letter “U” is Bhagvân Hari; the letter “M” is Bhagvân Rudra and the half letter m is Mahes'varî, the Supreme Mother of the universe.  The sages, therefore, consider Visnu superior to Brahmâ; they again consider Rudra superior to Visnu and Mâhes'varî (Turîya State) again superior to Rudra.  The speciality of the half letter is that it can never be uttered; it is the symbol of the Eternal Devî.

In all the S'âstras, therefore, the superiority of the Devî is established.

Visnu is superior to Brahmâ; Rudra is superior to Visnu.  Therefore no doubt can arise in Krisna's worshipping S’iva.  It is through the will of S’iva that a second Rudra originated from the forehead of Brahmâ to offer boons to him (i.  e., to Brahmâ).  This second Rudra is venerable and entitled to all worship; what to speak of the First Rudra?

O King!  It is through the proximity of the Devî that the importance and superiority of S’iva is thus established.  Thus the incarnations of Hari arise in yugas after yugas through the intervention of the Yoga Mâyâ; so there is no need to discuss on this point.  Why to Achyuta alone, to Brahmâ and S’iva also She gives troubles for getting involved into incarnations, She the Yoga Mâyâ who is indirectly, with the twinklings of Her eyes, creating, preserving and destroying this universe.

It is the Yoga Mâyâ that caused Krisna to be transferred from his lying-in chamber to the village Vraja and then protected him in the house of the cowherd Nanda; afterwards took him to Mathurâ for the destruction of Kamsa, whence he was led again out of Jarâsandha's fear to the city Dvârkâ.

It is She that created from Her Ownself the eight Nâikâs (the leading mistresses) and also sixteen thousand and fifty women for the pleasure and enjoyment of Krisna Bhagwân, the incarnation of Ananta (Visnu Bhagavân); thus Krisna Bhagavân was made completely subservient to them just like a perfect slave.  When a young woman, though she is alone, can bind a man down by the network of Mâyâ, like strong iron chain, what wonder is there that the sixteen thousand and fifty women would make Krisna play in their hands like a S’uka bird and make him an instrument to serve any purpose that they liked.  S’rî Krisna got himself so much under the control of Satyabhâmâ that He went gladly under her commands to Indra's heavens to get the Pârijâta flowers.  There he had to fight with Indra and subsequently stole away the Pârijâta tree and gave it to Satyabhâmâ as a very valuable ornament to be kept in her room.

Behold!  The same Krisna, by His own prowess, defeated S’is'upâla and others for the preservation of religion and then stole away Rukminî, the daughter of Bhîma and afterwards married her as his legal wife; where is the rule, then observed that it is a sin to take away another's wife?

Thus all embodied beings get themselves subdued by Ahamkâra and do acts, good or bad, confounded and deluded by the network of Moha that always drags one down below.

From the Mûlâ Prakriti are born Brahmâ, Visnu, and Hara and from the Tâmasic Ahamkâra of Prakriti is created this whole cosmos, moving and non-moving.  The lotusborn Brahmâ becomes free when he is free from Ahamkâra; otherwise He becomes engaged in this world affairs.

When freed from this Ahamkâra, all the Jîvas become free; and their houses, wealth, wives, sons and brothers are quite powerless to tie them down; but when bound by Ahamkâra, the Jîvas come under their control.  O king!  This Ahamkâra is the cause bondage to all the beings; “I am the doer, this work is done by my power; or this I will do myself” thinking thus, the embodied beings fall themselves under this bondage.

An earthen pot cannot be made without earth; no effects can be visible without a cause; consequently Visnu is preserving this universe, because of this Ahamkâra (imposed on him by Prakriti).  The human beings are always drowned in their cares and anxieties simply because they are bound by this Ahamkâra; when they become free from this Ahamkâra, their cares and anxieties at once vanish.

Moha (delusion) comes out of Ahamkâra; world and the enjoyments thereof come out of Moha; otherwise how can it be accounted for, that Hari and others, the mine of all good and auspiciousness, take their several incarnations in various wombs? 

Neither Moha nor this world comes to those that are bereft of Ahamkâra.  Men are of three kinds, Sâttvic, Râjasic, and Tâmasic; O king!  Brahmâ, Visnu and S'iva are sprung respectively from the Râjasic, Sâttvic, and Tâmasic Ahamkâras.  In these three, the three Ahamkâras are always to be found, so the Munis, that have realised the Real Essence, declare.  They are all bound by this Ahamkâra; there is no doubt in this.

The Pundits of dull intellect, and deluded by Mâyâ declare that Visnu takes various incarnations out of his own free will; for when it is seen that men of even inferior intellects do not entertain any desire to enter into the wombs, painful and terrible; how will Visnu, then, the Holder of the discus, like to come into this womb!  The slayer of Madhu, the Vaisnavas say, entered all at once into the wombs of Kaus'alyâ and Devakî, full of faeces and other dirty things, of His own free will.  But you must think out what happiness can Madhusûdana, quitting his Vaikuntha Heavens, attain in this womb, full of so many troubles, and where arise, like poisons, hundreds of cares and thoughts to torment an individual!  Especially when it is seen that human beings perform asceticism, sacrifice Yajñas and do various charities, that they would avoid thus entering in wombs, which is very painful and terrible.  How can Bhagavân Visnu be called independent?  If so, He would never have yielded to enter into various wombs.

Therefore, O king!  Know this that this whole universe is under the control of Yoga Mâyâ; the Devas, men, birds, what more everything from Brahmâ down to a blade of grass are all under the control of Yoga Mâyâ.  Brahmâ, Visnu and Hara all are bound by the rope of Her Mâyâ.  So they roam easily by Her Mâyâ from womb to womb like a spider.

Here ends the First Chapter of the Fifth Book on the superiority of Rûdra over Visnu in the Mahâ Purânam of S'rîmad Devî Bhâgavatam by Maharsi Veda Vyâsa, consisting of eighteen thousand verses.

Source:  Translation of The Srimad Devi Bhagvatam by Swami Vijnanananda