Shri Shirdi Sai Speaks- 25th April/ Shiv Puran

Om Sai Ram ! Om Namaha Shivaya!

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Since about more than a month we all have been graced with the blissful darshan of the sacred shivlings around the world. But all this seems a little incomplete to me without the knowledge of the holy Shiv Puran. So how about we all start reading this sacred book together..And hopefully before I head to Kailash- we all will be blessed with the wonderful stories which are related to our creator. However, " The Shiva Purana has twenty-four thousand shlokas which are divided into six samhitas or sections." But I will not be posting any of the shlokas in these mails. I will be posting the most simplest version of the Shiv Puran with the blissful pictures of various temples as we go along- , so that it is easily understood by all of us and can also be shared with our children and grandchildren.May Lord Shiva bless us all in this journey of going one step closer to His Lotus feet . And last but not the least, My Humble Pranams to this Holy book along with all the Gods and Godesses ..

I have a kind request to all of you who read these mails that if you ever get lucky and are able to visit any of the sacred temples in reality- Plz do offer my Humble Pranams at these temples and thank the lord on my behalf for making us all feel his presence and His leelas around us..

Sai bhakt,

Deepa H

Now, Lets start reading this very sacred Shiv Puran by Saying

Om Shree Ganeshaya Namaha

Incase You have missed the previous mail /chapter of Shiv Puran - Here is the link

http://debu7370.blogspot.com/search/label/Shiv%20Puran

Incase you have missed the previous mails of our sacred journey of paying respects to the shivlings around the world go to...
http://debu7370.blogspot.com/search/label/Shivlings%20around%20the%20world

Himalaya and Maina engaged themselves in the worship of Shiva and Shakti, day and night. After some days Parvati manifested herself by taking birth. After her birth the whole mountaneous region of Himalaya became illuminated by her radiance.

Divine Childhood Plays of Parvati

After taking her birth, Parvati gradually started growing up. Various names were given to her- like Girja, Uma, and Jagdamba... Himalaya and Maina felt proud of their fate, which had made them the parents of an incarnation. Seeing the childhood plays of Uma, their hearts knew no bounds. One day sage Narad arrived there Himalaya requested him to study the palm of Parvati, as he was curious to know about her future. After studying the lines of the palm, Narada predicted that Parvati was destined to be the wife of an entity, who would be beyond the reach of all the three qualities. He also revealed to them, that her husband would be devoid of any flaws and would be self born-Rudra. Narad told Himalaya that to have Rudra as her husband, Parvati will have to accomplish great austerities and penance. Narad then went away.

The Birth of Vajrang

Narada was curious to know about Tarakasur. He asked Brahmaji to narrate his tale.

Brahmaji said-

"Kashyap-the son of Marichi, had thirteen wives Diti was the eldest among them. She was the mother of Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. Both her sons were killed by lord Vishnu in his incarnations of Nrisimha and Varaha respectively. Diti became very sad by the death of her sons. After somtime she again became pregnant but the fetus was destroyed by Indra's weapon- Vajra in the womb itself. However Indra was not able to destroy the fetus completely, but was only successful in dividing the fetus into forty-nine parts. These forty-nine parts, later on became famous as 'Maraudganas'. Again Diti gave birth of Vajrang, who was very valiant and brave. When he grew up, Diti ordered him to defeat the deities. With his mother's permission and blessings, Vajrang defeated the deities and held them captive. He fastened all the deities. With strings and himself became the king of heaven. Seeing the pitable state of the deities I (brahma) went to Vajrang accompanied by Kashyap and requested him to free the deities. Vajrang agreed to free them but said he did not have any aspiration of becoming the king of heaven, he only wanted to teach a lesson to Indra. Vajrang returned the heaven to the deities. Later on the married Varanji who had been created by me (Brahma). While Vajrang was of virtuous nature, Varangi was not."

Birth of Tarakasur and his Penance

Varangi gave birth to Tarakasur- the valiant and brave demon. During the time of his birth , the world was affected by inauspicious events like earthquakes, cyclones etc, His name Tarakasur was given by Kashyap.

Taraka was ruthless and wicked. He hated sacrifices, charity, benevolen and righteousness.Taraka wished to defeat the gods. He therefore went to a place named Madhuvana and began to perform very difficult tapasya. He gazed at the sun and stood there with his arms raised. He stood on one leg and that too, only on the toes of his feet. A hundred years passed. For those hundred years, Taraka drank only water and had no food to eat. For the next hundreds, he gave up that also and lived only on air. A hundred years were spent in performing tapasya inside water, another hundred years on earth and a hundred years more inside fire. For a hundred years he performed tapasya upside down, standing on his hands. And for yet another hundred years, he hung upside down from the branches of a tree.

The meditation was so difficult that Brahma was pleased. He appeared before Tarakasura and said, I am pleased with your tapasya. What boon do you want?

If you are pleased, replied Tarakasura, grant me two boons. The first boon should be that no one created by you should be as strong as me. The second boon should be that I should be killed only by Shiva's son.

Shiva at that point of time had no sons. Sati had died and although she had been reborn as Parvati, she had not been married to Shiva.

Brahma granted Tarakasura the two boons. The demon went to a city named Shonitapura and began to live there. All the other demons made Tarakasura their king. Thanks to the boon. Tarakasura was so strong tha the easily defeated the gods. He conquered the three worlds and drove the gods out of heaven. He stole all their belongings and employed the gods as his servants.

The despondent gods went to Brahma and asked him to find a solution to the Tarakasura problem. I can't, said Brahma. It is because of my boon that the demon has become so powerful. Besides, my boon says that Tarakasura can only be killed by Shiva's son. Shiva has got to have a son. He is now performing tapasya in the Himalaya mountains. Parvati is also in that region. Do something so that these two fall in love with each other and marry.

The Burning of the God of LoveThe gods decided to follow Brahma's advice. But how could it be ensured that Shiva and Parvati fell in love with each other? The king of the gods was Indra and the god of love was Kandarpa or Madana.Indra summoned Kandarpa/kama. You have to help us, said Indra. There is no other way out. Shiva is performing tapasya in the Himalayas. Parvati is also in the region. Make sure that the two fall in love. That is your job.

Kandarpa went to the place where Shiva was meditating. And as soon as the god of love appeared, the place took on the traits of a spring which was pernnial. Flowers bloomed and bees buzzed among the flowes. Cuckoos sang and fragant breezes started to waft throught the forest. Shiva tried to concentrate on his meditation. But he kept getting distracted.

While all this was going on, who should arrive there but Parvati? She was so beautiful that Shiva was smitten with love for her. Parvati also seemed to like Shiva.

But life is never simple. Shiva was, after all, Shiva. He realized that something was wrong. How could his meditation have been disturbed? How was it that the season seemed to be spring although it had no business to be spring? When Shiva glanced around, his eyes fell on Kandarpa who was hiding. He realized that it was Kandarpa who was responsible for all this mischief.

Shiva was angered. He had a third eye in the middle of his forehead. From this third eye flames sprouted and these flames burnt Kandarpa to ashes.

Kandarpa's wife was Rati. When Rati saw that her husband had been burnt to ashes, her grief knew no bounds. At first she lost consciousness. When she recovered, she lamented, Woe is me. What is going to happen to me? My husband, my love, where have you gone?

The gods and Rati sought out Shiva. They explained that it had been no fault of Kandarpa's. He had been asked to disturb Shiva's tapasya because of the Tarakasua problem. What would happen to Rati now?

Shiva replied, What has happened has happened. Nothing can be done about kandarpa now. He will eventually be born in the city of Dvaraka as Krishna's son Pradyumna. Rati will then be reuntied with Kandarpa. But till such time, let her simply wait.

The gods dispersed, still despondent. The matter of Shiva and Parvati's marriage had not progressed at all.