Once, Emperor Vikramaditya was wandering in some parts of his vast empire. He entered a forest and came to the bank of a river. There a horrible, scene awaited him. An old man with a frail frame, or rather a skeleton covered with wrinkled skin; was sitting before a pit of fire (Agni Kunda). He had already cut his two feet, one hand, two ears and nose and offered... them as oblations in the sacred fire. Next, he was attempting to cut and sacrifice his tongue. At the sight of this piteous plight, Vikramaditya's heart was filled with great compassion. He asked the sacrificer thus …….
"O! great one of severe penance! What is the reason for cutting and sacrificing your organs like this? Who are you? What is your purpose? Why do you suffer this severe pain?"
As the Emperor's question could not be: neglected, the sacrificer replied thus: "O Emperor! I am one of Your Majesty's subjects. For forty years, I performed rigorous penance to have the Darsana of the Universal Mother. Still She did not appear before me. As it stands, there is no necessity to keep up this body of mine without Her Darsana. That is why I am cutting and sacrificing my organs to Her."
Moved with great grief, the Emperor said. "Alright! I shall show you a way out of this piteous plight. Kindly give me -your sword." Taking the sword, Vikramaditya aimed at his own throat and gave a blow. Before the sharp edge of the sword could touch his body and cut it into two the Supreme Goddess of the Universe caught hold of his hand and stopped him from his terrible deed. In a sweet voice, She said; "My son! refrain from this venture. What is your wish? Speak soon. I am bestower of boons."
Vikramaditya: "O Mother Divine! Goddess of the countless universes! My humble prostrations to Thy lotus feet. Is your heart made of stone? This sacrificer has performed severe penance for a long time. In the end he cut his organs one-by one and sacrificed them for you. Why is it that You are not yet kind enough to grant him Darsana? Are you not a boundless ocean of mercy? Do You not love all Your children alike? Can pure gold lose its carat?"
The lotus-eyed One blessed him by placing Her. Supreme Abode-bestowing hand on his head and said like this: "My beloved son! Are you still ignorant? Is it in this way that you have understood My unblemished mercy? Carefully ponder over this, very same incident. You, the Emperor, out of pity and grief at the sight of another's sorrow, were prepared to sacrifice you very head. But, this man, even for My sake, was not prepared to sacrifice his head. For getting My invaluable Darsana, he was prepared only to sacrifice the tips of his hand, feet, etc. He was only testing Me. He was experimenting whether I would appear at the, sacrifice of his hand, feet, or any other thing. How can his tests for selfish ends be fruitful? Thus, you see that I have appeared before you without appearing before him.
Here, one more point is to be understood. You are desireless. At the signal of others' pains your heart also pains and you sincerely try to remove their pains. With self-¬sacrifice, you live for others' sake. Quite the contrary is his condition. He is full of countless desires. It is this strong iron fortress of desires, which he himself has created, that stands between Me and him and veils Me from his sight. The personification of selfishness alone has created this desire in him for My Darsana. He wishes to obtain from Me many Siddhis like Akasagamana (flying in the sky), etc. These, he will only misuse for selfish ends and for causing troubles to others. That is why, he is unable to behold Me, though am Omnipresent. The strong iron curtain of his desires only veils Me, who am always residing in the very core of his own heart's. Without removing this curtain he or any other person can never behold Me, the Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, the silent Witness of ,everything and everybody, the Indweller of all and Goddess, of all. Even now you only behold Me and not he.
In reality, I do not do anything. Each is thinking speaking and doing according to his or her own Karma, or Prarabhdha. That person, whose veiling curtain -is removed by proper Sadhana, feels that he or she beholds Me. If the curtain is not removed, the feeling is that I am not beholden. Seeing, non-seeing, knowing, not knowing, being happy or otherwise, merits (Punya) or demerits (Papa) the preceptor or disciple, bondage or liberation, all are the imaginations of the mind. In fact, I, the embodiment of Bliss Supreme, Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Absolute alone exist. He, who realizes this by actual experience, will not be deluded. For him, who has not realized this; there is no escape from delusion. Therefore, at all times, in all places to meditate on Me alone is the duty of one and all. Since you are always, well established in the righteous path, there is no room for sorrow. All become auspicious alone!"
Vikrama- “Omnicient Mother! at least for my sake kindly remove this person's veil and grant him Your Darsana and the consequent happiness!"
Devi. - "May it so happen according to your will, i. e. My devotee's will!. His Prarabdha also has exhausted. When it was on the brink of being, exhausted only, he happened to have My devotee's Darsana. The Darsana of My devotees will bring in all -auspiciousness. May he have the Darsana of Myself, Who am the servant of My devotees. May all-auspiciousness be unto all!"
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment