Beauty and the Beast

35

The foothills had wilderness around. Devi Tripuraa led them ahead towards it. At one place, they saw a Shivalinga there.

There was a garland of bilva leaves and jasmine flowers over the shivalinga.

They saw Tripurantaka sitting there. Pinaka and Trishula in his two hands. The deer and axe in his two hands. Two hands in abhaya and varada mudra. Two hands in meditative pose. He sat in padmasana.

"My husband appeared here along with my brother. He is the Kshetrapalaka of this hill." Devi Tripuraa explained to Shukracharya and Prahlada.

Tripurantaka opened his eyes when he sensed Narasimha there. He sensed the heat rising from the idol.

He opened his jata just so little and Ganga flowed out of his hair and created a pond there.

Taking the idol in his hands, he entered the pond. He dripped the idol in water three times and then walked out. He climbed ahead the hill. Shukracharya, Prahlada, and Devi Parvati followed him uphill.

After climbing uphill, he looked around the space and then looked at Prahlada, "I assume you have brought an asana."

Prahlada offered the asana. Shiva placed the idol on the asana. But the heat did not reduce. Devi Parvati brought sandalwood paste and began to apply it over the idol.After him, Shiva too applied sandalwood. Following her lead, all the Devas appeared and offered sandalwood to him.

When Prahlada got his turn, he couldn't see the original idol at all. It was like a lump of sandalwood. Almost resembling the rough shape of a shivalinga. A few more layers of sandalwood and it would exactly look like a shivalinga.

He chuckled at Narayana and his antics. He managed to keep the request of his devotee and also follow the curse accordingly.

Shiva looked at him and smiled.

Shiva was deep within his meditation when he saw the divine vision. Krishna was playing his flute. Surabhi, Kamadhenu, and all the divine cows surrounded them. Goloka paused entirely to hear his flute.

"I wonder what did the flute ever do to deserve to always sit on lips." Radhika asked as she rested her head on his lap. She took the flute from his hands. Krishna smiled as she examined the flute.

"It makes itself completely hollow from the inside to simply become an instrument for my play. It allows itself to bear holes. It bears no will of it's own and leaves everything to me. It only plays what I want it to play. No one is more syncretic with my wishes the way this flute is." Krishna answered.

Radhika smiled at that. She sat up and played the flute herself.

Krishna's flute has the entire world stop and hear him. Radhika's music makes the whole creation run in complete ecstasy. Radhika could make everyone dance in complete joy. It was the same aahladana (complete bliss) which was the very essence of Radhika that flowed through the flute.

Shiva was no exception. Radhika's flute whispered the deepest secrets of Krishna in his ears. He stood up and began dancing in ecstasy.

Seeing that, Radhika stopped playing the flute in surprise. Krishna chuckled. He took the flute and played the flute. While the bliss Shiva was in didn't disappear away, he stopped his dancing. He saw Krishna appear before. He began dancing. The dance so beautiful that it even enchanted the lord of dance.

The surprise that suddenly Krishna appeared as Kalika. His tulsi mala appearing like her kapala mala. His parijata mala looking like her mandara mala. Krishna's peacock feather resembled the moon on Kalika's head. He looked like Kalika while Kalika who was near Shiva's own seat looked like Krishna. Krishna's rasaleela seemed like Kalika's tandava.

Then Kalika began to resemble Shiva with her snakes and kapala.

The overwhelming feeling of himself being Krishna filled him. Shiva was Keshava and Keshava was Shiva. That Advaita filled him with an ecstasy that sent him into a trace. Shiva almost began to completely withdraw himself from the world. That bliss consumed him so much that began to close down everything.

That was when Gauri's pat disturbed him. The bliss in his eyes made her smile. "Bliss is lovely, swami, but you cannot withdraw yourself. You will end up shutting down the whole universe before Mahapralaya." She told him.

Shiva had no words to explain it. Just silence. Gauri smiled at it. She didn't need his words. She was half of him. She knew without being told in words. "This cannot and should not be said in plain words. It is to experience. Govinda is everything. Everything is within Govinda. You want to share it with them but it is not to be said in words."

She looked at him assured. "When the time is right, he will find his own way to explain it to others. The right person will understand it and feel the same esctacy as you have."

Narayana did take on Shiva's appearance. "I know you have wonderful way of expressing yourself and every time I think that I am aware of your leela, you do something surprising." He said chuckling.

Over the sandalwood covered idol, they offered tulsi mala.

"Amma?" Prahlada asked Shankara.

He turned to show him the idol which appeared on it's own out of the earth. "These hills will be called Simhachalam. The Lord of Hill will be called Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha. Every day, a layer of chandana is to be applied on him. On Vaisakha Shukla Tritirya, the idol can be seen in it's true form. All of the chandana applied will be removed. From that day, once again chandana will be applied. This will be called Chandanotsava." Shiva told everyone.

"The east of the temple's entrance will be named after Bhairava and be known as Bhairava Dwaara. The tirtha would be called Gangaadhara tirtha. Anyone who bathes in the tirth would be free from diseases and accelerate in their spiritual journey." Narasimha declared.

Prahlada built a wonderful temple for Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha there. The walls had sketched the story of Narasimha.

After Prahlada, his son Virochana took the welfare of the temple. Following his father, even Mahabali cared for the welfare of the temple.

Slowly and steadily, it became a pilgrim. The day all of the chandana was removed from the idol, it would be the hottest day in the area. Once again, they would start applying the sandalwood paste over him.