Beauty and the Beast

37.

Garuda had all of a sudden disappeared. Something seemed amiss.

"You just had to go ahead and argue with Garuda. Now, if you have offended Narayana in any terms, we would be in a terrible spot." Urvashi sighed.

Pururavas, meditated on his father, Budha, the son of Chandra and Tara. Burning bright yellow in his form, Budha appeared before him. "Pitashree, I found Garuda on this hill, and suddenly he disappeared. Just a moment ago, he demanded that I leave because Lakshmi and Narayana are here."

Budha looked in surprise, "You indeed are fortunate, son. It had been ages since Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha gave Darshana to anyone in these hills. For many years, sages have tried to find them here and failed. I am confident of the opinion that Sri Hari has chosen you to appear on this hill again."

Pururavas just stood dumbfounded. It was astounding. He was aware that sometimes the deities go into avyakta sthiti when they feel something wrong has happened in their presence here."We saw Garuda here. He had asked us to leave."

"Find the idol of the Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha. He is here, hidden and not coming out to people in visibility, but if you have seen Garuda, there is no doubt that he is here. For several years, they went into avyakta, not visible to anyone."

"How does the idol look like, Pitashree?" He asked.

"The idol is present in a Tribhanga position. Tribhanga means three poses. The head from the Varaha avatar, the body of a man, and the tail from the Narasimha avatar. In a different kalpa, Hiranyakashyapu had thrown Prahalada off these hills into the ocean. To save his devotee, Hari took the form of a boar to swim down the ocean and bright back Prahalada. Hence, he has the face of a boar and the tail of a lion here." Budha explained.

Urvashi and Pururavas tried extensively to find the idol but failed miserably.

Sages all arrived at the hill upon hearing that Garuda was seen on the hill by Pururavas and Urvashi.

They started searching all of the hills, but neither could they find Garuda nor Narasimha. After a month of searching every inch of the hill, Pururavas almost lost hope.

Some of the sages started to fault Pururavas, "Because of you, he must have left. Narayana doesn't stay in a place where someone becomes extremely arrogant. You arrogantly tried to trespass on his place, and he left. Even if we couldn't see him, he still stayed here. But after your arrival, he left this place completely." They left the presence of Pururavas angrily.

Pururavas felt guilt. He had been needlessly arrogant by saying that Earth was the domain of humans. Urvashi put a hand on his shoulder. "Is there any use in feeling guilty now, Veera? Blaming your now is of no use. It might be true that we offended him with our rudeness, but he is after all Bhaktavatsala. Maybe if we truly request him in Vaikuntha, he might return."

Budha smiled at her suggestion, "Putra, what she says is true. Sri Narasimha is Bhaktavatsala. He loves his devotees deeply. If you perform penance with all austerity, he will surely return." Pururavas, hearing his father's words, felt hopeful once again. Bowing before his father, Budha, Pururavas requested him to provide him with the mantra.

Urvashi, noting her lover in a steel resolve to bring back Narasimha, felt sad. She was after all just an apsara. What could she do except distract Pururavas? Neither did she want to distract him, nor did she wish to leave him alone. Apsaras were infamous for disrupting penances.

"Do not fret, Urvashi. Aren't you the same one who was born out of his thigh when Indra sent Menaka to distract him? You have natural divinity. Perform penance without any doubts in your mind. He will surely answer you. He sees no difference in those who perform penance except Dharma and Adharma. It didn't matter who does tapasya. Only their goal matters. The cause you wish for is divine." Budha assured. Saying so, he told Urvashi the mantra.

Urvashi and Pururavas sat in different places and began their penance.

Menaka was in complete shock. Did her Apsara sister agree to perform penance? Is that even logical in love? Had all the Apsaras mistaken how much Urvashi loved Pururavas? Was that even possible? Could someone love anyone so that they conquer their inherent nature?

Apsaras were not meant for penance and such hardships. They were like the horses that drove lust and desire. Their goal was to test the senses. Not to themselves control all the senses and perform penance.

"Urvashi..." Menaka reached the hill. It seemed absurd to Menaka. Urvashi's eyes were closed shut.

Her preceptor was Narayana. She was naturally endowed with beauty. Her life was filled with luxuries at Swarga. She was free to do whatever she chose. She could choose anyone as her lover and do whatever she pleased. She neither tied herself to her nor felt the need to do so. She enjoyed her freedom as a bird too much to get involved in marriages and such ties. She had seen her preceptor many times. When Indra invited him to Swarga for various functions, when they went into hiding due to Asuras attacking Swarga. He never failed to surprise her with his intelligence. One more surprising than the other circumstances always fell over Swarga. Narayana's strategies were brilliant, and he was like an unbreakable fort.

But when Narasimha's aura filled her, she had never known anything more blissful. When the image of Lakshmi Narasimha filled her closed eyes, she couldn't see anything else.

Mahalakshmi is comfortably seated on his lap. Their eyes set on each other. His lion eyes so happily looked at her. It lacked the general nature of a lion wishing to terrorize an elephant. Mahalakshmi has always surrounded the elephants, and he had the head of a lion. Lions had some urge to terrorize elephants by pouncing on them. Elephants are naturally scared of Lions irrespective of their size difference. Even in such a case, the elephants surrounded Mahalakshmi fearless of the giant lion-head deity. It should be enough to have him running in absolute chaos.Menaka's words never reached Urvashi.

Tripurantaka, the Kshetrapalaka of Simhachala, saw the two doing their penance to make Narasimha appear on the hill again. With his trishula, bow, and axe in his lap, he sat near Pururavas, invisible to the eyes, meditating. May Kama be brave enough to come and disturb Pururavas. Even if he had become bodiless already, Kama did not dare enough to stand anywhere near Shiva anymore. Especially not when he was sitting with his trident, axe, and bow. Pinaki was not to be played with when he was determined to have someone achieve their goal in penance.