Shiv Shakti - The Mountains Bound Us! (Haimavati)

The Savior Lord

A few days after this incident, Parvati went to meet Shiva again. She was thinking. Shiva had not interacted with her since the day she was attacked by Tarakasur's army. She was wondering did he actually think about her? With these thoughts she went inside the cave but found it empty. She looked around but didn't find Shiva there. She was surprised. Then she spotted Nandi.

"Nandi, where is Mahadev?"

"Mata you don't know?"

"Why? What happened?" Parvati asked, confused.

Then Nandi began to narrate what had happened.

The King Bhagirath of the Ikshavaku dynasty had been meditating on Lord Brahma to free his ancestors. When Brahma listened to his request, he said that he was unable to do so. Only the river Ganga can free the souls of the dead as she was the embodiment of purity. He suggested Bhagirath to pray to Ganga and he did so. Pleased, Ganga appeared. Bhagirath asked her for the same wish. Ganga said that to fulfil his wish, she needed to flow on Earth but even if she agreed to come to Earth then also it would be impossible for the ground to handle her complete flow of energy. When Bhagirath asked for a solution, she said the only one who could handle her flow was Shiva so he should go to him. As she said, Bhagirath went to Shiva. Hearing his plea, Shiva agreed. He said that he would catch Ganga in his head as she would fall and then she can flow freely. Knowing that Shiva had agreed, Ganga emerged from Brahma's pot, flew towards Vaikunth and touched Vishnu's feet and finally fell from heaven. This Ganga is known as 'Akash Ganga'. As she fell, Shiva stood on one of the highest Himalayan peaks and captured her flow in his long flowing locks. He tied his hair into a jata again. Then he opened one of his locks and Ganga flew towards Earth where she met Bhagirath. Ganga freed his ancestors and flows to this day as the symbol of purity. From that day, Shiva came to be known as 'Gangadhar' and Ganga was named 'Bhagirathi'.

Listening to the entire story, Parvati felt happy. Shiva had helped with saving the world once more. Moreover, Ganga had finally managed to fulfil her destiny. Ganga was the daughter of Himalaya as well and she was her older sister. Parvati and Ganga were close since childhood and adored each other but unfortunately, Ganga had to leave for devlok to fulfil her duty as the river of purity when Parvati was young. She missed her and was happy for her sister. But then something panged in her heart. Maybe it was the disappointments that she had surpressed for so long.

"So he listened to the plea of his devotee?" she said, her voice clearly indicating that she was upset but Nandi didn't quite catch onto it. He happily praised his Lord.

"Yes Mata! He is Ashutosh. He listens to everybody. Fulfil's everybody's desires. That is why he is Devadidev."

That hurt her even more. She knew these feelings were unnecessary but still her heart didn't concide.

"He listens to everybody... Just not me."

"Huh?" now Nandi was taken aback. "No... No it's nothing like that..."

"He even accepted Ganga but it's just... Maybe I'm the problem. I might be the who is restricting his way of Sadhana. Alright then, I won't come here anymore."

Saying so, she ran out of the cave. Nandi stood there, dumbfounded. He didn't quite understand what just happened.