"Where are You going, Parvati? You can't get away from Me so easily. I'll wait for Your advent in every birth."
Have you ever thought about how the world's greatest love marriage took place? The marriage which set the rules for all other marriages i...
"Swami, You dance and challenge so many beings into dancing with You. Why don't You dance with Me and teach Me about the art forms?"
Upon Parvati's request, Shiva decided to invite Her to a duet with Him.
"Parvati, I cannot challenge Devi AdiparaShakti. But yes, will You please join Me for a duet? Mind You, You have to be as agile as I am and imitate every posture with perfection."
She clapped Her hands in excitement and eagerly agreed.
They both danced together under the moonlight and the cosmic beats of the Dumroo. Creation and destruction sustained with Their steps. The energy made all the particles of the Universe vibrate in harmony.
Shiva placed His one foot in the air and held a Mudra with His palms. Parvati imitated the same effortlessly.
Then, He bent low and tapped His feet fast and loud, which made even the ground shake. Parvati easily copied this step too.
Whatever He did, She followed, with utmost perfection. She was His perfect match. He was happy to have a companion who was even better and more graceful than Him.
Sometimes He was tough, but at all times She was gentle. He was like a hailstorm but She was like the gentle breeze.
They kept dancing for aeons and ages. Immersed in the vibrations of Their Love and sounds of Their harmonised footsteps.
Seeing no end to the duet, Shiva decided to perform a difficult posture so that They would break free and engage in Their worldly duties again.
He lifted His one foot above His head and stood still.
Parvati couldn't imitate this step. She felt shy and embarrassed.
And She covered Her face with Her palms and ran and hid amidst the lotus blossoms.
With this act of Hers, She came to be known as Lajja Gauri.
After Their divine play and dance, They retired to the forests near Kailash for a quick stroll and rest.
Parvati loved the fruits which grew on those trees. She felt hungry from all the dancing and wanted to devour them.
She went through Her familiar trail to the blossoming trees. Expecting a luscious and delightful fruit, She reached Her hand up.
But She fell a little short and couldn't reach all the way up. The fruits seemed to hang from an even higher branch.
Shiva came to Her rescue and held the tree from behind. He shook the tree so that the fruits dropped to Her feet. She held the veil of Her saree so that some fruits would fall in it.
However, much to Her dismay, only a few fruits fell down. She looked up in confusion.
"Swami, the last time We came here, this place was overflowing with fruits. How is it possible that the entire tree has only three fruits, even though it's the perfect season?"
Shiva too wondered at Her question. It was indeed a great dilemma.
He looked around at the rest of the trees in the forest and realised that almost all the trees were drying up and there were hardly any fruits or flowers left.
It then occurred to Him. They were lost in Their dancing and didn't realise that the world was in a crisis.
A horrible and terrible drought had hit the world and all beings were endangered and starving.
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She shed continuous tears. And She couldn't control Her sadness looking at the plight of the innocent beings.
Humans died, cattles starved and all plants and vegetation had been destroyed.
A demon named Durgam, had stolen the Vedas, which were the essence of the entire Cosmos. No flora or fauna could survive without the wisdom and the power of the Vedas. This caused a great drought to hit the world and its inhabitants, both plants and animals, suffered terribly.
When Parvati looked at the horrible conditions in front of Her eyes, Her body turned blue from worry and sadness. A thousand eyes emerged from every inch of Her body. And through these eyes, She shed a million tears.
They were tears of sadness, tears of grief, tears of pain, tears of loss, and most importantly, tears of a mother.
Her tears flowed so incessantly that a river emerged from them. The inhabitants were overjoyed at the prospect of the return of cultivable land and fertility to the earth.
Soon, everything was restored to normal. Plants and fauna were revived again.
She was revered as the Goddess Shakambhari, the Goddess of Nourishment, another aspect of the Divine Mother Annapoorna. She was named Shatakshi, the One with a thousand eyes. She was an embodiment of Goddess Shree, the Goddess of Resources, and was also called Goddess Kamalatmika.
Parvati took up Her responsibility of Mother Nature and cared for Her children, both living and non living alike.
She gave boons to the farmers and presented innumerable vessels filled with vegetables and fruits, so that they may sustain themselves.
She was so thrilled to look at the happy faces of Her children. A mother is the most satisfied when Her children are happy.
She danced in joy and performed Her Lasya, or Aanand Tandava.
With every graceful movement, fertility was restored to Mother Earth and She felt alive again.
She paused to listen to the complaints of Her children.
"If all this havoc is the creation of the demon Durgamasura, then he shall face his destruction very soon. I shall take another avatar and punish the perpetrators. I promise you all that my children shall not starve or die."
With this, Parvati turned and left in a rage, for meditation in the Vindhya caves.
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।। ॐ नमः पार्वती पतिये हर हर महादेव ।। ।। ॐ नमः शिवाय ।।
