"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...
"Parvati, You didn't let Me have a vision of Your form as Devi Durga. I too wanted to admire Her and worship Her."
Parvati gasped in disbelief. She knew Shiva was engaging in His divine play once again.
"Oh Swami, but You're omnipresent and You were always there to support Me in the battle.
Shiva kept on insisting that He wanted to look at Goddess Durga and contemplate Her in person.
"Parvati, I have married You in the form of the Daughter of the Mountains. You know that I won't take any other wife and would happily remarry You, again and again. And now, I wish to marry You again as the Goddess of Victory."
After a long round of persuasion, She finally agreed.
"Okay, Swami, I agree. But I have one condition. After seeing My form as Goddess Durga, You shall grant Me whatever I desire or ask for."
Shiva readily agreed, for He could never deny anyone anything they asked Him for. And She was His beloved, how could He deny Her?
Parvati closed Her eyes and summoned Her yogic powers. Bright light emitted from Her skin and the entire atmosphere was blinded with sparkles.
When it was visible again, She was standing in front of Shiva in the form of Goddess Durga.
Shiva folded His hands in reverence and offered Her flowers. He put a garland of the world's most beautiful and fragrant flowers around Her neck. And then took some vermillion and applied it on Her forehead.
"Swami, now that Your wish is fulfilled. Please keep Your vow and fulfill My desire."
Shiva was very much eager to listen and fulfil Her demands. Knowing very well that She was more wiser than Her previous self, He trusted Her to ask for something sensible and significant. "What is Your wish, Parvati, I mean Durga?"
She returned to Her previous form as Parvati. "Swami, after taking this form of Goddess Durga and fighting the demon Durgam, I feel very tired and famished. Please can You satiate My hunger?"
Shiva laughed. "Is that all You ask for? Goddess Annapoorna is asking a mendicant like Me for food. It sounds so ironic."
Parvati wasn't amused at His joke. Her eyebrows twitched and Her round eyes turned dark.
Looking at Her expression, Shiva was scared for a while.
But then something unexpected happened, and He could no longer understand anything.
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"Oh what have I done! In the selfish desire to satisfy my never ending hunger, I have swallowed My own husband. This is so terrible! I feel so miserable." Her eyes swelled up with tears and She started to cry.
She kept weeping, with Her face covered in Her palms. She wailed and cried and yelled in Her despair. Her pain was terrible and She could no longer bear it.
She was surrounded by cries of crows and howling jackals and dogs. Her agony was so unbearable that Her skin had lost it's lustre. She now resembled a pain stricken woman with wrinkles, dry skin and patchy hair.
She felt like a void in the Universe, in which ultimately everything dissolved. Just like the way She had dissolved even the Supreme Shiva inside of Her.
She felt ugly, inside and out, because of what She had done. But Her tender heart was longing for someone to seek Her out.
If any devotee would look beyond Her superficial appearance and surrender unto Her, She was always eager to grant them boons of Supreme Wisdom and all the inner, deeper truths of life.
She was the destroyer of the cycle of birth and death and could fulfill any desires, even though Her own desire had remained unfulfilled. She could burn down sins and ignorance of a lifetime.
Her loud wails were interrupted by a prophecy from the sky.
"Dear Mother Goddess of the Cosmos, don't shed Your precious tears. Whatever You do, is an act of Your divine play and holds much significance for the betterment of the world. In this form, as Goddess Dhumavati, You shall be revered as one of the Ten Mahavidyas, who grant boons and wisdom to Their devotees."
She looked up to search for the source of the prophecy. But all She could see was darkness. Gloomy skies and cold winds, chilling and freezing to the bone.
Without Shiva, the world was dim, not just for the rest of others, but also for Her. What would She do without Him?
She felt the same pain He had felt on losing Her as Sati. She realised that She had promised to share His sorrows, and somehow this incident was solving the same purpose. It was all Divine play indeed.
She breathed out and exhaled, exhausted from everything.
As the air left Her nostrils, fumes evaporated and smoke engulfed Her senses.
She coughed, and suddenly broke into spasms. She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled more smoke.
From Her smoke, emerged Shiva again.
She ran into His arms, crying and pining.
"Swami, I am so sorry. I don't know what happened and why I did that. Please forgive Me."
He hugged Her into His loving embrace. "No Parvati, I am grateful to You. Today, I had the divine vision of not one but two Goddesses, Goddess Durga and Goddess Dhumavati."
Her heart beat returned in relief. She clinged to Him even tightly.
"Today, I have acted in the most heart wrenching manner to satisfy My own hunger. But I promise that one day I shall pay for My deeds by satisfying someone else's hunger, in the most heartfelt manner.
She transformed back into Her joyous, lustrous form as the Mountain Maiden again.
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।। ॐ नमः पार्वती पतिये हर हर महादेव ।। ।। ॐ नमः शिवाय ।।
