Shiva Mahimna Stotra

Shloka 22

Meaning:  O Lord Shiva! Lustful Brahma wanted to have a lustful act with his own daughter. Out of fear, the daughter became a hind and ran. Brahma took the body of a stag and ran after her. To punish Brahma for his unethical motive, O Lord, with the swift of a hunter you took a bow in your hand and shot an arrow at Brahma. The fearful Brahma thinking about the pain of being pierced by the arow ran into heaven. But, even today, the arrow is not giving up its chase of Brahma.

Reflections: 

This shloka teaches us how Lord Shiva as Brahman protects the righteousness on earth and punishes even Brahma for an unethical motive. This is how ultimately righteousness prevails on earth for the good of humanity to survive. When the earth is filled with only unrighteousness, then it is an indication of the time of dissolution of humanity.

This shloka also teaches us not to underestimate the power of lust.   

Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (16.21),

“Lust, anger, and greed are three gates to hell which bring destruction of an individual soul. Therefore, these three should be avoided.”

In the Gospel, Shri Ramakrishna told his devotees, again and again, to renounce ‘lust and greed’. These two are great forces that bring the human being’s mind down to the lower level. They do not let the mind rise to a higher level which brings Knowledge, Peace, fulfillment, and Bliss. Initially, lust and greed may bring some pleasure, but they bring tons of miseries. People do all kinds of evil things motivated by lust and greed. Anger follows lust and greed.

That is the reason that in the Hindu scriptures, many stories tell us how great personalities fell from their higher level of consciousness due to lust and greed, especially lust. Whenever a man was performing severe austerities, Indra, the king of gods thought that he was trying to take away his position. So, Indra sent beautiful girls to deviate the mind of the man from spirituality, and most of the time he succeeded.

Let us remember two stories of Devarshi Narada.

(Note: The following two stories have been written to learn the important lesson they teach us. These stories have different versions. For the exact wording of the stories, please go through the Hindu scriptures.)

Narada conquering lust:

Devarshi Narada is a great Rishi and a beloved devotee of Lord Vishnu. Once Narada was meditating. Indra sent lots of distractions including the Kamadeva, the god of lust. But nothing disturbed Narada’s meditation. When Narada conquered the god of lust, he was very happy and proud of himself. He got up from his meditation and immediately went to Lord Shiva to tell him about it. Lord Shiva was very happy listening to Narada about his victory over the lust. Then, Lord Shiva told Narada that this was a very interesting experience, but he should not tell this to Lord Vishnu. However, Narada was so proud of himself that he went to Lord Vishnu and bragged about his victory over the lust. Lord Vishnu admired him and smiled.

To teach Narada and all of us a lesson, Lord Vishnu created a situation. Mother Lakshmiji became a princess of a king. The king announced that his daughter was going to select her husband in a big “Swayamvara” ceremony. Narada was passing by, and he found out about this event. Out of curiosity to see the princess, he went to the king’s palace. The king received him with honor and asked him to see the palm of his daughter and give advice about what kind of husband she should select. Narada, looking at the palm of the princess, mentally fell in love with her, and mentally he decided that he would like to marry this princess. He thought that Lord Vishnu was very handsome and if he got the beauty of his face, then definitely the princess would select him as her husband. He went to Lord Vishnu and told him his wish. Lord Vishnu told Narada that he had conquered the lust a while ago, and how come now he was eager to marry. Narada said, “At this moment this is my decision, and I want the face of Hari. Please grant me that boon.” Lord Vishu said, “So be it.”

Narada was extremely happy and on the day of the “Swayamvara,” he dressed up nicely and stood in the line of princes who wanted to marry the princess. Mother Lakshmiji as princess came with a garland of flowers to select her husband. She went to each one, listened to the candidate, looked at the candidate, and moved on. Narada was sure that he would be selected. When the princess came to Narada, she laughed at him and moved on. Narada was confused and disappointed. He didn’t know why the princess laughed at him. Then, he found that the princess put the garland on the neck of a handsome man and chose him as her husband. After that, both, the princess, and the handsome man, disappeared.

Upon someone’s suggestion, Narada looked at his face in the pool of water and found that he had a ‘monkey face’. Narada was enraged. He felt that he was cheated by Lord Vishnu. He had asked for the handsome face of Hari (Vishnu), instead Lord Vishnu took another meaning of Hari, which means monkey. He ran to Lord Vishnu and found that the princess was none other than Mother Lakshmiji and Lord Vishnu was wearing the garland. Narada’s anger knew no bounds. He cursed Lord Vishnu and Mother Lakshmiji that they both would be born as human beings on earth, both would go through the pain of separation from each other, and monkeys would help them to be united. Lord Vishnu accepted the curse with a smile. He said for the good of the world, we will go through this. Later, Lord Vishnu was born as Sri Rama, and Mother Lakshmiji was born as Mother Sitaji.

Thus, the power of lust deluded even Devarshi Narada who had easy access to Lord Vishnu. What to talk about ordinary people. Therefore, we should never think and boast that ‘we have conquered the lust’.

Narada’s experience of Maya:

Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (7.14):

“My divine Maya, made of the three gunas, is very difficult to overcome. Only those who take refuge in Me can cross over this Maya.”

Once Narada asked Shri Krishna, “What is Maya?” Shri Krishna said, “You will find out yourself. Let us go for a walk.” They both walked and walked into a deep forest. Finally, Shri Krishna said that he was very tired and thirsty. He could not walk anymore. He asked Narada to bring some water for him.

Narada walked around and found that there was a small village nearby. He went to the doors of a house and said, “Om Namo Narayanaya”. The doors opened and a beautiful girl greeted him. The girl was so charming that Narada forgot all about the water and got engaged in a conversation with her. He found that the girl was the daughter of the parents who owned the house and was not married. The girl invited him inside the house. Her parents welcomed Narada with lots of love and offered him food and water. In the conversation, the parents mentioned that they are looking for a young man for their daughter to get married. Narada was overjoyed and said that if it was okay with the daughter and the parents, then he would be happy to marry her. They were all happy. Narada and the girl got married. Narada started working to make money. He built a house near a river. Several years passed. Narada and his wife had a couple of children. They were living happily.

One day, the weather changed suddenly.  A big storm came and brought torrential rain for several days. Everything was flooded. The river swelled and it started flowing with a strong current. Houses, animals, and people started drowning in the river. Narada’s house was filled with water, and they were dragged into the river by its current. Narada kept his two children in his two arms and his wife was holding him around his neck. Thus, Narada was trying to swim in the forceful river. At one point his wife could not hold him and she was dragged away by the powerful current of the river. Slowly, he started losing his grip on his children. One by one he lost both of his children. Narada was struggling to remain on the top of the water. Finally, he lost his consciousness. When he was awake, he found himself on the bank of the river lying in the sand. He was profusely crying for losing everything. At that time, he heard the voice of Shri Krishna, “Did you get my water?” He was dumbfounded. What did he experience? Was that experience real? How many years passed? He saluted Shri Krishna and said, “Now I know what Maya is.”

Another Story about the Dominance of Lust:

In the shloka 22 of the Shiva Mahimna Stotra, Pushpadanta is referring to a story of how lust deluded even Brahma, the creator of the universe.

It seems to me that after looking at constellations, someone had made this story to show the power of lust.

Brahma is the creator of the universe. He creates things and people from his mind. He created many people, men, and women. But then they should have their children for the creation to continue. The story goes that first, he created 10,000 people. He asked them to do spiritual practices first and then raise families. Narada went to all of them and told them that to remain absorbed in God’s Consciousness is blissful. He told them not to get involved in marriages and raising families. They all renounced and didn’t marry. Brahma was upset.

Brahma then created another set of people. He also created Kamadev, the god of lust, and a beautiful girl, called Sandhya. Brahma gave a boon to Kamadeva that to whom he shot his arrows, their minds would get filled with lust. In an assembly, Kamadeva started shooting his arrows toward all, including his father Brahma. Everyone’s mind was filled with lust. Brahma’s mind also got filled with lust and he looked at his daughter with lustful eyes. Sandhya got afraid and to save herself she became a hind and ran. Brahma under the influence of the lust became a stag and ran after her. Lord Shiva saw this and he was disgusted. He scolded Brahma. Lord Shiva wanted Brahma to come back to his senses and stop chasing Sandhya. So, he, with the swiftness of a hunter, shot an arrow which started chasing Brahma. The fearful Brahma ran to heaven to save himself from this arrow. The arrow is still chasing Brahma even today.

Brahma came back to his senses and got ashamed of himself. He was angry with Kamadeva for polluting his mind and he cursed him that he would be burnt to death by Lord Shiva.

The mental forces of lust and anger are very strong. For most of the people, it takes years of spiritual practices to control them. People easily become victims of these forces. That is why Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (5.23):

“A person is a Yogi and acquires happiness who can withstand the force of lust and anger in this life before his/her body falls off.”

In the spiritual path, just controlling lust and anger is not enough. One must develop a love for God, or an intense desire to realize Atman, one’s true divine identity. If one develops intense love for God or an intense desire to realize Atman, one can easily control lust because he/she will not be interested in sensual desires as they drag one away from God or Atman. Similarly, when one intensely seeks God or Atman, one moves towards Oneness in which case one does not want to hurt anyone.

Also, we must remember that we should not dwell much on the lust stories even if they are teaching us some lessons because our mind plays tricks and enjoys thinking of the stories rather than learning lessons. We must read and think of the stories that increase our love for God, intensify our Viveka (sense of discrimination between right and wrong), and renunciation, and encourage us to acquire Knowledge about Atman.