The Holy Matrimony of Lord Shiva and Princess Parvati
The marriage of Lord Shiva- the Eternal Mystic and Princess Parvati was one of the greatest marriages of all times. And how can the matrimonial union of two great humans be without any interesting incident?
It was a great shock for one and all when Lord Shiva- the most intense and powerful human being decided to get married. It is not unknown that the Devas would refuse to come when the Asuras were present and vice versa. But they decided to put their differences aside and attend Shiva’s wedding. And how could all creatures, all the animals, worms, insects and every other living creature not show up for their Pashupati or Lord of creature’s wedding? The goblins, ghosts and demented beings also arrived for the event. Nobody wanted to miss out on watching Shiva get married to the beautiful princess Parvati.
As in all royal weddings of that time, the most important ceremony was the announcement of the bride and groom’s ancestral lineage. A king’s lineage is his pride and thus with great splendor, Parvati’s lineage was announced. This announcement went on for quite some time and finally, it was time for the groom’s lineage to be announced.
All the guests waited for someone to announce Lord Shiva’s lineage but nobody stood up. Parvati’s parents wondered that how can there be absolutely nobody to announce the achievements of one of the most intense human beings. Truly Shiva had no parents or relatives. He had come for his wedding with a few of his ganas friends who looked like distorted beings and did not even speak the human tongue but only made animal noises. They all seemed to be intoxicated.
After a long and awkward silence, the bride’s father, Parvat Raj finally spoke up, “Please announce your ancestry.” Shiva sat there silently with a distant look, he neither looked at his bride nor did he seem to be excited about the wedding. Sitting among his ganas, he stared into nothingness- his thoughts far away from where he was. He was asked repeatedly because no father would give up their daughter without knowing the groom’s lineage. Auspicious time set for the ceremony was slowly ticking away and everyone was agitated. The highborn kings and priests, scorned at Shiva and rumors began to spread, “What is his lineage? Why is he not speaking up? Maybe he comes from some shameful, Low-caste background.”
The sage Narada was observing the turn of events and picked up his veena and kept plucking at one string of the instrument. He kept playing the same note –“toing, toing, toing.” Angered by this Parvati’s father, Parvat Raj shouted “What nonsense is going on? We want to hear the lineage of the groom, but he just sits and ignores us. Am I supposed to marry my daughter to such a man? And why are you making that annoying noise? Is that supposed to be an answer?”
Narada peacefully replied, “This one does not have parents.”
Parvat Raj confused asked,” Do you mean to say that he does not know who his parents are?”
Narada replied “No. This one has no parentage. There is nothing that can lead to its heritage. This one has no gotra. This one cannot be considered after having nothing to speak of. All he can claim to be of is his own.” The gathering was perplexed. Parvat Raj said, “We know people who don’t know who have not had the fortune of knowing who their parents are. Such unfortunate situations can often take place. But everyone is born of someone. How can he not have a father or mother?”
Narada replied, “Because he is swayambhu, the self-created. He has not been blessed with the presence of neither his father nor mother. Neither does he have lineage nor parentage. He belongs to no tradition and does not have a kingdom to back him. He has neither gotra nor nakshatra, and no lucky star shines to watch over him. He is beyond and far traversed than all of that. He is a yogi who has embraced the existence as a part of himself. For him, there is only one lineage — sound. The primordial, non-existent nature, when it thrived to find existence, the first thing that came into existence was sound. His first manifestation is in the form of a single lonesome sound. Preceding that he was nothing; a no one. That is why I am plucking the string.”
Spirituality comes with what you believe in invariably and the passion with which you get your focus veering into a direction that would give you the sole motive of a spiritual living and the definitive of its existence.
Sadhguru had found this incident during the wedding of Lord Shiva and Princess Parvati to be an eye-opening moment. We often tend to be so proud of our lineage that we boast about it to everyone. What really matters is our existence and our spirituality.
Spirituality has a lot to do with the amount of faith you put into the very conception of religious understanding and its persistence. With this comes a kind of inner strength that can help you to transform your life with honest beliefs and patient trust that you invest into the sanctity of this path of reformation.
Originally published at spiritualliving.co on September 21, 2017.
