system. As soon as the after-effects of wine ends, or if the drunken man is able to
vomit the alcohol out and take some rest to recover himself, he feels light, fresh and
rejuvenated. He vows never to fall in the trap again, or ever try to taste an unknown
liquid out of fear.
The same thing happened here. As soon as Kaamdeo felt scared, the negative
traits he represented, such as passion and lust, suddenly became limp and lustre-less
throughout the world. All the creatures who were intoxicated with this ‘drug’
suddenly found its effect neutralised. Their zeal and daredevilery towards sexual
behaviour and senseousness caused by the arousing effects of Kaamdeo suddenly
subsided. This brought peace and calm to their restless mind and heart. Then the
creatures realised that they had been virtually taken for a ride by Kaamdeo, and they
thanked Lord Shiva for restoring their peace and happiness once again.]L§º ̋Á„U ŒÁπ ◊ŒŸ ÷ÿ ◊ÊŸÊ – ŒÈ⁄UÊœ⁄U· ŒÈª ̧◊ ÷ªflÊŸÊH 4H
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rudrahi dēkhi madana bhaya mānā. durādharaṣa durgama bhagavānā. 4.
phirata lāja kachu kari nahiṁ jā'ī. maranu ṭhāni mana racēsi upā'ī. 5.
When Madan (Kaamdeo) saw Rudra (the angry form of Shiva)^1 , he was terrified. He
realised that the Lord God (i.e. Lord Shiva) was too formidable and majestic to be
overcome (conquered and swayed from his posture of meditation). (4)
Kaamdeo was in a quandary, uncertain of what to do: To return empty-handed
(i.e. to fail in his mission of disturbing Shiva’s meditation) was a shameful act, and it
was a virtually impossible task to wake Shiva from his meditative trance (without
inviting the Lord’s wrath).
Deciding that death was now a foregone conclusion (because returning
without accomplishing the assigned task was humiliating, and it was not possible to
disturb Shiva without inviting his anger), Kaamdeo contemplated in his Mana (mind
and heart) and decided upon a course of action. (5)
[Note—^1 The use of the word “Rudra” here is significant. Lord Shiva has many
names, and “Rudra” is one of them. “Rudra” is a synoymn for anger and
wrathfulness. So here it means Kaamdeo was terrified to his bare bone because he
was facing a formidable Lord who was a personified form of anger. To make matters
worse for Kaamdeo, going back without waking Lord Shiva was a humiliating option
as the gods would laugh at his failure. Disturbing Shiva was like playing with fire of
anger, and it was sure to invite the Lord’s wrath with a vengeance.]
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pragaṭēsi turata rucira riturājā. kusumita nava taru rāji birājā. 6.
bana upabana bāpikā taṛāgā. parama subhaga saba disā bibhāgā. 7.
jaham̐ taham̐ janu umagata anurāgā. dēkhi mu'ēhum̐ mana manasija jāgā. 8.
[Lord Shiva was meditating in the serene and barren part of the snow-covered
mountains where there was complete silence and no form of disturbance. Now we
shall read that Kaamdeo converted that area into a vibrant and lushgreen forest having
flowering trees bearing colourful and secented flowers, complete with chirping birds