honoured by the title of ‘Maha-Deva’ which means a ‘Great God’, an epithet that no
other god is honoured with, not even the creator Brahma or the sustainer Vishnu.
Remaining detached from the material world and its temptations, being aloof
from its charms and sensual pleasures, keeping the mind focused on mediation and
contemplation instead of allowing it to be indulgent in the gross world and its affairs,
turning oneself away from enticing sights and pleasures and instead turning inwards
to face the Atma which is the pure conscious ‘self’, observing exemplary self-
restraint over the sense organs of perception and action that helps the person to
maintain internal tranquility, stability, calm and poise, and such like characters that
are unique to Lord Shiva are not negative traits at all, but highly praised positive ones
according to the scriptures such as the Upanishads that deal with the eclectic
philosophy of metaphysics and spiritualism.
So, the fear of Uma’s husband being ‘weird and mad and unsuitable to be her
partner if he has these characters’ is absolutely unfounded, imaginary and relative by
nature because the same characters are present in Lord Shiva, and no one in this
creation says that Shiva is unholy or mad. On the contrary, if these characters are
present in any other ordinary living being then of course he would be laughed at and
no one would dare to marry his daughter with such a mad person.
Therefore, since it is not possible to change Uma’s destiny with respect to the
characters her husband would have, the best way out is to select someone who has
these traits, but at the same time is honoured by the world for possessing the same set
of character that have instilled fear and worry in the heart of the parents of Uma.
These so-called negative traits in Shiva are praised by the world instead of being
scoffed or riled at.]¡ı¥ •Á„U ‚¡ ‚ÿŸ „UÁ⁄U ∑§⁄U„UË¥ – ’Èœ ∑§¿ÈU ÁÃã„U ∑§⁄U ŒÙ·È Ÿ œ⁄U„UË¥H 5H
÷ÊŸÈ ∑Χ‚ÊŸÈ ‚’ ̧ ⁄U‚ πÊ„UË¥ – ÁÃã„U ∑§„°U ◊¢Œ ∑§„Uà ∑§Ù©U ŸÊ„UË¥H 6H
‚È÷ •L§ •‚È÷ ‚Á‹‹ ‚’ ’„Uß ̧– ‚È⁄U‚Á⁄U ∑§Ù©U •¬ÈŸËà Ÿ ∑§„Uß ̧H 7H
‚◊⁄UÕ ∑§„È°U Ÿ®„U ŒÙ·È ªÙ‚ÊßZ – ⁄UÁ’ ¬Êfl∑§ ‚È⁄U‚Á⁄U ∑§Ë ŸÊßZH 8H
jauṁ ahi sēja sayana hari karahīṁ. budha kachu tinha kara dōṣu na
dharahīṁ. 5.
bhānu kṛsānu sarba rasa khāhīṁ. tinha kaham̐ manda kahata kō'u nāhīṁ. 6.
subha aru asubha salila saba baha'ī. surasari kō'u apunīta na kaha'ī. 7.
samaratha kahum̐ nahiṁ dōṣu gōsā'īṁ. rabi pāvaka surasari kī nā'īṁ. 8.
[In these 4 verses, nos. 5-8, Narad gives the reason why the so-called negative traits
are not regarded as being ‘negative’ when applied to Lord Shiva.]
Though Lord Hari (Vishnu) sleeps on the back of a poisonous snake (known
as ‘Seshnath’ while it floats on the surface of the celestial ocean known as
‘Kshirsagar’), no wise one finds fault with it and regards this as a condemnable thing
to do by any account. [Instead of finding fault with Lord Vishnu for selecting this
weird way of sleeping, the world pays its greatest of respects to him and deems him to
a manifestation of the Supreme Being known as Brahm.]^1. (5)
The Sun and the Fire are known to absorve all sorts of “rasa” (moisture;
vapour) from all sorts of things in this world, but they are not decried by anyone in
this world for doing so. [On the contrary, people praise the Sun-God and the Fire-God
and say that they purify the world by absorving or burning all its impurities.]^2 (6)
All sorts of things—some that are acceptable and not so bad, while others that
are utterly reprehensible and polluting—float in the water of a river, but no one says