Surkanda Devi Temple-Shiva, Sati, Daksh and the place where the head of goddess Sati fell

Who among us doesn’t know about lord Shiva and his consort goddess Sati who is the manifestation of Adi Parashakti- the supreme source of energy, the supreme power who has given birth to universe and all the planetary positions and all the demigods along with the three prime gods of Hindu pantheon who form a holy trinity- Brahma Vishnu and Shiva. Goddess sati was the first form of goddess Adi Shakti who took human form to marry lord Shiva. Sati loved Shiva since childhood but his father Daksh Prajapati was a staunch devotee of lord Vishnu but at the same time he barred people from worshipping lord Shiva. Not only this but he abhorred lord Shiva to such an extent that he disliked people who had any inclination towards Shiva. So much was this hatred that he abandoned his daughter sati whom he had loved the most in his life just because she had married Shiva against his wishes.

Daksh Prajapati is considered as one of the sons of Brahma who after creating ten manas putra (born of his mind), created sons Daksh, Dharma, Kamadev, and Agni from his right thumb, chest, heart, and eyebrows respectively. It is believed that Daksh with his wife Prasuti practiced penance for thousands of years to get adi Parashakti as their daughter and happy with their devotion, devi gave them boon that she will be born to them and sati was born as daughter who was devi herself.

With passage of time, Daksh turned arrogant with power and sense of feeling that even demigods and saptarishis come to meet him at his will and many of them are his sons-in-law. But he could not stop Sati from loving and worshipping Shiva despite of the fact that she loved her father a lot and was in extreme agony as to what to do with her life as she couldn’t let her father down and at the same time could not stop herself from loving Shiva as they were inseparable since the beginning of time.

However, there came a time when sati married Shiva and left Daksh’s palace to live with Shiva on Kailash Mountains. Major turning point, however, in the development of sects of Shaivism and Shaktism was Daksh Yagna in which he invited all the gods, demigods, rishis and nobles from heavens and all over the universe but intentionally avoided inviting Shiva and Sati. Sati out of filial affection wanted to attend the grand yagna but Shiva stopped her from doing so because he could see the catastrophe that lay in the womb of time. After much discussion, sati got infuriated. It is believed that it was the first time when ten Mahavidyas of Devi durga emerged from the body of sati. Mahavidyas-the ten fiercest forms of Devi durga-are said to be emerged only because she got angry being stopped by Shiva. Hence Shiva allowed her to go to yagna.

 

When sati reached her father’s palace which she had left some time ago, she was extremely glad to see all her sisters, her mother her relatives and others. But what she realized there stunned her to the core. Her sisters, relatives and her own mother neglected her and did not show any affection to her. No one spoke to her there and among all the demigods, saints and sages, and in front of whole society she felt extremely humiliated. But she could take it all had it not been the question of the respect and dignity of her husband, lord Shiva because what Daksh Prajapati did next was unacceptable to her. Daksh started insulting lord Shiva by calling him immoral, dirty roaming ascetic who accompanies ghosts and goblins. Sati unable to bear it took the form of adi Parashakti and made Daksh realize his mistake. All the guests present there got extremely petrified and that form of her struck terror into their hearts.

 She reminded Daksh who she was. She also reminded him that she was his daughter because she was happy with his penance but in arrogance of power he had forgotten that her relation with Shiva was divine and they were eternal consorts. She however did not kill Daksh-because in human form, he was her father and she couldn’t kill her father-or anyone present there but she couldn’t face her husband again either because he insisted her not to attend the yagna but she didn’t listen to him. She felt extremely remorseful that she disobeyed her husband who was stopping her for her happiness and allowed also for her happiness. Such was her anger and aggravation mixed with guilt that she immolated herself with the fire of her own body’s yoga Shakti.

Everyone got petrified. They had no idea what would happen now when the mother goddess immolated herself and what would be the reaction of lord Shiva who is known for the accomplishment of the task of destruction among the holy trinity.

Atmosphere of yagna turned into that of rampage when Shiva got to know it. He invoked Veerbhadra and Bhadrakali to destroy Daksh yagna. Veerbhadra beheaded Daksh and Bhadrakali destroyed Daksh yagna which is the reason that one of maa Durga’s 108 names is Dakhshyagnavinashini (one who destroyed the yagna of Daksh).

 

When Shiva reached the locale and heard all the cries and witnessed the bloodshed, he resurrected all those who were slaughtered and blessed them as he is known to forgive all. He also forgave Daksh and replaced his head with that of a goat. But it didn’t help grief stricken Shiva and he couldn’t get peace in his heart and mind.

After that, Shiva carried the burnt body of sati and rendered Taandav dance which is the dance of destruction which brings demolition of the whole creation. Demigods got agitated and prayed to lord Vishnu for help. Thus lord Vishnu had cut Sati’s body into 52 body parts using his Sudarshan Chakra which fell on Earth to become holy spots to pray to the Goddess named Shakti Peeths.

All these Shakti Peeths also have lord Shiva in his Bhairav form. And this is how Shakti Peeths came into existence.

Now there are places on this earth where parts of sati’s body fell and devotees throng from all around the world to these holy Shakti Peeths to seek blessings of maa shakti. I visited one such temple recently in Dhanaulti near Mussoorie. Maa Surkanda Devi’s temple is believed to be the place where the head of sati fell. Though there are other temples which are believed to be the location where sati’s head fell, Surkanda Devi temple is a very known and revered temple.

As the head of sati fell here it was originally called as Sirkhanda which with the passage of time became Surkanda. Temple has a black idol of maa durga which is beautiful and makes the devotees extremely ecstatic and delighted. It was a great experience for me to behold that look of maa durga with motherly affection and tranquility. The temple premise has a temple of Bhairav and maa Kaali as well like other Shakti Peeths.

Besides, it also has lord Shiva and lord hanuman temples.

It is situated on top of a hill in Dhanaulti from where the picturesque hills and valleys can be seen along with the Himalayan peaks. It’s so serene to be at the top of the hill, to have a look on the beautiful foggy hills that one really loves to get lost in the peaceful ambience of the temple. Open area outside temple gives beautiful scenic view to the devotees. The tiring trek to the temple vanishes with such experience and that is a great feeling one gets on top of the hill in temple.

 

So this is the story of Devi Surkanda where the head of maa sati fell, and Shiva, Shakti (Sati) and Daksh and how Shakteepeeths came into existence. This is the story of love and pain of separation. This is the story of ignorance of Daksh who later felt remorseful and became a devotee of lord Shiva and spent all his life worshipping lord Shiva; passed his life visiting temples dedicated to lord Shiva.

But this could not end the love of Shiva and Shakti which is beyond time and reach of mortals. Sati once again took birth as Parvati as daughter of Himavan-king of mountains and Devi Maina. This time she married Shiva and they got their love to cherish it forever.

And this was my journey to the Surkanda Devi temple which I had been wishing to visit since last few years being a devotee of maa Shakti. The peace of mind that one gets at the temple of maa Shakti is beyond words. I simply can’t describe the motherly affection I feel I get from maa durga. So all that I can say or describe is that if you really wish to feel that divine affection of maa Surkanda or innocent Maa Sati and that serene atmosphere, you must visit the hill station of Mussoorie-Dhanaulti and must visit this divinely great temple amidst the colossal hills and beautiful valleys.

Pictures courtesy- Except wallpapers, all the pictures were clicked by me and some are originally posted on my Facebook page Shekhar’s photography-www.facebook.com/Shekharsphotography001/

Religious Differences-We Need To Think All Over Again…

With all the arguments and  dissents that are pervasive in our democracy these days, what is most perceptible  to me is the general nature of the people of India to trust what have been taught to them since centuries in a particular geographic region. What I mean with the above statement is that our nature and innate tendency to believe what is right or wrong or to demarcate right from wrong  with the help of widely held belief without judging any issue ourself is one reason why most of the sects of the biggest democracy of world are at loggerheads with each other these days. Without knowing why we are following anything, the nature to question other’s drawback has become our basic disposition. Many personalities holding many important posts have been doing it since ages to make Indians think how different they are from each other irrespective of the fact that all of them are actually Indians. We, the people of India, on the other hand believe that we take decisions on the basis of how we perceive the world. If we ask ourself this question I believe we’ll get to know that most of the knowledge that we have is based on what we have been taught and is not based on our own knowledge.
So what I reckon we must do is to think and ask ourselves-without being judgemental about other sects-the question as to why we think anything the way we do. Is it something that we know with the evidence or we believe it because we have been witnessing it all our lives or we are having a notion about other sects just because we have been taught to think about them in that particular way. This question if asked to ourselves honestly can give all the answers to our problems regarding sectarian disharmony and can make the society a great place to live in.

Thin or fat! What is better?

Farah, 22 ,is a girl who is obese. She is quite active and plays badminton very well and walks every morning and evening. She eats healthily and doesn’t believe in dieting or starving. When asked by some of her friends, she said that she loves everything about her body and doesn’t think that she needs to starve and diet to change her body’s appearance. A classmate of Fatima, Vinita, 21, on the other hand is a girl with slender waist and slim appearance and is an aspiring model. She looks beautiful but she feels week almost all the time. She does not feel well and always seems to be very dull. Asked about her diet and fitness regime, she told that she doesn’t like playing any sport and keeps her body in shape by strict dieting and avoiding eating anything for hours or sometimes eats only once in a day

This is not the story of only these two girls but it is the very common phenomenon in the youngsters these days to starve to keep themselves in shape and look good. Actually the misconception in the minds these days that being slim means being fit and being fat means unfit is the reason behind this notion. Applying this ideology in life, we fail to realize that our body needs nutrients which make us fit and nourished and only then we can feel fit. If we do not get these nutrients or our body is not active in our diurnal activities then no matter how slim and slender we look or how beautiful our appearance is, we can never feel fit and fresh.

 

Being fit not only is related with our physical appearance but also how fresh and satisfied we feel with ourselves and how comfortable we are in our body. That is probably the reason why an obese girl feels fresh and healthy while a thin girl doesn’t even feel normally fresh and active in her daily activities in the real stories mentioned above. But this is only one side of the story, because being an obese or fat or not having control over what you eat cannot always help you to be healthy and being slim doesn’t always mean that you are weak or unfit or unhealthy. Our fitness is directly connected with the nutrients we get and the activities we get involved in. It correctly proves the famous quote that “it is better to be fat and fit than to be thin and dying” because metabolism being the main reason behind it, sometimes make a person fat even with less amount of food intake whereas this very same phenomenon makes some people maintain their slim and thin appearance with more food intake.

All that we can conclude from these factors involved in our fitness is that being fit and healthy should be our priority and not just our beautiful thin appearance. And to be fit and healthy we can afford to look fat rather than thin because that fat look would give us much satisfaction and joy in our life than the thin look we wish to get.

 

By-Shekhar Srivastava