MAHAADEVI
THE SPOUSE OF
CHENNA MALLIKAARJUNA
INTRODUCTION
This work aims at reconstructing the life of Saint Mahadevi, the pride and honor of India, especially Karnataka. Her life-story is as amazing as that of Saint Meera and Saint Godai who also aimed at the union of the Godhead with form. Mahadevi was in too high a state of spiritual trance to be easily understood by ordinary men and women of the world. Her Vachanaas are the only clue to her life and thoughts. Whatever was available at hand has been transliterated and translated and also a brief life story is presented based on her own words. Many words used in her Vachanaas are not used in modern vocabulary at all; so any innocent mistakes are regretted; but there is an honest attempt to present the inner essence of each of her Vachanaas in the right spirit. This work is an offering at the lotus feet of the Supreme Goddess who manifested as Mahadevi to love her spouse in the mortal coil.
PART ONE - BIOGRAPHY
MahaaDevi was her name, name of the Supreme Goddess!
A mortal coil to experience this world arose in Udatadi near the ancient city of Banavasi in Shikarpura Taluk, Shimoga District.
Whatever the geographical description it need not much bother us.
Wherever the Devi appeared she would have acted the same way and would have run after her Lord, the same way! Jasmine is a jasmine wherever it blooms on this earth.
Like any young maiden of the world Mahadevi also had dreams of love and marriage. But the lover she chose was not a resident of Earth, but the Lord of the Universe!
This beautiful little girl was enamored by the ascetic form of Lord Shiva! She had her own conception of him!
A gleaming smile; evenly placed pearly teeth; tiny brown locks kissing the forehead;
a skull garland; and a serpent on the neck.
He was not golden hued but white colored like a jasmine flower,
smeared with white ashes all over his person –
a form of supreme beauty and purity; a form of supreme dispassion.
She wanted to add one more beauty to him- the beauty of love!
See mother! On the shining red locks, the light of the crescent moon
Ear rings made of serpent-jewel
And the garland of skulls in the neck!
If you see him ask him to come to me immediately!
Eyes of the cowherd will be on the ring worn
That is the clue to identify my Lord Chennamallikarjuna!
Shiva is a supreme form of dispassion- Vairaagya Murthy! He has no attraction for women. So pure, so pure he is that his heart is white, the body is white and his abode is also white! He is white like a jasmine flower with the unique fragrance of dispassion.
Will Shiva even care to look at her? She did not worry! Her heart yearned for him whether he bothered for her or not! She would love him; that is her Dharma; that is her identity! She will cease to exist if she stopped loving him.
O Lord, you may condescend to hear my words or not,
I cannot remain without singing on you
O Lord, you may condescend to accept my devotion or not,
I cannot remain without worshipping you
O Lord, you may condescend to appreciate me or not,
I cannot remain without embracing you
O Lord, you may condescend to look at me or not,
I cannot remain without admiring with joy
O Chenna Mallikaarjuna I will worship you and rock in sheer bliss!
Unlike others who worshiped the Linga with high reverence and through ceremonious rituals, she worshiped him as her beloved! She hugged the Linga to her bosom. She bathed the Linga with kisses in secret. She wanted to see him in person, she wanted to confess her love to him, marry him and live with him in Kailaasa! Her nearest Kailaasa mountain was Sree Shaila! She believed in her innocent heart that if she somehow could reach Sree Shaila she would meet Shiva in person! But she would wait! Her lover will arrange everything! Though the elders did not like her informal worships, they did not pay much attention to her weird behavior. After all soon she will be married to a good husband and will leave them all. Let her do whatever she felt like, they thought and did not disturb her. She spent most of her time in the Poojaa room playing with her stone lover!
Soon the family Guru initiated her into the proper worship of Shiva and gave her the Aatma Linga Deeksha. Now she could carry her lover everywhere. And whenever and wherever could place him on the pedestal of her hand and deliver love dialogues to Him! In her extreme passionate love for Shiva somewhere sometime her ‘body’ vanished! Yes, she lost the ‘idea of the body’! For, what is this world but a sack of conceptions! She stopped feeling the existence of the body! Some thing was there around her like a mud pile, but she had not much regard for it. She was surprised that people called it beautiful. She saw the ugly hazy thing around her only as a container of urine and excreta- a stinking pile of flesh And blood. In her perception, she had no form actually.
My body is mud, my soul is just space
Which do I hold on to; God, my Lord?
How will I manage to think of you, Lord?
Forgive my deluded Self, Lord Chennamallikarjuna!
But she could not get rid of the world around her also. Like a thorn pricking her eye, the world scene was stuck to her eyes. Where she could run away? Wherever she went the world perception was there like an evil demon.
If I say it is not there, the deluding power says- it is there!
Even if I say I do not want it, the deluding power does not leave me alone;
Is it my unchangeable fate?
O Lord Chennamallikarjuna, if the promise is forgotten where else can I go!
O Great Lord Shiva! Save me please!
The only escape was the constant company of the Linga. Daytime was spent in hugging it and crying for his vision; at night she hugged the Linga and slept off crying for him.
One night in her dream he appeared as a mendicant. Before she could stop him he moved away and she in her madness, lost all feminine coyness, ran behind him and held his hand. He turned and flashed a charming smile at her; it was her Chennamallikarjuna; just as she had imagined him to be!
Sister listen sister, I had a dream
Rice, areca nut, palm leaf and coconut I saw!
The handsome ascetic with small locks and a gleaming smile
Came to my house to beg, I saw!
When he moved away, I chased him and held his hand
I saw that he was Chennamallikarjuna!
And I opened my eyes!
If you say I will catch him
He does not get caught, mother
When I said, I will stop you; he disregarded my words and went away
Even if he was separated for a second I was troubled;
If I do not see him I do not know my identity at all mother!
I saw the Divine form of Shiva –
The shining red locks adorning his head as a jeweled crown
A face adorned by a suitable majestic smile with pearly teeth
The luster of the eyes which light up the fourteen worlds
Another day her Lord appeared in the dream and married her in all pomp and grandeur.
Emerald floor, golden roof, diamond pillar,
Ruby pandal, decorations of pearls and gems
In such a grand arena-
My people celebrated my marriage, celebrated my marriage!
All ceremonies were there- Kankana, giving off the bride with water, etc.
They married me off to my husband Chennamallikarjuna!
After marriage he did not turn up for long. She cries-
My body is ready for you
My mind is ready for you
My life breaths are ready for you
Tell me why you still don’t turn up being annoyed with me?
She went through extreme pain in his separation. Then lo! One day he was there next to her in bed. And he hugged her in love!
I fell in love with you
You fell in love with me
You will never ever separate from me
I will also never ever separate from you
Do we both have any other place to stay (other than ourselves)?
I know you are very compassionate
I will remain whatever way you decide to keep me
You know that well Chenna Mallikaarjuna
They both delivered to each other -dialogues of love!
O Shiva, is there that love in you to be with me and call me?
Do you have love for a family sports?
Hey You Shiva!
How will I openly talk about this embarrassing thing?
O Chenna Mallikaarjuna!
He also conversed with her…
O mother, I closed my eyes as I kept on seeing (him)
O mother, I fell asleep forgetting myself as I kept on hearing (his words)
The bed which was spread out (for us) was just wasted away
O mother, understand that I never knew the bliss of my union with
The God of Gods, Lord Chennamallikarjuna!
She again begged him for his union-
Morning four hours I will suffer thinking of you
Night four hours I will suffer by the separation of the Linga
Day and night wanting your company, I just fell asleep forgetting myself
O Lord Chenna Mallikaarjuna
Having loved you, I forget hunger, thirst and sleep.
Craving to unite with him at day time I pained a lot;
Craving to unite with him at night I went to the bed waiting for the bliss!
In the dream my mind was in union with him;
forgetting myself I was in complete union with him;
After completely satisfied in the bliss I opened my eyes!
Listen sister, I had a dream
The ascetic with tiny locks of hair and beautiful smile
came and had a union with me
I embraced him and I lost my senses
Uniting with my Chenna Mallikaarjuna
I opened my eyes and lost again my senses
After these dream like realities, she changed. Her madness increased. She started acting like the wife of Mallikaarjuna. She observed the behavior of married women and kept away from young unmarried friends of hers. Gold and silver did not interest her anymore. Since she did not feel the existence of her body at all, she stopped decorating it.
Auspiciousness is my ritual bath
Sacred ash is the never perishing turmeric for me
‘Having space as my clothing’ – is the divine clothing for me
The sound of Shiva’s name is the smearing sandal paste for me
Rudraaksha is the ornament for my body
the sacred feet of the Saivaite ascetics is ‘the head gear of the bride’ for me
I am the bride of Chenna Mallikaarjuna
Why do I need any other decoration, tell me O mothers
Her parents were worried .they scolded her; chided her; she did not change. Her friends did not interest her anymore. They had no other topic except their future marriages and dresses and gold. She hated seeing men. Oof! What ugly forms! Where is my jasmine hued Shiva with his dispassion and these lust filled garbage containers!
The immortal Lord White as jasmine is my husband!
Take these husbands, who die and decay;
feed them to the kitchen fires!
But she was a female born in a highly traditional society. Even the king had heard of her beauty and asked for her hand. Her parents were overjoyed. What an honor! Mahadevi could not understand their enthusiasm. She told her mother as naturally as a modern girl confesses about her secret lover- ‘o mother I cannot marry any one else. I am the wife of Mallikaarjuna. He came in my dream and wedded me.’ But who would listen to such insane blabbering of an immature girl? Worshipping God was fine, but marrying him? ‘Impossible’ they said. To see even a glimpse of that great God you need merits of million births, they tried to convince her. They argued that God is the spiritual Lord for all devotees. But she must have a husband for this world. Mahadevi protested.
One husband for this worldly existence; another husband for the other world;
still another husband for this world; and one more for the spiritual life?
Except for my husband Chenna Mallikaarjuna,
rest of the men are all just color puppets behind the cloud!
Other men are like poisonous thorns for me
I won’t approach or contact them with either trust or affection
Or even exchange a few words
Knowing that all other men except Chennamallikarjuna have thorns on their chest
and I will never embrace them!
They chided her for her rebellious behavior. They showed the example of Sri Basava, Allama etc and said, - ‘look at them- do they not love Shiva? But what does Basavanna say? Work is worship! Marriage and childbirth are the duties ordained by God for women; serving the husband is the best worship of God; by becoming a queen she can serve the world better, help all the poor and the needy.’ No advice went into Mahadevi’s ears. She cried, wept, fell at her parents’ feet, threatened to kill herself. No one listened to her. She was just a child of 13 or 14 years and what would she know of life; maybe a little over enthusiastic about God; after marriage, once she gets her own babies, she will become normal; they thought. The marriage date was fixed.
She was left in the Poojaa room with her little Linga. Some one always guarded her so that she would not attempt to kill herself. Mahadevi held on to her husband-God and cried; cried; and cried; and Shiva was a bathed in her tears and was wet too. She had not eaten properly and was exhausted in the body.
If you want me to be absorbed, reveal thyself quickly! Do not throw me out!
I am a slave sold out to you! Do not throw me out!
O Lord Chenna Mallikaarjuna! Trusting you I came in search of you, please accept me quickly!
She fainted on the Linga; she felt two strong white arms holding her tightly. Some nectar like voice whispered in her ears- “come to Sree Shaila! I will meet you there”. She was lost in an unknown bliss. She did not understand what was happening around her. She did not feel any sensation of her body. She felt she was in space. All that she could feel was her Lord’s presence. The people around her did not bother. Her drowsy trance was convenient for them to get the marriage ceremony performed without her making a scene. She was dressed as a bride; she did not even know that. She was dragged to the ‘pandal’; she did not even know that. Some sounds of drums and pipes she heard; she did not understand anything. The Lord was inside her. She never saw any one, she never felt any one. She was in her Lord’s embrace. Her mouth continuously chanted his names.
Offering the limbs to the face of the Linga
the body with the limbs became limbless!
Offering the mind to Knowledge mind melted off!
Offering the emotions to satisfaction, emotions became nil!
Since the limbs, mind, emotions all got destroyed,
the body attained the state of ‘bodylessness’!
Since the bliss of this bodiless body was enjoyed by the Linga
We became the ideal couple – ascetic wife and the Linga husband!
For this reason I entered inside the husband of mine – Sri Chenna Mallikaarjuna
and melted off in him.
Maybe in her mind she was going through the marriage ceremony with her Mallikaarjuna!
O Hara! I languished for eternity desiring that you should become my husband!
When I made open the thoughts of my inner Self
My folks sent me to the Crescent-Moon-Holder
They applied the holy ashes all over my person and tied the sacred thread of marriage engagement in my hand
so that Chenna Mallikaarjuna will accept me as his own.
She was lost in her own world of her true husband. She did not even know that she was now in the nuptial chamber of the king who had rightfully married.
Suddenly she found herself alone! Everything was quite. No one seemed to be around. She felt relieved. But something fell on her shoulder like a burning torch. She turned around to see a man! Ugly human! How dare he touch the mud-pile (body) around her? That also was sacred and belonged to her true husband alone, the MalliNaatha! He was pulling her sari too. She glared at him;
She screamed -
Get back, I hate you!
Don't hold my sari, you fool!
A she-buffalo is worried of its life,
And the butcher, of its killing!
The pious think of virtues,
And the wicked, of vices;
I am worried of my soul,
And you, of lust....
Fie on this body!
Why do you damn yourself
in love of it--this pot of excrement,
the vessel of urine, the frame of bones,
this stench of purulence!
Think of Lord Shiva,
You fool!
She pushed him away forcibly; ran out of the room; out of the gates out into the dark deep forests. She had to somehow reach her Lord’s abode and enter his world, she decided. She did not know there was a physical shape around her; hunger or thirst did not bother her; her only mission was to see her husband in person. She treaded her way to Sree Shaila! The king was stunned by the reaction of the newly married bride. He felt offended. He did mot even care what happened to his runaway bride. Her parents just washed their hands off her. She was married and was no more their responsibility.
It was not an easy path to Sree Shaila. The world was hostile. She understood that the horrible forms of men had to be avoided. They seemed to gawk at her with lust filled eyes. She tried to join the women folk mostly and chose to enter deep forests and hide in
the dark caves. She ate a fruit or a leaf or just drank some river water. As she passed through villages, some were kind to her; some closed the door on her! Some children laughed and threw stones at her calling her names. Some followed her listening to her description of Shiva. Some advised her to go back to her husband the king. Some were afraid to offer her shelter as she had insulted the king. Some tried to clothe her in decent clothes. But any cloth put over her just slipped out of her person or got torn soon. She had no sense of the body and it was difficult to make her understand wearing a garment was necessary to survive in the society.
‘Clothing for a clothing (body sheath)?’ She never grasped the earthly minds!
People, male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their shame comes loose!
When the lord of lives
lives drowned without a face
in the world, how can you be modest?
When the entire world is the eye of the Lord,
Looking on everywhere, what can you cover and conceal?
Men called her evil. Their own lust condemned her as a witch come to destroy humanity. Some kind souls guided her towards Kalyaan, where the contemporary saints Basavanna and Allama Prabhu were staying. Allama Prabhu understood her divine nature. He tried his best to prove her high devotion to Shiva.
When Akka Mahadevi first meets with the Veerashaiva leaders at Kalyana, their holiest man, Prabhu, tests her:
Prabhu: Why have you come here in the prime of your youth? Our saints resent the sight of a young woman. If you can disclose the identity of your husband, you can join the fellowship of our saints, or else you can depart. A woman's company is like poison. Tell us, who is your husband?
I was engrossed in penance for many years so that Siva might become my wedded lord! My own people wedded me to Siva by smearing my body with ashes and tying the marital bracelet to my wrist.... The entire world knows that the innumerable saints have been my parents. Therefore, O Prabhu, God is my lord; for me, there are no other husbands in this world.
When Prabhu scolds her first for her nakedness and then for covering that nakedness with her long hair, Akka Mahadevi responds:
It is not the condition of the body that counts but, instead, a pure heart which wins the favor of God....
I have covered my body with my tresses so that the sight of seals of love may not hurt you. Don't you tease, for I am abiding in God.
Prabhu questions whether Akka Mahadevi can be "one with God" when she still has human form (and, worse, a female body). She describes the superficiality of appearance, and of the leaders' reluctance to accept her:
Would the sandalwood cease its fragrance when it's cut into pieces? Would a piece of gold, even when cut and heated, lose its luster? Would the sugar cane lose its sweetness when it is squeezed within a press and then heated?
When you search for my bygone sins and hurl them at my face, the deprivation is yours. O Lord, though you may slay me, I will never cease to love Lord Siva.
Prabhu pays her his ultimate compliment: "Your body is female in appearance, but you mind is merged with God."
The dialogue continues with each of the leaders praising her until she becomes embarrassed:
Because you are like water mixed with milk, I know not who the master is and who the disciple is, what is noble and what is not noble, and what is the antecedent and what is consequent. When you praise me out of your love, how can I attain divinity?
She took part in many gatherings of learned at the Anubhava-mantapa in Kudala sangama to debate about philosophy and attainment of spiritualism.
But a woman herself is a condemned creature. That too a woman who had no sense of decency is a curse of the society; and offending all Saivaite community by saying love was better than ritualistic method to reach the supreme is not a thing to be borne with patience!
You will not accept bathing (ritual) {Abhisheka}
from those who do not melt their bodies.
You will not accept the offering of flowers
from those who do not melt their minds.
You will not accept the offering of scented water and yellowed rice
from those who are not of calm disposition.
You will not accept the waving of lighted camphor
from those whose inner eye has not opened by wisdom.
You will not accept the perfumed smoke
from those whose emotions are not purified.
You will not accept the offering of food items
from those who have not ripened in wisdom.
You will not accept the betel leaf delicacy from those whose three instruments of perception are not purified (Trikarana - Intellect. Mind and Senses).
You will not intend to stay with those whose heart-lotus has not bloomed yet.
What did you find in me that you happily settled in the palm of my hand
Tell me O Chennamallikarjuna!
Shall I please you with eight modes of worships, My Lord?
But, you stay away from external activities!
Shall I please you by contemplating with my inner faculty My Lord?
But you transcend the language and mind!
Shall I please you through chants and hymns My Lord?
But you transcend the sound too!
Shall I please you with deep emotions and Knowledge My Lord?
But you transcend the intellect too!
Shall I treasure you in the center of the lotus of my heart My Lord?
But you fill all the limbs of mine!
O My Lord! Pleasing you is not in my capacity!
Real bliss is when you get pleased of your own accord
Lord Chennamallikarjuna!
‘As if she was the only one realized. How dare this little girl with no Knowledge of scriptures, no senses of proper worship be allowed to roam in the society? How dare she utter a vulgar relationship towards the great God Shiva?’
She was not too welcome in Saivaite societies even.
She preferred to stay in forests and eat whatever wild fruits and leaves were available there.
Because of the troubles inside the body I entered the deep forest
I begged every plant and tree there for the sake of my body
They all gave me food to serve the Linga in me
I begged and became a worldly person
They gave and became devotees
My oath on you, O Lord Chenna Mallikaarjuna, if I dare beg again!
Sometimes she did not even eat even forest products.. Hunger and thirst had no hold on her. She was happy to be away from humans and live with forest creatures. After all her husband was a dweller of cremation grounds; she can practice living in forests and caves at least!
If sparks fly, I will think that my hunger and thirst are satiated
If cloud breaks down, I will think that it is pouring to get me bathed
If the hill falls on me, I will think that it is a flower specially given for me
O Lord Chenna Mallikaarjuna!
If the head is cut off, I will think that this Praana is an offering to you!
Shelter less, condemned as a worthless witch, Mahadevi walked towards her destination Sree Shaila. In her last days she was mostly in solitude in the contemplation of her Lord alone. She did not live here for long. Her husband took her away. Nobody is there to tell the full story.
Maybe she completely avoided food and allowed the body to wither away. May be she was forced to give up her life we do not know. We have only a few Vachanaas expressed by her and some folk tales connected to her.
As she herself comments-
Only the moon can know what is in the sky
Will the vulture flying fly know anything O Lord?
Only the lotus can know what is in the river
Will the weed on the bank know anything, O Lord?
Only the bee will know the scent of the flower
Will the mosquito know anything O Lord?
O Lord Chenna Mallikaarjuna
You only can know your devotees
How will these mosquitoes sitting on the buffalo body know anything?
How can the ordinary humans, who believe that the Self is identical to the form seen in the mirror; who think love means copulation - understand a divine yearning for the Supreme! They are indeed mosquitoes hovering around the buffalo of Yama!
When she experienced the union of Shiva she lost her identity on Earth! She attained the Supreme state of Self realization which takes thousands of births of Saadhana for ordinary beings! That state of Supreme Bliss of Upanishads alone is explained by her as the union of her husband! She was not well read and the bliss of realization could be explained by her only as a physical union with Shiva.
In Puranas a similar incident is illustrated! Shuka MahaMuni just sat and pondered and realized the Supreme truth. But he did not understand that it was the Supreme state that all yogis desired! He thought unless he performed penance for thousands of years he could not reach that state. He expressed this doubt to his father Vyaasa and under his orders met King Janaka and understood that he was already in a realized state.
Even Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the mad devotee of Kaali had reached that Supreme state of realization even before he reached his teens, but got the idea of his Supreme state only when someone read the scriptures to him!
Ramana got it just by just imagining the death of the body on the bed at night.
These saints are all naturally realized souls. They need not struggle to attain it like ordinary beings.
There is another Sage mentioned in the Puranas, who in such a state felt that all the trees, plants, and vegetables were his Self and danced joyously in bliss. He would not stop dancing till Shiva himself came and explained to him his Supreme state!
Such a realized state was attained naturally by Mahadevi too, in her insane love for Shiva! But she did not know how to express it! She could not say that she had no ‘body idea’! She could only behave ‘body-less’. Others around her saw as a rebellious shameless woman! What could poor Mahadevi do? How can she explain to the male dominated society of those times, that she had attained the goal set by them just by loving Shiva as her husband?
What use is in knowing everything and all things?
One should know one’s own Self, is it not?
When one has Knowledge of the Self already in oneself
O Chennamallikarjuna
Since you manifested before me as Knowledge
I comprehended you through you, O Lord!
Offering the limbs to the face of the Linga
the body with the limbs became limbless!
Offering the mind to Knowledge mind melted off!
Offering the emotions to satisfaction, emotions became nil!
Since the limbs, mind, emotions all got destroyed,
the body attained the state of bodylessness!
Since the bliss of this bodiless body was enjoyed by the Linga
We became the ideal couple – ascetic wife and the Linga husband!
For this reason I entered inside the husband of mine –
Sri Chenna Mallikaarjuna and melted off in him.
The society learnt to respect her by calling her the elder sister- Akka! Maybe Sree Basavanna felt that such a name would guard against the evil eyes of the society! Maybe he explained to her some technical terms for her state!
Hear O Good Ones! I became happy by uniting with my lover who has no body, who has no speech and who has no end!
There is no problem of language; I will not swerve towards another one!
I will not desire again for a different type of happiness!
Six became three, three became two, two was destroyed and I stand as one!
I am in service of the eminent Saivaites like Basavanna and others
I am blessed by the King!
Do not forget that I am your child and bless me that I should be always one with my Chennamallikarjuna!
I saw Eleshwara who conquered the earth
I saw Brahmeshwara who conquered the emotional delusion
I saw Tripuraantaka who conquered the three Gunas-Sattva, Rajas and Tamas
I saw Jyoti-Siddhayya through the Knowledge of the Self in my inner faculty
I saw Chenna Mallikaarjuna by the grace of that Brother Basavanna who revealed to me the supreme truth that the central place of all these deities is the Praana-Linga!
What it is to have no idea of a body?
Like the Dhobi who is highly anxious and worries about the sari of someone in the city
This gold is mine, this woman is mine, and this land is mine –
so repeatedly thinking
Because of not knowing you, I was utterly destroyed O Chenna Mallikaarjuna
Body does not belong to us; certainly it is not us!
We do not know it! She knew it!
We must be like the Dhobi who takes care of other’s clothes very carefully, yet knows he does not own them. Such an attitude is good for ‘Saadhakas’! But Mahadevi did not see the body as something connected to her at all! Like an object seen in the mirror, she felt aloof from it!
Shankara says- the whole universe around you is just like a reflection in the mirror! That universe includes the body also. We foolishly hold on to the identity of the body and its surrounding pattern as ours and vanish into ‘nothingness’ after the cellular structure collapses! Mahadevi knew the Truth in her tender age itself! Nobody understood her Supreme Knowledge! She was like a person who could ‘see’ in a world of blind people!
She was like the little child of the fairy tale who boldly uttered the truth about the non-existing Emperor’s clothes!
Such a state as hers can be seen in Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana and many others. Sri Ramakrishna never could hold on to his dhoti tightly. It would keep on slipping as he merged his thoughts in Kaali Ma. He saw every female, be it a child or an old woman as a form of his Supreme Mother. He would sit like an insane person at the footsteps of her temple and sing about his Mother. He would hug the statue and plead it to take food. He sometimes ran towards any lady entering the temple and fall at her feet crying that she was Mother Kaali. He would feed them like a child or want to be fed like a child! Some bore with his insanity. Some avoided this mad recluse. Only one person of all could understand his divinity and revealed his greatness to the world; it was Swami Vivekananda.
Ramana also had no sense of the body. He was always in the state of his Self; his Father Arunaachala was his own Self! He had an operation performed on his hand without even anesthesia! Ramana maintained a very thin vibration of the world so he had the sense to wear a Kaupina (a loin cloth); he was a JnaanaYogi! Ramakrishna was kept decent by his disciples; he was a Bhakti Yogi who became a Jnaana Yogi! His Mother became his Self!
Mahadevi was a Bhakti yogi; she loved the Supreme with form and attained the formless state! But she was a female and belonged to way back in the past where women had no rights to raise their voices against their fathers, brothers and husbands.
She did not start a rebel movement. She did not march in protest. She did not see the world at all. Her eyes were filled with the form of her Lord alone. She was his wedded wife caught in this world of ignorant men and woman who locked God in the Poojaa room and spent their whole life in search of wealth and prosperity.
Can her method of Saadhana be universal? Can Shiva be worshipped like a husband? No absolutely not! Shiva Puraana, authored by Sri Vyaasa ordains it. He is to be only worshipped as a Father. Then how could Mahadevi have such a feeling towards Shiva? She was no ordinary woman; she can only be an avatar of Uma Devi herself.
‘Love of Shiva’ is a vibration in Para Brahman which is termed as DEVI! Love of Shiva is the essence of Devi alone. Just like anything with magnetic property is a magnet alone wherever it is placed, any thought-mode that feels Shiva as a husband and dares to experience his union can only be the form of Devi!
Shiva is such a God of dispassion that no ordinary human can even entertain such a love and survive!
Goddess Umaa who was not able to appease Shiva in the God world might have decided to experience a life on earth and appease him.
Maybe that is why she even in the human attire unconsciously felt Shiva was her husband. Maybe Ramana was Kumara, the son of Shiva who went in search of his father as soon as he came of age. He also ran away to his father’s abode, spent his youthful years in contemplation of his own Self and passed the rest of his life without any sense of the body or world much. May be he kept a vague idea of the world and acted decent enough to be a Guru to so many noble souls and led them towards realization. Ramakrishna also might be another experience of Kumara on earth to love his mother in an earthly form. But in that life his love for his mother seems to be a little over done, that he never was able to act like a normal person.
We can only guess! How can we the deluxe monkeys of the world know about the higher worlds and their sports?
The similarity in all these avatars is that they attain Self-realization very early in their lives and do not lead a worldly life like others.
Mahadevi is no exception. She loved Shiva before her birth as Mahadevi, she loved him as Mahadevi when on Earth, and after the mortal coil disappeared also, she loved Shiva only. She was always his wedded wife. She explained this alone in her Vachanaas; but, nobody understood her! Not her fault, we humans cannot grasp such a state of dispassion in a woman.
Her life was very short. Even Shiva would not have prolonged her life here where she had to go through a lot of suffering in her bodiless state and was unable to communicate with others about her true state as a lover of Shiva!
But only one Mahadevi can be there. Only once might have the great Goddess descended on earth to show the manifestation of extreme dispassion in a female attire on earth.
Many are here on this Earth proclaiming themselves as the avatar of gods and parade as gods also with some magic tricks handy as miracle-sources. Can they all, once truthfully say that they have no sense of body at all? Can they forego food like her and live as space alone? When fame name and wealth are the only achievements they hanker after in their life, can we ever expect a Ramana or a Vivekananda or a Mahadevi or Meera in them? Even if they come would we recognize them?
It is not easy to be a Ramana, Ramakrishna or Mahadevi or Meera! Psychological disorders, hallucinations and visions created by the imbalanced brains, Self hypnosis, physical tortures, are not termed as ‘love of God’! In such a true love as that of Mahadevi, Knowledge surely dawns and in such a Knowledge love alone is hidden!
Let us not label Mahadevi as a ‘naked saint’ and degrade her: let us rename her as ‘bodiless saint’ and glorify her inner state! Let us stop discussing the history of nakedness in saints; but try to understand the Sthitaprajnatva (stable minded Yogis-Gita) of these saints.
Why use vulgar words when our scriptures abound in majestic words describing such states of the Yogis? Why do we bring the mean thought of sexual copulation, the fixed fate of reproducing mammals of earth, into divine personalities? Their state is beyond our homosapien-brains!
(Notes: Lingadharane-Wearing Linga
Lingadharane is the ceremony of initiation among Lingayats. Though, it can be performed at any age, it is usually performed when a child is 3-8 days old. The child receives Istalinga (chosen deity) from the family Guru that is worshipped until age 8 -11 years. Usually between the ages of 8 and 11 years, the child receives Diksha from the Guru. From then on, the child wears the Linga at all times for the remainder of his/her life and it is worshipped as their own Istalinga. The Linga is housed in a small silver and wooden box and cloth. It is worn on the chest or around the body using a thread. Unlike other castes of Hinduism like brahmins permitting upanayana to only males this ceremony or deeksha can be taken by both men and women in presence of a satguru. This practice was started by revolutionary Basavanna himself who refused to undergo upanayana seeing the discrimination of women.
The Lingayats make it a point to wear the Ishtalinga at all times. The Istalinga is made up of light gray slate stone coated with fine durable thick black paste of cow dung ashes mixed with some suitable oil to withstand wear and tear. Sometime it is made up of ashes mixed with clarified butter. The coating is called Kanti (covering). Though the Ishtalinga is sometimes likened to be a miniature or an image of the Sthavaralinga, it is not so. The Ishtalinga on the contrary is considered to be Lord Shiva himself and its worship is described as Ahangrahopasana.
Viswaguru Basavanna, the Dharma Incarnate and the blessed child of Almighty bestowed the world with a new revolutionary religion. Allama Prabhu was a mystic-saint and Vachana poet (called Vachanakara) of the Kannada language in the 12th century.
Anubhava Mantapa was an academy of mystics, saints and philosophers of the Veerashaiva faith in the 12th century
Panchacharas
The Panchacharas describe the five modes of conduct to be followed by the believer. The Panchacharas include -
Lingāchāra - daily worship of the personal Sivalinga
Sadāchāra - attention to vocation and duty
Sivāchāra - acknowledging Shiva as the one God and equality among members
Bhrityāchāra - humility towards all creatures
Ganāchāra - defense of the community and its tenets
Ashtavarana
The Ashtavaranas, the eightfold armor that shields the devotee from extraneous distraction and worldly attachments. The Ashtavaranas include[3] :
Guru - obedience towards Basavanna as Guru,
Linga - wearing a Linga,
Jangama - worship of Siva ascetics as an incarnation of the Lord himself,
Pādodaka - sipping the water from bathing the Linga or guru's feet,
Prasāda - sacred offering,
Vibhuti - smearing holy ash(created using cow dung) oneself,
Rudrāksha - wearing a string of Rudraaksha (holy beads) and
Mantra - reciting the mantra: Sivaya Namah.)
