Aum Shambave Namaha!

3

Sandhya, the Evening Star

He in whom this universe, prior to its projection,

Was potentially present: like a tree in a seed,

And by whom it came into existence by the magic of  His own will,

Or like a great yogi creating out of His own power,

To that Dakshinamurthy, the Supreme Being,

Who came in the form of a benign Guru,

I offer my profound salutation.

“DAKSHINAMURTHY STOTRAM” BY ADI SHANKARA

The Shiva Purana says that after having created the seven sages, Brahma reflected within his mind and from his mind there arose the fascinating form of a woman. She was called Sandhya, which means “twilight,” since she appeared at the time when day meets night. She was the perfection of womanly beauty and upon seeing her, the minds of Brahma and of all the other sages became extremely agitated. When Brahma felt the pangs of the emotion called love, another handsome being appeared out of his thoughts. He had a golden complexion, a fine nose, wonderful sensuous lips, and fine eyes with exciting eyebrows. On seeing Brahma, this person bowed before him and asked Brahma to give him a name and some occupation.

Brahma’s mind was already agitated by the pangs of love and he spoke thus, “You will be known as Manmatha, since even at your birth you have begun to torment all our minds with thoughts of love. You will also be known as Kama since you will be able to take on any form you wish. Your power will be greater than the powers of all the gods put together. With this form of yours, as well as five flower arrows with which you have been born, you will be able to enamor and captivate the minds of men and women and thus ensure that creation will continue. No living being, not even the gods, will be able to defy you. Even I, as well as all the sages who are assembled here, have come under your sway. The minds of all living beings will be an easy target for your flower arrows. You will be able to invisibly enter the hearts of all people, thrilling them and making them lose their reasoning capacity. You will be able to arouse ecstasy in everyone.”

Kama’s five arrows, which even sages are unable to resist, are the abilities to delight, to appeal, to delude, to wither, and to kill. When he was given all these powers, Kama decided to try them out immediately in the presence of Brahma and the sages. He fitted an arrow to his bow, and immediately a beautiful, fragrant breeze started to blow, churning the minds of all those present, and as the arrow sped from his bow, those present started gazing at Sandhya and wishing to possess her. Kama did not stop shooting his arrows until all had completely lost their power of reasoning. Sandhya was also a victim. She started glancing shyly at each of them in turn, and looking provocatively at them. Kama was delighted at the success of his first venture. Brahma, however, had enough sense to realize that he was behaving badly; in his mind he begged the Lord to help him control his emotions. Lord Shiva appeared and chastised him for harboring sensual feelings for his own daughter.

(The same story is told in another way in the Bhagavad Purana. Brahma created Saraswati, the goddess of speech, and then fell in love with her. When his sons reprimanded him for his incestuous feelings, he forsook his body and took another body and then married Saraswati.)

Brahma felt ashamed of his emotions. He directed his anger against Kama, who was the perpetrator of all the misdeeds. “Since you are the cause of all our shame, O Kama, one day you will direct your arrows at the great Lord Shiva and then you will be severely punished for your crime!”

Hearing this Kama became quite despondent. “Why, O grandfather, have you cursed me like this? I have done nothing wrong, I have only carried out your orders. You, yourself, said that all of you, including Vishnu and Shiva, would become targets for my arrow. I merely wanted to test the efficacy of your words.”

Brahma was pacified by this and said, “Your mistake was to have made me fall in love with Sandhya, who is my own daughter. However, don’t be afraid. Even though Shiva will curse you, you will be reborn soon after.”

Saying this, Brahma vanished from view. The patriarch, Daksha, who was one of those born from Brahma, now presented his daughter Rati to Kama and asked him to accept her as his wife. On seeing the beautiful daughter of Daksha, Kama was pierced with his own arrows and happily agreed to marry her. She was indeed a fitting wife for him. She was capable of charming the whole world and was expert in all the varieties of lovemaking.

After watching all these proceedings, Sandhya felt sad and bereft. She felt most ashamed at her own behavior, for the feelings of lust that had churned up her mind. She decided that she could no longer bear to remain in the body that had cast a spell on her own father, as well as the Lords of the quarters, and went to the Himalayas to do tapasya. Brahma sent the sage Vasishta to instruct her. The sage took on the body of a young brahmachari (celibate) and taught Sandhya how to worship Shiva, the three-eyed God.

“O dear Lady,” he said, “worship Lord Shiva, Lord of all the devas (lesser gods), with this mantra, ‘Aum Namashivaya.’ Perform all rites in silence and fast at the end of each period of worship.” Having advised her thus, the sage left.

After Sandhya performed severe penance, Shiva appeared before her and blessed her. He told her to cast off her body in the sacrificial fire of the sage Medatithi, after which she would be reborn as Medatithi’s daughter. The man on whom she fixed her mind at the time of death would be the person she would marry in her next life. Having blessed her thus, the Lord disappeared from view.

Sandhya went to the hermitage of the sage Medatithi as instructed by Shiva, and just before she entered the fire, she thought of the young brahmachari who had instructed her in the worship of Shiva and wished that she would have him as her husband in her next life. Her body became the sacrificial offering, and once it was totally purified by contact with fire, it was taken up to the heavens where it was divided into two portions. The upper half of her body became pratah sandhya, or dawn, which is a time especially propitious for the gods. The lower half became shyama sandhya, or dusk, which is especially pleasing to the manes (ancestors). At the end of the sacrifice, the sage Medatithi found a baby lying in the heart of the fire. He lifted her up tenderly and cared for her as his own child. Fire had cleansed Sandhya of all her sins, and she shone like molten gold. The sage gave her the name Arundhati. She grew up in the hermitage and when she came of age, her father gave her in marriage to the sage Vasishta, the young brahmachari on whom she had concentrated her mind at the time of entering the fire. Arundhati became famous for her chastity and purity and is still seen shining in the sky as an evening star—at the time known as sandhya.

O Lord Eternal like a mountain! On the very day you enslaved me, did you not appropriate my soul, my body, and my belongings! Today if anything untoward happens to me, be it good or be it bad, have I any mastery over this?

SAINT MANIKKAVACHAGAR

Prostrations to the golden-armed commander of cosmic forces, Lord of the four quarters. Prostrations to the source of all the green-leafed trees of Nature, Lord of all creatures. Prostrations to the golden-hued one, the self-effulgent, the Lord of all paths.

“SRI RUDRUM,” YAJUR VEDA

Prostrations to the one seated on the bull, the giver of food, destroyer of sins. Prostrations to the evergreen one, wearer of the sacred thread, chief among the healthy and strong. Prostrations to the Lord of the universe, the shield against the phenomenal world.

“SRI RUDRUM,” YAJUR VEDA

Aum Namashivaya!