Canto Ten - Chapter 88

The King said: Among gods, demons, and human beings, those who worship Śiva, though he lives without worldly prosperity, are generally wealthy and devoted to enjoyment. Yet those who worship Hari, the husband of Lakṣmī, generally are not.

We wish to understand this, for it creates great doubt in us. These two lords possess opposite dispositions, yet the fortunes of their worshipers seem contrary to what one would expect.

Śrī Śuka said: Śiva is perpetually united with Śakti, enveloped by the modes and marked by the threefold material principle. As ego he appears in three forms: sāttvika, rājasa, and tāmasa.

From that ego arose the sixteen transformations. O King, whoever worships Śiva through any one of them attains the enjoyment belonging to all corresponding material powers.

Hari, however, is directly beyond the modes: the Supreme Person who transcends Nature, the all-seeing witness. By worshiping Him, one likewise becomes free from the modes.

After completing the Aśvamedha sacrifices, your grandfather King Yudhiṣṭhira heard the Lord's teachings on dharma and asked Acyuta this very question.

The Supreme Lord, pleased with that eager listener, answered him. That sovereign Lord descended in the Yadu dynasty to bring humanity the highest good.

The Supreme Lord said: When I show special grace to someone, I gradually take away his wealth. Once he is poor, his relatives abandon him, and he suffers one distress upon another.

When his efforts to acquire wealth repeatedly fail and he becomes disheartened, he befriends those devoted to Me. Then I bestow My grace upon him.

Steady in understanding, he realizes the supreme Brahman as exceedingly subtle, pure consciousness, real and infinite, and as his own Self. Thus he becomes completely free from worldly existence.

Because I am very difficult to worship, people abandon Me and worship others. Quickly pleased, those deities grant them royal prosperity. Made arrogant, intoxicated, and heedless by such boons, they astonish and even disrespect the very gods who gave them.

Śrī Śuka said: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, and other lords can curse and bless. O dear King, Śiva and Brahmā quickly give either a curse or a blessing, but Acyuta does not.

In this connection an ancient history is told: after giving Vṛkāsura a boon, Lord Giriśa fell into danger.

A wicked demon named Vṛka, the son of Śakuni, once met Nārada on the road and asked which of the three gods was most quickly pleased.

Nārada told him, 'Worship Lord Giriśa and you will quickly succeed. He is swiftly pleased by a small virtue and swiftly angered by a small fault.'

Pleased when ten-headed Rāvaṇa and Bāṇa praised him like court bards, Śiva gave them incomparable power, but he afterward fell into grave danger because of both boons.

Thus instructed, the demon worshiped Hara at Kedāra, cutting flesh from his own body and offering it into the fire, the mouth of Śiva.

Unable to obtain a vision of the god, Vṛka became despondent. On the seventh day he wet his hair in the holy water and prepared to sever his head with a sharpened blade.

Then the greatly compassionate matted-haired Lord rose from the fire like fire emerging from fire. As any of us would do, he seized Vṛka by both arms and stopped him. At Śiva's touch the demon's body became whole again.

Śiva said to him, 'My friend, enough, enough! Ask a boon from me, and I shall grant whatever you desire. I am pleased merely by water offered by those who seek my shelter. Alas, you have tormented your body so severely for nothing.'

The sinful demon asked the god for a boon terrifying to all beings: 'Let anyone upon whose head I place my hand die.'

Hearing this, Lord Rudra became dejected, O descendant of Bharata. Yet with an ironic smile he said 'Om' and granted the boon, like nectar given to a serpent.

To test the boon, the demon at once began placing his hand upon Śambhu's head. Śiva became terrified by the consequence of his own act.

Pursued by the demon and trembling with fear, Śiva fled far away. From the north he ran to the utmost limits of heaven, earth, and all the directions.

Unable to discover a remedy, the rulers of heaven remained silent. Śiva then reached radiant Vaikuṇṭha, beyond all darkness.

There Nārāyaṇa is directly present, the supreme destination of peaceful renunciants who have laid down the rod of violence. One who reaches that realm never returns.

Seeing Śiva in such danger, the Supreme Lord who destroys affliction assumed by His Yoga-māyā the form of a young brahmacārī and came forward from afar to meet the demon.

Wearing a girdle and deerskin and carrying a staff and prayer beads, He shone like fire. With kuśa grass in His hand, He humbly greeted Vṛka.

The Supreme Lord said: Son of Śakuni, you are plainly exhausted. Why have you come so far? Rest for a moment. This body is the means by which a person fulfills every purpose.

O mighty one, if your intention is fit for Us to hear, please tell it. People generally accomplish their purposes by receiving help from others.

Śrī Śuka said: Questioned in this way by the Lord, whose words showered nectar, the demon's fatigue vanished, and he related everything he had done from the beginning.

The Supreme Lord said: If that is what happened, then We do not trust his words. By Dakṣa's curse Śiva acquired the nature of a piśāca and became lord of ghosts and fiends.

Lord of demons, if you nevertheless trust him as the teacher of the universe, then quickly place your hand upon your own head and verify the boon.

If Śambhu's word proves false in any way, O best of demons, then kill the speaker of falsehood so that he may never lie again.

Śrī Śuka said: The Lord's wondrous and exquisitely persuasive words shattered the wicked demon's judgment. Forgetting himself, he placed his own hand upon his head.

In an instant his head split apart as if struck by lightning, and he fell. From heaven arose cries of 'Victory!', 'Obeisance!', and 'Well done!'

When sinful Vṛkāsura was slain and Śiva released from danger, the divine sages, ancestors, and Gandharvas rained down flowers.

The Supreme Person then addressed the liberated Giriśa: 'O god, O Mahādeva, see how this sinner has been destroyed by his own sin.'

Lord and teacher of the universe, what creature who sins against a great soul can ever remain safe, what then of one who offends the sovereign of the whole universe?

Whoever recounts or hears this deliverance of Lord Giritra by Hari, the directly manifest Supreme Self and limitless ocean of unmanifest power, becomes free from repeated worldly existence and from enemies.