The Sages Laugh at Narada's Counsel
Bala Kanda, Doha 78
Doha 78 · Movement 2 of 2
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The seven sages hear Parvati and laugh. Their laughter is the opening stroke of the test, aimed not only at her choice of husband but at the trust she has placed in her Guru.
They ask the mountain born maiden a cutting question: in whose household has Narada's advice ever found a peaceful home? The words portray the divine wanderer's guidance as a seed of trouble rather than blessing.
Parvati has endured hunger, cold, and the long stripping away of bodily strength. Now devotion meets another austerity, the ridicule of the very source whose word set her upon the path.
The forest that heard her mantra now hears seven sages laugh at her Guru.
Read the passage from the Manas
सुनत बचन बिहसे रिषय गिरिसंभव तब देह। नारद कर उपदेसु सुनि कहहु बसेउ किसु गेह।।78।।
Hearing her words, the rishis laughed and said: "O mountain-born one, tell us: in whose household has Narada's counsel ever found a home?"