I tell you the story of Markandeya. You see, his father had no children and the father and mother were unhappy. So they prayed to Shiva and they said that we want to have a son. Shiva said, “I’ll give you the son, but I will have to take him back after eight years. So he’ll only exist till he is about eight years of age.” So they gave that boon to him, plus this kind of a curse. The parents were very upset that, “our child will die after eight years of age,” very upset. But they found the child very bright, brilliant, and also shining and very religious.
One day he asked his father, “Why do you always so worry? I mean, after all, I am your son.” So they said that, “It is said so, eight years or sixteen years, something like that, now I will be losing you very soon. Who can surpass Shiva? So I cannot think we can really ask anyone to neutralize the curse upon us. If you are not born to us we would not have been so attached to you. Now you are born to us, we are so much attached to you.”
He was a very wise person. He said, “No, I know someone. I know Adi Shakti.” And he went to this place where you got to see this Saptashringi. There he prayed to Her. Nobody had prayed to Adi Shakti. They would pray to Jagadamba. They would pray to all others. To Adi Shakti, who is the God, he prayed to Her… She came there, appeared from the Mother Earth. She just came out and he prayed to Her. He prayed to Her and then the whole place became so vibrated that Shiva could not touch him.
Then he wrote all this Markandeya things. I mean, he was the first who wrote about Adi Shakti. All these things that you read about Shankaracharya, he took it from Markandeya. He was the first who wrote about Kundalini, the first about realization. He was the first who did all that …
So that’s the great part of Markandeya. He took his birth later on as Buddha. Then he took his birth as Adi Shankaracharya. It’s the same personality. But he was actually the son of Rama, to begin with. He was Luv and he went to Russia and that is why they are called as “Slavs” … Another son was Kush, who went to China. That is why they are called as “Kushan”. Then they incarnated again and again, also as Hassan and Hussain, as Mahavira and Buddha, as Adi Shankaracharya and Gyaneshwara, like that.
Shri Mataji, Vienna, 1988
I have veered from Yama to the Lord.
My woes have vanished,
Happiness abides within me.
Those who were foes
Have turned into friends,
The evil have become gentle and pious.
Everything that happens
I now accept as a blessing;
I attained peace
When I realised the Lord.
A million afflictions infested my body;
Through my absorption in Sahaj
They have given way to bliss.
He who realises his true self
Sees the Lord
And only the Lord
In everything;
Nor disease, nor three fevers
Afflict him now.
My mind has returned
To its own Primal state;
I realised the Lord
When I died while living.
Says Kabir: I am merged
In the bliss of Sahaj;
I no longer know fear,
Nor inspire it in others.
Kabir
A poet named Soordaas lived in India a few centuries ago. He was blind. Soordaas worshipped Lord Krishna. Even though he was blind, it was always his wish and faith that one day he would see Lord Krishna.
One day while walking in the village where he lived, he became disoriented and as a result he fell into a well. Being a wise man, he recognised his predicament and that he was likely to drown in the well. As he floated in the water he started to pray to his beloved Lord Krishna, saying, “O Lord, I am not worried about dying, but my desire to have Your Darshan will not be fulfilled in this life.”
A voice called from above the well, “Hold my hand and I will pull you out of the well.” Soordaas held on to the offered hand and was pulled out of the well.
Soordaas’s benefactor said, “Now that you are out of the well and you are safe, please let go of my hand”. Soordaas replied, “No, Lord Krishna, this is not an ordinary human who can reach into the well to save me. This can only be My Lord Whom I have been seeking all my life. I will not let go till I have your Darshan.” Thus the devotion and complete surrender of Soordaas was rewarded with Lord Krishna’s Darshan (Divine presence).
Avtar Sodhi
