English
Brahmacharini
Source: Shiva Purana, Rudra Samhita, Parvati Khanda; Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava; the Navadurga tradition
Parvati, daughter of the Himalaya, served Shiva every day as he sat absorbed in samadhi. At that time the gods, suffering under the demon Taraka, sent Kamadeva, the god of love, to turn Shiva's attention towards Parvati.
Kamadeva loosed his arrow. Shiva's meditation broke, and in anger he opened his third eye. In an instant Kamadeva was burnt to ashes. Shiva vanished from the place, and Parvati was left standing alone.
Parvati understood that Shiva could not be won by beauty and service alone. The sage Narada gave her the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya”, and Parvati resolved to perform tapas.
Her mother Mena tried to stop her. The poet Kalidasa tells that the words “U ma”, “Oh, don't!”, escaped her mother's lips, and from then Parvati was also called Uma. But Parvati's resolve did not move.
She gave up royal clothes and jewels and wore bark. First she lived on fruit, then only on leaves, and then she gave up even leaves. So she was called Aparna, the one without even a leaf. In summer she stood among fires and in winter in water, chanting Shiva's name.
One day a young brahmachari with matted hair came to her hermitage. Parvati received him with respect. He asked, “Lady, for whom is this hard austerity?” Her friend answered, “To win Shiva as her husband.”
The brahmachari laughed. “Shiva? Who lives in cremation grounds, smears ash, wraps himself in serpents, whose family and home no one knows? A princess like you is wasting her life for him?”
Parvati's face flushed with anger. “You do not know Shiva. He is beyond all qualities and yet the support of all. Even the ash he wears is sacred. What people call inauspicious becomes auspicious at his touch.”
“My heart is set on Shiva, and it will stay so. Even listening to one who speaks ill of Shiva is a sin.” She told her friend to stop him, for he wished to say more, and she rose to leave.
At that moment the brahmachari appeared in his true form. Before her stood Lord Shiva himself. He took Parvati's hand and said, “Devi, I am a servant bought by your austerity. From today I am yours.”
The Shiva Purana tells that before this Shiva had also sent the Seven Sages to test Parvati. They too listed Shiva's faults and advised her to marry someone else, but Parvati did not waver. Now Shiva himself had tested her love and devotion.
Parvati's tapas was fulfilled. Shiva sent the Seven Sages to Himavan with the proposal of marriage, and preparations for the wedding of Shiva and Parvati began. From this marriage was later born Kumara Kartikeya, who ended Tarakasura.
On the second day of Navratri the Devi is worshipped in this ascetic form as Brahmacharini. Brahma here means tapas, and charini means one who practises it. She holds a rosary in one hand and a water pot in the other, and walks barefoot.
Brahmacharini reminds us that great goals are not reached in a day. Through heat and cold, criticism and testing, the one who holds to their resolve finds that the goal at last comes to them.
What this story teaches
True devotion does not waver at criticism. With tapas, patience and steady faith the impossible becomes possible.
Maa Brahmacharini is worshipped on Dwitiya, the second day of Sharad and Chaitra Navratri.
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