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Daksha, his daughter Sati and Son-in-Law Lord Shiva -
08-02-2008, 10:39 PM
Srimad Bhagavatam<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o:p></o:p>
Translated into English by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
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4<SUP>th</SUP> Canto Chapter 1 Verse 65-66, and, Chapters 2 to 7<o:p></o:p>
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Lord Shiva his his Sati, and, Dad-in-law Daksha
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SB 4.1.65<o:p></o:p>
The sixteenth daughter, whose name was Saté, was the wife of Lord Çiva. She could not produce a child, although she always faithfully engaged in the service of her husband.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.1.66<o:p></o:p>
The reason is that Saté’s father, Dakña, used to rebuke Lord Çiva in spite of Çiva’s faultlessness. Consequently, before attaining a mature age, Saté gave up her body by dint of yogic mystic power.<o:p></o:p>
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SB 4.2.1<o:p></o:p>
Vidura inquired: Why was Dakña, who was so affectionate towards his daughter, envious of Lord Çiva, who is the best among the gentle? Why did he neglect his daughter Saté?<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.2<o:p></o:p>
Lord Çiva, the spiritual master of the entire world, is free from enmity, is a peaceful personality, and is always satisfied in himself. He is the greatest among the demigods. How is it possible that Dakña could be inimical towards such an auspicious personality?<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.3<o:p></o:p>
My dear Maitreya, to part with one’s life is very difficult. Would you kindly explain to me how such a son-in-law and father-in-law could quarrel so bitterly that the great goddess Saté could give up her life?<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.4<o:p></o:p>
The sage Maitreya said: In a former time, the leaders of the universal creation performed a great sacrifice in which all the great sages, philosophers, demigods and fire-gods assembled with their followers.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.5<o:p></o:p>
When Dakña, the leader of the Prajäpatis, entered that assembly, his personal bodily luster as bright as the effulgence of the sun, the entire assembly was illuminated, and all the assembled personalities became insignificant in his presence.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.6<o:p></o:p>
Influenced by his personal bodily luster, all the fire-gods and other participants in that great assembly, with the exceptions of Lord Brahmä and Lord Çiva, gave up their own sitting places and stood in respect for Dakña.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.7<o:p></o:p>
Dakña was adequately welcomed by the president of the great assembly, Lord Brahmä. After offering Lord Brahmä respect, Dakña, by the order of Brahmä, properly took his seat.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.8<o:p></o:p>
Before taking his seat, however, Dakña was very much offended to see Lord Çiva sitting and not showing him any respect. At that time, Dakña became greatly angry, and, his eyes glowing, he began to speak very strongly against Lord Çiva.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.9<o:p></o:p>
All sages, brähmaëas and fire-gods present, please hear me with attention, for I speak about the manners of gentle persons. I do not speak out of ignorance or envy.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.10<o:p></o:p>
Çiva has spoiled the name and fame of the governors of the universe and has polluted the path of gentle manners. Because he is shameless, he does not know how to act.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.11<o:p></o:p>
He has already accepted himself as my subordinate by marrying my daughter in the presence of fire and brähmaëas. He has married my daughter, who is equal to Gäyatré, and has pretended to be just like an honest person.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.12<o:p></o:p>
He has eyes like a monkey’s, yet he has married my daughter, whose eyes are just like those of a deer cub. Nevertheless he did not stand up to receive me, nor did he think it fit to welcome me with sweet words.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.13<o:p></o:p>
I had no desire to give my daughter to this person, who has broken all rules of civility. Because of not observing the required rules and regulations, he is impure, but I was obliged to hand over my daughter to him just as one teaches the messages of the Vedas to a çüdra.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.14-15<o:p></o:p>
He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he Çiva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.16<o:p></o:p>
On the request of Lord Brahmä I handed over my chaste daughter to him, although he is devoid of all cleanliness and his heart is filled with nasty things.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.17<o:p></o:p>
The sage Maitreya continued: Thus Dakña, seeing Lord Çiva sitting as if against him, washed his hands and mouth and cursed him in the following words.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.18<o:p></o:p>
The demigods are eligible to share in the oblations of sacrifice, but Lord Çiva, who is the lowest of all the demigods, should not have a share.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.19<o:p></o:p>
Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, in spite of the requests of all the members of the sacrificial assembly, Dakña, in great anger, cursed Lord Çiva and then left the assembly and went back to his home.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.20<o:p></o:p>
Upon understanding that Lord Çiva had been cursed, Nandéçvara, one of Lord Çiva’s principal associates, became greatly angry. His eyes became red, and he prepared to curse Dakña and all the brähmaëas present there who had tolerated Dakña’s cursing Çiva in harsh words.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.21<o:p></o:p>
Anyone who has accepted Dakña as the most important personality and neglected Lord Çiva because of envy is less intelligent and, because of visualizing in duality, will be bereft of transcendental knowledge.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.22<o:p></o:p>
Pretentiously religious householder life, in which one is attracted to material happiness and thus also attracted to the superficial explanation of the Vedas, robs one of all intelligence and attaches one to fruitive activities as all in all.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.23<o:p></o:p>
Dakña has accepted the body as all in all. Therefore, since he has forgotten the viñëu-päda, or viñëu-gati, and is attached to sex life only, within a short time he will have the face of a goat.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.24<o:p></o:p>
Those who have become as dull as matter by cultivating materialistic education and intelligence are nesciently involved in fruitive activities. Such men have purposely insulted Lord Çiva. May they continue in the cycle of repeated birth and death.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.25<o:p></o:p>
May those who are envious of Lord Çiva, being attracted by the flowery language of the enchanting Vedic promises, and who have thus become dull, always remain attached to fruitive activities.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.26<o:p></o:p>
These brähmaëas take to education, austerity and vows only for the purpose of maintaining the body. They shall be devoid of discrimination between what to eat and what not to eat. They will acquire money, begging from door to door, simply for the satisfaction of the body.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.27<o:p></o:p>
When all the hereditary brähmaëas were thus cursed by Nandéçvara, the sage Bhågu, as a reaction, condemned the followers of Lord Çiva with this very strong brahminical curse.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.28<o:p></o:p>
One who takes a vow to satisfy Lord Çiva or who follows such principles will certainly become an atheist and be diverted from transcendental scriptural injunctions.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.29<o:p></o:p>
Those who vow to worship Lord Çiva are so foolish that they imitate him by keeping long hair on their heads. When initiated into worship of Lord Çiva, they prefer to live on wine, flesh and other such things.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.30<o:p></o:p>
Bhågu Muni continued: Since you blaspheme the Vedas and the brähmaëas, who are followers of the Vedic principles, it is understood that you have already taken shelter of the doctrine of atheism.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.31<o:p></o:p>
The Vedas give the eternal regulative principles for auspicious advancement in human civilization which have been rigidly followed in the past. The strong evidence of this principle is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is called Janärdana, the well-wisher of all living entities.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.32<o:p></o:p>
By blaspheming the principles of the Vedas, which are the pure and supreme path of the saintly persons, certainly you followers of Bhütapati, Lord Çiva, will descend to the standard of atheism without a doubt.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.33<o:p></o:p>
The sage Maitreya said: When such cursing and countercursing was going on between Lord Çiva’s followers and the parties of Dakña and Bhågu, Lord Çiva became very morose. Not saying anything, he left the arena of the sacrifice, followed by his disciples.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.34<o:p></o:p>
The sage Maitreya continued: O Vidura, all the progenitors of the universal population thus executed a sacrifice for thousands of years, for sacrifice is the best way to worship the Supreme Lord, Hari, the Personality of Godhead.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.2.35<o:p></o:p>
My dear Vidura, carrier of bows and arrows, all the demigods who were performing the sacrifice took their bath at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamunä after completing the yajïa performance. Such a bath is called avabhåtha-snäna. After thus becoming purified in heart, they departed for their respective abodes.<o:p></o:p>
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SB 4.3.1<o:p></o:p>
TRANSLATION<o:p></o:p>
Maitreya continued: In this manner the tension between the father-in-law and son-in-law, Dakña and Lord Çiva, continued for a considerably long period.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.2<o:p></o:p>
When Lord Brahmä appointed Dakña the chief of all the Prajäpatis, the progenitors of population, Dakña became very much puffed up.<o:p></o:p>
Dakña began a sacrifice named väjapeya, and he became excessively confident of his support by Lord Brahmä, He then performed another great sacrifice, named båhaspati-sava.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.4<o:p></o:p>
While the sacrifice was being performed, many brahmarñis, great sages, ancestral demigods and other demigods, their wives all very nicely decorated with ornaments, attended from different parts of the universe.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.5-7<o:p></o:p>
The chaste lady Saté, the daughter of Dakña, heard the heavenly denizens flying in the sky conversing about the great sacrifice being performed by her father. When she saw that from all directions the beautiful wives of the heavenly denizens, their eyes very beautifully glittering, were near her residence and were going to the sacrifice dressed in fine clothing and ornamented with earrings and necklaces with lockets, she approached her husband, the master of the bhütas, in great anxiety, and spoke as follows.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.8<o:p></o:p>
Saté said: My dear Lord Çiva, your father-in-law is now executing great sacrifices, and all the demigods, having been invited by him, are going there. If you desire, we may also go.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.9<o:p></o:p>
I think that all my sisters must have gone to this great sacrificial ceremony with their husbands just to see their relatives. I also desire to decorate myself with the ornaments given to me by my father and go there with you to participate in that assemble.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.10<o:p></o:p>
My sisters, my mother’s sisters and their husbands, and other affectionate relatives must be assembled there, so if I go I shall be able to see them, and I shall be able to see the flapping flags and the performance of the sacrifice by the great sages. For these reasons, my dear husband, I am very much anxious to go.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.11<o:p></o:p>
This manifested cosmos is a wonderful creation of the interaction of the three material modes, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord. This truth is fully known to you. Yet I am but a poor woman, and, as you know, I am not conversant with the truth. Therefore I wish to see my birthplace once more.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.12<o:p></o:p>
O never-born, O blue-throated one, not only my relatives but also other women, dressed in nice clothes and decorated with ornaments, are going there with their husbands and friends. Just see how their flocks of white airplanes have made the entire sky very beautiful.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.13<o:p></o:p>
O best of the demigods, how can the body of a daughter remain undisturbed when she hears that some festive event is taking place in her father’s house? Even though you may be considering that I have not been invited, there is no harm if one goes to the house of one’s friend, husband, spiritual master or father without invitation.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.14<o:p></o:p>
O immortal Çiva, please be kind towards me and fulfill my desire. You have accepted me as half of your body; therefore please show kindness towards me and accept my request.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.15<o:p></o:p>
The great sage Maitreya said: Lord Çiva, the deliverer of the hill Kailäsa, having thus been addressed by his dear wife, replied smilingly, although at the same time he remembered the malicious, heart-piercing speeches delivered by Dakña before the guardians of the universal affairs.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.16<o:p></o:p>
The great lord replied: My dear beautiful wife, you have said that one may go to a friend’s house without being invited, and this is true, provided such a friend does not find fault with the guest because of bodily identification and thereby become angry towards him.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.17<o:p></o:p>
Although the six qualities education, austerity, wealth, beauty, youth and heritage are for the highly elevated, one who is proud of possessing them becomes blind, and thus he loses his good sense and cannot appreciate the glories of great personalities.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.18<o:p></o:p>
One should not go to anyone’s house, even on the consideration of his being a relative or a friend, when the man is disturbed in his mind and looks upon the guest with raised eyebrows and angry eyes.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.19<o:p></o:p>
Lord Çiva continued: If one is hurt by the arrows of an enemy, one is not as aggrieved as when cut by the unkind words of a relative, for such grief continues to rend one’s heart day and night.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.20<o:p></o:p>
My dear white-complexioned wife, it is clear that of the many daughters of Dakña you are the pet, yet you will not be honored at his house because of your being my wife. Rather, you will be sorry that you are connected with me.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.21<o:p></o:p>
One who is conducted by false ego and thus always distressed, both mentally and sensually, cannot tolerate the opulence of self-realized persons. Being unable to rise to the standard of self-realization, he envies such persons as much as demons envy the Supreme Personality of Godhead.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.22<o:p></o:p>
My dear young wife, certainly friends and relatives offer mutual greetings by standing up, welcoming one another and offering obeisances. But those who are elevated to the transcendental platform, being intelligent, offer such respects to the Supersoul, who is sitting within the body, not to the person who identifies with the body.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.23<o:p></o:p>
I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Väsudeva in pure Kåñëa consciousness. Kåñëa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Väsudeva, is revealed without any covering.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.24<o:p></o:p>
Therefore you should not see your father, although he is the giver of your body, because he and his followers are envious of me. Because of his envy, O most worshipful one, he has insulted me with cruel words although I am innocent.<o:p></o:p>
SB 4.3.25<o:p></o:p>
If in spite of this instruction you decide to go, neglecting my words, the future will not be good for you. You are most respectable, and when you are insulted by your relative, this insult will immediately be equal to death.<o:p></o:p>
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