Kailash-13

Dear Friends

“Thirukkadayur” is a temple dedicated to the Lord, along the sea, in eastern Tamil Nadu. The Lord’s name here is “Kaalantaka” which means He who ended death (Kaala). Many of us are familiar with the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantram (i.e. “Triyambakam Yajaamahe, Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam; Uruvarukameeva Bandhanaath, Mrityor Mukshiya Maamrithath).  This Mantra finds its origin in the story of Sage Markandeya.

Markandeya’s parents prayed to the Lord for an offspring, and the Lord, pleased by their devotion, appeared before them and gave them two choices (i) they would have a son who would be scholarly and erudite; but who would live no more than 16 years or (ii) they would have a son who would not be intelligent but would have long life. Obviously, they chose the first option; thus was born Markandeya, who was honest, scholarly and an ardent devotee of Shiva. As soon as he turned 16, realizing that his time had come to leave this world, he clung on to the Shivalinga in total prayer to the Lord pleading to save him from the imminent departure. Yama, the lord of death, came with his noose, to take away the boy’s life. Enraged at Yama, for disturbing the boy from His prayer, Shiva appeared and liberated Markandeya from his death. Thus the Lord is called Kaalantaka; He who ended death.  This is the image we find at Thirukkadayur. People, who pray here for long life, are believed to be blessed by the Lord.

We live in what we know to be the real world, so the miracles associated with sages like Markandeya, seem improbable to us. But metaphorically speaking, the lesson in the story is that, if we give up our fears and insecurities, and surrender in total devotion to Him and cling on to His name and glory, we are sure to be liberated from death. But the death here is not the physical death of the body. We come across many situations in life where our little identities with our relationships, our economic situation, our emotional stability etc are challenged. For instance, if our child uses improper language in conversation with us, we feel our identity as a parent is challenged. If some investments that we have in the share market are lost due to a sudden crash in the sensex, our financial security is disturbed and our identity with being a “rich man” is challenged. If someone whom we love dearly, deserts us and goes away, we are sorrowful and our identity of being a “loved person” is challenged. At each of these instances, our little identities that we have created for ourselves are killed by events occurring outside of us. Thus we die thousands of deaths in a given lifetime.  The only escape from these “deaths” is our clinging on to the Lord in total devotion and surrender, and He is sure to end our agonies from these deaths.  He will end our “Kaala”, and take us towards the path of immortality; that immortality which is beyond the body, mind and intellect equipment.

Towards the end of my last post, I had mentioned about my communication and whether it reached the intended recipients the way I wanted it to. The objective there was to elicit response from co-pilgrims. Krishnan responded, with tips on making the communication effective. The subject we are discussing, being abstract in nature, would get more “teeth” with responses. We are into the last 4 weeks before our departure for the “Sumeru” (excellent mountain). There are a few more topics in my mind that could invigorate our thinking faculties, unless there are reverts on specifics coming through responses.

May Lord Kaalantaka end all our “ego” driven identities, and assist us to see ourselves in His Light.

With Prem & Om