Shivaratri - Homage to the Greatest Vaishnava
Homage to the Greatest Vaishnava
"O Shiva, most-auspicious one, we have heard via disciplic succession that among all servants of Lord Hari, you are supreme. You are the leader of all Vaishnavas. Your influence of your hands is seen by all yet you yourself are known by none. The major centers of your worship are India’s dwadasha jyotir lingas (twelve temples of light). Yet how is it those who approach you with ulterior motives (and thus claim to be your “followers”) so quickly descend into darkness? Though you are known everywhere, you are unknown. Still you have appeared as Vaidyanath, Bhima Shankar, Trimbeshwara, Grishneshwara and in many other forms only to impart devotional service to the world. O Kailashnath, those who consider you merely a great yogi meditating away in the snowy Himalayas only succeed in trying to limit you in their ignorance. Likewise, those who consider you to be God do not understand your humble mood of pure devotion to Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Who can understand you? Although you are worshipped in the snowy mountains as Pashupatinath and Amarnath, you meditate in the bright sunlight at Amarkantaka. There your divine droplets of perspiration from the intense heat of the Sun (and from the heat of your penance) form the emerald Narmada, your river goddess daughter whose waters are narma-dayini, the giver of bliss. O Umesh, you are easily pleased by the Lord’s genuine devotees who praise and worship you throughout the universe. Yet--whether man or demigod---he who could hope to equal your exalted status is yet to be born. You are very dear to Lord Vishnu. Although you are unattainable, you never fail to bless the servants of Sri Hari who seek your favor, just as in your form as Lord Rameshwara you blessed the army of vanaras marching off to Lanka.
O Girish, those who approach you with imprudent desires to become one with you fruitlessly covet your unassailable position. Which senseless supplicant seeking to copyright your laurels as his own is willing to drink halahala poison, and (while wearing that venom in his throat like an indigo-colored ornament) save the world from destruction? Though they adorn their bodies with bhashma and carry tridents, no furious cobra ever adorns the neck of your deluded imitators. You alone are the lord of the nagas, worshipped (near Dwaraka) in your form as Nageshwara. The snakes which encircle your neck are representatives of Lord Sankarshan, Who mystics approach through you (to gain release from the falseness of egoism).
O Gangeshwara, you have captured the heavenly Mandakini in your long ascetic locks for the safety of the world. For the purification of mankind, the river goddess in your hair flows as the Ganga past innumerable holy ghats. That celestial stream called Patita Pavani gave liberation to the ancestors of King Bhagiratha, and to this day delivers all others who seek their salvation by the grace of her waters. You are worshipped as Vishwanath alongside Gangamayi (between the sangams of the Varuna and the Asi), and her waters are used in your daily adoration. O Chandrashekhar, your crowning ornament is the krishna-paksha Moon on the trayodashi day of Phalguna. Even Lord Chandra kneels before your form as Somnath at Prabhas Patan where he begs for the ability to wax again (and thereby becomes relieved from the curse of Daksha). O Shambhu, along with Brahma and Narada, you are one of the twelve mahajans, the most learned and realized personalities in the world. You are honored with the words vaishnavanam yatha shambhu. Even those who think that they can worship you with the mantra, om namo shivaya, must bow to Lord Hari in His form as Omkara before they can address you, His servant. Though you are called Omkareshwara at the island temple of Mamaleshwara, you yourself sing the praise Lord Hari with the three letters AUM.
O Parvatinath, during vanavasam Arjuna met you in the Himalayas masquerading as a hunter and, unable to defeat you, did battle with you till his weapons ran out. As he retreated to worship your linga form with wild flowers, he observed fragrant blossoms falling from the heavens upon your body (disguised as you were). Thus you revealed your divine form as the carrier of the trident, and bestowed celestial weapons upon Arjuna presaging his victory over the Kauravas. To this day deep in the jungle near Hastinapur, you are revered as Pandaveshwara in celebration of your gifts to Arjuna.
O Rudra, at Bhera Ghat the thousand-armed Banasura worshipped you by creating millions of your linga representatives from the earthy banks of the river. To this day your egg-shaped forms (marked with chakras, yagnopavit, etc.) become self-manifested at the very spot where rugged waterfalls meet marble cliffs. Not far from there, your cave of Gupteshwara is an entirely self-manifested temple wherein the greatest of sages since time immemorial have arrived for your darshan. From here beneath the waters of the Narmada your svyambhu lingas have traveled all over the world for the benefit of humanity. Yet although you are worshipped in every quarter, few understand your Vaishnava character. O Nataraja, bewildered impersonalists who confuse their adulation of you by “becoming you” are merely unfortunate victims of the same tamo-guna that you yourself control throughout the Universe. Though you are the destroyer of creation at the time of pralaya, the devotees of Sri Hari are saved while those who worship you for material benefits must become repeatedly reborn and annihilated (in this and ensuing cosmic manifestations).
O Mahadeva, the very tilak worn by mayavadis consisting of three parallel lines represents only horizontal entanglement in the ever-broadening net of Maya. In their unconscious conundrum of confusion impersonalists find their concocted process confounded by their own consternations. Dimwits who think they have become God can neither supplicate you properly, nor can they imitate your activities. Where is the “Godhood” when fallible replicas linger here doomed to re-cycle in gross ignorance? Though you are the master of material elements, your so-called votaries remain entwined in the very energies they seek to enjoy, like hunters caught in the traps they have set. Yet, because you are the caretaker of the five expanding material elements under Lord Vishnu’s direction, you are worshipped as the pancha-tattwa lingas: Ekambareshwara at Kanchi (prithivi), Jambukeshwara at Sri Rangam (jal), Arunchaleshwara at Thiruvanamallai (tej), Sri Kalahasti near Tirupati (vayu) and Nataraja at Chidambaram (akash).
O Shankar, the Rudra Vaishnava sampradaya headed by Sri Vishnuswami descends from you as one of the four bona fide disciplic chains even to this day. Yet, following the direct order of the Personality of Godhead Lord Narayana Himself, you founded the fifth (impersonal) sampradaya. You appeared as Sri Shankaracharya and propagated the asat shastra of mayavada all over India (establishing maths a Sringeri, Dwaraka, Badri and Puri). By so doing you repulsed the Buddhists and re-established the Vedic scriptures, paving the way for future world Vaishnavism under the leadership of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
O Maheshwar, greatest of the demi-gods, in your form of Mangalnath you blessed Lords Krishna and Balarama as They attended the gurukula of their Guru Maharaja Sri Sandipani Muni at Avantika. There in that ancient town of King Vikramaditya, you are also worshipped alongside the peaceful Kshipra as Mahankaleshwara. In that form you are the mystic lord of time and the position of your linga marks the 0º of longitude for the world. With the beat of your dim-dim drum you keep track of the ebb and flow of the Universe. The message of the tick tock beating of your drum is that time is running out for our embodied state (which means that now is the correct time to fully surrender to Krishna.)
O All-seeing Trinayana, in converting the masses to Krishna consciousness, Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited countless numbers of your temples all over India and millions of your so-called followers fell under the tidal wave of sankirtan yagna. At Sri Sailam, He saw you in your form as Lord Mallika Arjuna and there induced all your worshippers to rejoice to the singing of the mahā-mantra. 
Hearing your worshipful Lord Krishna praised in this way by the Lord Himself in the Form of His Own Devotee how delighted you must have been! Mahaprabhu then proceeded to introduce the yuga dharma to your temples of Vriddha Kashi, Shiva Kanchi, Trikalahasti, Pakshi Tirtha, Chidambaram, Gosamaja, Vedavana, Amritalinga, Kumbhakonam, Tanjore and to the shore of the Shiva Ganga.
O Lord of Nandi, when Nanda Maharaja desired to move from Gokula to protect his Son, your worshipful Lord, from the wrath of Kamsa, he moved to the hill between Barsana and Govardhan. That hill is the very incarnation of you and there you protected the Cowherd of Nandagram in your form as Nandishwara. O Ishwara, though you are always honored as the “greatest of the demi-gods”, you are happiest when your mood of pure devotion to Krishna is recognized. As the supreme Vaishnava, you alone guard the janma bhumi of Lord Krishna in the mood of dig-pala. In your sacred form of Gokarneshwara you guard the north, as Pipaleshwara you guard the east, as Lord Rangeshwara you guard the south, while your form of Bhuteshwara keeps watch over the western direction of Mathura. O Ashutosh, you are the supreme devotee and thus you are very easily pleased by the Lord’s devotees. But nowhere else do you give pleasure to the Sri Krishna’s own elects as in Vraja Mandala where you are the guardian of the entire dham. In your form as Rangeshwara you witness the destruction of Chanura and Mustika and the killing of Kamsa by the fists of the young bluish-blackish Lad. As Gopishwara you witness from a short distance the rasa dance of Madan Mohan and His most intimate associates. As Kameshwara you fulfill the desire of each devotee to serve Sri Krishna in a mood of self-surrendered humility. And as Chattaleshwara you guard the pure devotion of the dham.
O Chattaleshwara, you sit in the shadow of Giri Govardhan gazing into the waters of the lake created from the mind of Lord Krishna Him-
self, the Manasi Ganga. Lord Hari Deva, before Whom Lord Chaitanya danced in ecstasy, stands just opposite the lake from you. Your eternal spouse Parvati in her form of Manasi Devi also meditates upon those waters. As far as this patita is concerned, your mood at Manasi Ganga is supreme amongst all your Srines for here you blessed Sri Sanatana Goswami as you both delighted in the never-ending ecstasy of meditating upon Krishna’s pastimes.
O Shiva, this foolish disciple of 108 Sri Srimad Abhaya Charana Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada falls down like a stick before you and begs for your merciful blessings. As this rascal stumbles along the divine path of Krishna consciousness, please teach me the secret of advancement in seva unto Guru and Gauranga in whatever moments this body has left.
This essay is humbly dedicated to “Bhagatji, Sri Srimad Vishwambhar Dayal, who was very dear to Srila Prabhupada and who encouraged and guided all his disciples in the early days of ISKCON Vrindavana. It was he who took me for my first darshan of Lord Chattaleshwara, who is also known as Sri Chakreshwara to the Brijabasis."
[The Astrological Newsletter 6 Nov. 2010 (#15). Patita Pavana das Adhikary, Ed. Abhaya Mudra Dasi Jyotish Shastris, etc. Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Replies