Returning to the Beloved - Going Home

Swami Vishwananda: Shiva is a Saddhu, a Fakir, a renunsciant who does not bother about anything because He is always in the Supreme Consciousness. Parvati wanted so much to have Shiva as her husband, so she prayed for long. She did so much penance, so much tapasya that finally Shiva was pleased with her. Shiva said “Yes, I shall marry you.”

On the day they got married Parvati made a promise, “Lord, you are my everything and I surrender myself completely to You. I always will sit at Your feet. I always will sit by Your side and look at You. Whenever You sit in meditation, I will be there, always.” Much time passed. Up in the Himalayas, where it's very cold, Shiva would be always in meditation. Parvati would sit there for years and years and years. She would sit and watch Shiva. After some time it got boring. You know how it is when something becomes familiar, you forget about the necessity and you forget about the joy and the purpose of it. So Parvati one day said to Shiva,“My Lord, I have been here quite a long time now. I have the urge to go and see Your Devotees down in the World. Please grant me this.” Shiva looked at Her and smiled, but didn’t answer anything.

So one month passed and Parvati became very restless. After another month passed Parvati approached Shiva again, She said, “My Lord, You have so many Bhaktas down there, maybe they are calling me. They pray to You, and I would like so much to be with them and to grace them.” Shiva smiled and said, “Okay, go, but don’t forget your promise.” Parvati was very happy. The moment Shiva said,“Go”, She disappeared and probably without even saying goodbye. Parvati climbed down the Himalayas and when the Devotees saw Parvati coming, they were so happy. They welcomed her and made a big festival. So She travelled around throughout India. Wherever She would go, there would be great festivities.

Finally, Parvati reached a certain point in the South of India. To celebrate the arrival of Parvati, the people built a huge temple dedicated to Her. So. with all this grandness, years and years passed. When Parvati entered the temple, She felt a great sadness inside of Her. She had this yearning for Her Lord again. She had the desire to be with Her Beloved again. But with all the years that had passed and all the places Parvati had been, She forget the way back to Shiva, the Beloved. She could not find the way back. Then She cried and cried, saying,“My Lord, through all this I have been attracted to this world with all this glamour and all these festivities I forgot my way back to You. It is only through Your grace that I can come back. Please come to my rescue and save me.”

Parvati cried for days. You know it’s very easy to please Shiva and He was touched. He came to rescue Parvati to take her back to the Himalayas. And there Parvati made another promise, “Lord, I will never do that again.”

Do you understand the meaning of the story? There is a lot of meaning in it. The story that I just told is actually your own story, it’s Your own Self. Parvati is the Prakriti-Shakti, the one which manifests. And that manifestation of the Divine is each one of you and all of us. Our souls are calling to the Divine, calling to the Higher Spirit, calling to the Higher Consciousness, the Supreme Consciousness. So, like Parvati, when you call the Lord from your soul, he will come; it’s your chance to go back home. It is not only about coming and coming again and again. Just know you can achieve anything!