Vyāsa’s Śiva Mahimā

After Aśvatthāmā’s Āgneyāstra failed, he threw down his bow and left the battlefield. Then the great ṛshi Vyāsa appeared on the field of Kurukshetra. He told Aśvatthāmā why no weapon could harm Kṛshṇa and Arjuna. Kṛshṇa is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa himself, come as an avatāra (a descent of Bhagavān Vishṇu). Arjuna is the ṛshi Nara. They are eternal companions from before this creation, and they do supreme tapas together at Badarī. Vyāsa then spoke of something deeper. During the war Arjuna had seen a shining figure walking before him and killing his enemies. Vyāsa named that figure as Mahādeva, Bhagavān Śiva. He taught the Śataraudhrīya, a great hymn to Rudra-Śiva, and spoke of the oneness of Bhagavān Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva.

Vyāsa appears

As soon as Aśvatthāmā threw down his bow and fled, in confusion, the great ṛshi Vyāsadeva appeared at that very place. He was dark as a rain-cloud, the dwelling-place of the Vedas and of Sarasvatī herself, and free of all pāpa (sin). Aśvatthāmā’s eyes filled with tears when he saw him. He bowed to the ground before Vyāsa and spoke in a voice choked with feeling:

“Mahāmune! Is this māyā (illusion), or is it the will of the divine? I cannot understand. How did my astra fail? I made no mistake. I did not say the mantra or do the rite wrongly. The Āgneyāstra that I called up cannot be stopped by asuras, gandharvas, piśācas, rākshasas, birds, humans or yakshas. Yet it burned a whole akshauhiṇī (a full army division) and then died down. And two mortal men came out of the fire quite unharmed. How can this be? Please tell me the truth.”

Vyāsa explains: Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa

Vyāsa answered with patience and told him everything:

“Aśvatthāmā! What you ask is of the highest importance. Listen with full attention. The one called Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa is the oldest of all, older than even our earliest forefathers. He is the ādi-deva (the first deva), the jagannātha (master of the world). He is the maker of all things and can do all things. He is the first cause of the whole universe, without beginning and without end. Because he never crosses his own limits, he is Acyuta (the Unchanging). All the Vedas and all the great ṛshis seek only this one truth: the tattva (reality) of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa.

“This Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa once came down as the son of the deva Dharma, for a special purpose. On the Himālayas he did tapas. He stood with both arms raised and lived on air alone for sixty-six thousand years, until his body was dried to the bone. Then he did tapas again for twice as long and filled the space between earth and sky with his tejas (radiance). During that tapas, Bhagavān Viśveśvara, Mahādeva, appeared before him in plain sight. That is the Kṛshṇa you see as Arjuna’s charioteer. No astra, however great, can touch the avatāra of the one who is the source of all creation and all astras.”

Vyāsa then gave, inside his talk, a hymn of praise to Śiva sung by Bhagavān Vishṇu himself (a Vishṇu-kṛta Śiva-stuti), in which Nārāyaṇa praises Rudra. The hymn calls Rudra the remover of duḥkha (sorrow), which is why he is “Rudra”. He is the master of Brahmā and of all the lokapālas (guardians of the worlds). He wears matted hair (jaṭā). He gives life to all that stands still and all that moves. He wears golden armour (kavaca), carries a divine bow (dhanus) and has endless might (vīrya).

Arjuna’s vision of Mahādeva

Vyāsa then turned to Arjuna and asked him to tell of what he himself had seen on the battlefield. Arjuna said:

“I saw something in this war that I have never told anyone. As I fought, again and again I saw a great shining figure, tall and bright, almost too strong to look at, walking before me on the battlefield, ahead of my chariot. He carried a trident or a spear, and wherever he walked, enemies fell. They fell before my arrows could even reach them. I would aim and let go, and find that the foes had already been struck down by the one walking ahead. I did not know who this figure was.”

Vyāsa knew the figure at once: “That was Mahādeva himself, Śiva, Tripurāntaka, the destroyer of the Three Cities. He was walking before you and killing your enemies. Mahādeva walks before you in battle. That is why your enemies fall.”

The Śataraudhrīya and the Tripura Vadha

Vyāsa then taught the Śataraudhrīya, the holy hymn to Rudra, which holds one hundred names and forms of Bhagavān Śiva. He taught it so that Aśvatthāmā and Arjuna might both know and honour Mahādeva rightly. The hymn describes Rudra in his many forms. He is the cause of duḥkha and its remover. His anger is fierce towards the wicked and his heart is kind towards his devotees. He bears the divine bow and the quiver that never empties. He is the golden-armoured one of endless power.

The Tripura Vadha is the destruction by Bhagavān Śiva of the Three Flying Cities of the dānavas. Vyāsa named it as the greatest example of Mahādeva’s unfathomable power. In it Bhagavān Vishṇu himself became the arrow and Brahmā became the chariot for Śiva’s great bow. This is recalled to show that even the highest devas act as instruments of Mahādeva’s purpose.

Arjuna was overcome with bhakti when he heard Vyāsa’s words and the Śataraudhrīya. He made and recited a stuti (hymn of praise) to Mahādeva, honouring the presence and grace of Bhagavān Śiva in the war.

The highest teaching

The talk ends with a joining of the two. Kṛshṇa (Nārāyaṇa) and Śiva (Mahādeva) are both supreme. In the final understanding they are not different from each other. No weapon born of fire, earth, water, air or ether can overcome the one who is the source of all five elements. The armies of the Dvāpara Yuga, however great their astras, were in the end only instruments of a higher order.

In this one talk, given by Vyāsadeva, the author of the Mahābhārata, both the Vaishṇava teaching (Kṛshṇa as Nārāyaṇa) and the Śaiva teaching (Mahādeva as the great protector walking before the righteous) are taught.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 201–202