Taṇḍi Śiva Darśana

Taṇḍi was a great ṛshi of the Kṛta Yuga. In the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 16), the muni Upamanyu tells how Taṇḍi did tapas (austerity) in deep samādhi (absorption) for ten thousand years and then saw Mahādeva face to face. Taṇḍi sang a stotra (hymn of praise) to Śiva. It names Śiva as the seven adhi principles, the eight prakṛtis and the five highest gatis (goals), all of which come only by Śiva’s grace.

Upamanyu tells this as the opening to the teaching he promised to Kṛshṇa, the Śiva Sahasranāma, the thousand names of Śiva.

The setting

Upamanyu had told of his own tapas and his own darśana (sight) of Śiva. Then he had seen Kṛshṇa do tapas too, and the sixteen boons that Śiva and Pārvatī gave to Kṛshṇa. Now Upamanyu turned to keep the promise he had made earlier: to teach Kṛshṇa the sacred mantra of the names of Śiva. Before he recited it, he told Kṛshṇa how this teaching first came into the world, through the ṛshi Taṇḍi. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Taṇḍi’s ten thousand years of tapas

In the Kṛta Yuga there lived a ṛshi of great fame named Taṇḍi. He did ārādhanā of Mahādeva for ten thousand years through samādhi, through the deepest absorption of dhyāna-yoga (yoga of meditation). By this tapoyoga he saw the avyaya (undying) Paramātmā face to face, and he praised Śiva with a stotra. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Taṇḍi’s stotra

Taṇḍi called Śiva the supreme Īśvara, the pradhāna-purusha (the chief purusha), the one who stands behind all things (sarvādhishṭhita). He is the one whom the Sāṅkhyas always recite and the yogīs always contemplate. The jñānīs know him as the one cause of creation and destruction, above all devas, asuras and munis.

Taṇḍi took refuge in this aja (unborn) Īśāna, the Prabhu Śiva who has no beginning and no end, whose very nature is supreme sukha (happiness) and who is untouched by pāpa (sin). He praised him in these words:

  • Paramapavitra among the pure. He is the very source of purity, even for the holy Gaṅgā and rivers like her.
  • Uttamā gati among all who seek a goal. He is the highest refuge of those who seek refuge.
  • Ugra-tejas among lights, uttama-tapas among austerities. Viśvāvasu, Hiraṇyāksha and Purūhūta worship him. He gives the greatest maṅgala (good fortune), and his nature is the highest satya (truth).
  • The giver of moksha. He gives it to those who fear birth and death (janma and maraṇa), to those bound by saṃsāra, and to the yatis who strive for release. He is the sun of a thousand rays itself, and the one resting place (āśraya) of all happiness.
  • The one whose tattva (true nature) even Brahmā, Vishṇu, Indra, the Viśvedevas and the maharshis cannot fully know. “How then can we?” Taṇḍi said. From him the whole universe comes, and in him it wholly rests.

Taṇḍi then named Śiva as the three bodies known to the devarshis and to those who know the Purāṇas: Kāla, Purusha and Brahma. He also named him as the seven adhi categories:

  • Adhipaurusha. The vijñāna (knowledge) that rules the embodied purusha, the being that has a head, hands, feet and the rest.
  • Adhyātma. The principle that rules the ātmā, that is, the body itself.
  • Adhibhūta and Adhidaivata. These rule how the elements relate to one another, and the devatās who preside over them.
  • Adhiloka. The principle that rules the tanmātras (subtle elements), the vishayas (objects of the senses) and the tenfold senses, which are the causes of the loka.
  • Adhivijñāna. The principle that rules the prajñā-mātras (bare perceptions) born of the sense powers.
  • Adhiyajña. The one principle by which all these dualities are resolved into a single ekī-bhāva (oneness). It is the very meaning of yajña and of moksha itself.

Taṇḍi said: “All of this, adhipaurusha, adhyātma, adhibhūta, adhidaivata, adhiloka, adhivijñāna and adhiyajña, is you alone.” (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Taṇḍi went on: “You alone are svarga. You alone are moksha. You alone are kāma (desire) and krodha (anger). Sattva, rajas and tamas are you. The upper worlds (ūrdhva-loka) and the lower worlds (adho-loka) are you. Brahmā, Bhava, Vishṇu, Kumārasvāmī, Indra, Sūrya, Yama, Varuṇa, Candra, Manu, Dhātā, Vidhātā and Kubera are all you. Earth, air, water, fire, ākāśa, speech, buddhi, sthiti, mati, karma, and both satya and anṛta (truth and untruth): you are all of it. You are what is, and you are what is not.”

He named the eight prakṛtis: earth (bhūmi), water (jala), fire (agni), air (vāyu), ākāśa, manas, buddhi and ahaṅkāra. These too are nothing other than Śiva’s own being, together with the purusha who is beyond even prakṛti.

“The indriyas (senses) and their objects are you. The akshara-tattva beyond prakṛti is you, the viśva and the aviśva, and whatever is different from both, the cintya and the acintya. Parabrahma itself and its parama-pada (highest state), the goal of Sāṅkhya and Yoga alike: in this there is no doubt at all.” (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Taṇḍi then said: “Today we are kṛtārtha, our aim is fulfilled. We have surely reached the uttama-gati that people of pure mind, cleansed by jñāna, seek. Until now we were mūrkhas (fools), deluded by ajñāna (ignorance), and we did not know the sanātana-tattva (the eternal truth) that the learned know. But after countless births I have at last received your bhakti (devotion). You alone are the deva who blesses your bhaktas, and by knowing you your bhaktas reach moksha. This brahma-tattva is hidden even from devas, asuras and munis. It is kept in the guhā (cave) of the heart and is unknown even to munis. It is none other than this very Bhagavān Śaṅkara, the maker of all, the sarvatomukha (the one who faces every way), the sarvātma (the self of all), the sarvadarśī (the one who sees all), who goes everywhere and knows everything.” (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

The five highest gatis

Taṇḍi then listed the five gatis taught in the Vedas, the śāstras and the Purāṇas. All of them can be had only through Śiva’s own anugraha (grace).

  1. Yajña-loka. The high place reached by those who perform yajñas in great number, with rich dakshiṇā (gifts to the priests), wanting their chosen fruit.
  2. Tapo-loka, or Nakshatra-loka. The second world, brighter still, reached through the peace (śānti) and the tapas that come from yoga, japa (repeating a mantra) and a disciplined life.
  3. Brahma-loka. The uttama-gati of the karma-sannyāsins and of those free of desire (virakta). From here there is still a return (punarāvṛtti).
  4. Prakṛti-laya. The fourth gati. Those who practise absorption into prakṛti reach it, the seekers of moksha who stand firm in vairāgya (dispassion).
  5. Kaivalya. The parama-gati of those who stand in nishkala-brahma-jñāna, knowledge of Brahman without parts. It is the nirañjana state, beyond sārūpya, and its name is kaivalya itself.

“These five gatis, described in the Vedas, the śāstras and the Purāṇas, are reached only by your grace. Without your grace they cannot be reached at all.” (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

So Taṇḍi Maharshi, rich in tapas, praised Īśvara in his own mind. He offered the very parabrahma-stotra that Brahmā the creator had once sung. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Śiva and Umā answer

Taṇḍi had said that even Brahmā, Indra, Vishṇu, the Viśvedevas and the maharshis cannot know Śiva. Pleased with this stotra, Mahādeva appeared before Taṇḍi together with Umā. Śiva said: “You shall be akshaya (undying), free of change (avikārī) and free of duḥkha (sorrow). You shall be famous, full of tejas (radiance), and you shall have divine jñāna. You shall have a son who will become a sūtrakartā (a composer of sūtras). Ṛshis in great numbers will go to him to receive jñāna. All of this will come about by my anugraha. Have no doubt about it. My child, what more do you wish for? What further vara (boon) shall I give?” (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Having given these boons to the ṛshi, Śiva, worshipped by the suras and praised by the devas, vanished at once together with his followers. Taṇḍi went back to his āśrama and told the whole matter there. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

The transmission of the Śiva Sahasranāma

Upamanyu then told Kṛshṇa how this teaching came down to him. In ancient times Brahmā’s son Taṇḍi, in Brahmaloka and in Brahmā’s own presence, had spoken the Śiva Sahasranāma. Upamanyu told Kṛshṇa that if he himself were to recite that very sahasranāma, all those who keep vows (vrata-parāyaṇa), who are rich in tapas (tapo-dhana) and who have mastered their senses (indriya-nigraha-para) would come to hear it. These would include Dvaipāyana (Vyāsa) and the other great maharshis. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16)

Upamanyu went on: in ancient times Brahmā gave ten thousand names to the devas, together with the Śiva Sahasranāma itself. By divine favour, Brahmā, the Deva of the devas, had once told these same most secret names, first given to Taṇḍi Maharshi, in front of Upamanyu himself. Having told this whole chain of transmission, Upamanyu now got ready to recite that very sahasranāma to Kṛshṇa.

The chain of transmission as Upamanyu gives it is Brahmā, then Taṇḍi, then Upamanyu, then Kṛshṇa. The recitation of the Śiva Sahasranāma itself follows at once, in Chapter 17 of the Anuśāsana Parva. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 16–17)

Sources

  • Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 16
  • Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 17 (the Śiva Sahasranāma that follows)