17 - The proceeding of Pushpadanta to Shamkhachuda as a messenger 

Narayana said—О great sage, Brahma after entrusting Shiva with the tasks of killing Shamkhachuda, he himself went to his own abode. 

Thereafter Shiva took his seat on the bank of the river Chandrabhaga with the resolve of uplifting the gods. He then sent Pushpadanta the king of the Gandharvas as the messenger to Shamkhachuda. 

At the command of Shiva, the messenger moved towards that city, which was more beautiful than Amaravati the capital of Indra or the city of Kubera. 

О sage, the city was five yojana in width and ten yojanas in length. It was surrounded by crystal gems on all sides and had seven castles in it. It illuminated with studded gems and hundreds of lanes. 

There were the commercial establishments of Vaisyas scattered everywhere and were filled with commodities. It had a hundred crores of beautiful and astonishing buildings which emitted the lustre of rubies. Reaching there the messengers looked at such a type of gigantic buildings which were circular in shape and were shinning like fire flames and surrounded by four moat. 

It was beyond the access of the enemies but was quite pleasant for others. It was surrounded by high boundary walls. It had many gates guarded by the gate-keepers and the doors were painted with gems, lotuses and mirrors besides the precious gems. It had a lakh of temples in it. It had the steps made of gems, the pillars were studded with gems. The doors and gates were studded with gems. The best of the vases were studded with gems. Even the lotuses, the mirrors and the astonishing lines were decorated with gems, adding to the beauty of the place. 

Crores of Danvas were guarding the place holding divine weapons in their hands. They were quite brave, valorous and possessed great powers. They were also adorned with beautiful ornaments and clad in charming clothes. After looking at all of them, Pushpadanta looked at the main gate. 

The god of the gate was seated holding a trident in his hand and wearing a smile on his face. His eyes were pinkish and had a complexion of copper. He looked terrific in appearance. 

Disclosing to him the cause of his arrival, Pushpadanta entered into the palace with his permission. Thereafter crossing nine gates he reached the court. 

Considering him to be a messenger, no one stopped him. Reaching the inner court, he conveyed to the gate-keeper the purpose of his arrival and whatever his lord had told him. After hearing the message, the gate-keeper permitted him to enter. 

Reaching inside, he saw the most beautiful Shamkhachuda who was seated in his court together with all his courtiers on a lion throne studded with precious gems. 

A golden umbrella with its rod was also studded with gems. Besides, artificial flowers were also studded in the umbrella. The white and glittering fly-whisks were held by the attendants and moved over Shamkhachuda. He looked very beautiful because he was adorned with all kinds of ornaments. He wore a garland around his neck. His body was plastered with sandal-paste. He was clad in two fine garments and was surrounded by innumerable and famous demons, while the other demons guarded the place holding the weapons in their hands. Finding such a glorious Shamkhachuda, Pushpadanta was surprised. Thereafter he started narrating to him the tale of the battle as spoken to him by lord Shiva. 

Pushpadanta said— “O king, I am the messenger of lord Shiva and known by the name of Pushpadanta. О lord, I am repeating to you whatever has been ordained by Shiva to be spoken to you. You kindly listen to me. 

You better return the rights and the kingdom of the gods because all the gods had reached the abode of Vishnu to take his refuge. 

He has handed over his trident to lord Shiva for killing you. Lord Shiva is turn in currently lodged on the bank of river Chandrabhaga under a banyan tree. 

You will, therefore, either return the kingdom of the gods to them or get ready for a battle. Now you tell me everything that I have to tell to lord Shiva on my return.” 

On hearing the words of the messenger, Shamkhachuda smiled and said: “I shall go there in the morning. You can go now”. On hearing this the messenger went back at once to lord Shiva and conveyed to him the message of Shamkhachuda together with the news about his soldiers. 

In the meantime, Karttikeya also reached with his army before Shiva. He was accompanied by Virabhadra, Nandi, Mahakala, Subhadra,Vishalaksha, Bana, Pingalaksha, Vikampana, Nirupa, Vikruti, Manibhadra, Vashkala, Kapilaksha, Dirghadamstra, Vikata, Tamralochana, Kalankata, Balibhadra, Kalajivha, Kutichara, Balonmatta, Ranaslaghi, Durjaya, Durgama, eight horrible Bhairvas, eleven Rudras, eight Vasus, Vasava, twelve Adityas, Agni, the moon, Visvakarma, Asvinikumara, Kubera, Yama, Jayanta, Nalakubara, Vayu, Varuna, Budha, Mangala, Dharma, Ishan, Saturn, the powerful god of love (kamadeva), Ugradanstra, Ugrachanda, kottariT, Raitabhi, the hundred armed and terrific Bhadrakali. The great goddess was seated on a plane studded with the dust of gems. 

She was clad in red garments and a garland of the same colour, her body was plastered with red paste. She was dancing, laughing and singing in sweet tones. 

She removed the fear of her devotees and was terrific for the enemies. The goddess had a terrific tongue which was a yojana in length. 

Her hands were a yojana in length and she was holding a begging bowl which was wavering in shape. Her trident was almost touching the sky and her shakti was a yojana long. Her other attributes were a samkha, a chakra, a gada, a lotus, horrible bow, a club, a gada, vajra and a shining sword. 

She also had Vaishnavastra, Varunastra, Agneyastra, Nagapasa, Narayanastra, Brahmastra, Gandharvastra, Garuda, Parjanya, Pasupata, Mahesavarastra, Jrumbhnastra, Parvata, Vayavya, Danda, Sammohanastra and hundreds of weapons which could never be infructuous. Besides she had a hundred divine weapons held by her and three crores of Yoginis and three crores of Dakinis supported her. 

Thus all the goblins, pretas, pisacas, kus mandas, brahmarakshas, vetalas, yakshas, rakshasas and kinnars also arrived there in the company of Karttikeya who bowed in reverence to lord Shiva and all of them were seated beside him. 

After the return of the messenger, Shamkhachuda went to the inner apartment and narrated to TulasI everything about the messenger of Shiva. 

Learning about the battle, the throat, the lips and tongue of the damsel were dried up. She was pained at heart and then spoke to her husband in a sweet tone. 

Tulasi said—О lord of my life, О closest of my relatives, you remain in my embrace for some time. You are lord of my life and protect my life for a moment. 

Let me enjoy all the desired pleasures of my life and let me have a graceful look at you for some time. 

Му mind is fluttering and burning at the same time. I have witnessed a horrible dream at the end of tonight. 

On hearing these words of Tulasi, Shamkhachuda the king of kings after finishing his meals, spoke truthful, beneficial and realistic words of her. 

Shamkhachuda said—“The result of all the deeds is tied up in a cord of time. The auspices, pleasure, joy, pain, tear and grief besides harm or all influenced the time. 

A tree grows according to the time, in time its branches grow and in time it bears flowers and fruits. 

The time makes the fruits grow and ripen. With the passage of time, after bearing flowers and fruits, it meets with its end. 

О beautiful one, similarly people are born under the influence of lime and are also destroyed by the influence of the same. The entire universe emerges under the influence of the time and it also gets destroyed by the influence of the same. 

Under the influence of time Brahma indulges himself in creation, Vishnu preserves it and Rudra destroys the same under the influence of time. All of them perform their respective duties under the influence of time. 

Lord Krishna is beyond Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva besides the gods and the Prakruti and one of his amsas becomes the preserver of the universe. 

The same lord under the influence of time creates the Prakruti and through Prakruti he creates all moveable and immovable things of the world. 

Because of this all the space between my loka and Brahmaloka is considered to be artificial, they are created at times and are also destroyed in due course of time. Therefore, you adore the truthful, eternal Brahman, the lord of Radha who is beyond all the three gunas, the lord of everyone, the form of everyone, the soul of everyone, beyond measure and is the lord. 

He creates a creature from a creature and also protects a creature from a creature. Then he puts an end to a creature by a creature. Therefore, you should recite the name of lord Krishna alone.

The wind blows and is moved at great speed at the command of lord Krishna, at whose command the sun burns at mid-day. 

Indra showers rain in time and death overpowers all creatures, the fire consumes everything and the moon getting terrified always moves. 

Therefore, О beloved one, Krishna happens to be the death for the death and for the time, the best controller of Yama, all-pervading, is creator of Brahma, is the preserver of the preserver and also the killer of the god of death. You therefore take refuge under such a lord Krishna. О beloved, who is the brother of whom in this universe? The one who is the brother of everyone you better adore him. 

Look here, who was I and who were you but Brahma united both of us on the basis of our deeds and he is going to separate both of us again on the basis of our deeds. At the approaching of grief and misfortune a person with little knowledge feels helpless but an intellectual person does not feel like that because pleasure and pain have to be faced by a person in his life cycle like a wheel. 

Therefore, you will surely achieve lord Krishna as your husband sometime or the other for whose sake you had performed severe austerities at Badrikashrama. 

О beautiful one, I achieved you after performing tapas for Brahma but your tapas was for the lord and as such you are sure to achieve the lord. 

You will meet lord Govinda at Vrundavana and Goloka. I also after shedding this body shall proceed to Goloka. 

You will meet me there and I will always be looking at you in Goloka. Both of us had reached the country of Bharata because of the curse of Radhika. 

О dear one, we shall have to go there again. Therefore, there appears to be no cause for grief. You will also achieve the abode of the great lord after discarding this body. Therefore, О beautiful one, don't get disgusted for nothing.” Thus speaking Shamkhachuda enjoyed the company of Tulasi in the divine bed decorated with flowers and sandal-paste. His bedroom was decorated with gems and all the articles of worldly pleasures were stored therein. 

Both of them spent the night together while the lamps of gems continued burning. The king Shamkhachuda enjoyed various love-sports with Tulasi during the night. Thereafter Tulasi who was slender-waisted with an extremely painful heart remained without food and was engrossed in the deep ocean of grief. Shamkhachuda embraced her affectionately and started imparting to her the divine knowledge which he had received in the earlier times from lord Krishna himself. 

After receiving the divine knowledge, the damsel was immensely pleased and her face and eyes felt delighted. 

Considering everything to be perishable, the couple enjoyed love-sports and were drawn in supreme ecstasy. 

О sage, the hair of the bodies of both of them stood on end and for enjoying the conjugal pleasures both of them were united. 

Both of them became one like Ardhanarlsvara Shiva. At that point of time Tulasi considered his beloved to be more important than her own life and the king Shamkhachuda felt in the same way. Both of them slept delightfully. Both of them looked fine in sleep. Both of them were clad in the best of costumes. Both of them looked pleasant after enjoying the company of each other. They regained consciousness after a moment and narrated a divine story to each other. Simultaneously they were chewing the betels offered by each other. 

They were moving white fly whisks over each other. In a moment they lay down together and in the next moment, they sat up and in another moment they behaved passionately. Thus both of them who were well-versed in the love-sports could never get fully satisfied. Both of them were always victorious and never felt defeated.