18 - The conversation between lord Shiva and Shamkhachuda 

Sri Narayana said— Shamkhachuda the devotee of lord Krishna got up in the early morning and with his mind devoted towards lord Krishna, he left the bed. He discarded the sleeping clothes and took a bath with sweet water and clad himself in two washed clothes. 

О Narada, he relieved himself of all the morning routines, bowing himself to his family gods and the teacher and had a look at curd, ghee, honey, fried rice and other things of bodily welfare. He then gave away in charity the best of gems, clothes and gold with devotion. Thereafter, for performing a peaceful journey, he offered invaluable gems, jewels, articles made of gem and ruby to the Brahmanas and the teacher. Again for the purpose of welfare he gave away in charity the best of the elements, horses, cows to the needy Brahmanas. He then distributed a thousand of his treasures, three lakhs of cities and a hundred crores of the villages to the Brahmanas. 

Не declared his son Suchandra as the king of the demon and handed over to his son the care of his own wife, the kingdom, entire wealthy the people, the servants, the treasures, the vehicles and everything else. He himself wore a kavacha, holding a bow. and arrow in his hands. 

He collected all the soldiers, three lakhs of horses, five lakhs of elephants, ten thousand chariots, three crores of archers, three crores of warriors holding swords and shields. Three crores of trident bearers accompanied him. 

О Narada, thus the king of the demons commissioned a vast army, the commander of which was well-versed in the science of archery and battle field. Only such of the warriors could be considered as the chief charioteers as could be the best in the driving of the chariot. The king Shamkhachuda placed the vast army under the charge of the commander accompanied with thirty Akshauhini, war-bands; he marched ahead reciting the name of Hari, from his kingdom. 

He seated his teachers ahead of him in the plane and started to reach immediately lord Shiva. There is an eternal banyan tree on the bank of the Puspabhadra river, where a large number of the abodes of siddhas are available. As a result of this the place is known by the name of Siddhashrama. 

In the country of Bharata the place is known as the abode of sage Kapila. It is located between the western sea and the Malaya mountain. It is located to the north of Sri Saila mountain and Gandhamadana mountain on the south, spreading over to five yojanas in width and five hundred yojanas in length, where the Puspabhadra river flows which is always filled with water. 

She happens to be the spouse of the salty ocean. It is always filled with virtues and is quite meritorious of the land of Bharatavarsha and shines like the a crystal stone. It emerges from the Himalaya and after crossing some distance, a river named Sarasvati falls into it. Flowing to the left of the Gomanta, mountain it proceeds towards three oceans. Reaching there, she has an audience with Chandrasekhara Shiva the lord of Shamkhachuda who always remains meditating, having the lustre of crores of suns seated under a banyan tree. 

He was seated in yogasana, displaying vara and abhaya mudras in his hands, wearing a smile on his face emitting the divine lustre. His limbs always remain shining like crystal gems and he holds a trident and a pattisa in his hands clad in tiger skin. The lord is dear to goddess Gauri and looked quite beautiful. His body is peaceful and removes all danger of death from his devotees. His natural instinct is to provide the fruits of the tapas and to fill the treasures of his devotees. He gets easily pleased. He never feels sad and bestows his grace on his devotees also. He is called the lord of the universe, the seed of the universe, the form of the universe, Visvaja, one who feeds the universe, Visvavara and the destroyer of the universe. He is the cause of the causes and is quite competent to rescue one from the hell. He is the eternal lord, the bestower of knowledge and all knowledgeable. Shamkhachuda the king of the demons got down from his plane and had an audience with him. He along with the others stood before lord Shiva and bowed in reverence to him. The goddess Bhadrakali appeared on his left and Skanda was seated in front of him. 

He was blessed by Kali, Skanda and Shiva while Nandisvara and others welcomed him. Looking at the demon king all the people conversed quietly among themselves. Thereafter the demon king took his seat in front of lord Shiva. Thereafter lord Shiva delightfully spoke to him.

Lord Shiva said—Brahma happens to be the creator of the universe, is well-versed in dharma besides being the father of Dharma. He had a religious-minded son named Marichi. Marichi had a son named Kasyapa. Daksha married his thirteen daughters to Kasyapa. One of them is known by the name of Danu who had been quite chaste. In due course of time Danu gave birth to forty demon sons who were quite valorous. 

The great warrior Vipracitti happens to be one of the Danavas. He had a son named Dambha who was quite religious-minded, self-controlled and a devotee of Vishnu. He under the guidance of his teacher Sukracharya performed tapas at Pushkara for a lakh of years by reciting the mantra of lord Krishna. You were therefore born to him as a son and are devoted to lord Krishna. In your earlier life you were the courtier of lord Krishna and quite a religious cowherd. You had earned great glory among the cowherds. 

Thereafter, you were cursed by Radhika and had to be born on earth at the Vaishnava Danava. 

The Vaisnavas consider the lokas between the earth and the Brahmaloka to be of no consequence, except for the only devotion of the lord they do not consider any other type of salvation to be of no consequence. 

The Vaishnava people consider that to become Brahman or eternal is of no consequence. They care the least for the kingdom of Indra or Kubera. Therefore you are a devotee of lord Krisna. As such the kingship of the gods is like an illusion for you, how can you have any belief in that? You return the kingdom of the gods to them and please me. You enjoy your country with pleasure and let the god live in their own abodes, because you happen to be the sons of the same Kasyapa and as such it would not be proper to have a conflict between the two brothers. The sins of Brahmahatya and other horrible sins are of no consequence as compared to the sin committed to your own brother. О king of the kings, if you consider this to be a loss of your riches, then you just think with whom are these riches to remain forever? 

At the time of dissolution even Brahma has to disappear and by the grace of the god he reappears again. There is an increase in intelligence because of his tapas and he is adored in the universe because of the same. Thereafter Brahma with his divine knowledge creates the universe. 

In the Satyayuga, dharma is all powerful and is always based on truth. In the Tretayuga only the three amsas of dharma remain, while in the Dvapara only two of them are to be seen. At the start of the age of kaliyuga, he is seen in one part only and it goes on declining gradually. Ultimately only a small ray of dharma remains on earth like the light of the moon on a moonless night. The lustre of the sun is never the same in the winter season as is found in the summer season. The position the sun achieves during the noon is not to be found during the morning or the evenings. The sun rises in due course of time, crosses infancy and then reaches the maximum height in the noon and ultimately it sets in the evening. 

Because of the constant movement of the cycle of time, when one meets with misfortune, then it has to disappear even during the day, at the sight of Rahu. The sun gets terrified and then after some time, it reappears delightfully. Similarly the moon on the full-moon night appears in a complete form but cannot remain the same all throughout the night. He goes on reducing itself gradually. 

Thereafter by gradually increasing it appears in its full and complete form. Therefore, the people during the bright fortnight get nourishment while during the dark fortnight, they are infested with diseases. Thus having been eclipsed by Rahu and having been covered by the cloud, both the sun and the moon lose their pristine glory and after the passage of time, the moon gets purified. Again in the course of time its glory again subsides. 

Look, currently Bali is living in the nether world losing all his glory and in due course of time he would become Indra. The earth which happens to be the base of all, is filled with greenery in due course of time and eventually it gets submerged in water and in misfortune she disappears also. Thus the entire universe is destroyed in due course of time and it reemerges. All the moveable or immovable things appear and disappear according to the time. Only lord Krishna remains eternal at all the times. I am the one, who has over powered the death, therefore I have witnessed innumerable dissolutions. I have also witnessed its disappearance again and again. The same lord Krishna happens to be the form of Prakruti and Purusa, soul and the great-soul. He takes to many forms and is the best of all. 

The one who recites his name always with devotion, overpowers the time, the death, birth, disease, old age and danger. 

Brahma happens to be the creator of universe while Vishnu happens to be the preserver and I myself become the destroyer because all of us appear in material form. 

О king, Rudra named Kalagni, engages Rudra in destruction. He thus engages himself reciting the name of lord Krishna. 

Because of that the death has no influence over me. The death flies away in panic from me as the serpents disappear in panic at the sight of Garuda. 

О Narada, lord Shiva who is compassionate to all and is the form of all besides being the lord of all, kept quiet after speaking these words.” 

On hearing these words, the king praised lord Shiva immensely and spoke to him in a sweet and beautiful voice. 

Shamkhachuda said—Though whatever you have spoken is completely true and there is no untruth in it, yet still I want to submit truthfully everything before you, you kindly listen to me. 

You have just now stated that there are three types of great sins in betraying one's race. Why did the gods drive out Bali after snatching his entire position. I have achieved these riches with the strength of my own prowess. I redeemed the riches of the earlier demon race. Lord Vishnu is also not in favour of the removal of the demon race from the earth. 

Why did the gods kill Hiranyaksha together with his brothers? Why were the demons like Sumbha and others killed? Similarly in the earlier times when the ocean was churned and amruta emerged out of it, it was consumed totally by the gods. And the labour of churning the ocean was performed by the demons but the fruits were reaped by the gods alone. 

The entire universe is like the play ground of lord Krishna. He grants riches to someone at sometime and he becomes the lord of riches accordingly. The controversy between the gods and demons is eternal and therefore both of us had to face victory and defeat according to the times. 

Therefore, it is not proper for you to interfere in this conflict between the gods and the demons because you are the one who has the best of the relations with both of us and are adorable by us being a great lord. It will be a shameful thing for you to interfere in the conflict between two of us and still worse would be to get defeated in the battle field. 

On hearing the words of Shamkhachuda, lord Shiva spoke to the kings of Danavas quite appropriate words thus. 

Lord Mahadeva said—О king, you were born of the race of Brahma. In case I fight with you there will no loss of grace. Shall it be disgraceful to get defeated at your hands? 

О king, the lord has already fought the battle with Madhu and Kaitabha who had also fought with Hiranyakasipu. 

Again the mace-holder lord Vishnu had a fight with Hiranyaksha and in earlier times I had to fight with Tripura. 

In earlier times the mother of all beings, the goddess Prakruti had to fight with Sumbha and other demons. 

You are also the best of the courtiers of lord Krishna and all the demons who were killed earlier can hardly be compared with your prowess. Therefore, why would I be ashamed of getting engaged in a fight with you? It is the lord himself who happens to be the protector of the gods who had sent me to fight with you. 

Therefore, I am of the firm opinion that you should not engage yourself in fight with me and will not enter into further controversies. О Narada, after speaking thus, Shiva kept quiet and Shamkhachuda also got up at once with his courtiers.