Lord shiva and the Story of MARKANDEYA
The story of Markandeya is of a 16 year bright and
intelligent old boy from Skanda Purana.
He was born to
a sage called Mrikandu and his wife Marudmati after
they performed tremendous austerities.
Pleased by their austerities, Lord Shiva blessed Mrikandu
and Marudvati with a boon to have a child under one
condition. Either they can have a foolish son who would
live for 100 years or a very intelligent son who would
live for only 16 years. They chose an intelligent son.
And the child was born and named as Markandeya (one
who conquers over death).
Markandeya learnt all the Vedas and the scriptures very
fast. He became an accomplished sage early in his
childhood. He also loved his parents very much. Looking
at them from his childhood, Markandeya also became a
staunch devotee of Lord Shiva and had mastered the
Mahamrityunjaya Mantra. He loved singing bhajans for
Lord Shiva.
When he became 16 years old, his parents started
becoming upset about losing their son.
The sage Mrikand
didn’t want to live anymore, he tried to take his own
life. Seeing such situation, sage Narada appeared before
Mrikand and Markandeya and asked Markandeya to
perform austerities for Shiva.
Then Markandeya started worshipping Lord Shiva every day, 24 hours continuously without any break. He
also chanted Mahamrityunjaya Mantra to win over
death.
At the time of death, God of death, Yama came down to
take the life of Markandeya. But Markandeya was in a
temple worshipping Shiva Lingam. When he saw Yama,
out of fright, Markandeya grabbed the Shiva Lingam
continuing his prayers to Lord Shiva.
Yama threw him the noose around him, which encircled the Shiva Lingam
too.
Suddenly, the Shiva Lingam burst open with a
thundering roar and a majestic, fiery form of Shiva
appeared out of the blazing light.
Enraged with Yama for encircling the Shiva Lingam with
his noose, Shiva struck down Kala (Yama is also called
Kala, time, since time brings death to all things) with His
Trident. Markandeya was spared from death.
Shiva
blessed Markandeya with eternal life and proclaimed
that he shall forever remain a 16-year-old sage. The
assembly of Devas who had witnessed the spectacle
begged Shiva to revive Yama, as a world without death
would put an unnecessary burden on the earth.
Shiva then
revived Yama, and declared that His devotees were
forever to be spared from the noose of Yama.
Thus Shiva is also called Mahakalabhairava (one who
brings death to time itself). He is beyond time, the ruler
of time and hence also known as Maha Mrityunjaya.
The moral of the story is that, like Markandeya, one
should also pray and meditate on Shiva-Mrityunjaya, for
He alone can take us unto the state beyond the cycles
of birth and death:
aum mṛtyuñjaya mahādeva trāhi māṁ śaraṇāgatam |
janmamṛtyujarāvyādhi pīḍitaṁ karmabandhanaiḥ ||
Aum, O Great Lord Mṛtyuñjaya, I take refuge in You,
pray to protect me;
And relieve me of the painful experiences of birth,
death, old-age and disease.
Aum Kalasamhara-Murtaye Namah
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