(Parvati with Shiva and sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. Parvati is depicted with green complexion, denoting dark complexion.)

Shiva’s consort. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

Both in the Vishnu Purana and the Shiva Purana, Parvati is described as the most beautiful goddess. Conscious of her own exceptional charms, Parvati desired to win Shiva as her spouse. But all her efforts proved fruitless.

Learning a lesson from this experience and shedding her ego, she embarked on a severe penance. Facing the rigours of heat and cold, wind and rain, she allowed her body to waste away by her penance. Her mind was solely concentrated on Shiva. Seeing that she had completely got rid of her ego, Shiva agreed to accept Parvati as Ardhangini (one half of Himself).

What is the inner meaning of this episode? Nature is symbolic of Parvati. It is exceptionally beautiful. Feeling proud about its charms, it seeks to attract everybody. As it succeeds in its attractions, its ego grows. Man, who is a child of Nature, also develops the ego and leads a life filled with egoism. The ego gets puffed up on the basis of knowledge, physical strength, power and position, handsome looks and such other accomplishments. Even the pride of scholarship takes one away from god.

Persons filled with such conceit can never realise God. Only those free from self-conceit can be God-realised souls.Valmiki,Narada,Kuchela,Shabari,Vidura, and Hanuman are examples of devotees who realised God, but who could boast of no great lineage, wealth or scholarship. Their supreme quality was freedom from ego. Hanuman, for instance, was content to describe himself as a servant of Rama, despite his great prowess and knowledge. All the accomplishments and acquisitions in this world are transient and impermanent; lured by them, men get inflated and ultimately court ruin. Hence, giving up the notions of one’s own doership, man must regard God alone is the doer. He is the giver, he is the recipient and He is also the object that is given. (SSS Vol.24, pp. 5-6)