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Home > Forms of God
bhikshAtanar
shlokam:
Smeared in white, with good omen in eyes, fingers with grass
to the right, with shUla and kapAla in the left lands, nice wear
(pAduka) in feet, with dangling red matted hair, moon on the
head, deer (mR^igam) in the right hand, a vessel for alms in the left,
with bulged belly, that God, on bhikshAtana, we pray.
Description of the deity :
bhikshAtanar : The mUrti who asks for alms
The R^ishis in dArukAvanam forest, once thought that only the
karma(deed, performing rituals) is supreme and it is not required to pray God at
all. They stopped worshipping God. Whatever be the deeds, isn't there One Who provides the
doer with the fruits ? How can the inanimate deeds automatically give fruit ? Not realizing
these facts the R^iShis pursued their dogma of karma. To teach them the importance of
worship Lord Shiva took the form of bhikshAtanar (begger) and mahA vishNu the form
of mOhini (glamorous girl). In this form the Lord is naked and quite enchanting.
So was the mohini. The Naked Lord came to the streets of the R^iShis to get alms. (Does the
God, Who is the provider of all wealth, need to beg ? The playful Lord, while providing the
supreme wealth for those who worship, went to beg as if He has nothing !) At the charm of
the naked Lord Shiva the wives of the R^ishis lost their heart. They forgot what
they were doing and started simply following the Naked God. Meanwhile the R^ishis
also forgot the karma they were strongly advocating and followed the glamorous
mOhini.
When they got to see their wives - the followers of karmic discipline, lost their
virtue and following a Naked Beggar, they got angry with Lord Shiva and vishNu and started
targeting their power of the karmas towards the Lord, by performing the abhichAra
yAgam which will produce bad effects. They directed the snakes, demon, tiger, fire
and drum that came out of the fire against the Lord. What can hurt the Supreme Who is the
Source of everything. He coolly made them his ornaments! Now the R^iShis realized their
stupidity and realized that God is the supreme and not the karma.
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