Nanda Vows and Shiva's Praise

Brahma said

Once I saw Sati standing beside her father, with the essence of the three worlds in her. After bowing to him she saw you and me, honoured both of us and, following the world's custom, bowed with cheer and devotion. When she had finished she saw us seated on the seats Daksha had given. I said to her humbly: "Sati, the omniscient lord of the universe desires you and you desire him. Obtain that divinity as husband. He has accepted no other woman, accepts none and will accept none. Such a unique person will be your husband." Having said this we stayed a long while in Daksha's house, then with his leave went home. Hearing this, Daksha lost his anxiety and was delighted, thinking he had got a daughter who was Parameshvari herself. As a girl she played charming games, affectionate to her devotees; having taken human form by choice she passed through girlhood. Childhood over, Sati entered early youth, radiant and enchanting in every limb. Daksha saw it and wondered: "How will I give this daughter to Bharga?" She too wished to be given to Bharga. Knowing her father's mind she went to her mother, and humbly asked Virini's leave to perform auspicious austerities for Shankara.

Firm in her vow to get Mahesha as husband, she had her mother's leave and worshipped him in her own house. In the month of Ashvina, on a Nanda tithi, she bowed to Hara and worshipped him with cooked rice mixed with molasses and salt, and passed the month so. On chaturdashi in Kartika she remembered Parameshvara and worshipped him with apupas and payasam. On the eighth of the dark fortnight of Margashirsha she worshipped Hara with cooked barley mixed with sesame, and spent the days so. On the seventh of the bright fortnight of Pousha she stayed awake at night and in the morning worshipped Shiva with rice and krisara. On the full moon of Magha she kept the night vigil and, in wet clothes on a river bank, worshipped Shankara. On the new moon of Phalguna she kept vigil and worshipped specially with bilva leaves in every yama. On the fourteenth of the bright fortnight of Chaitra she remembered Shiva day and night and worshipped him with palasha and damana flowers, passing the month so. On the third of the bright fortnight of Vaishakha she worshipped Rudra with rice and sesame. On the full-moon night of Jyeshtha she worshipped Shankara with garments and brihati flowers and fasted through the month. On the fourteenth of the bright fortnight of Ashadha she wore dark clothes and worshipped Rudra with brihati flowers. On the eighth and fourteenth of the bright fortnight of Shravana she worshipped Shiva with sacred threads and auspicious garments. On the thirteenth of the dark fortnight of Bhadra she worshipped with many flowers and fruits and lived on water alone on chaturdashi. Restraining her diet, she spent the months worshipping Shiva with seasonal flowers and fruits and doing japa. Every day and every month Sati was devoted to worship, firm in her vows though she had taken human form by choice. So, fully controlled, she completed the whole Nanda vow, her mind fixed on Shiva and on no one else.

Meanwhile the gods and sages, with Vishnu and me in front, came to see Sati's austerities. They saw Sati as success embodied, absorbed in meditation on Shiva, having reached a state of siddhi. Delighted, the gods joined hands and bowed; the sages bent their shoulders. Vishnu and all were happy and amazed at her austerities, and prostrated themselves before Sati again. Then they went straight to Kailasa, the mountain Shiva loves. Vasudeva with Lakshmi happily approached Hara, and I with Savitri. We saw the lord, bowed with great respect and praised him with joined hands.

The devas said

We bow to the lord who is everything moving and unmoving, Purusha, Mahesha, Paresha, the great atman. You are the original seed of all, supreme consciousness, the unchanging brahman, the Purusha beyond Prakriti. You made this universe and illumine it; everything arises from you and rests in you; you control all of it and are above it, supreme and indifferent, the great lord who sees all in his own atman. We bow to Svayambhu, whose vision is unimpeded, the supreme witness in all atmans, of many forms, the supreme brahman. Devas, rishis and siddhas do not know his state; how could other beings? Greatly virtuous people attached to liberation want to see it, and those unblemished ones keep the salokya vow to reach that destination, where nothing leads to misery, neither birth nor other change. Yet in your maya you accept all these and show compassion to them. We bow to Paresha, extraordinary in his deeds, to the brahman who cannot be approached by words, formless yet of pervasive form, infinite in potency, lord of the three worlds, witness of all, going everywhere, whose own atman gives the light. You are nirvana, bliss and prosperity, with knowledge in your atman. You are easily gained when one ceases to act; we bow to the lord of kaivalya, to the eternal Purusha Paresha. Kshetrajna is a form of your atman, you cause every kind of perception and control everything, you are the foundation of Prakriti. We bow to the three-eyed, five-faced one who is always lit, the witness of the senses and gunas, without cause and cause of the three worlds, the giver of liberation. You quickly bestow release and save those who seek refuge; you are an ocean of learning in all the agamas, the goal of devotees and of the gunas. You are the heat latent in the arani of the gunas; we bow to you, Maheshvara. Your form is out of the foolish's reach, always in the hearts of the learned; you free the animals from the noose and give devotees emancipation; you are self-illuminated, eternal, infinite in learning, undecaying, the full witness, unchanging, the foundation of supreme prosperity. Show compassion to those who seek the four purusharthas and to those who desire a virtuous end. Show us your favour, Bhava; your devotees want only you and sing only of your auspicious deeds. You are the unmanifest lord, complete, reached by the yoga of adhyatma. You are beyond the senses, unsupported, the cause and support of everything, the original, subtle lord of all. Hari, the other gods, the worlds and all that moves and stands differ slightly in name and form, but were all created as your portions, like flames from a fire or rays from the sun, emerging, staying and vanishing. These flows are minor. You are not deva, asura, mortal, lower species or bird; not man, woman or eunuch; not existent or nonexistent; you are what remains when all this is negated. You create, preserve and dissolve the universe, and it is your atman. Yogis who have restrained karma see you, their consciousness purified by yoga. Lord of yoga, we bow to you, whose force cannot be withstood, who are the three Shaktis, the three being in you. We bow to the pleasant one who preserves, infinite in potency. Ishana, the wicked senses cannot reach you; you are beyond all paths and engaged in saving your devotees. According to our capacity we meditate on your atman. Enough; those of foolish intelligence cannot know you, and your greatness cannot be surpassed. We bow to you, the great lord.

Brahma said

So Vishnu and all the gods praised Mahadeva, and with shoulders bent in devotion they fell silent.