Shiva's Letters

After many years of meditation, Shiva opened his eyes one day. He breathed in the fresh air of the Kailas mountain and felt peace and tranquility within. Parvati was very pleased to see Shiva, and they both decided to go and see their many devotees on earth. They visited many places in India and abroad, and finally came back to their home in Kailas. Shiva felt happy and was humming a tune to himself. He told Parvati that during his visits, the thing he liked the most was when people received letters from somebody. He went on to describe the joy and happiness he saw on people's faces when they received letters. That was very pleasing to him. Well, Parvati, who was thinking about what gift to give Shiva for Shivaratri, decided she would ask some of Shiva's devotees to write to him. Letters would make an excellent gift, she thought. On Shivaratri, Parvati waited outside for the mailman to bring the letters. He didn't come for a long time, so she went inside to prepare for the worship. In the meantime, the mailman was trudging his way up the mountain. He was very tired from the hike. "Who in the world would want to live up here?", he wondered while panting for breath. He had never delivered any mail at that address before. He picked up a bunch of letters addressed to Shiva and looked for a mailbox but could not find one. He didn't know where to leave them, so he called out to Shiva. As this was his first time, it would be nice to meet the new people, he thought.

He called out "Shiva!", but there was no answer. He called a little louder, "Is there a Shiva here?", but still there was no answer. He was beginning to doubt if anyone even lived there, but decided to give one last try. He yelled "O Shiva!" as loudly as he could. His voice echoed around the valley, and suddenly, from nowhere, he saw a figure approaching.

The mailman started walking towards the figure but suddenly stopped. The man he saw was very strange looking. He was covered with ashes and was wearing an animal skin. He had a snake around his neck, and it was not even a fake one. He held a trident in one hand and a damaru in the other. The mailman had never seen anyone like this before, so he just stood there, staring at the strange figure. "Did you call out for Shiva?", asked the man. "Y..Y..Yes," stammered the mailman, feeling awkward that he had been staring all along. He apologized and handed over several letters, still staring at the man's extremely odd appearance. Shiva was beside himself with joy. He thanked the mailman and hurried in to read the mail. He read and reread all the letters and even showed them to Parvati.

The next time when the mailman came to deliver a letter, he noticed that it was addressed to Gangadhar. The same man came to get the letter, and this time he had his hair tied up in a tuft and Ganga was flowing out of it. The mailman was once again very puzzled by what he saw. After a few days, the mailman was back at Kailas again. This time he had letters for Gauripati and Nandiswara. More people have come to live at Kailas, he thought. As usual, he called out. While he was waiting, he looked around and saw a lady (Parvati) and a cow (Nandi) nearby. Maybe Gauripati and Nandiswara are their names, he thought. But to his surprise, he saw the same person coming to collect the letters. Shiva asked, "Did you call Gauripati and Nandiswara?" The mailman said, "Yes. Do you know them?" "Oh yes," said Shiva with a smile. Too dumbfounded to speak, the mailman handed over the letters and turned around and left, thinking all the way back to the post office about the strange collector of letters.

In course of time, letters for Chandrashekhar, Bhutnath, Shulapani, Mahesh, and many more were delivered to Kailas and picked up by the same man. The mailman grew more and more puzzled each day. "Is it really possible that the same person can have so many names? Or is he trying to help me by collecting them and delivering them to all the people himself?" he wondered. One day, as he was sorting the letters, he came across one addressed to "Nataraja, Kailas Mountain." He could no longer hold his curiosity. He decided to ask the man all the questions that were puzzling him. So he made Kailas the last stop and waited for the man to come. But this time when he handed the letter, the man took it and rushed back.

He seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere, so the mailman could not ask any questions. Since all the mail was delivered for the day, the mailman decided to take a little rest. He sat down on a rock and looked at the beautiful view of the valley that stretched in front of him. Suddenly he heard the sound of beautiful music, accompanied by loud drums. When he turned around to look, guess what he saw? There was that man, playing the damaru and dancing the most beautiful dance he had ever seen! He thought the man must be the creator of dance, because he had never seen such graceful and rhythmic dance before! Not finding enough courage to walk up and ask all the questions he had planned to ask, he decided to go back home and tell his wife about what had happened.

When his wife heard the story, she started jumping up and down with excitement. She said, "You are indeed blessed! You have seen Lord Shiva Himself! All those names you mentioned are all His names! He is the Lord of Gauri (Parvati), so He is called Gauripati; He is the Lord of Nandi, the divine bull, so He is known as Nandiswara; He wears the moon on his head, so He is Chandrashekhar; He is the lord of the Bhutas, so He is Bhutnath; He holds the trident in His hand, so He is called Shulapani; and He is the Great God, so He is known as Mahesh; He loves His devotees, and His devotees love Him and call Him by the name that is most dear to them." This time it was the mailman who was jumping up and down with joy. The next day, he couldn't wait to sort the mail to see if there were any letters to be delivered to Kailas. "Hurray!" he cried, "here's one addressed to Mahadev, Kailas!" This time when Shiva came to collect His letter, the mailman humbly saluted the Lord and asked for His blessings. Mahadev, with His kind and generous heart, smiled at His devotee and granted his wish.

by Amit Rajani & Meera Rajani -- Sapling/January 1994