The Story, Symbol, and Significance of Brahmacāriṇī

Story

    When Śailaputrī was born, she was greeted by everyone in the mountains and everyone cheered with jollity to receive the new-born baby girl. Since then, having a daughter is considered having devī herself in the house. This notion has long been cherished by the folks cultured in the tradition of the Sanātana Dharma. Fondled and pampered, she grew up to be a teeny lass.

    However, as she grew, she started having divine premonitions. She had always felt an uncanny propensity towards lord Śiva. None could explain the strange and mysterious bond that brooded between her and the lord. By the time she reached puberty, she decided that if she is to be married, it has to be none other than Śiva. She forbade her parents, the mountains and the rivers, to hunt a groom for her, and began seeking a manoeuvre to attain her desire. Observing the plight of the devī, Viṣṇu sent the heavenly troubadour, Nārada, to guide her on her mission, fulfilling his promise to unite Śiva and his Śakti.

    Nārada told her that one must do rigorous penance to attain Śiva’s grace.  Upon his instructions, she was initiated to the ascetic sādhanā method of brahmacarya, attaining the name ‘Brahmacāriṇī’. For centuries, she did tapa and survived on mere fruits and roots. Afterwards, she lived upon eating mere tree-leaves. When she even relinquished that meagre diet, she was hailed by the holy spirits as the ‘Aparṇā’, the one who does not even consume tree-leaves. For centuries, she sustained herself only by water. Yet, she was not graced by Śiva. Eventually, she stopped all means of consumption and embarked into the direst of sādhanā possible. As her tapa surmounted even the greatest of the yogīs, the entire universe was shaken to the core. Observing her, everyone was flabbergasted, uttering their wonder in the onomatopoeic “Umā” which was to become her byname henceforward.

    As it no longer became possible to keep her separated from her goal, Brahmā appeared to her and granted her the boon that he himself would get her betrothed to Śiva. He asked her to return to the Himālaya where lord Śiva would soon appear as the groom, asking for her hand in marriage.

Symbol

            It is said that “वेदस्तत्वं तपो ब्रम्ह”, meaning that the supreme brahma can be accessed by studying the Vedas, realizing the tattvas, and performing tapa. One, who observes all these, is called a brahmacārī or brahmacāriṇī. The emergence of the devī as a brahmacāriṇī symbolizes the endurance of the feminine energy. By her sheer asceticism and intense rigour, she not only became the beacon of the feminine prowess, but also emphasized the mettle of women in the sādhanā. Celebrating her feat in the superlatives not only heralds the message loud and clear that women share equal fervent in the Sanātana Dharma as men, but also cleanses the misconceptions surrounding women’s free will and basic rights in ancient Bhārata which were perpetuated by the beguiled, half-baked, and West-indoctrinated feminists.

    See, for instance, the way everyone rejoiced at the incarnation of the devī as a daughter. It reflects the joy any family in Bhārata feels upon the birth of a girl, considering her as an aṃśa of the devī. Similarly, the acceptance of her free will to become a celibate ascetic and, later, choosing her husband by herself without any parental objection highlights the liberty of a woman’s life in the household customs of the Sanātana Dharma.

Significance

    As Brahmacāriṇī stands as the epitome of sādhanā, any person willing to strive in any particular field may seek her grace. She bestows the brahmavidyā, the greatest of wisdom, to the seeker and enkindles all artistic and literary merits. Therefore, poets, authors, artists, scholars, students, and seekers shall be highly benefited by attaining her divine inspiration. As she has adroitly mastered the observation of brahmacharya, she also emboldens our self-control and urge-restraints— qualities that are must-have to succeed in any given field.

            On the second day of Navarātri, one might contemplate upon her bright-faced, white-robed, flower-groomed apparition and propitiate her by offering any white flower upon her holy feet, chanting:

ॐ दधाना करपद्माभ्यामक्षमालाकमण्डलु।

देवी प्रसीदतु मयि ब्रह्मचारिण्यनुत्तमा।। 

।। ॐ ब्रह्मचारिणी देव्यै नमः ।।

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