The story of Shiva and Sati is a significant message about the ego and Dharma. Goddess Sati is the first wife of Lord Shiva. In the future, she was reincarnated as goddess Parvati, another wife of Lord Shiva. Goddess Sati is the female version of Lord Shiva himself. This story is the reunion between Shiva and Adi Shakti (Shiva’s female manifestation).
Long before Shiva and Sati story began, Lord Shiva gave his Adi Shakti (Shiva’s female manifestation) to Lord Brahma. When Brahma was creating the universe, he used Shiva’s Adi Shakti for help. Now that the universe is created, the Adi Shakti can be returned to Shiva. However, to do this, the Adi Shakti has to be born as a human and then earn its divinity.
Story of Shiva and Sati
The story begins with Daksha, Lord Brahma’s son. Daksha is the lord of civilization and he is the one who created the rules of traditional society. Lord Brahma told Daksha to populate the earth. That’s when Sati was born to Daksha. From a young age, Sati was drawn to Lord Shiva. However, Daksha (her father) never saw eye to eye with Lord Shiva. As Daksha being the lord of civilization, he created the rules that everyone follows to keep sanity on the earth. But Lord Shiva never followed them because he was a free spirit. This always frustrated Lord Daksha. So, when his daughter, Sati, grew to love Lord Shiva, Daksha was not happy.
Although Daksha did everything he could to keep Sati away from Shiva, Sati still fell in love with Shiva. She decided that she will only marry Shiva. In order to win Shiva’s heart, she decided to perform penance. She went into the woods, started fasting, and started meditating on Lord Shiva. Even through harsh weather conditions, she continued her penance. Eventually, Lord Shiva noticed her penance and was happy with her commitment. He agreed to marry her.
After her wedding, Daksha planned a yagna at his home. He invited everyone he knew except his newly married daughter. As you can imagine, Sati was furious. Against Shiva’s wishes, she went to Daksha’s yagna even though she wasn’t invited. Daksha was even more mad seeing Sati there. He yelled at her and humiliated her and Lord Shiva in front of everyone. Eventually Sati had enough and jumped into a sacrificial fire to end her human life.
Lessons Learned
Her father, Daksha, never approved of Lord Shiva. It is a behavior that is based on ego. Her father’s judgment was clouded by ego. He didn’t like Lord Shiva because of his appearance and his behavior. He didn’t like Lord Shiva because of his pride (his ego) not because of a valid reason. Goddess Sati’s sacrifice brought light to this and helped her father see that he was blinded by his ego.
In the larger world, goddess Sati’s sacrifice brought the entire world out of the blinding light of the ego. She weakened the power of ego in our universe. She served her Dharma which in turn brought the concept of Dharma to our universe. In a way, our planet is a manifestation of the goddess Sati.
