Maitreya said: ‘Thus the heartily enmity that existed between the son-in-law and father-in-law, continued for a very long time. When Daksha was appointed the chief of all the progenitors of mankind by Brahmâ, the supreme teacher, he became very puffed up with pride. Neglecting S’iva and his followers he, after first performing a Vâjapeya sacrifice [‘the drink of strength or battle’], began the best of all sacrifices called the Brihaspati-sava sacrifice [the initiatory sacrifice to the honor of the chief offerer of prayers and sacrifice]. To that occasion all the God-conscious and learned ones of wisdom, the ancestors and the demigods including the nicely decorated wives who accompanied their husbands, assembled. Satî, the daughter of Daksha and wife of S’iva, heard the denizens of heaven talk in the sky about the great festival to be performed by her father, and when she saw near her residence the beautiful wives of the godly ones with glittering eyes from all directions, in nice dresses with golden earrings and ornaments around their necks, in their heavenly vehicles move about along with their husbands to go there, she highly anxious addressed her husband, the Lord and master of the Bhûtas [the ones of matter and the dead]. Satî said: ‘Your father-in-law, Daksha, has started a great sacrifice where all the God-conscious ones are going and where we surely thus also may go to my dearest, if you like to. Surely my sisters together with their husbands will also be going there, eager to see their relatives. I would like to attend that gathering together with you and all the ornaments given to me. Do you consent? I will surely meet my sisters there with their husbands as well as my sweet aunts and my mother. I’ve been waiting for a long time to see them as also the sacrificial flags raised by the great sages, oh merciful one. Unto you oh unborn one, this manifestation of His external energy that was created as an interaction of the three modes, appears so wonderful. But I am but your poor woman not conversant with the truth who would like to see her place of birth oh Bhava [S’iva as the Lord of existence]. Oh immaterial, blue-throated one, the other women, ornamented and with their husbands and friends, are flocking in large numbers going there standing beautifully out against the sky with their white swans carrying them high. How can I be emotionally unaffected oh best of the demigods, when I as a daughter hear about the festival that takes place in the house of my father? Even when one is not invited one can go to the house of a friend, one’s husband, one’s father or one’s spiritual master, isn’t it? Be therefore so kind unto me oh immortal one, and fulfill my desire oh you honorable, compassionate Lord with your unlimited vision. See me as the [full] other half of your body, please be so gracious to answer my request.’
The sage said: ‘The deliverer from mount Kailâsa [Lord S’iva] thus addressed by his dearest, amiable to his relatives as he was, replied with a smile, meanwhile remembering the heart-piercing, malicious words that Daksha had spoken in the presence of the guardians of creation. The great Lord said: ‘What you said my dear beauty, is perfectly true; one may, even uninvited, visit friends, provided they are not finding fault with you or, more important, when they are not of any anger in being proud of their material achievements. Those who are arrogant are blinded in their pride over the six qualities of pious education, austerity, wealth, beauty, youth and heritage. Not of respect for the glories of the great souls they to the contrary get entangled in untruth and lose their sense of reality. One should not go to the house of relatives and friends who in their suppositions don’t see matters as they are and thus offer their guests a cold reception in regarding them with raised eyebrows and anger in their eyes. One is not hurt as much by the arrows of an enemy as one is grieved in the core of one’s heart by the deceitful, harsh words of relatives, for such grief makes the one hurt suffer day and night. It is clear that you with your pretty face and good behavior are the darling of the daughters of the Prajâpati [Daksha], yet you will because of being connected to me, meet with pain because your father doesn’t honor me. Someone upset with a burning heart is not directly able to rise to merely the standard of the exemplary pious behavior of those whose minds are always turned to the Original Person, as much as demons envious of the Lord cannot act piously. My dear young wife, the intent to rise to our feet and welcome one another with obeisances is proper, but the wise, being intelligent unto the Supreme, direct themselves to the Original Person who resides within the body and certainly not to the one who identifies himself with the body. The pure consciousness known as Vasudeva [God’s goodness] is revealed there [within the heart] because the person is in goodness in that position and not covered [by darkness]. The Supreme Lord as such I always respect by the name of Vâsudeva [the ‘God of the Soul’] because He is the transcendence. Therefore we should not go and see your father Daksha and his Vis’vasrik followers present at the sacrifice. Even though he gave you your body oh Satî, [remember that] he with cruel words enviously has insulted me who was innocent. And if you decide to go there in neglect of my words, things will not turn out good for you. When you being so most respectable are insulted by your relative, that insult will be equal to dying on the spot.’
