After Raktabeeja was slain and
the army of demons were killed in battle, Shumbha and Nishumbha gave way to
unbound wrath. Very soon Shumbha – Nishumbha set forth with their troops to
slay Chandika. The Gods now witnessed a severe combat between the Demons on one
side & the Devi on the other.
The Devi first took on
Nishumbha, who attacked her with a spear. Hurling a dart at him, she pierced
his heart. As soon as his heart was pierced, another demon emerged from his
chest, with equal strength & valour, who tried to stop the Devi from
another brutal attack. Ignoring his plea, she severed his head off with her
sword. And soon he fell lifeless on the ground. All this while, the Devi’s lion
devoured the demons whose necks he had crushed with his fierce teeth, and Kali
and Shivaduti devoured all others who lay dead in the battle field.
When Shumbha saw his dearer
than life brother dead & his army perishing, he was furious. He blamed the
Devi for being conceited & wicked. He believed that the Devi was dependant
on the strength of other Shaktis for strength & yet thought highly of
herself. Less realising that the Shaktis were all a manifestation of the Devi
herself in all her glorious forms.
The
Devi then gives him the ultimate knowledge, before merging all her forms into
her own self. She says. “In this universe, I alone exist. Who
else is there besides me? All these manifestations of mine are now merged into my
own self! All the powers projected by me
in these form have now been withdrawn. I now stand alone. Come and Fight me!”
Challenged by the Devi and
furious with rage with the death of his brother, Shumbha sets forth to fight
the Devi while the Gods & Demons stand witness to the horrific sight. There
in the sky Shumbha and the Devi engage in the fiercest of battle with showers
of arrows, sharp weapons and frightful missiles that frightened the three worlds.
After carrying on a close
fight for a very long time with him, the Goddess flung him down to the
earth piercing him on the chest with a spear. As the demon fell lifeless on the
ground, he shook the entire earth with its oceans, islands and mountains with
his massive form.
The death of Shumbha – Nishumbh
brought a new dawn in the universe. The world regained its original state of
perfect peace. The potent clouds vanished, the sun shone brighter and the sky
became clear. The rivers took the original course & everything was renewed.
The Gods rejoiced & Gandharvas sang hymns in praise of the Goddess while
the Apsaras danced!
Shumbha is
none other than sense of ‘I’ or ‘Me’, the pseudo-self that identifies the
self with non-self, whereas Nisumbha represents the sense of ‘Mine’, or the
attachment to things that the false self clings to through identification
with other objects. Shumbha – Nishumbha follow each other closely. Where
there is this sense of ‘I’, automatically there will be a sense of ‘mine’ as
an extension of the false sense of selfhood. Shumbha also means doubting oneself and Nishumbha
means doubting others. When the mind is clogged with doubt about oneself or
others, neither peace nor progress is possible. That is why they are the
kings of the demons, the highest in the order of negative influences.
Negative forces come up only due to lack of energy, Shakti. When you are full
of energy and enthusiasm none of these asuras (demons) can harm you. The
battle between the demons and the Goddess is compared to a Maha Yagna because
it represents the greatest purification process.
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