Stories From The Bhagawatham - Markandeya And His Divine Vision Part 2

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Markandeya lived in an ashram built on the banks of the river Pushpabhadra. Ever since the twin deities Nar and Narayana had visited him, the sage spent all of his time in silent meditation upon them. He forgot his daily rituals of worship and could see only the Lord everywhere.

One day, a strong wind began to blow. Heavy rain clouds gathered on the sky and thunder and lightning wreaked havoc upon the earth. It started raining very heavily and soon the whole earth was taken over by a deluge. Before Markandeya’s very eyes, the earth disappeared under the waters of the ocean.

He saw all the worlds, the Devas and all celestial beings floating in the water. He found himself floating too, without any sense of direction or destination. Hunger and thirst troubled him. There was intense darkness around him. He kept getting tossed by one wave after another. He knew he had conquered death but still fears crept up in his mind. He drifted in the water in a state of fear and disillusionment.

His gaze fell on a beautiful Aswattha tree at a distance. He swam towards it and found a branch leaning towards him. On one of the leaves of the tree, the sage saw a most wondrous sight.

A child was blissfully lying on the leaf of the tree. He was glowing with such brilliance that the surroundings were lit up. The child was extremely beautiful with soft features and curly hair that fell on his forehead and moved whenever he breathed. The child was smiling and he had taken hold of his foot in his hand and put his toe in his mouth.

Markandeya could not turn his gaze away from the divine child. He forgot about his fatigue and his surroundings and went nearer to the child, already knowing who the divine entity was. The child’s breath pulled Markandeya closer, and the sage found himself inside the child’s body.

And there, in the infant, the sage saw the world as it had been before. He took in silent amazement, the beautiful earth, the sky, the mountains, Devas, Asuras, forests and just about everything that existed in the world. He saw his own ashram beside the banks of the river Pushpabhadra. Suddenly the child exhaled and Markandeya was thrown out into the deluge again. He could still see the child and eagerly tried to swim towards him, but the child disappeared, along with the Aswattha tree and the deluge of waters. Markandeya found himself on firm land once again inside his own Ashram.

Mesmerized by his vision, Markandeya went into a trance and came out of it only when he felt the presence of Mahadeva and Devi Parvathi. He received and worshipped them with great devotion.

“Because of your Bhakti for Lord Narayana, you have now attained Siddhi over everything.” Mahadeva said. “You have been blessed by the vision of the Lord’s Maya. You have attained eternal life and will be known as a Puranacharya. The world will benefit by the stories of the Lord that you will relate.” Thus saying, the divine couple departed, and thus, Markandeya, the Puranacharya is said to be still living, having conquered both death and Maya, and forever remembering Lord Narayana and his divine vision of the child in the Ashwatta leaf.

Om Namo Bhagawate Vasudevaaya!