Appearance of Goddess Bhramari

People who have read Durgasapshati must have heard about the Bhramari form of Bhagwati Durga. Since he Mother took the form of a ‘Bee’ (Bhramar=Bee), She is called Bhramari. There is also a famous temple of Goddess Bhramari in Kangra. Let’s learn today why Divine Mother had to takke the form of Bhramari Devi.

End of Demon Arun

There was a Demon named Arun in ancient times. As powerful he was, more he was filled with arrogance. Intoxicated with the pride of his power he developed strong desire to win the gods .But he needed more strength to defeat the collective force of the gods.

Therefore, the demon Arun started doing harsh penance of thousand years. He chanted Gayatri Mantra for thousands of years. His penance was so fierce that his body began to emanate fire in al l directions. This caused great fear in the mortal world as well as amongst gods.

The gods went to Lord Brhama( The Creator) and sought his assistance in the matter. Lord Brahma along with Goddess Gayatri, arrived at the place of Arun and asked him to ask to seek a boon for his penance.

Arun asked Lord Brahma, “O father, I want immortality. I should never die. Give me such a boon.”

Lord Brahma explained, “it is against the law of Nature. Everything born once must die sometime. I am unable to give you this blessing. Ask for any other boon.”

Then Arun said, ” Father, then give me such a blessing that I will not die in war, neither with arms, nor by men or women, nor by two or four – legged creatures, and give me ample strength so that I can win all the gods. There should be no difficulty for you in this boon.

Lord Brahma had to give boon for penance. Since Arun was not directly asking for immortality, so he said,” Let it be” and went back to his abode Brahmalok. After receiving the blessing of Brahma, demon Arun organised the army of the demons and marched towards the abode of gods. As he had received the blessing to defeat the gods, so he defeated them and sacked them from their own abodes.

Now he also became administrator of the God system. He himself took the form of Indra, the Sun, the Moon, Yama, The Fire God, and started ruling according to his will. Now Arun was winner of erath and heaven , he had become completely autocratic.

Convinced of his indestructibility and his immense power he started considering himself only as Brahma and The creator. He started by spreading atheism and suppressing everyone ! Slowly and slowly demon Arun began to torment everyone in this world. All the gods were upset with Arun and wanted to defeat him. They all went in the shelter of Lord Shiva , told him about his suffering and sought for the solution.

Lord Shiva thought that the boon of Lord Brahma has to be upheld and demon has to be killed as well. Demon will neither be defeated in the war nor die of arms. Even two and four-legged animals cannot kill him. Neither woman nor man can kill him. He’s a kind of invincible now.

Then a heavenly voice announced,” O Devas! You all worship the Goddess Durga! She can only do this work and alleviate your suffering. Demon King Arun has not left his daily Gayatri Sadhana. This is giving him power constantly . If you want his death, then make him leave his Gayatri chanting.
If you want to defeat someone, then separate him from his Ishta deity. This will make him powerless over the time and then his death will surely possible.”

After listening to the Heavenly Voice, the gods saw a new ray of hope. They sought the help of Brihaspati , The Guru of gods to surcease the intelligence of Arun. DevaGuru Brihaspati first completed penance by chanting the seed mantra of Cosmic Illusion (Maya), which brought him back his vigour and strength.

When Brihaspati went on to meet Arun, the Gods started paying the Intellect Cessation mantra of Goddess Bagalamukhi so that by her grace the Devaguru would be able to outwit demon Arun.

Brihaspati said to Arun, “I worship the same Goddess Gayatri, whom you worship. She gives me the strength too.”

Because of the force of his evil tendencies and the Mother Pitambra Bagalamukhi mantra effect, Arun replied in disdain, ” If Goddess Gayatri is empowering my enemy gods too, then I will not worship Gayatri from today. “

And thus he gave up his penance due to jealousy,anger and doubt seeded by someone else .
As soon as he gave up his Ishta Gayatri chanting, Arun began to loose his luster and vigour.

[ Scriptures say that the Ishta deity always think about the welfare of the devotee, but
when a devotee leaves devotion to his God because of doubt or due to someone’s evil inspiration, , then he is destroyed.]

Now gods their opportunity. They prayed Mother Bhagwati for the destruction of the demon Arun. Primal force Mother Durga was pleased with by their prayers and She appeared. This time She had a remarkable form.

Divine mother appeared in the from of Goddess Pitambra Bramari, The divine form of Goddess Pitambra Bramari, was illuminated thousand suns . Millions of light rays were emanating from her body. Her beauty was amazing.

The Mother was wearing a garland of flower surrounded by various kinds of honeybees. She was surrounded by a large number of honeybees as well. The honey bees were making the seed sounds of Hrim amd Harlim , seed mantra of cosmic Goodess. Her fists were also full of honeybees.

The Gods praised this wonderful form of Divine Mother,” O Divine Mother! You only do the creation and destruction of the universe, greetings to you. O benevolent Mother you have ensured the welfare of the world by killing Shumbh-Nishumbh, Raktabeej, Dhumralochan demons etc. You have taken this wonderful form with replete with honeybees. O Mother Bhramari! We are in your shelter. Please bless us.”

The Goddess said, ” I have taken a Bhramari form to protect the boon of Lord Brahma. As demon Arun will neither be killed by a woman nor a man, either with two or four-legged creatures.

Gods you become fearless now. The honeybee form of mine will neither fight him nor use weapons. He will be killed in the hands of six-legged honeybees. That’s why I have taken this form and will make you happy by ending the life of demon Arun.”

Then at the orders of the Goddess Bhramari, the honeybees started moving, making the Hrim- Hrim
sound . Entire world was besieged by large number of honeybees. Honeybees were in such huge number that even The Sun was also covered by them. Darkness spread over on earth as if there was Solar eclipse. Everywhere could be seen only honeybees.

The army of honeybees clung to the body of demon Arun. Honeybees made hole in Arun’s chest. Arun didn’t even get the time to protect himself. Before he could lift his weapon or think of anything else, honeybees surrounded him and started biting him from everywhere. He could not use arms on them, because it would only cause damage to his own body.

The demon mad all efforts to protect himself, but all in vain. Other demons came to help him, but the honeybees rendered the same punishment to them as well. After a while Demon King Arun fell down on the ground due to the thousands of honeybee bites. His entire army was also killed.

This was such a situation that there was no war, nor any conversation between anyone, and the powerful demons were destroyed. Thus the the Pitambara Bhramari Mother Jagdamba, protected the boon of Lord Brahma and ended the demons as well.

Thus after redressing of the sufferings of the gods, The Divine Mother collected back her Bhramari form and disappeared after blessing the gods.

(Story from Devi Purana )