Today, let us look at one of mahAdeva’s names - “त्र्यम्बक”. The name means - “One who has 3 mothers (त्रिस्रोऽम्बा).
It means, mahAdeva has anugraha of shrI, bhU & nIla devI (jaganmAtA-s). This is one of his special names & shAstra uses this meaning primarily+
Reason for this name is as follows -
Indra has more bhakti to shrI devI &
brahmA to bhU devI, the presiding deity of the Universe which is his wealth.
However, mahAdeva has equal bhakti to all 3 devIs, realizing their roles.
So mahAdeva alone is “Tryambaka”.
Let me explain how
I have described as to how shrI favored mahAdeva when he surrendered to nArAyaNa to remove brahma-hatyA-doSha
तत्र नारायणः श्रीमान् मया भिक्शाम् प्रयाचित: (~ matsya purANa)
[mahAdeva - There I sought alms from nArAyaNa, ever associated with lakShmI (for ending the curse]+
Because mahAdeva surrendered to nArAyaNa through shrI, she not only liberated him from the curse, but also gave him all his current glory as a chief of gods & an upAsaka. In this way, he became very devoted to shrI.
Let us look at how bhU devI protects him+
While shrI favored mahAdeva to become a great yogI, bhU devI stepped in to provide him with the necessary tools to practice his sAdhana. bhU devI is the presiding deity of pR^ithvi tattva, which is the chief of all tattvAs. Thus, all of prakR^iti comes under her domain+ Hence, it was bhU devI who provided mahAdeva with the aShtamUrti-s.
As viShNu purANa enumerates the aShtamUrtIs - सूर्यो जलं मही वायुर् वह्निर् आकाशम् एव च . दीक्षितो ब्राह्मणः सोम इत्य् - The Earth herself is one of his forms (मही)+
pR^ithvi-tattva is the chief tattva with 5 tanmAtrAs. So, other abodes are also presided by bhU devI.
She gave aShtamUrti to mahAdeva, for him to be close to Hari who is worshipped in those abodes as per bhAgavatam 8.16.28.
Rg Veda’s soma sUkta dedicated to Rudra also says+
यथा नो अदितिः करत् पश्वे नृभ्यो यथा गवे | (~ Rg Veda 1.43.2)
[So that (by praising Rudra), Aditi (bhU devI) makes horses, elephants, wealth, servants & cattle available to us for kAmya karmAs]
Where Aditi is bhU devI as per taittiriya saMhita - विष्णुपत्न्य…अस्त्वदितिरुपस्थे+
This rk says that by praising Rudra, we gain the favor of bhU devI who gives us cattle etc needed as accessories for upAsana. This means Rudra himself has her favor & anyone dear to him, gets her favor too.+
She also became his chariot for tripura dahanam out of affection for him - धरा सशैला च रथो महात्मनः- “dharA (bhU devI) along with her mountains was the chariot of the noble rudra”.
As mountains are under her domain, she also gave mahAdeva his wife, umA, to help him in sAdhana+
As sati burnt herself & mahAdeva’s yoga causes heat, bhU devI made sati be reborn in a cool place & abide there with him.
bhU devI is also protective of shiva, even in a rare case of him losing j~nAna & fighting Hari, when wielding that defect causing bow that rAma broke later+
तम् आत्तकार्मुकं दृष्ट्वा ब्रह्मचारिणम् अव्ययम् . विव्यथे पृथिवी देवी पर्वताश् च चकम्पिरे (~ Sauptika Parva)
[Seeing mahAdeva, a brahmachAri, who never turns himself away from Brahman, with that bow -- the goddess Earth along with the mountains trembled in alarm]+
“ब्रह्मचारिन्” signifies mahAdeva is a karma yogI,
as ब्रह्मचर्य is it’s accessory. “अव्ययम्” means “न व्यपगम्यते” - he never sends his mind away from Hari, ie, he is a bhakti yogI.
However, he was now holding a bow in ego contrary to both those natural states of his+
“विव्यथे पृथिवी देवी” - bhU devI was distressed seeing him with the bow, thinking, “may he not earn my consort’s anger”. She wanted to protect him.
This incident continues when mahAdeva went to fight with nara-nArAyaNa at badarIkAshrama. There too, bhU devI is mentioned+ वसुधा संचकम्पे (~ shAnti parva)
[vasudhA (bhU devI) trembled in fear (of bhagavAn’s anger), seeing rudra fight nara-nArAyaNa”.]
Again, this shows the affection bhU devI has for rudra. She has the guNa of kShamA - forbearance.
Now, let us look at nIla devI+
While shrI devI is worshipped with rAma (as sIta) and
bhU devI is worshipped with varAha,
nIla devI is the chief consort of Krishna (not rukmiNI or satyabhAma).
Thus, nIla devI is always worshipped as Krishna-patnI+
What does nIla devI do? Well, shrI devI blesses a person to become a yogI and bhU devI gives him accessories for yoga. But a yogI, even if sAttvic, may be distracted by aShta-siddhi-s attained in yoga, or he may meditate on the jIvAtma’s intrinsic bliss, ignoring Brahman+
If the yogI merely wants to overcome samsAric distress & has no love for bhagavAn, then he may become a kaivalyArti - who meditates on j~nAnamaya svarUpa of jIvAtma for limited bliss, without focusing on it’s nature of subservience to Brahman. This kaivalya state is an impediment in brahmopAsana. It prevents progress to bhakti yoga.
And maNavAla mAmunigal points out that nIla devI removes such petty desires like kaivalya siddhi, making the yogIs solely focus on bhagavAn.
nIla devI indeed did that for rudra too. In harivamSha, Shiva tells Krishna that in his early days as a yogI, he tried to attain Kaivalya (तपश्चर्तुं प्रवृत्तोऽहं कुतश्चित्कारणाद्धरे) due to lack of desire for Hari, only wanting to transcend samsAric distress.
bhagavAn sent kAmadeva thru Indra to ruin that penance. mahAdeva burnt kAmadeva in anger, but later realized sending kAmadeva was a merciful act of bhagavAn only to stop him becoming a kaivalyArti. Then, brahmA, as AchArya, instructed mahAdeva to continue with karma yoga, eventually leading to him becoming a bhakti yogI.
Why did mahAdeva tell Krishna all this? Because he recognized it was nILa devI, dear to Krishna and his chief consort, who had mediated on his behalf for bhagavAn to send kAmadeva to ruin his penance. She wanted him to become a bhakti yogI & not fall into the trap of Kaivalya+
That is why kAmadeva, whom mahAdeva burnt in anger, was given by the latter as Krishna’s son. nILa devI gave kAmadeva back his body too. kAmadeva was born to rukmiNI & not nIla devI, because the latter is modest and never openly reveals herself like shrI or bhU devI+
Thus,
1. being favored to become a yogI by shrI devI,
2. having access to wealth for upAsana due to bhU devI and
3. getting the pitfalls of yoga like kaivalya etc removed by nIla devI,
mahAdeva is celebrated as “त्र्यम्बक” - One who has the anugraha of 3 mothers+
Is it then any wonder sIta uses that name here, अद्यभागीरथीजलम्शिरसाधारयिष्यामित्र्यम्बकःपर्वतेयथा (~ uttara kANDa) [sIta: Today, I shall bear the waters of the Ganga on my head, just as Tryambaka does in Kailasa]. She compares herself to mahAdeva in bearing the Ganga coming from Hari’s feet in terms of the weight of bhakti. As her bhakti is far greater than anyone else’s, by such comparison, she is praising mahAdeva. She praises mahAdeva calling him “त्र्यम्बक” - “May I attain bhakti of the one who has the anugraha of his 3 mothers”.
Wherever in shAstra mahAdeva displays his strength, bestows boons or astrAs, he is called “त्र्यम्बक” to imply his glory is due to anugraha of the 3 mothers.
from https://twitter.com/DefiledGod/status/1589495809258950656
