The Mahishasura Story Is Really About Your Ego (Durga Saptashati, Chapters 3 and 4)

“People should praise me, people should respect me.” The ego has become accustomed to living in lies. The story of Mahishasura in the Durga Saptashati shows exactly how it behaves.

Chapter 3: The war

The third chapter begins with the war. Mahishasura’s chief commanders, Chakshur, Chamara and other demons, clash with the Goddess one by one and are killed. Finally, Mahishasura himself appears in the form of a buffalo and wreaks havoc with his hooves, horns and tail. When the Goddess throws a noose at him, he turns into a lion. When she begins to behead him, he becomes a man wielding a sword. Then he turns into an elephant, and finally back into a buffalo.

Then the Goddess, drinking the divine nectar, laughs and says, “O fool, roar as long as I am drinking.” She leaps, places her foot on his neck and pierces him with her trident. He is only half-emerged from the buffalo’s mouth when she beheads him with her sword.

The commanders come first

Notice that Mahishasura did not come to fight alone at first. His commanders came first. Ego never comes before you alone. It comes with all sorts of tendencies: lust, anger, attachment, pride and jealousy.

And who are these commanders? Take Chamara, which means the fly-whisk, a symbol of the hunger for honour and prestige. If you want to reach the root, it is necessary to first capture the external desires and erase them. Before the ego comes, its commanders come, and one by one they fall in battle before that supreme knowledge and wisdom.

Why the ego keeps changing its form

When Mahishasura comes later, he constantly changes his form. The ego always keeps changing its form. It will present itself sometimes as one thing and sometimes as another. You will even see it portray itself as helpless before you:

• “It is not my fault at all.”
• “I am very good.”
• “The world is bad.”
• “I have no control over anything.”
• “Everything is the will of the Almighty.”
• “He is the one doing it.”
• “That is why this happened through me.”

The lion: aggression

The lion means “I am powerful.” It is a symbol of power and of animality. The ego adopts an aggressive stance to protect that “I.” If someone’s ego is hurt even slightly, see how incredibly angry they get.

“My car is better than yours.” “Hey, how could you say that to me?” “Do you know who I am?” This is the lion form of the ego. The aggressive feelings that arise within, such as “Oh, they disrespected me,” are that lion form. You will see it especially in relationships, and in those places where the ego feels insecure from within.

The man with the sword: the ego of knowledge

After the lion, the ego becomes a man wielding a sword. This means the ego considers itself knowledgeable. There is an ego of knowledge as well, called the super-ego. It is always feeling superior: “I know, you wouldn’t know. I am special. I have all the information. I am a professor. I am a doctor.”

“I have knowledge of Vedanta.” “I have memorised all the Vedas.” “I know the entire Durga Saptashati by heart. Will you come to teach me?” “Oh, so everything I have done and known until today is a lie?” “Hey, I have done a PhD.” All of this is that same man with the sword.

The elephant: the heavy ego

Then comes the elephant, a massive, heavy ego and the feeling of greatness. People should praise me, respect me, I am worthy of worship, I am great.

The buffalo: back to inertia

Then comes the buffalo, which means the ego circles back to its own inertia. It will do anything to protect itself. It does not want its existence to be erased, though it does not even exist. It is accustomed to living in lies because it is born from lies itself.

See how subtly the sage explains that it escapes even when the noose is thrown. When you try to bind it, it keeps changing its form. No matter how many vows you take, you will not be able to hold it. Ego cannot be erased by ego. The noose is a symbol of that very bondage, and even after it is thrown, the ego escapes.

The Goddess laughs

A very important event occurs here. The Goddess laughs while drinking the divine nectar and says, “O fool, O ignorant one, do whatever you want now.”

Notice that the Goddess is calm. The soul is the witness, and it is unaffected by the chaos of the ego. No matter how much noise there is, it knows that the noise is only illusion. No matter how much the ego jumps, and no matter how much the clouds gather, they cannot end or cover the sun.

Drinking the divine nectar is the experience of self-bliss. She is in that bliss, knowing that sooner or later this ego is bound to be destroyed. This is carefreeness. This is fearlessness. This is the form of Brahman. Even on this battlefield, she is calm. And what will even come of the ego’s noise? Before the truth, the ego cannot stand even for a moment.

When the Goddess calls it a “fool,” she is fundamentally addressing ignorance, which has no real existence of its own.

The foot, the trident and the sword

The Goddess places her foot on its neck. This points to the ego being placed at the feet of grace, because as soon as grace descends and realisation dawns, the ego comes to the verge of destruction.

With the trident, she strikes at the thoughts “I am the body, I am the mind, and I am ignorant.” She pierces all of these first. As soon as this feeling ends, Mahishasura, the gross pride of the body, reveals his face. Even after everything is left behind, that “I” remains.

Then the Goddess cuts off his head with a sword. The Gita calls this Jnanasina. In Chapter 4, Verse 42, Shri Krishna says: “O Arjuna, cut through this doubt born of ignorance in your heart with the sword of knowledge, establish yourself in Yoga, and stand up.” Jnanasina is Jnana plus Asi, the sword of knowledge. The Goddess slays the ego with the sword of knowledge.

The implication of this entire chapter is that the doubt and illusion born of ignorance can be destroyed through self-knowledge. The ego can be ended through knowledge.

And what does “slaying” (vadh) mean here? Only the false dies. The ego has no real existence at all. What is ending is the illusion. What is dispersing is the cloud, and the sun is rising. That light is emerging once again and illuminating everything. Finding a place at the Goddess’s feet means that liberation is possible only when the ego is slain.

Chapter 4: Praise after the war

When Mahishasura is killed, Indra and the other gods, filled with devotion, praise the Goddess. They describe her as the cause of the entire universe, the refuge of all, and beyond even Hari and Hara. They say that the same Goddess dwells as Lakshmi in the homes of the virtuous and as Alakshmi in the homes of the sinful. Pleased, she grants a boon that whenever the gods remember her, she will remove their distress. Then the Goddess disappears.

Have you ever wondered why praise comes after the war? What remains after the slaying of the ego is gratitude.

Hetu samasta jagatam: the gods call her the cause of the universe. In Advaita, the cause alone is true, and the effect is just its name and form. In a clay pot, only the clay is real. The pot is just a name and form.

The Goddess does not go anywhere. She becomes invisible, which means she merges into the Nirguna state, the true nature of Brahman.

Heaven is regained. What the gods received was nothing new. They got back what was already theirs. We often forget our true form, which is why there is no need to look for anything outside. It is like finding one’s own self.

The boon of remembrance is granted here. This remembrance is self-awareness, because at the root of every calamity, every sorrow and every trouble lies a veil. This is Maya, self-oblivion.

One more thing is explained here. Lakshmi as well as Alakshmi means the same essence appears differently according to the vessel. There is no duality anywhere. Everywhere it is the same One, and I say “one” only to explain it. In the true sense, there is no two anywhere. When we realise this, we can eliminate the ego within us.

So the fourth chapter concludes: the gods praise the Goddess, and the ego is explained through Rajas Guna. Next, from chapter five to chapter 13, the Uttama Charitra appears, in which the glory of Mahasaraswati is described.