Sarvananda and Purnananda – The Boy Who Asked to See Ma in All Her Forms

 Only two people in the entire world had asked Ma for Sarvavidya, the knowledge of every aspect of Shakti. One of them was Sarvananda Thakur of Bengal.

Sarvananda was a Brahmin and the son of the court astrologer of the king of Tripura. His father had obtained a son only after many years of penance to Shiva. The boy was, in fact, something like Shiva incarnate, although his father did not realize this until later. 

When Sarvananda was still young, his father took him to the royal court. He hoped that the boy's intelligence would impress the king and bring some reward. At the court, a group of astrologers were discussing the lunar day.

It was the new moon, but when Sarvananda was asked about it, he declared that it was the full moon.

The astrologers laughed.

His father was embarrassed and struck him. In doing so, he had forgotten that the boy had been given to him only after his long penance to Shiva. The child became angry and ran home.

There, Purnananda, an old servant of the family, found him crying. He comforted the boy and sent him into the jungle with a knife to collect palm leaves. Purnananda intended to copy parts of astrological texts onto the leaves and teach Sarvananda himself.

In those days, writing was done on palm leaves.

Sarvananda climbed a palm tree with the knife and began cutting the leaves. His anger was still burning, and he took it out on the tree.

At that moment, a Siddha appeared in the story.

Nature had sent this highly evolved being to look after Sarvananda. The Siddha took physical form and created an illusory cobra, sending it up into the tree where the boy was sitting.

When Sarvananda saw the snake, his anger immediately turned toward it. He attacked it with the sharp edge of a palm leaf and cut it in two, throwing the pieces down from the tree.

The Siddha was waiting below.

The blood and flesh of the snake fell onto his matted hair. He called Sarvananda down. Instead of punishing him, he stroked the boy's head and told him that he knew what had happened and wanted to help him.

Using the blood of the cobra, the Siddha wrote down instructions for a form of Shava Sadhana that would please Ma when performed correctly. 

Sarvananda took the instructions back to Purnananda.

After reading them, Purnananda realized that the practice had to be performed on the night of the new moon. That was the very night on which they found themselves.

The two went together to the smashan.

According to the instructions, Sarvananda was to kill Purnananda, sit upon his body and repeat the mantra he had received. When Ma appeared and asked what he wanted, he was to request that She restore Purnananda to life and then follow the old man's instructions.

This would allow Ma to appear to both of them.

That night, in the smashan, Sarvananda killed Purnananda and sat upon his body. He began repeating the mantra.

After only a few repetitions, Ma appeared.

She asked the boy what he wanted, and Sarvananda gave Her the answer that Purnananda had taught him. Ma restored the old man to life, and Purnananda saw Her as well.

She then asked again what they wanted.

Purnananda asked Her to protect the boy's honor. The astrologers had ridiculed Sarvananda for saying that the night was the full moon, even though it was actually the new moon.

Ma smiled.

A ball of light came from the nail of Her little finger. It became so bright that the surrounding country appeared to be illuminated by a full moon. At the royal court, the astrologers were astonished.

Sarvananda was still only a child. He knew nothing about the ways of sadhana, but he had already become filled with love for Tara.

He did not ask Her for wealth, power or anything of the kind.

He wanted to know Her completely.

He asked to see Ma in all Her forms and all Her manifestations so that he could know Her fully and love Her properly.

Tara agreed.

Sarvananda did not understand what Sarvavidya meant, but by asking to see every form of Ma, he received Sarvavidya.

The story then turns toward the strange way in which the right desire can arise at the right moment. If Nature wants a person to succeed at something, a situation can arise in which that person asks for precisely what is needed, whether knowingly or unknowingly. 

Purnananda eventually became Sarvananda's disciple. He went on to become a great pandit and scholar. His works later inspired Justice Sir John Woodroffe of the Calcutta High Court to introduce the subject of Kundalini to the West under the name Arthur Avalon.

Sarvananda himself became a householder.

Then, one day, he disappeared.

No one knows what became of him.

Normally, a person would not even think of asking for Sarvavidya. That too belongs to Ma's play. But when She gives someone knowledge, that person becomes an expert, a jewel within his own field.

Source & Note

This article is based on Robert E. Svoboda’s Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. The material has been edited and adapted for this publication.