Meaning of “BhringaRaja”

A sage named Bhringi traveled to Mount Kailash to worship the avatar of divine consciousness (Shiva). He walked in a reverent circle around Shiva. However, he defied custom by turning his back on the creator of the manifest world—that is, Shakti—as he did so.

Shakti warned Bhringi that She and Shiva were two aspects of one light. Shiva was light in wave form. Shakti was light in particle form. In other words, Shakti was the unified field, the Great Spirit that unites, comprises, forms, and informs all life, the Mat(t)er (mother and matter) of the universe.

Shakti was the Goddess, and not to be trifled with. By disrespecting Shakti, Bhringi was disrespecting his own physical form, and all of nature, and all of existence.

Shakti sat on Shiva’s lap to illustrate her point and to make it impossible for Bhringi to keep walking around Shiva without also walking around Her.

Enraged, Bhringi turned himself into a bee and tried to fly into Shiva’s ear. You see, Bhringi had developed significant mental powers through years of practicing yoga postures and studying yogic texts. As a result, he was extremely arrogant. That’s why he thought he had earned a VIP pass to God consciousness.

Before he could make it to Shiva’s ear, however, Shakti took away his life force. Bhringi fell to the floor, a lifeless carcass.

Shakti had taught him this lesson: on this earth, we experience divine consciousness through our bodies. And our bodies are aspects and gifts of the Goddess, the Great Spirit of nature. We are therefore called to treat our bodies and the rest of nature with reverence and care.

Bhringi finally saw the light. And when he did, Shiva-Shakti brought him back to life in his human form.

But Bhringi’s body needed much healing. His two legs were too weak to support him. He prayed to Shiva-Shakti to give him a third leg so he would never forget that we are made of body, no less than mind and spirit. And they gave him a third leg to be a living example of the importance of caring for the body and the rest of the Goddess’s creation.

The moral of this story for us today is: we have to learn to take care of our bodies if we want to achieve our highest potential.

Bhringaraja literally means “ruler of Bhringi.” Bhringaraja is also translated as “ruler of the bee.” It is one of the many names of the Goddess.

The bhringaraja flower is treasured in Ayurveda for its ability to calm the mind, nourish the hair, and attract bees.