Lord Siva and Goddess Parvati are inseparable. One has to worship both and have equal reverence to both, said Raghubai, in a discourse. If one worships Lord Siva without worshiping Parvati, then the prayer will be of no use. The Lord will not accept such a prayer. It is to show the world the importance that Parvati is to be given, that He gave Her half His body, and came to be known as Ardhanareesvara. If the Lord Himself shows such regard to His Consort, does it not become clear how much reverence we owe Her? If we worship at Her feet, Her mercy will save us. To ignore Goddess Sakthi would be to add to our sins of omission. The Goddess is known by many names like Parasakthi, Rajarajeswari, Parameswari, Uma and so on. Even in temples we find a separate shrine for the Goddess, indicating Her importance.
When a devotee worships only the Lord and does not worship the Goddess, he will not get the desired result. Thus it was that the six Karthika women forgot the ashta siddhis that they knew. They worshipped Lord Siva, but failed to worship the Goddess, and hence forgot the siddhis they knew. And who were these Karthika women? They were no ordinary women. They were the ones who had nursed the baby Shanmukha. And thus they had a high status, by virtue of having nursed Lord Shanmukha. And yet, even they forgot what they knew, when they forgot to worship the Goddess. And what they had lost could not be earned back easily. Lord Siva told them that they would become stones, and would remain in that state for 1000 years. At the end of 1000 years, the Lord Himself would come and rid them of their curse, and give them instruction in the eight siddhis. Accordingly, the eight women became stones and lay under a banyan tree for 1000 years. The leaves of the tree covered the stones But while the stones might have been there covered thus by leaves and therefore might not even have been noticed by anyone, the Lord Himself did not forget His promise to the women. At the end of 1000 years, He came to their rescue and relieved them of the curse, and they regained the knowledge that they had lost.
