Friday, March 7, 2014

Lord Shiva- A Saint without Birth and Death.

If you know Jesus and Buddha and other prophets of God, hopefully you know that Shiva is a Hindu God, one of the three main Gods.
What makes him such a lovely personality? I think to understand Shiva one has to dip their head into the stories written in the ancient scriptures, they make us understand the true personality of Shiva.

In his book "7 secrets of Shiva", Devdutt Pattanayak talks about Shiva. Using the mythical stories of Shiva which you can find written in the ancient Indian/Vedic scriptures he has tried to teach us the reasons behind the famous names of Shiva.
First appearance of Shiva(central) from pillar - Ellora caves (courtesy -
While Vishnu and Brahma were arguing about their lordship over the world which was created by Brahma, Shiva appeared out of that Pillar and told Brahma that no body is going to worship him because he just lied about finding the end of the pillar to show himself more able than Vishnu. That is why Shiva is worshiped by everyone and is supreme lord.

Vishnu was truthful because he told Brahma that he didn't find the ends of pillar so, Shiva got happy with his truthfulness and curiosity to know the truth. He told Brahma that no-body is going to worship him because of his narrow vision but every-one will worship Vishnu because he wanted to explore the truth.

 In subsequent stories Shiva is described as wearing nothing because he was beyond the social norms. Then in later stories he learns the social norms with the help of Sati and Parvati. Otherwise, he is pictured as a non-clothed hermit who put ash on his body and wears a cobra as a garland on his neck.

He wears a tiger skin which relates us to another story of him hunting down a tiger which was sent to kill him by some jungle wandering hermits performing yajnas. He holds a trident in one hand and a trumpet on another hand. He loves Yoga and meditation and mostly remains in meditative state with closed eyes.

He is out of the cycle of life and death. He is the one who inspires and shows the path of enlightenment to the common man. He is known as Bholenath because when someone worship him with complete devotion he blesses them without making any discrimination. He don't care if you are rich or poor and bad or good.
Paintings showing Shiva's marriage procession 

He came sitting on the bull to ask hand of Parvati from her father and was followed by a huge population of spirits and vultures. He discriminates among no one and when people watched the sight of a man coming on a bull wearing ash all over his body they were feared.

This shows a complete lack of social knowledge on Shiva's part. After marrying Parvati there are several stories which shows the same characteristics of Shiva.
Shiva as a family man with his consort Parvati and children
Shiva has two children Karthikeya and Ganesha but they are not normal children, their stories of birth and life are very different than the normal human beings.

You must know that "Yoga and meditation"  and even "Tantra" which is taught with Shiva and Shakti as its central characters are one of the spiritual contributions of Shiva to world which are non-comparable to anything.
I think Shiva has given more than anyone else to this world. I don't know if he was a historical person or not because there are no evidences of supernatural events which are related to stories of Shiva but, the concept or more specifically the personality of Shiva in itself is God's personality.

Shiva is worshiped by the family men as well as the Jungle wandering hermits alike because, he lived a life which related to everyone's life. He is a complete personality to resemble and inspire anyone who want to seek the spiritual path of liberation.

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