Devtas

Shiva

Other names- Shiv, Mahesh, Ashutosh, Neelkanth, Pinakin, Nataraj

The Hindu Trinity is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Mahesh is the other name of Shiva. Shiva means form of happiness and the one who does welfare. Shiva is considered to be a supreme God who neither has a beginning nor end. He is also known as ‘Shankar’ and also the destroyer of the universe. He is named ‘Rudra’ which is the angry form of Shiva. Shiva’s basic nature is ‘Tamas’ which means anger. Due to this angry nature only he is known to be the destroyer God (one who destroys the universe) and is prayed by saying ‘NAMASTE RUDRA MANVATE’ which means ‘Angry God please cool down’. His appearance is wonderful. Shiva has Ganga in his matted hair, moon in his forehead, third eye on his head, snake coiled around his neck and wears garland of skulls. He has a tabor in his hand and applies ash all over his body. Parvati sits on his left. Ghosts and Goblins are in his group and Nandi (bull) is his carrier. He took the poison which came out of ocean during Samudra-manthan (churning of ocean) and so his neck turned blue and that is why he is called ‘Neel kanth ‘(one with blue neck).

As Shiva is easy to please, he has got the name ‘Ashutosh’. His weapon is bow shaped trident called ‘Pinak’ and so he is called’ Pinakin’. In the puranas, Shiva is imagined to be an ascetic residing on the Kailas Mountain.

Shiva is the original God of drama and music. That is why he is called ‘Sakal’ which means united with art. He is the originator of ‘Tandav’ dance and he is called ‘Nataraj’. There are two main types of Indian dances ‘Tandav’ and ‘Bhalya’. After the deluge, Shiva performed Tandav. Shiva is the creator of Dance and of the first 16 rhythmic syllabuses ever uttered, the Sanskrit language was born. With the sound of tabor, Shiva spread art in all four directions. Origin of the practice of yog-synchronization of any two entities but usually it is related to mind & body as the two entities, commonly called "YOGA" is credited to him.

One day his beautiful consort Parvatiji (daughter of King of Mountains), stealthily went behind Shivji and playfully placed her hands over his eyes. Suddenly darkness engulfed the whole world and all beings trembled in great fear as the lord of the universe had closed his eyes suddenly a massive tongue of flame leapt from the forehead of Shivji; a third eye appeared there and this gave light to the universe. Hence Lord Shiva is also called Tri-netra, Tri-ambaka, Tri-aksha or Tri-nayana because of his three eyes. Lord Shiva, also called Tryambaka Deva (literally, "three-eyed Lord"), is depicted as having three eyes: the Sun is his right eye, the moon the left eye and fires the third eye. The two eyes on the right and left indicate His activity in the physical world. The third eye in the center of the forehead symbolizes spiritual knowledge and power, and is thus called the eye of wisdom or knowledge. Like fire, the powerful gaze of Shiva's third eye annihilates evil, and thus the evil-doers fear His third eye. Kamdev, who was the image of desires, interrupted Shiva’s devout austerity. Shiva got furious and reduced him to ashes with his third eye. On his wife Rati’s lamentation, Shiva allowed Kamdev to live as a cupid. Kamdev is present in this form everywhere.

In India, ladies wear bindi on their forehead in between the eyebrows, which is the third eye and the Ajna chakra, a concentration of spiritual energy. The bindi is considered to bestow spiritual comfort and protection against demons, bad luck, and other evil forces just like the third eye of Shiva.

The crescent moon is shown on the side of the Lord's head as an ornament, and not as an integral part of his countenance. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end. Since the Lord is the Eternal Reality, He is beyond time. Thus, the crescent moon is only one of his ornaments, and not an integral part of Him.
A three-pronged trident shown adjacent to the Lord symbolizes His three fundamental powers (Shakti) of will (iccha), action (kriya) and knowledge (Gyan). The trident also symbolizes the Lord's power to destroy evil and ignorance.

A damaru (drum) a small drum in his hand with two sides separated from each other by a thin neck-like structure symbolizes the two utterly dissimilar states of existence, unmanifest and manifest. When a damaru is vibrated, it produces dissimilar sounds which are fused together by resonance to create one sound. The sound thus produced symbolizes Nada, the cosmic sound of AUM, which can be heard during deep meditation. According to Hindu scriptures, Nada is the source of creation. One legend has it that Shiva gave the world its first syllabify as the sounds of the Sanskrit language arose from his drumbeats, and his performance of the cosmic dance of Tandav.
As per Hindu Mythology, Lord Shiva (Creator of the Universe) merged himself with Maa Parvati (the sustaining energy) in eternal bond. This half-man-half –woman creation symbolizes the union of 'Purush' (power) and 'Prakriti' (nature/creation). It is the eternal fusion of masculine and feminine energies. This “dual” form of Lord Shiva is referred to as “Ardhnareshwar”.

According to a legend, once Brahma and Vishnu, two other deities of the holy Trinity, had an argument as to their supremacy. Brahma being the Creator declared himself to be more revered, while Vishnu, the Preserver, pronounced that he commanded more respect. Just then a colossal 'lingam', known as Jyotirlinga, blanketed in flames, appeared before them. Both Brahma and Vishnu were awestruck by its rapidly increasing size. They forgot their quarrel and decided to determine its size. Vishnu assuming the form of a boar went to the netherworld and Brahma as a swan flew to the skies. But both of them failed to accomplish the self-assumed tasks. Then, Shiva appeared out of the 'lingam' and stated that he was the progenitor of them both and that henceforth he should be worshiped in his phallic form, the 'lingam', and not in his anthropomorphic form. The day Shiva appeared in the form of the Jyotirlinga was the 14th night of the waning moon of the month of Falgun. Hence, this day is celebrated as Mahashivratri to acknowledge the greatness of Shiva.

Shiva is conceived in his unborn, invisible form as the Lingam. It is always accompanied by the Yoni, which is the female principle, surrounding the base of the Lingam. The Lingam represents the male creative energy of Shiva. Thus Shiva is the masculine energy.
Shiva Linga is the holy symbol of Lord Shiva that is considered sacred by the devotees of Lord Shiva. The word, ‘Lingum’ in Sanskrit means, ‘symbol’. Shiva Lingum therefore means symbol of Lord Shiva and is therefore considered most sacred by Shaivaites. Shiva Linga has been worshipped in Hinduism since ages. Worship of Shiva Linga is regarded sacred and superior in Shiva Mahapuran. This is because the form makes worship simple while maintaining the truth that God does not have any definite form.

According to Tantra, Lingam is a symbol of Shiva's phallus in spiritual form. They say, the lingam contains the soul-seed within which lies the essence of the entire cosmos. The lingam arises out of the base (Yoni) which represents Parvati according to some or Vishnu, Brahma in female and neuter form according to others.

According to some scholars, worship of Shiva Linga in effect means worship of the reproduction function. For, they say that the other meaning of the Sanskrit word ‘Linga’ is gender in general and phallus (the male reproductive organ) in particular. They believe that the base of the Lingam corresponds to the Yoni which mean vagina or the female reproductive organ. Correspondence of Linga and Yoni in a Shiva Linga is therefore interpreted as the representation of the process of copulation.

Jyotirlinga represent Lord Shiva. Shiva manifested himself in the form of Jyoti (light) at twelve different places in India. They are Kedarnath, Viswanath, Somnath, Mahakaleswar, Omkareshwar, Rameshwar, Mallikarjuna, Trimbakeshwar, Bhimashankar, Nageshwar, Baijnath and Grishneshwar. Even today, devotees are said to have his darshan in the form of jyoti at these places. One who recites these 12 names regularly in the morning and evening washes all the sins committed in the previous 7 births and attains all the powers and Siddhis.
Mrutyunjay Literally translated as 'victor over death', this is an aspect of Shiva worshipped as the conqueror of Death as manifested in the Hindu lord of death, Yama. The particular legend in question deals with the sage Markandeya, who was fated to die at the age of sixteen. On account of the sage's worship and devotion to Shiva, the Lord vanquished Yama to liberate his devotee from death. Shiva is often worshipped as Mrutyunjay by the aged or ill, to ward off death and mitigate its harshness when it does occur.

Shiva sitting in the cremation ground signifies that he is the controller of death in the physical world. Since birth and death are cyclic, controlling one implies controlling the other. Thus, Lord Shiva is revered as the ultimate controller of birth and death in the phenomenal world.

Shiva was married to Sati, daughter of Daksha Prajapati. Daksha was not happy with Shiva, which is why he invited all his son-in-laws except Shiva for yagya. Sati (wife of Shiva) went for the yagya without invitation. There she saw, no place was kept for Shiva. She could not bear her husband’s insult and so gave away her life by climbing in the yagya fire. At this, the followers of Shiva got angry and destroyed the yagya. Shiva, with the dead body of Sati roamed around the world like a man in despair. On seeing the condition of Shiva, other Gods got worried. Then, Lord Vishnu with the help of his Sudarshan Chakra(a divine discus which swirls around his index finger), cut Sati’s dead body into pieces and dropped them one by one, so that Shiva gets released off this weight and returns to being normal. There were fifty one pieces of the dead body of Sati cut by Lord Vishnu and the places on the earth where they fell are known as Shaktipeeth. Each Shaktipeeth is connected with one of the body part of Sati, for example, Kamakhya in Assam is where the Yoni (vagina) of Sati fell and is considered a very powerful centre of Shakti (female) worship.

Sati, later incarnated as Parvati in her next life, and remarried Shiva, henceforth never to part with him again. It is for this reason that Shiva, while monogamous, has had two wives in reality, but the same soul in two incarnations.
Sati’s rebirth took place at Giriraj Himalaya’s house. She got married to Shiva. Her name was Parvati in the second birth. Shiva and Parvati had two sons, Kartikeya, who was commander of the Gods and Ganesha, who was worshipped by the Gods.
Shiva is universally acknowledged as God. He accepts everyone’s prayers whether king or poor, evil or good. He is the honoured God of both Aryan and Dravid civilization of India. The disciples of Shiva are called Shaiv.
In modern days, in spite of scientific and technological knowledge available, the world is on the verge of atomic war. Terrorism destroys humanity and virtue.

At this time, the one who destroys devilish activities is the Shiva’s divine form and with a wish for world peace is the inspiration for human welfare.
It is said that on 13th day of each bright lunar fortnight of Hindu calendar, after 6 in the evening, falls a sacred hour called Pradosha and if you worship Shiva this time than one gets powers of Universe.