Lord Shiva: The power of the universe

In the Hinduism, Lord Shiva is the Destroyer and the most important one in the Holy Trinity, the other two being Brahma the Creator and Vishnu the Protector. Lord Shiva has always fascinated his followers by his unique appearance: he has not two but three eyes, has ash smeared all over his body, has snakes coiled up around his head and arms, wears tiger and elephant skin, leads a wild life in the cremation grounds far removed from social pretenses, and is known for his proverbial anger.

Lord Shiva represents the aspect of Brahman, which cleanses us of all impurities. Brahman alone can remove all our impurities. Shiva is the divine filter that receives the Prarabdha and impurities of the people, thereby making them pure. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is iconized as all knowing Yogi who lives a simple life in Mount Kailash. “Om Namah Shivay”. One of the ancient formulas or chanting for invocation which lies in the heart of Vedas is “ Om Namah Shivay”. This chant has deeply rooted in many cultures especially Hinduism . Hindus have always dedicated this chant in order to sing the greatness of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is “ the Destroyer ” among the Trinity gods in terms of divine.

“ The Auspicious One ”, “ Mahadev ”, “ Shankar ”, “ Maheshwar ”, and “ Devendra ( Chief of Gods )” are other holy names of Lord Shiva. Mahadev has always been regarded as one of the primary forms of Gods . All three Gods of Trinity have their own purpose or rather what they are capable of. Lord Brahma is also known as Creator , following Lord Shiva known as The Destroyer and Lord Vishnu as The preserver.

In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is iconized as all knowing Yogi who lives a simple life in Mount Kailash in the Himalaya which nowadays lies in Nepal. With the third eye on his forehead, as one of the fearsome power in the universe, Lord Shiva has the snake Vasuki around his neck, crescent moon adorning, Holy River Ganga flowing from Lord Shiva’s matted hear, carrying Trishul and the Damaru as lord’s instruments and blue throat. There are tales of Mahadev having blue throat giving Shankar another name also known as “ Neelakanth ” because he drank all the “ Halahal ” poison that appear due to Samudra Manthan to protect humanity and its destructive power. Many believed that Lord Shiva’s third eye’s destructive power is the reason that Lord is called “ The Destroyer ”, but it is also believed that it symbolizes His spiritual wisdom and power .

Panchavaktra Form: Mahadev is largely seen in five of his aspects. They are Aghora, Ishana, Tat purusha, Vamadeva, and Rudra. Panchavaktra ( Panchamukhi ) form is the one form of all these aspects. Natraj Form: There is a tale of Mahadev in Hinduism that Mahadev’s dance represents the destruction and creation of the new universe. That form is Natraj form which is even feared by gods for its destructive powers. His Dance of Bliss reveals the cycle of death , welfare of the world. Hanuman: Hanuman is one of the ultimate karma yogi and who swore on never ending selfless service to Lord Ram a, another form of Lord Vishnu . This form of Lord Shiva is selfless and has provided aid to Rama to defeat the emerging evil for the welfare of the world. Mahamrityunjaya Form: This form of Lord Shiva is the greatest conqueror of Death itself. Ardhanareshwar: One of the forms of Shiva is Ardhanareshwar which is half Shiva and half Shakti.

The Shiva Lingam: Lord Shiva is worshipped in his invisible form as the lingam. Linga is considered as the symbol to represent the formless Hindu Deity Lord Shiva . In Hindu tradition, Shiva Linga is used for worshipping in Hindu temples. In Hindu legend, Shiva Linga is a symbol of energy of Lord Shiva. Hindu worshippers often represent Shiva Linga along with Yoni, a symbol of energy of Goddess Shakti or Parvati. In ancient Hindu scriptures , Shiva Purana describes the greatness of Shiva linga as the linga is depicted as the cause of all causes in the universe. It is also said that Lord Shiva appeared from Shiva Linga and that’s why Lord Shiva sometimes seen superior to other Hindu Trinity deity , Lord Brahmaand Lord Vishnu . In other Purana of Hindu Scripture, Linga was the first form that appeared when creation took place and will be the last form before the complete destruction of creation took place.

Shiva Linga consists of three different parts. The base part of Shiva Linga is Brahma-Pitha, the middle part is known as “ Vishnu-Pitha ” and the upper part is known as “ Shiva-Pitha ”. In India, there are 12 Jyotir Lingas and 5 Pancha-Bhuta Lingas which are considered the holiest Shiva Lingas in India. The 12 Jyotir Shiva Lingas are Kedarnath , Kashi Vishwanath Somnath , Bajinath , Rameswar, Ghrusneswar, Bhimshankar, Mahakal, Mallikaarjun, Amaleshwar, Nageshwar, and Trymbakeshwar. The five Pancha-Bhuta Lingas are Kalahastishwar, Jambukeshwar, Arunachaleshwar, Ekambareshwar, and Nataraja .

Types of Shiva Lingas. There are various types of Lingas. Mukhalinga is a type of linga where one to five faces of Lord Shivais carved at the sides and top of Linga . Some Lingas shows Lord Shiva emerging from the linga to show the superiority of Lord Shiva over Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu . One of the most admired Shiva Lingais Svayambhuva lingas which are self-originated and were made without human beings assistance. Around 70 such lingas are worshipped all over India. One of the most celebrated festivals in order to worship and celebrate the greatness of Mahadev is Maha Shivaratri . This festival is celebrated every year on the 13th night or the 14th day of Purnima(New Moon) of Shukla Pakshya of the Magha or Phalguna month of the year. In this day, every Hindu people celebrate it by decorating the Shiva Lingam specially. Maha Shivaratri is the day when Lord Shiva creates chaos in the world called “ Tandav ” and on this particular day, Lord Shiva got married to Parvati.

If you want to know the "history" of Shiva, you must know the Shakti. She is the infinite energy, the maya of Sansar. When there was literally nothing in this universe, there was she. It is clearly written in Shiv Mahapurana and Devi Mahatmya that the energy was there, but it had no physical form. Then it manifested itself as Shiva, the infinite... He was not born, but was the mass of the equation?E=mc2. And after that, Vishnu ji and Brahma ji were manifested to form the universe. Different puranas have different stories, but at the end, it's God who we all are a seed of.

Historians believe that Lord Shiva was a pre-Vedic god who was admitted into the Vedic Pantheon because of His immense popularity among many non-Aryan tribes. There is a theory that the seated yogi found on the seals of Indus Valley Civilization, was a prototype of Lord Shiva only. References to Him are found in the Rigveda, Mahabharat, Ramayana, It is believed that worship of His icons was widely prevalent as early as 2nd or 3rd Century B.C.

With the popularity of Saivism a great deal of literature grew around Him, which came to be recognized as Agama literature. So great was His popularity and fame that Agama literature was placed on equal footing to even the Vedas by His followers. In the Shvetavatara Upanishad He was elevated to the status of Brahman, by the sage who composed it, after he had a vision of Lord Shiva as the Absolute and Supreme Brahman. Saivism as a popular movement took shape mainly in South India because of the patronage of the Pallavas and the dedicated work of many great Tamil Saints, who built enormous bhakti or devotional literature in His honor and made His name a household name. Megasthanese mentioned the worship of Siva in his book Indika. So did Patanjali, the composer of Yoga Sutras. A great devotee of Siva named Lakulisa lived some time during the early or pre Christian era and founded the Pasupatha sect, making in the process, Saivism a very popular movement in the sub-continent. Two great rulers of ancient India, Kanishka and Harshavardhana were His great followers. In the south the Cholas built many temples in His honor, He is known by many names and tittles. As a god of anger, He is Rudra, the Red One, feared by one and all.

Believe/Faith: Lord Shiva is no god. He is formless, attribute less, without qualities. As per Hindu shastra, at first there were a formless energy, which didn't have a shape or didn't have any end or start. then it became Lord Shiva and then came Lord Bramha and Lord Vishnu from the same energy flow. So he is ultimate. He is not an god but the source from where gods came.

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No, there's no religion of God. It's human beings who follow certain religion. When we say Shiva is God of Hindus, that does not mean he is the God of only Hindus, it means Hindus worship Shiva.. Just like Muslims worship Allah or Christians worship Jesus. So if we call Allah as Muslim and Jesus Christ as Christian.. It may sound awkward. It's not God who has a religion.. People of different cultures worship different forms of God. We Hindus have many forms of Supreme Being/Consciousness (Par Brahman). Shiva is one of the most worshipped Forms of Par Brahman. Om Namah Shivay