Is Shiva the God of entire Universe?

The entire Universe resides in Shiva! Shiva has neither start nor end , since He is Ananth ( everywhere ). And that is why Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma could not find the start and end of Shiva , since He is the entire Universe. Example :: How Shiva destroyed mount Vindhya’s arrogance. Vindhya Mountain was the tallest mountain , and He was happy for such honour. One day, Vindhya gets a doubt “ what if any other mountain grows taller than me “?? Then, he approaches sage Narada with this query.

Narada suggests him to do penance for Shiva. And Vindhya mountain starts a rigorous penance for Shiva, and Shiva pleased with the penance , gives Darshan to Vindhya. Shiva : Hey Vindhya , I'm very pleased with your penance. You are already the tallest mountain, so why again you are doing penance ? What is your wish ? Vindhya : Hey my lord , I know that I'm the tallest mountain. But, what if some other mountain starts to grow taller and wider than me ?? Grant me a boon , where in , I would be ever the tallest and widest among all the mountains. And no mountain ever should outgrow me in either height , width or circumference !

Shiva grants The Vindhya mountain , his desired boon. Now , Vindhya starts to grow and grow and thus becomes very arrogant ! One day, Sage Narada visits Vindhya and says “ Hey Vindhya, you are the greatest mountain in this entire Universe. Now you may be almost equal to The Tridev “. Vindhya : yes Narada , I'm the number one in this world. Narada : you may be great, but for sure not number one. Vindhya : what ?? Who is greater than me ?? Narada : it's none other than Shiva , the Mahadev “ Lord of the Lord's “. Vindhya : oh really ?? I would prove that I'm greater than Mahadev !

And Vindhya mountain starts to grow taller and wider , and thus reaches the Sky and becomes very arrogant , due to his majestic structure ! Mean while , Mother Earth not able to bear the weight of Vindhya mountain , goes to Shiva and asks Him to help her ! Then Shiva decides to teach Vindhya a lesson. Vindhya mountain reaches the highest point, and he tries to grow still, but sees that something is obstructing His growth. He sees a hard brown structure in the sky, through which he is unable to protrude ! He realizes that , it's an Rudraksh! And the Rudraksh was, one among the Shiva's Rudraksha wrist band ! The majestic Vindhya mountain was just a particle in one of the Rudraksha in Shiva's wrist ! Seeing this, Vindhya mountain starts to cry and asked Shiva to forgive him for his arrogance and ignorance.

Lord Shiva is also called as "Kama" or Kameshwara because he himself is 'Primordial desire'. The whole universe sprung because of the primordial desire. In the beginning, there was neither existence nor non-existence, neither space nor time. There was no second being. Shiva(Brahman) alone breathed without wind. This primordial action is called as "Coming into Existence". This is possible only because of Desire. hence Lord shiva is called "Kama" . And because of his desire to multiply all gods, goddesses, Tridevs, Trideviyas, universes, etc came into existence. Rig veda (Nasadiya Suktam) 10:129:4 says :

" kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retah prathamam yad āsit"

ie., Kama rose in the beginning, Kama, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.

ParaBrahman is Shiva and his desire of Creation (viz his feelings) is Shakti herself and The Whole creation aroused because of union of Shiva and Shakti. Yasya Nishvasitam Vedah yo vedebhyo akhilam jagat Nirmame taham vandeyatirtha Maheshvaram Shivatvam Gurutvamcha-Shakti tvameivasi Mata Pita-cha tvameva taviimevasi bandhur taviimevasi tanviyyvashya gayatirmeya matirdevi sarvam tvamaiva || ( — Rigveda).

(Translated thus: To Him I bow down, whose very exhalation of breath are the Vedas, the One who creates the universe from it, remaining , un-manifest, and who is the most sacred and cherished shrine of pilgrimage for all the streams Oh Shiva, You are the Lord, You are the Guru you are the mother shakthi (energy) and the Divine Energy manifest in Creation. You are Mother, Father and the best companion also, and You are the Knowledge of all that is. Bless me so that my intellect is devoted and directed to You, and that it will stay in it forever.

Yajurveda. Ishana sarvavidyanam Ishvara sarvabhutanam brahmadhipathi brahmanodhipathi brahma shivo me asthu sadashiv om || (Yajurved ????:????:??) Ishana is the source of everything, Ishvara is the indwelling Lord of all, he's the brahman he's the Shiva who is the supreme primordial pranava (omkara) as sadashiva. Om namasthe asthu bhagwaan vishweshwaraaya mahadevaya trayambakaya tripurantakaya trikalagni kalaya kalagni rudraya nilakantaya mrityunjayaya sarveshwaraya sadashivaya sreeman mahadevaya namaha || (???????????????? ????:????)

Shvetashwara Upanishad of Vedanta (Yajurveda). Every eyes are his eyes, every hands are his hands, every faces are his faces, every necks are his necks, he's the supreme omnipresent bhagawaan Shiva. (????????. ????). Before the creation of the universe nothing existed except blissful consciousness omkara, then it emanated into universe and after the destruction of universe ???????? alone exists and he recreates the universe. (????????. ????).

Atharvaveda. From Shiva emanates the universal dimensions which is surrounded by prakriti and he's the Isha (Lord) of all, but yet he's the indweller as brahman. (???????????????????? ????:??).

Atharva Veda – A Hymn to Vratya (Rudra) says: ” tásya vrā?tyasya |” (Atharva Veda 15:15:1) ” saptá prā?ā?? saptā?pānā?? saptá vyānā?? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15:2) “Of that Vrātya (Shiva). There are seven vital airs, seven downward breaths, seven diffused breaths”. His seven Prana breaths are depicted as follows. Lord Rudra is the one who manifested as Agni, Sun and Moon, as per the following evidences from Atharva Veda where the following verses are for Vratya (Rudra).

“yò ‘sya prathamá? prā?á ūrdhvó nā?māyá? só agní? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.3)

“His first vital breath, called Upward, is this Agni”.

“yò ‘sya dvitī?ya? prā?á? práu?ho nā?māsáu sá ādityá? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.4)

“His second vital breath, called Mature, is that āditya”.

“yò ‘sya tr?tī?ya? prā?ò ‘bhyū??ho nā?māsáu sá candrámā? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.5)

“His third vital breath, called Approached, is that Moon”.

“yò ‘sya caturthá? prā?ó vibhū?r nā?māyá? sá pávamāna? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.6)

“His fourth vital breath, called Pervading is this Pavamāna”.

“yò ‘sya pa?camá? prā?ó yónir nā?ma tā? imā? ā?pa? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.7)

“His fifth vital breath, called Source, are these Waters”.

“yò ‘sya ?a??há? prā?á? priyó nā?ma tá imé pa?áva? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.8)

“His sixth vital breath, called Dear, are these domestic animals”.

“yò ‘sya saptamá? prā?ó ‘parimito nā?ma tā? imā?? prajā?? |” (Atharva Veda 15:15.9)

“His seventh vital breath, called Unlimited, are these creatures”.

His seven Apana breaths are depicted as follows:

“yò ‘sya prathamò ‘pāná? sā? paur?amāsī?|” (Atharva Veda 15:16.1)

“His first downward breath is the time of Full Moon”.

“yò ‘sya dvitī?yo ‘pāná? sā???akā |” (Atharva Veda 15:16.2)

“His second downward breath is the eighth day after Full Moon”.

“yò ‘sya tr?tī?yo ‘pāná? sā?māvāsyā?|” (Atharva Veda 15:16.3)

“His third downward breath is the night of New Moon”.

“yò ‘sya caturthò ‘pāná? sā? ?raddhā?|” (Atharva Veda 15:16.4)

“His fourth downward breath is Faith”.

“yò ‘sya pa?camò ‘pāná? sā? dīk?ā?|” (Atharva Veda 15:16.5)

“His fifth downward breath is Consecration”.

“yò ‘sya ?a??hò ‘pāná? sá yaj?á? |” (Atharva Veda 15:16.6)

“His sixth downward breath is Sacrifice”.

“yò ‘sya saptamò ‘pānás tā? imā? dák?i?ā? |” (Atharva Veda 15:16.7)

“His seventh downward breath are these sacrificial fees”.

His seven vyana breaths are depicted as follows:

“yò ‘sya prathamó vyāná? séyá? bhū?mi? |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.1)

“His first diffused breath is this Earth”.

“yò ‘sya dvitī?yo vyānás tád antárik?am |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.2)

“His second diffused breath is that Firmament”.

“yò ‘sya tr?tī?yo vyāná? sā? dyáu? |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.3)

“His third diffused breath is that Heaven”.

“yò ‘sya caturthó vyānás tā?ni nák?atrā?i |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.4)

“His fourth diffused breath are those Constellations”.

“yò ‘sya pa?camó vyānás tá r?táva? |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.5)

“His fifth diffused breath are the Seasons”.

“yò ‘sya ?a??hó vyānás tá ārtavā?? |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.6)

“His sixth diffused breath are the Season-groups”.

“yò ‘sya saptamó vyāná? sá sa?vatsará? |” (Atharva Veda 15:17.7)

“His seventh diffused breath is the year”.

Hence the three sets of seven breaths which emerged from Rudra (Vratya) became instrumental in formation of the universe. Does Lord Shiva sometimes being called “Yaksha Swarupa” imply that he may be an alien or another sort of otherworldly being? God Shiva, the Parabrahman is referred with infinite names and Yaksha Swarupa is one of the name.

One line from Shiva Panchakshari Stotram ::

Yaksha swarupaya Jatadharaya, pinaka Hasthaya Sanatanaya

Divyay_devaya digambaraya, tasmai ya-karaya Namah Shivaya

I bow to God Shiva who took the form of a Yaksha, who has heap of matted hair on His head, who holds the Pinaka bow and who is existing from times immemorial, who possess a beautiful body and is naked or clothed as Sky and who doesn't possess any form. When we say God Shiva is formless, it means that all forms are His, since you can't restrict the Parabrahman to any form. Om Namah Shivay