Lord Shiva and the Philosophy of His devotion

The scriptural descriptions narrate the simplicity of the wedding ceremony of Shiva and Parvati. He did not go after big people or gods of heavens to join the wedding procession. Rather, he took the ghosts and the palitas along. As praised in the following hymn of the Ramacharit Manas ––

"Tanu Kshina Kou Ati Pita, Pavan Kou Apavan Tanu Dhare"

(Those with ugly, horrifying and diseased bodies were also among Shiva’s Baraatis). Shiva had taken due care of even the deprived and down trodden ones. We should also broaden our hearts and pay attention to those scorned by the society. If we cannot get rid of our hatred, fears and prejudices, we can never enjoy the sense of bliss and fulfilment, the devotees of Shiva deserve.

What is the meaning of our worship and devotion if we don’t learn anything from the truth, from the philosophy of our Deity? We will just continue to perform some rituals, keep crying and praying at His feet without any improvement in our life. Remember that Shiva does not need our flowers and other offerings of worship. Our devotion is real only if we adopt its philosophy in every aspect of life.

An Ox (named Nandi) is said to be the mount of Lord Shankar (Shiva). Why? What does it imply? Well, an ox is known to be an assiduous animal. Any laborious, industrious human can become God Shiva’s favourite irrespective of whether he is an Indian, British, French or anyone else…. We all know that God helps those who help themselves. The ox symbolizes strength, courage and hard work in our (Indian) culture. If we want to become a devotee of Lord Shiva, we will have to be courageous and depend upon our own wisdom and endeavours. No one will open the doors of progress for us. We alone will have to come forward and initiate our ascent in the desired direction. Do you know who rides on a buffalo? Shanicar! (Saturn, as described in the Puranas). A buffalo represents lethargy, dullness and escapism from labor or hard work. It can never be an aid of Shiva. Shiva likes the ever energetic, assiduous ox, Nandi. The latter is described in the Puranas as the vehicle of Shiva (in human form). Shiva takes care of it and loves this pet. We should try to cultivate the qualities of this ox; this is what God wants His devotees to be like…

What else have we read or heard about Lord Shiva from the scriptural descriptions? That He lives in the marghat (crematorium)! Why should He do so? Well, this again is a symbolic depiction. It teaches us that we should always remember death. We get so engrossed in the worldly affairs that we almost forget that death could knock at our door any moment… and then we will have to leave this world instantly. We seem to remember everything else but this bitter reality of life. If we had remembered the absolute fact that we had to die some day or the other, our attitude towards life would have been different. In that case, we would have cared for what we ought and what we ought not to do? We would have been more alert towards our duties.

A home and a crematorium are alike for a duty-bound, altruist person who has acquired pure knowledge. Such a wise man knows that this moment he is living comfortably in the house but any other moment he would be no more and his body would rest in peace in a crematorium or a graveyard; then he will have new life and a new home and so on…. Today’s life would be tomorrow’s death, which would again turn into new life someday… This is how the cycle of life continues… Life and death are like the relay games of day and night. Then why should we be scared of death? Rather, we should remember it to make our life more meaningful, more useful, and more enlightened every day. This is another significant teaching of Shiva’s Philosophy of Life.

If we look carefully and ponder over it, we will find that innumerable teachings are hidden in Lord Shiva’s manifestations as we see Him in the temples and religious stories. We often find His depiction in human-like form with a coating of ash on his body. If we knew the righteous attitude of life and the ideal mode of living, the importance of this ash-coating would have been crystal clear to us. Many of us put the bhasm (ash) of the sacred fire of yagya (agnihotra or homam) on our forehead with great reverence. But do we know the meaning of this religious ritual? The most important implication of smearing bhasm on any part of the body is to recall the Vedic teaching that– this body is going to become (a heap of) ash one day. That means, this body might either get mixed in the soil or water or fly like the dust particles with the wind. This physical body of ours, which we are so proud of and are so much attached to, is going to be crushed (with the soil) beneath others’ feet one day.

If we are His true devotees, the bhasm on Shiva’s body should constantly remind us of this ultimate reality and therefore keep us away from the ego and attachments that arise because of our mistaken identity with the physical body.

The Third Eye: The three eyes of Lord Shiva are often the focus of mythological interpretations and mystic curiosity. Representation of His manifestation in humanlike form should have shown only two eyes like the normal humans have. Is the third eye mere all egoric depiction? Or, does it signify some hidden facets…? In fact, the third eye symbolizes the source of sagacity – pure, discreet wisdom. This centre in the human body is hidden subtly in an endocrine gland inside the brain right behind the position (on the forehead) where the third eye of Shiva is depicted.

We have read a story in the shastric scripture which mentions of Kamadeva being burnt into ashes due to the opening of Shiva’s third eye. Kamadeva the Lord of amour had once tried to sinfully entice and influence Lord Shiva. Then, Lord Shiva just opened His third eye. The divine radiations emanating there from instantly burnt the gross body of Kamadeva. Have you ever thought about the truth behind this mythological anecdote? It conveys the fact that the insidious force of erotic thoughts and sexual excitation can be instantly checked and eliminated if our discerning prudence is awakened. The opening of the third eye means awakening of our sagacity and creative activation of our inner wisdom.

The third eye is subtly located in the third dimension inside our brain. It teaches us to look into the deeper aspects of every phenomenon, every thought and every experience. Our ordinary eyes (the two eyes on our faces) see only extrovertly; they can only show us our materialistic gains and losses or the worldly affairs in the limited peripheries of our interactions. The needs of the body or the sense organs are easily seen by them. But there is a third eye, which opens inward. It enables us to look deeply in the sublime folds of mind and shows us the world of inner peace, everlasting happiness and absolute truth. This is the eye of foresight and clairvoyance.

When a sincere devotee of Lord Shiva seeks refuge under His grace, he first inspects his own character and conduct to check whether or not he measures up to the virtuous standards with respect to the philosophy of Shiva. The human-like image of God Shiva is a kind of an ideal model for the true devotee. A potter makes a pot in the desired design by processing and fixing the clay into appropriate mould. The devotee should also try to mould his personality, his attitude, his thinking, his life, etc. as per the ideals of his Deity. Our worship and devotional practices have no meaning without commensurate endeavours of refinement and improvement in our thoughts, behaviour and deeds.

The Sanskrit word for devotional worship is "Upasana", which literally means ‘sitting nearby’. Sitting near the fire makes we feel warm. Similarly, sitting near God should inspire us with His attributes. Sitting in the closed vicinity of a powerful source of energy would bestow the associated significant effects on us only if there is a linkage, a direct connection between the source and the beneficiary. A piece of wood becomes fire only when it sacrifices itself in the fire nearby. This is how "upasana" brings the desired results only if the devotee sets a live linkage of his inner self with the Deity of his worship. For this, he has to discipline and mould himself as per the inspirations of his God. We, the aspirants of the beatitude of Lord Shiva, should also consciously and ceaselessly attempt at transforming ourselves according to the ideals of His manifestation. We should endeavour opening our third eye (that means awaken our intuitive insight and pure intellect).

The very purpose of murti puja (idol-worship) in Indian Culture is to enable the masses to access and imbibe the teachings and inspirations of divine emanations. Every idol, every symbol of God’s manifestation represented here is indicative of some important teaching related to the spiritual evolution of human consciousness. Unfortunately, we often get engrossed in worshipping the gross form – the idol of God and consider the performance of some customary rituals, chanting of some prayers etc. as all that is required for His devotion. Even if we have read or heard about the occult significance of the symbols of divine manifestations, we don’t seem to remember anything. We just want to take shortcuts and regard ourselves great devotees simply by symbolic worship.

The word "Shiva" in Sanskrit means highest good. Lord Shiva (Shiva) is the presiding Deity of eternal, auspicious well-being of all creation. But we, the so-called worshippers of Shiva never even think of global good. (Forget about global, we don’t even attempt to expand the narrow domain of our selfish interests and engage ourselves in altruistic service and upliftment of the needy around us). We keep chanting "Om Namah Shivaya" but don’t bother to know its meaning; in reality, Shiva is far away from our lives. We don’t even know what is the true well-being of our soul or our own life and how to attain it? The japa (rhythmic chanting) of Shiva’s name will be beatifying if "Shiva" (Highest Good) is embodied in our attitude, aspirations, thoughts and deeds. It is time we realize that worshipping only the external, gross form is no better than not doing anything at all.

Be Blessed by Shiva’s Grace: The Almighty God of Hindu religion for whom we observe fasting on Shivaratri, perform japa, ceremonial worship, sacred ablution (abhisheka) and what not… can’t He, the Omnipotent, destroy all evils and eliminate our adversities? Can’t He help us in our progress? He indeed can and He will, if we are His deserving devotees. He loves all of us and wants to bestow all His grace upon us; but it is our infirmities, our vices that hinder or limit the flow of His blessings. His grace is like the water-laden clouds. (The clouds shower the treasure of rains without discrimination wherever they fall). But how much water a pond or a pot would collect from the rain depends upon its own capacity. If we deserve, we will surely be beatified by Shiva’s enormous generosity. His beatitudes will continue to grow as our abilities, our merits increase and we shall get everything that a true devotee of Shankara deserves.

We discussed today the meaning and philosophy of the gross manifestations of Lord Shiva as described in the Puranas. A large number of stories and rhetoric descriptions are also available in the texts that lucidly illustrate the great teachings and philosophies of the other incarnations and manifestations of Hindu Gods. There lived about 33 crore people on the Indian subcontinent in the Vedic Age. They were the true devotees, spiritually enlightened, virtuous men and women, who, because of their divine characteristics were revered as 33 crore devatas on this earth. If we had tried to search and grasp the truth behind the teachings of the Puranas and put into practice the Vedic philosophy, we also would have been like those pearls of the human society and would have gloriously accomplished the divine purpose of our life.

We are lucky to have been born on this sacred land, which once upon a time was the Land of gods. It can and should still regain its glory, if we, the devotees, the worshipers of the Vedic Philosophy, sincerely adopt its values and attempt towards spiritual elevation of our conduct and refinement of the ambience around us. Divine beings generate love, peace, beauty, piety, bliss and prosperity wherever we go. We should also adopt and expand such qualities.