शान्तं-शिवमद्वैतं :- Bhagwan Shiva and his manifold aspects.

Om Namah Shivay.

Today is mahashivratri. There are many, many legends on why exactly is Mahashivratri celebrated. One such legend says that on this day Shiva and Shakti married i.e became one. Another one is that on this day Shiva had conquered all his enemies. Yogis claim that it was this day on which Shiva had attained absolute stillness in meditation.

Is this it?

Do we just celebrate Mahashivratri as a remembrance date just like any other anniversary for the milestone that Lord Shiva had achieved?

"No", says Sadhguru. He thinks that Mahashivratri is a possibility for a spiritual seeker.

"Shivratri, is the darkest day of the month. Celebrating Shivratri on a monthly basis, and the particular day, Mahashivratri, almost seems like celebration of darkness. Any logical mind would resist darkness and naturally opt for light. But the word “Shiva” literally means “that which is not.” “That which is,” is existence and creation. “That which is not” is Shiva. “That which is not” means, if you open your eyes and look around, if your vision is for small things, you will see lots of creation. If your vision is really looking for big things, you will see the biggest presence in the existence is a vast emptiness."

Modern science has gone through many phases and arrived at a point today where they are out to prove to you that everything that you know as life, everything that you know as matter and existence, everything that you know as the cosmos and galaxies, is just one energy which manifests itself in millions of ways.

This scientific fact is an experiential reality in every yogi. The word “yogi” means one who has realized the oneness of the existence. When I say “yoga,” I am not referring to any one particular practice or system. All longing to know the unbounded, all longing to know the oneness in the existence is yoga. The night of Mahashivratri offers a person an opportunity to experience this."

Therefore, it is the night of Mahashivratri on which a spiritual seeker tries to tap on to that area of creation, and look out for answers.

The doorway of spirituality is religion. The doorway to the infinite is the finite. There are various Gods in religion whom people worship in order to concentrate their minds and get disciplined. There is a separate blog of Impulsum on "Why do we worship a Personal God?". When we talk of Hinduism, it is a pluralistic religion. It means that this religion supports multiple gods and demigods. One of the most famous god of Hinduism is Shiva. 

"Salutation to Shiva! whose glory

Is immeasurable, who resembles sky

In clearness, to whom are attributed

The phenomena of all creation,

The preservation and dissolution

Of the universe! May the devotion,

The burning devotion of this my life

Attach itself to Him, to Shiva, who,

While being Lord of all, transcends Himself."

-Swami Vivekananda in a poem dedicated to Bhagwan Shiva. 

When we try to understand Hinduism in its broadest expanse, we find that the personality of Shiva is vaster than the skies and deeper than the ocean. He is the most personal God a Hindu could worship in the Bhakti Marg as well as the most impersonal God that an Advait Vendantin reveres in Gnana Marg. Shiva is worshipped as a person, as well as a formless, transcendent reality. 

Some believe that "Shiva" and "Shankar" are two different terms. "Shankar" is a Hindu God from the Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar trinity and "Shiva" is formless, supreme consciousness. 

Shiva, as a God with form, is superimposed with many qualities. He is Yogiraj - Lord of Yogis as well as Nataraj - Lord of Dance. He is the most feirce, yet the most compassionate. To describe him in terms of qualities is simply impossible.

Seeing Shiva through the eyes of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda can, perhaps, help us understand this character of Hinduism more better.

Sri Ramakrishna refers to Lord Shiva as cosmic consciousness, Brahman, Sachchidananda. Sri Ramakrishna subtly distinguished between the Jiva and Shiva, ‘a man freed from bondage is Śiva; entangled in bondage, he Jiva. Sri Ramakrishna’s Shiva indicates one and the many, where it is the one that becomes many.

Again, when we see Shiva in the light of Swami Vivekananda, he did not limit him to a Yogi or a God or a man with a snake on his neck. He said once,

"Let me tell you again that you must be pure and help anyone who comes to you, as much as lies in your power. And this is good Karma. By the power of this, the heart becomes pure (Chitta-shuddhi), and then Shiva who is residing in everyone will become manifest. He is always in the heart of everyone…. This unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this unselfishness is more spiritual and nearer to Shiva. Whether he is learned or ignorant, he is nearer to Shiva than anybody else, whether he knows it or not. And if a man is selfish, even though he has visited all the temples, seen all the places of pilgrimage, and painted himself like a leopard, he is still further off from Shiva."

One of the important principles Swami Vivekananda learned from his Master was Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva, 'to serve Jiva as Shiva'. Since man is potentially Divine, service to man is indeed service to God. Instead of looking upon a needy person as an object of pity, he is looked upon as an object of worship. Such an attitude elevates both the giver and the recipient.

If someone asks me that what one message separates Vivekananda apart from other religious teachers of the world, I would say it was this very message of his which is the most practical terminology of religions - "Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva" or in short, seeing and serving God in humans.

Quick summary of the blog:-

Firstly we saw the significance of Mahashivratri, then we understood Shiva as a God, a personality. Then we understood Shiva as an actual principle in the path of spirituality. At the end, we even derived the best way to worship Shiva.

Let us end this blog in Shiva's own style, that is, by promising to drink all the poison of the world like Shiva and give the Amruta back!

Thanks,

Daksh Parekh.