pls tell me about LORD SHIVA in brief.......?

Answer 1

Shaiva Siddhantham is the philosophy of Shaivism that has its roots in the thirumuRais along with the vedas and shiva Agamas. This philosophy which suggests the truth of existence of God, souls and the inanimate bondages as different entities altogether has been elaborated more with the philosophical texts called santhAna nUlkaL. This site deals with this aspect of Shaivism.

Shiva (Sanskrit: Auspicious One) is one of the main deities of Hinduism that is worshipped as the paramount lord by the Shaivaite sects of India.

In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is regarded as the representation of the Supreme Being. He is known as the third element in the Hindu Trinity (Trimurti), the other two members being Lord Brahma - the creator and Lord Vishnu - the protector. Shiva is the destructive form of the Almighty. As the cycle of destruction and recreation is always in a circle, Shiva’s primary responsibility is maintaining the life cycle. Scholars say, as the Mahakaal, Shiva destroys and dissolves everything into nothingness but as Shankara, he also reproduces that which has been destroyed and dissolved. His symbol of Lingam or the phallus represents this reproductive power.

Answer 2

Lord Siva personifies desirelessness, inner strength, goal of self realization and power of silent contemplation.

Answer 3

SHIVA IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE DESTROYER, ITS THE THIRD MEMBER OF THE TRIMURTI ALONG WITH BRAHMA THE CREATOR AND VISHNU THE PRESERVER.

Answer 4

When he destroys, he creates. This is the cosmic dance in brief. Very brief.

Answer 5

SIVA Shiva From Sanskrit siva benign, auspicious, attested in the Rig-Veda. From the Yajur-Veda onwards, it was used as a euphemistic epithet of the terrifying god Rudra. The name Siva is unknown to the Vedas, but Rudra, another name of this deity, and almost equally common, occurs in the Veda both in the singular and plural, and from these the great deity Siva and his manifestations, the Rudras, have been developed. In the Rig-veda the word Rudra is used for Agni, and the Maruts are called his sons. In other passages he is distinct from Agni. He is lauded as “the lord of Bongs, the lord of sacrifices, who hea1s remedies, is brilliant as the sun, the best and most bountiful of gods, who grants prosperity and welfare to horses and sheep, men, women, and cows; the lord of nourishment, who drives away diseases, dispenses remedies, and removes sin; but, on the other hand he is the wielder of the thunderbolt, the bearer of bow and arrows, and mounted on his chariot is terrible as a wild beast, destructive and fierce.” In the Yajur-veda there is a long prayer called Satarudriya which is addressed to him and appeals to him under a great variety of epithets. He is “auspicious, not terrible;” “the deliverer, the first divine physician;” he is “blue-necked and red-coloured, who has a thousand eyes and bears a thousand quivers;” and in another hymn he is called “Tryambaka, the sweet-scented in- creaser of prosperity;” “a medicine for kine and horses, a medicine for men, and a (source of) ease to rams and ewes.” In the Atharva-veda he is still the protector of cattle, but his character is fiercer. He is " dark, black, destroying, terrible.” He is the “fierce god,” who is besought to betake himself elsewhere, “and not to assail mankind with consumption, poison, or celestial fire.” The Brahmanas tell that when Rudra was born he wept, and his father, Prajapati, asked the reason, and on being told that he wept because he had not received a name, his father gave him the name of Rudra (from the root rod, ‘weep’). They also relate that at the request of the gods he pierced Prajapati because of his incestuous intercourse with his daughter. In another place he is said to have applied to his father eight successive times for a name, and that he received in succession the names Bhava, Sarva, Pasu-pati, Ugradeva, Mahandeva, Rudra, Isana, and Asani. In the Ramayana Shiva is a personal god rather than the supreme deity. He receives worship alongside Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra, but acknowledges Rama’s divinity and seems lower in status than Vishnu. In the Mahabharata though the supreme position is once again usually given to Vishnu or Krishna, there are passages where those gods pay homage to Shiva. Shiva’s connection with the Vedic god Rudra is evident in the terrifying aspects of his character. As Bhutesvara ‘lord of ghosts’, he frequents cemeteries and cremation grounds. As Kala ‘the black one’, he is the personification of Time the Destroyer. Shiva performs a dance of destruction (see NATARAJ), and his third eye is capable of destroying the universe. However, Shiva is also the great ascetic. He Sits in the Himalayas, scantily clad and with matted locks, deep in meditation. This is the source of his immense power, which can be creative as well as destructive. His generative power is symbolized by his most popular image in worship, the linga, or phallic emblem. In most Shiva temples this stands on a circular podium called the yarn, a symbolic vagina. Shiva is the centre of numerous myths which explain his iconographical features. His blue throat comes of drinking the poison which was produced at the churning of the ocean’. He wears the River Ganges in his hair because he had to break her fall from heaven in order to give the earth the benefit other life-giving waters. The bull Nandi is his vehicle and the trident his weapon. Durga is his wife, and Ganesh and Skanda are his sons. Shiva is worshipped throughout India, but Benares is regarded as particularly sacred to him. In the Upanishads his character is further developed. He declares to the inquiring gods, “I alone was before (all things), and I exist and I shall be. No other transcends me. I am eternal and not eternal, discernible and undiscernible, I am Brahma and I am not Brahma.” Again it is said, “He is the only Rudra, he is lsana, he is divine, he is Maheswara, he is Mahadeva.” “There is only one Rudra, there is no place for a second. He rules this fourth world, controlling and productive; living beings abide with him, united with him. At the time of the end he annihilates all worlds, the protector.” “He is without beginning, middle, or end; the one, the pervading, the spiritual and blessed, the wonderful, the consort of Uma, the supreme lord, the three-eyed, the blue-throated, the tranquil ...He is Brahma, he is Siva, he is Indra; he is undecaying, supreme, self-resplendent; he is Vishnu, he is breath, he is the spirit, the supreme lord; he is all that hath been or that shall be, eternal Knowing him, a man overpasses death. There is no other way to liberation.” In the Ramayana Siva is a great god, but the references to him have more of the idea of a personal god than of a supreme divinity. He is represented as fighting with Vishnu, and as receiving worship with Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra, but he acknowledges the divinity of Rama, and holds a less exalted position than Vishnu. The Maha-bharata also gives Vishnu or Krishna the highest honour upon the whole. But it has many passages in which Siva occupies the supreme p~ and receives the homage and worship of Vishnu and Krishna. “Maha-deva,” it says, “is an all-pervading god yet is nowhere seen; he is the creator and the lord of Brahma, Vishnu, and Indra, whom the gods, from Brahma to the Pisachas, worship.” The rival claims of Siva and Vishnu to supremacy are clearly displayed in this poem; and many of those powers and attributes are ascribed to them which were afterwards so widely developed in the Puranas. Attempts also are made to reconcile their conflicting claims by representing Siva and Vishnu, Siva and Krishna, to be one, or, as it is expressed at a later time in the Hari-vansa, there is “no difference between Siva who exists in the form of Vishnu, and Vishnu who exists in the form of Siva.” The Puranas distinctly assert the supremacy of their particular divinity, whether it be Siva or whether it be Vishnu, and they have developed and amplified the myths and allusions of the older writings into numberless legends and stories for the glorification and honour of their favourite god. The Rudra of the Vedas has developed in the course of ages into the great and powerful god Siva, the third deity of the Hindu triad, and the supreme god of his votaries. He is shortly described as the destroying principle, but his powers and attributes are more numerous and much wider. Under the name of Rudra or Maha-kala, he is the great destroying and dissolving power. But destruction in Hindu belief implies reproduction; so as Siva or Sankara, ‘the auspicious,’ he is the reproductive power which is perpetually restoring that which has been dissolved, and hence he is regarded as lswara, the supreme lord, and Maha-deva, the great god. Under this character of restorer he is represented by his symbol the Linga or phallus, typical of reproduction; and it is under this form alone, or combined with the Yoni, or female organ, the representative of his Sakti, or female energy, that he is everywhere worshipped. Thirdly, he is the Maha-yogi, the great ascetic, in whom is centred the highest perfection of austere penance and abstract meditation, by which the most unlimited powers are attained, marvels an miracles are worked, the highest spiritual knowledge is acquired, and union with the great spirit of the universe is eventually gained. In this character he is the naked ascetic Dig-ambara, ‘clothed with the elements,’ or Dhur-jati, ‘loaded with matted hair,’ and his body smeared with ashes. His first or destructive character is sometimes intensified, and he becomes Bhairava, ‘the terrible destroyer,’ who takes a pleasure in destruction. He is also Bhuteswara, the lord of ghosts and goblins. In these characters he haunts cemeteries and places of cremation, wearing serpents round his head and skulls for a necklace, attended by troops of imps and trampling on rebellious demons. He some- times indulges in revelry, and, heated with drink, dances furiously with his wife Devi the dance called Tandava, while troops of drunken imps caper around them. Possessed of so many powers and attributes, he has a great number of names, and is represented under a variety of forms. One authority enumerates a thousand and eight names, but most of these are descriptive epithets, as Tri-lochana, ‘the three-eyed,’ Nila-kantha, ‘the blue-throated,’ and Panch-anana, ‘the five-faced.’ Siva is a fair man with five faces and four arms. He is commonly represented seated in profound thought, with a third eye in the middle of his forehead, contained in or surmounted by the moon's crescent; his matted locks are gathered up into a coil like a born, which bears upon it a symbol of the river Ganges, which he caught as it fell from heaven; a necklace of skulls (munda-mala), hangs round his neck, and serpents twine about his neck as a collar (naga-kundala); his neck is blue from drinking the deadly poison which would have destroyed the world, and in his hand he holds a trisula or trident called Pinaka. His garment is the skin of a tiger, a deer, or an elephant, hence he is called Kritti-vasas; sometimes he is clothed in a skin and seated upon a tiger-skin, and he holds a door in his hand. He is generally accompanied by his bull Nandi. He also carries the bow Ajagava, a drum (damaru) in the shape of an hour-glass the Khatwanga or club with a skull at the end, or a cord (pasa) for binding refractory offenders. His Pramathas or attendants are numerous, and are imps and demons of various kinds. His third eye has been very destructive. With it he reduced to ashes Kama, the god of love, for daring to inspire amorous thoughts of his consort Parvati while he was engaged in penance; and the gods and all created beings were destroyed by its glance at one of the periodical destructions of the universe. He is represented to have cut off one of the heads of Brahma. for speaking disrespectfully, so that Brahma. has only four heads instead of five. Siva is the great object of worship at Benares under the name of Visweswara. His heaven is on Mount Kailasa. -