Hinduism~ Why is Shiva called Neelkanthh ..??

Question

What great teaching we must understand from this name ??

Answer 1

As usual I am sure you did not want the story, you wanted the meaning.

Now with the blessings of God, the divines continued to churn the ocean and got the amR^ita. God gave the amR^ita to the divines, but had only the poison. For the Lord, Who remains Eternal even after the divines who ate the amR^ita die, what is the need for amR^ita ? He is the greatest amR^ita one can seek!

The story has wonderful messages, but the one relevant to us at this stage is that the poison thrown out can destroy others outside. If taken in, it can destroy the consumer. But suspended within, it harms nobody. The average person must learn to do that within himself. He must discover that the whole universe is suspended within and a little emotion like anger, love, etc., makes no real difference.

Answer 2

The "why" is already answered over and over again.

The Lesson:

from the name: Neelkanth is pointing to a dark-blue patch on the neck, which is a deformity. However, we still pray and believe Shiva to be the greatest of all Gods and the most easy to please. The name says that even deformity is admirable in one who saves the world.

from the event: That Shiva alone was above and beyond the event of finding amrut and poison. And if this be the case, can Amrut be more important than Shiva. Amrut can give eternal life only - and life needs so many other things to be successful and happy.

Answer 3

He is called neelkanth or the blue necked because when the ocean was churned by the devaas and demons ,it was him who drank the halahal/poison that came out in order to protect the creation from it.
I understand that: 1) Shiva is the best.His love is most pure.He takes upon himself the difficulties of his people.His sacrifice is supreme .His selflessness makes him even more beautiful
2)A great soul is one who is ever engaged in welfare of others ; he gives the good portion to others while drinking the poison himself.Just as Shiva drank the poison and it enhanced his beauty ; sacrifice for welfare of others is not really poison , it is therein that lies the beauty of a person

Answer 4

Lord Shiva alone came forward to drink the snake VASUKI's poison while milk sea was churned for AMRUTH. Parvathi holds his throat & His throat becomes BLUE. Hence Shiva is Neelkanth.
Lesson;- Do not seek joy alone, bear with, the BITTERNESS what life gives.

Answer 5

I have been trying to understand the meaning behind this story and my simple interpretation in todays world is this : We meet all types of people lots of them are not very consious about what they speak often times saying bad things about others on their back, a term called as bitching.

People listen to such talk and then go and say these things to others, and the cycle goes on getting more deeper and murkier at every additional step.

Such bad talks pollutes our mind and cause misunderstanding which ultimately leads to misery and pain to everyone involved.

Very few people can listen to all this talk and not blurt it out but just let it stay suspended in your mind. The symbol of throat indicates that you control it there.

Such bad talk/thought is like a poison and a person who decides to store such poison rather than letting it go does a great benefit to society and his/her friends, but also suffers due to its ill effects, this is symbolized by the suffering Shiva had to go thru after drinking poison.

Color blue symbolizes a peaceful and tranquil nature, and the controlling of this thought poison by Shiva brings about peace/tranquility to himself and others.

Answer 6

While the wicked and gods were churning the ocean there were two things which came out of it one was nectar and other was poison and so god Shiva said that he will take the poison in his throat and will not swallow it, therefore they say that even today god holds it at his throat and if he swallows it we all will die, And as he has that poison his throat is now blue in color and so he is called neelkanth.

Answer 7

many people have answered the first part of the question from the scriptures.

as for the teaching this is my understanding.

one cannot escape karma. for every action that you do, you have to reap the benefits or negatives. don't blame any body but yourself.

even shiva couldn't escape the karma of swallowing poison and holding it in his throat - his kanth has turned blue.

Answer 8

Due to his consumption of Poison which was stopped in his Throat by Maa Durga, Shivas throat became Blue. Thus he Became Neelakanta.

Answer 9

Shiva swalloed poison and stored in the throat at the time of ksheera sagara madanam.

Answer 10

Because Shiva swallowed and kept the poison in his neck - thus named as Neelkantha (one with Blue Neck), which is an indication that Yogi's should help others in pain. It is also an indication that when we meditate (straight spinal cord = Meru Mountain) and witness our good (angles) and bad (devil) thoughts, we get special power (Sidhis).