Today, I am the mood of sharing my favorite Being, Lord Shiva in Vedic puranas (histories) as told by my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji) in March 2010 on the auspicious day of Shivaratri.
Shiva, the very word means eternal auspiciousness, auspiciousness without reason or cause. When something exists without cause or reason, it’s eternal. Even if you look at the extraordinary qualities of Mahadeva, when he sits in silence as Dakshinmurthy, he puts people into enlightenment, under the banyan tree. When he dances, he puts people into bliss as Nataraja – the Cosmic Dancer! When he destroys, he destroys all negativity as Kalabhairava. When he decides to show compassion, he can take any poison and swallow it with no limit. When he decides to destroy, he will destroy even death, Yama. When he decides to save, he will go to any extent to save others, how he swallowed the poison to save the world, risking even his own body.
The grandeur with which he expresses the experience, he showers on people who even remember him, Sadashiva, the ultimate Guru, ultimate Yogi, ultimate King, Ishwara, ultimate Leader, ultimate Bliss, ultimate compassion, ultimate life. With all these qualities, he is not too far away, very easy to approach, easily pleased. Nothing much is required to please him. That is why he’s called Bole Baba (easily pleased).
Shivaratri is the celebration of Lord Shiva appearing as an eternal light shaft as Arunachala, to give the opportunity to Brahma (Lord of creation) and Vishnu (Lord of Maintenance), to find the head and feet of Mahadeva. Shivaratri is the day when intense cosmic energy radiates.
Shiva, Mahadeva – the extraordinary experience and the extraordinary being which is beyond our physical plane. He enters the physical plane as a master in the body, for people to experience all the auspicious qualities experienced as life and not just as a belief. He is the charmer of the Kundalini snake (inner potential energy). He can play with the Kundalini snake which resides in every being.
Shivaratri is the day we are supposed to constantly dive into the qualities of Mahadeva the whole day. He is the energy which burns the Manmatha (fantasy), before marriage. He destroys fantasy and then gets married to Devi, he first establishes himself and then marries Devi.
Not only fearless, even fear fears him. A being never touched by time (Kala), Kala fears him. Tripura asura (a demon) represents 3 confusions anava, kanma, maya, 3 kinds of worries i.e. worries related to past, related to future and the possibility of present. Understand, there can’t be worry in the present but there can be worry about the present. So, in present you can’t have worry but about the present you can have worry. He is beyond the worries because he had burnt the Tripura asuras.
Being established in love, constantly sharing, that’s why he’s not a dry sannyasi, see the whole family around him. He is an amazing being, you can’t classify him as a householder because he’s the founder of Adhi Natha, you can’t say he’s a dry sannyasi. Devi is there, Ganesha is there and Subramania is there.
You can’t classify him, he’s just beyond the imagination, you can neither say he’s male nor say he’s female, when he comes in the form Ardhanareeshwara. By his extraordinary love and giving nature, he has given half of his very being to Devi, eternal giver and expression of unique energy, you can’t compare him with anything. Shiva has all kinds of beings – boothas predhas pishasa, muni, gandharva yaksha living around him in Mount Kailasha. Mount Kailash must be the craziest commune on the planet earth.
Mahadeva is incomparable unique energy and beyond ego, just a simple innocent being and above all the Eternal Bliss. Remember these 7 qualities of Mahadeva:
1. Fantasyless being
2. Being beyond fear
3. Being without worries
4. Sharing giving, always giving
5. A being who’s unique
6. So simple and easily available
7. Being in eternal fulfillment- Nithyananda
Lord Shiva is filled with Ananda Kalyana Guna, thousands and thousands of auspicious qualities, here are only 7 qualities to begin with.
By sheer remembrance of the auspicious qualities of Sadashiva who resides in every being, we can simply experience the same qualities within all of us. Namaste 😀