Who is Lord Shiva?
He is the Lord of the soul and nature. The shifting of life and liberation comes from Him, bondage in time, and freedom in eternity. He orchestrates the rhythm of life and the eternal cosmic dance of existence, where every movement holds the essence of creation, preservation, and dissolution. He is the embodiment of asceticism and compassion, echoes throughout time as the eternal yogi, the supreme lord of cosmic balance and divine transformation. He is known by many names - Rudra, Bholenath, Shankar, Mahadev, but his most well known one? Lord Shiva.
What is the meaning of Shiva? Shiva = Sha + ee + va ; Sha means 'Shareeram' or 'Body', Ee means 'Eeshwari' or 'Life-giving energy' and Va which stands for 'Vayu' or 'Motion'. This is why followers of Shiva are said to follow 'Shaivism' (Sha-ee-vism) instead of 'Shivism'. Note the word 'Eeshwari', another word for Eeshawari is 'Shakti' which translates to 'Energy'. (Shakti is the fundamental cosmic energy which governs the universe, she embodies feminine energy and is often depicted as the consort of Shiva. On the main shrine page you will see two of my favorite avatars of Shakti, Goddess Durga and Goddess Kali) From the parts of Shiva, if ee is removed, we are left with 'Shava' which literally translates to 'dead body/corpse'. Without Shakti, Lord Shiva is nothing more than a corpse, which clearly depicts the incredible dichotomy of divine masculine and divine feminine energy. One cannot exist without the other. Shiva is with the potential of life, whereas Shava is lifeless.
Which brings us to the deeper understanding that Shiva is life, Shiva is potential for life, Shiva is all encompassing - the universal soul or consciousness.
There are a few different myths that claim to explain the existence of Shiva but this is the most popular. According to myth, Brahma and Vishnu were having an argument. They each thought that they were the strongest god. Suddenly, in the middle of the argument, a blazing pillar appeared. Its branches and roots reached farther than the ends of the earth and heavens. Brahma transformed himself into a goose and flew upwards in an effort to find the top of the pillar, but he failed. Vishnu transformed into a boar and tunneled through the earth to find the roots of the pillar. Neither of the gods could find the end. They returned to where they started just in time to see Shiva appeared from the inside of the pillar. They immediately knew that Shiva had great power and they immediately knew he was an equal and fellow ruler of the universe.
The meaning here is, there is no beginning or end to the pillar. There is no beginning and no end to Shiva. Shiva is infinite.
Contrary to popular belief, Shiva is far from just 'The Destroyer'. He isn't a merciless god who does whatever he pleases at the plight of others. My favorite thing about him is how he isn't one-dimensional. He has various forms, one of them being 'Bholenath', translating to 'The innocent one'. He is gracious and selfless. Why selfless? If you noticed, he has a blue throat. The reason being that once the gods and demons came together to churn the oceans of the world in an effort to find 'Amrita' or 'The Elixir of Life'. This process led to the unearthing of a poison named 'Halahala'. It was so toxic that it could kill everything, and the entirety of creation was at stake. No one was able to take that poison except Shiva. Lord Shiva drank the Halahala poison for the sake of our Universe. Goddess Shakti on seeing this placed her hand on Lord Shiva’s throat to stop the poison from going any further. As a result, his throat turned blue. So, he is called as Nilkanth (translates to 'blue throated'.)
Iconography of Lord Shiva
Shiva is a dark-skinned austere with a blue throat. Shiva’s hair is matted and coiled on his head, adorned with a snake and a crescent moon. River Ganga is always depicted flowing out of his topknot.
Shiva is also the god with three eyes. The third eye, in the middle of his forehead, is always closed and only opens to annihilate an evildoer. While the other Gods are adorned with gold and gemstones, Shiva is adorned with rudraksha beads and a snake hanging from his neck.
The serpents were despised and feared by all other creatures, but found a place of honor in Shiva’s heart, simply because he was moved by their plight. Shiva wore snakes as armlets and bracelets.
Why is he called 'The Destroyer'?
In the Trimurti, Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu is the Preserver and Shiva is the Destroyer. The work of Brahma involved creating new worlds and bringing life to them, that of Vishnu involved managing and sustaining the world with his energies, and that of Shiva involved destroying and withdrawing the manifestations. Everything must one day end, our universe included. Why must it end? So it can begin again, renewed. In Hinduism, there are 4 'yugas' (ages) - Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. The ages get worse as they progress, Kali Yuga effectively being a descent into madness (I think you can guess which yuga we are in currently). Since we are in the last Yuga right now, the universe will end soon (not in our lifetimes or anywhere close so fret not), and it ends when Lord Shiva does his Tandav, his cosmic dance. From his dance, the destructive energies are released and activated that dismantle all of creation.
The origin of the Shiv-Tandav is very interesting. Shiva was married to Sati (The original form of Shakti). One day, Sati's father King Daksha was hosting a prayer ceremony, and invited all the gods - except Shiva. On hearing this Sati was incredibly angry with her father and confronted him at his ceremony. He humiliated Shiva in front of all of the other gods, and unable to tolerate the disrespect towards her husband, she jumped into the fire burning at the ceremony. Shiva became incredibly angry, as one would be after their spouse jumps into a ritual fire. He was so upset that he began dancing the Shiv-Tandav.
The gods who were present at the ceremony tried to calm down Shiva. They scattered the ashes of his wife over the dancing god, which stopped Shiva from completing the dance. Soon faster, he began ignoring all of his duties and roamed the underworld aimlessly, grieving.
Today, Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti are said to be meditating at the top of Mount Kailash, the mysteries of Mount Kailash, we'll discuss another day.
I send you off with three of my favorite songs about Lord Shiva, hope you enjoy them!