Shiva: the Lord as white as jasmine

Hari Aum.

I have been wanting to write in praise of Lord Shiva for a long time and today seems like an ideal opportunity.

I would like to start by quoting a poem by a famous poet-saint devotee of Lord Shiva called Akka Mahadevi. She lived in the 12 century in southern India and worshipped Lord Shiva by the name "Chenna mallikarjuna" which translates as "lord as white as jasmine". She was for Lord Shiva what Mirabai was for lord Krishna.

Here is one poem by Akka Mahadevi expressing her devotion for Lord Shiva:

"Him who illumines":

I have seen Him in His divine form,

Him with the matted locks,

Him with the jewelled crown,

Him with the gleaming teeth,

Him with the smiling face,

Him who illumines the fourteen worlds with
the light of His eyes.

I have Him and the thirst of my eyes is
quenched.

I have seen the great Lord whom the men
among men serve but as wives.

I have seen the Supreme Guru Chenna Mallikarjuna
sporting with the Primeval Shakti,
And saved am I."

The Supreme Being, the nameless formless, genderless One has all names and all forms. Some of the many names of this Supreme Being are Shiva, Shankara, Vishnu, Narayana, Skanda, Ganesha, Parameshvara, Parameshvari, Durga, Narayani, Saraswati and so on. There is no end to the names and forms of that Being who is infinite.

Shiva and Vishnu are two well-known names of the One Parameshvara, God with male form.

There is no difference between Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. So says my Guru Sivananda. Shiva is Vishnu and Vishnu is Shiva. The mantras of Lord Shiva lead one to the same Goal of liberation as the mantras of Vishnu- as per my Guru. (Similarly Durga/Lakshmi/Saraswati mantras also lead to the same goal as Shiva/Vishnu mantras).

Shiva is a particularly beautiful form of God. He is depicted as fair in colour, of handsome appearance, with a beautiful face, lotus like eyes and impressive matted locks (through which goddess Ganga, the sacred river, emerges). Although He is the source of all wealth in the world, material and spiritual, His beauty is expressed in simplicity. There are no jewels and silks here, He shines in His own pristine beauty. 

His beautiful form is smeared with ash-  one of the things symbolised by ash is the perishable nature of the world- we all turn to ash in the end (physically speaking). He wears a tiger skin over His lower body, and the King of cobras decorates His neck. On His hair, glitters the crescent moon and in His hand, He holds the trident. His throat is stained blue by the poison He swallowed to protect the world.

The form of Lord Shiva shows beauty in austerity. He is the master of yogis, the supreme Guru. He is the embodiment of all that is pure, spotless and noble.

Mount Kailash is His home where He resides with His wife Parvati and the divine family Ganesh, Kartikeya and His devotee Nandi.

He creates, maintains and dissolves all creation. He has infinite forms including the sweet auspicious form as Shiva, and the fierce form as Rudra. He is known as Ashutosh, one who is easily pleased. Bael leaves are dear to Him. He is Nataraja, the cosmic dancer. 

He is the husband of Parvati (who is known by many names including Uma and Durga). Numerous are His Lilas. There are many mantras used to worship Him- one of the most famous is the sacred panchakshara "Om Namah Shivaya". This is a moksha mantra which leads to bhakti, jnana and mukti as per my Guru Sivananda.
His great mantra the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra grants long life, health, protection from accidents/untimely death and also gives liberation (I chant this mantra always for protection when I start any journey by road, rail or air - a tradition followed by Swami Vishudevananda, disciple of Swami Sivananda).

He is said to have incarnated on earth in the form of the great Guru Adi Shankara in the 8th century. He established Advaita Vedanta, the world's most liberal tolerant philosophy, all over India. Advaita holds that all is God. All forms are that of God. It is the ultimate monotheistic philosophy in that it holds that there is nothing but God. God alone exists. The One appears as many. It grants freedom to the devotee to worship God in whatever form he or she wishes. 

It is sad therefore to hear of people squabble with each other over the superiority of their version of God. This is simply ignorant. It is ignorance to say that Vishnu is superior to Shiva, or that Shiva is superior to Vishnu. Or that Shiva/Vishnu is superior to the Goddess. Or that any name and form of God is superior to any other. Advaita holds that all names and all forms of God are equal and worship of all these are a valid way to liberation, mukti. 

Advaita also holds that God can be attained via a variety of paths- the path of bhakti, jnana, nishkama karma. The right hand path, the left hand path, there are so many paths. We have to choose a path that suits us, and while this may the best path for us (based on our temperaments, samskaras etc), we should understand that other paths may be suitable for others (based on their nature/samskaras). It is foolish to tell other people that their way is wrong. To each their own way. God alone decides which path He/She wants each one of us to take- therefore we have no right to criticise the way of others.

Obviously all spiritual paths, no matter how different they appear externally (in terms of rituals/mantras/names and forms of God), must have some things in common. This common base of all paths is the yamas and niyamas- yogic ethics. Ahimsa (non-violence, cosmic love), Satya (truth), brahmacharya (control of the senses) are three great principles on which all genuine spiritual paths are based all over the world. 

Coming back to Lord Shiva, I am sharing one of my favourite short prayers to Him here (sloka from the Yajur Veda):

Karpura gauram, karuna avataram,

Samsara saram, bhujagendra haram,

Sada vasantam, hridaya aravinde,

Bhavam Bhavani sahitam namami.

Meaning:

The One who is as white as camphor, the embodiment of compassion, the essence of the world, whose garland is the serpent king, who ever resides in the lotus of the heart, to that Lord and His consort Bhavani, I offer my obeisances.

I would like to conclude by quoting another beautiful poem by the saint Akka Mahadevi.

She says:

"I have fallen in love, O mother with the

Beautiful One, who knows no death,
knows no decay and has no form;

I have fallen in love, O mother with the

Beautiful One, who has no middle, 

has no end, has no parts and has no features;

I have fallen in love, O mother with the

Beautiful One, who knows no birth and
knows no fear.

I have fallen in love, O mother with the

Beautiful One, who is without any family,
without any country and without any peer;

Chenna Mallikarjuna, the Beautiful, is my husband.

Fling into the fire the husbands who are subject
to death and decay."

And finally, this is an excellent book by my Guru Sivananda which describes in great detail some methods of worshiping Lord Shiva and attaining His Grace:

http://www.dlshq.org/download/lordsiva.htm

Om Namah Shivaya. 

Om Shri Durgayai Namah

Om Shri Gurave Namah

Hari Aum Tat Sat

P.S. As far as I am concerned, I feel that I am worshiping One Parameshvara who is Vishnu and who is Shiva. That One when He wears silks and sandal paste is Vishnu, the same One when He wears white ash and the crescent moon is Shiva. Both are equally stunning, they are two spectacular forms of the same God.

I dedicate all my mantra purascharana sadhana at the holy feet of Lord Hara, Lord Shiva who is equal to, and the same as, Lord Hari, Lord Vishnu.

Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namo Narayanaya.