Shiva, the Mahadev, the one who is supreme of all beings and is the source of all energy in the world, is often misunderstood.
Often enough we have heard several manifestations of Shiva in different religions and beliefs. People are writing books on Shiva, making television series, and conducting debates over Shiva.
Hence it becomes quite essential to identify a correct and accurate description of Shiva. Apparently, if you would look at Indian traditional paintings, you would find several Shiva paintings and frescos dated thousands of years back.
This proves that the essence of Shiva is not new, its relevance, its popularity, its origin, etc, everything is known to humans even in the pre-historic times.
Despite all the popularity and narration that has run the course for stretched out time-span, the true comprehension of Shiva is still not known to many.
This blog is specifically focused to define what Shiva is, in true terms. Let’s start:
Shiva is darkness, not light
If you want to understand notions that are beyond your subtle understanding, try to be more receptive to new ways of looking at things.
There is a common idea that almighty is the representation of light and brightness. Contrarily to this, Lord Shiva is darkness. How can it be? If He is the Supreme One, then he should be a representative of light, not darkness, right?
Understand that Shiva, in Sanskrit, means ‘which is not’. So, when you stare up in the night, you see a sky full of stars, isn’t it?
But you never try to visualise sky from another perspective. If you would consider the size of the universe to the number of stars that are present, it is not even 1% of the entire space.
What I mean to say is that the next time you are looking up, remember you are seeing a vast emptiness with very few stars. This emptiness that has gobbled up our universe and is the source of all life is been deemed as Shiva.
Needless to say, that emptiness in space is dark too.
We as people are always inclined to the manifestation of deities as delegates of light because of the nature of visual structure that we carry.
So, we prefer light but fail to apprehend with the fact that light is a limited happening and will eventually fade away, which means it isn’t eternal.
In a similar context, if you see darkness, you know it has more opportunities for existence than light. Darkness doesn’t need a source or initiator, it is there even when nothing is there. Darkness is the only aspect that is preponderating in a true sense.
In India, if you would tell someone that you think darkness is an epitome of supreme power, they would deem you like as devil’s preacher and would disregard your opinions.
Some artists who design exquisite Shiva Paintings have also manifested as Him as a Demon God.
But if you look at it as a proper progression and as a concept, there is no idea or theory more rational and meaningful that explains the creation of the universe.
Even in traditional Indian art, Shiva is being represented as a Supreme One that is nothing but darkness.
The Adiyogi
Yogic culture has a narration of the first Yogi who walked on this Earth. He was the one who introduced the world to 84 known Yogic postures.
This Adiyogi never introduced himself but his followers started calling him Shiva, the one which is not.
Shiva laid the foundation for Yogic science as we know today.
Yoga is the way to identify and utilise the limitless possibility our life can reach to. It is the means by which we come to know about the power of the human body.
The tale of Sapt Rishis (the seven sages), the first of Shiva’s followers, receiving the knowledge and secret exposition to unlock the inner strength, by Adiyogi, on the banks of Kanti Sarovar, in Kedarnath (Himalayas) is being seen depicted in several paintings of traditional Indian art.
Yogic and ancient cultures referred to these lessons as the tools that can assist humans in raising their consciousness.
Shiva – is nothing
A yogi is someone who has experienced his existence as himself. Don’t get confused.
To experience what cosmos are all about and how your life is contributing and participating in the cyclic and inevitable whirl of life, you have to be that nothingness.
Without experiencing nothingness or Shiva (as I like to call it), you cannot expect to reach the spiritual ladder of consciousness.
This is so because, if you expect to contain the entirety of the universe, you have to become nothing. If you are something, it would become insurmountable for you to embrace everything.
Understand like this – Earth holds ocean, the solar system contains earth, the galaxy encompasses solar system and so on. The deeper you go, the easier it becomes for you to apprehend that it is nothingness, that empty space of darkness, that holds the entire universe.
Summary
Unfortunately, how we manifest Shiva today is all we can experience from the depictions in traditional Indian art paintings and calendars.
Shiva is more than everything and can never be something. He opened the door of consciousness to humanity thousands of years ago.
It won’t be rational to think that there were no advancements in those times as the outcome of Yogic Science come from inner realization and not some intellectual notion or a mathematical approach.
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