शिवरात्रि की हार्दिक शुभ कामनाये. "SHIVA"

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शिवरात्रि की हार्दिक शुभ कामनाये. "SHIVA"

Post by pradeep_shaktawat »

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Happy Shiv Ratri to all THC Members.

Extracted from Chinmaya Vani, the monthly issue of The Chinmaya Mission, Kolkata's February 2012 issue. Written by Swami Chinmayananda.
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Shiva, one of the members of the Hindu Trinity, represents the supreme Reality in its aspect of Annihilator, the other two aspects being those of Maintainer (Vishnu) and Creator (Brahma). Shiva symbolises constructive destruction in the process of creation, preservation, destruction and re-creation.

The supreme Reality (Brahman) is described as the sub-startum upon which all creation, sustenance and destruction take place. This continuous chain of creation and destruction maintains the entire universe The destruction of the morning is the creation of the afternoon; the destruction of the afternoon is the creation of the night. As a result of this chain of destruction-creation, day and night are maintained.

Shiva is also known as the eternal Lord of Meditation. With a serenely peaceful countenance, He sits in deep meditation on the top of the world, on Mount Kailas in the Himalayas, facing south. In this aspect, He is known as Dakshinamurti, the dispenser of supreme knowledge. The term dakshina means "that divine power of subtle perception generated in a fully integrated, pure intellect." When this dakshina power flows towards the vasana-conditioned heart of disciples, it is said to be "turned southwards." Shiva thus assumes the form of a guru and, sitting on the peak of Kailas, turns southwards to serve all seekers.

The meditating Shiva is seen against the background of the snow-capped Himalayas. The white snow represents absolute purity of His mind. His posture symbolises the ideal of harmony and poise experienced by a realized person. In that state of perfection, He is in total harmony with the external environment and happenings.

A seeker who wishes to meditate upon and reach the peak of human perfection must first endeavour to maintain purity of mind, symbolized by snow. An impure and agitated mind cannot concentrate and meditate upon the Truth. Purity of the mind is obtained by practising a life of harmony in the face of the challenging situations of the world, and by steadily applying oneself thus until one gains subjective poise.

Shiva's eyes are half closed - they view the outer world with inner wisdom. Closed eyes would represent one wholly introverted and oblivious to the world. Fully open eyes would signify total extrovertedness. Shiva's half-closed eyes, however, indicate that He is fully conscious of the within and the without. He understands the world outside to be only a reflection of the self within. With this intuitive experience, His actions sing the song of the Self in all transactions in the world.

A realized person is one who has conquered the ego and kept it under perfect control. In contrast to such a one, worldly persons are victimised by the demand of the ego. In such people, the ego gains the upper hand, and they become subservient to its whims and fancies. The glory of a "man of perfection" is, therefore, in transcending the ego. This transcendence is symbolised by Shiva's coiling a serpent around his neck as decoration for His body. The serpent represents the ego. It is used for adorning His personality instead of destroying Him.

Shiva is said to have a third eye called the jnana-chaksu (eye of wisdom). With the help of this eye, Shiva gains an intuitive vision of the Truth, which is denied to the two ordinary eyes of an ordinary mortal. This idea of the third eye is not to be taken literally to mean that a third fleshy organ exists. The intuitive wisdom of Truth is born with perfect integration of the mind and the intellect, that is when devotion of the Lord blends with subtle contemplation upon the transcendental Truth. Devotion and contemplation are the two limbs which take one to the abode of Truth. When these two combine - that is when with an attitude of devotion, a seeker uses intellectual discrimination to penetrate the mysteries of the Truth - a subjective experience of the Reality arises in the seeker's bosom. This is symbolised by the opening of the third eye wisdom.

When Shiva, the arch-yogi among the gods, lays down His trident, He assumes the form of Nataraja, the king of dancers. His divine dance is the thrilling experience of God-realisation by one who transcends the limitations of the material layers of the personality. It represents the finite exploding into infinite stature.

Shiva is represented as carrying the Ganga (Ganges) in his locks. The Ganges stands for spiritual perfection. According to a mythological story, the origin of the Ganges in Akash-ganga "Ganges of space", which was located in the heavens. King Bhagiratha prayed to Akash-Ganga to descend to the earth and bless humankind. The prayer was granted. So he implored Lord Shiva to receive her torrential flow with his strength, for none else could bear the force of her descent. Shiva, accordingly, received the water in his locks and disappeared into the jungle for meditation. The king once again prayed to Shiva to release the waters of the holy Ganges for the benefit of the earth. The story goes that the flow of the present Ganges is made of water trickling from Shiva's locks.

Spiritual perfection is beyond intellectual comprehension, which is indicated by the Akash-Ganga being located in the heavens. In order to obtain it, one must first develop self control, which Shiva proverbially stands for. After intellectually grasping the objective knowledge of the Truth, one has to retire to a quiet place for contemplation upon the knowledge gained, in order to bring about a subjective owning up of the Truth. Thereafter, spiritual knowledge can be communicated to others only in gradual doses, since other's power of understanding the abstract knowledge is limited. This idea is indicated by the fact that the Ganges water descends from Shiva's locks in a trickle. A dip in the sacred Ganges, therefore, is considered sacred, for it symbolises that the seeker has cleaned the ego and become one with the Supreme reality.
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Om Namah Shivaya!!!!
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Narayan Debnath
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Re: शिवरात्रि की हार्दिक शुभ कामनाये. "SHIVA"

Post by Narayan Debnath »

Thank You Pradeep ji, I have come to know a lot from this topic.Best wishes also to You in this Shuva Shivaratri. Namaskar.
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Re: शिवरात्रि की हार्दिक शुभ कामनाये. "SHIVA"

Post by hotice_steve »

MAHASHIVARATRI TO ALL.
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Re: शिवरात्रि की हार्दिक शुभ कामनाये. "SHIVA"

Post by priya »

Dear Pradeepji,

Excellent description of the Lord and what he actually means in the spiritual means.

Regards,

Priya
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