You Are Shiva…
Shiva (Siva in Sanskrit) is an aspect of the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Shiva is the personification of the aspect of the Great Mystery understood as tamas guna which rules the crystallization of consciousness as matter.
embodying the union of Spirit and Matter…
The Sanskrit word Shiva is often translated as “auspicious”, and may refer to the scintillating divine qualities of our life on earth. The brilliance of the light of seeing, tasting, touching… of consciousness experiencing embodiment. The agony and ecstasy of each moment, as our amazing lives unfold.
In one of the root legends of ancient India…The Gods Vishnu and Brahma were rocking the universe, quarreling as to who was the superior Deity. To restore equilibrium, Shiva appeared as a flaming lingam, and challenged them to find his source. Brahma took the form of a swan, and flew to the sky, ascending toward the heavens to find the top of the flame, while Vishnu became the boar Varaha, and sought its base in the depths of the earth. Neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find the source and humbled by the infinity of this flame… they bowed to Shiva.
Perhaps… Shiva represents the flame of Life, without beginning or end… everywhere, always, eternal, forever and ever and ever…
Shiva is the light of life…the brilliance of consciousness…that illuminates each instant of our experience. At times we are Shiva taking the form of Vishnu as the the boar Varaha infused with His strength, spelunking the deep dark caves of the infinite possibility of pain and suffering that our human experience offers.
Often we become the Swan of creative possibility, of Brahma and his Shakti Saraswati soaring to the sublime ecstatic heights of embodied experience. We are the cutting edge of the unfolding of infinite possibility expressed in the unique dimension of Earthly experience.
The God Shiva… is often called Maha Deva… Great Spirit. The roots of Śhiva in folk etymology is “śī” which means “in whom all things lie, pervasiveness” and va which means “embodiment of grace”…
Arunachala (Annamalai) or red mountain in Tiruvannamalai, India, is recognized as this lingam, the embodiment of Shiva as the Infinite Light of Consciousness, portrayed in this ancient legend.
As westerners coming from a monotheistic tradition we mistake images which personify Shiva for Shiva… Pre-biblical spirituality was animistic and pantheistic. It reflected a natural world of omnipresent agency, mystery, splendor and intelligence, where all of nature, all of life, all creation was sacred.
Monotheism extracts God from the Earth, and offers a pie in the sky God…With God in heaven… somewhere??? You can do as you like on earth. Traditionally Lord Shiva has been worshiped as rocks, and trees, mountains and rivers, worshiped as Nature her self. Shiva is often worshiped as an earthy phallus, ancient banyan tree, and holy mountain. Nandy the bull, who’s name means peace, is Shiva’s vehicle.
Shiva is often portrayed as androgynous, embodying the union of Spirit and Matter… Shiva’s manifest form is feminine Shakti. Shakti is prakritti… Nature… The Self-Sacrifice of The Goddess as This Sacred Creation. This Sacred Earth!
To cherish and to serve the Earth is to worship Shiva.
The beauty of life that we love so much is Shiva.
Our own life, which we cherish so selfishly, is Shiva.
Look no further, everything you are seeking, you already are!
Aum Namah Shivaya!
Honor to this scintillating… auspicious, omnipresent, divine life!