© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

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The sons of Shiva

Śiva and Parvati are the parents of Karttikeya and Ganesha. Ganesha, the elephant-headed God of wisdom, acquired his head by offending Śiva, by refusing to allow him to enter the house while Parvati was bathing. Śiva sent his ganas to subdue Ganesha, but to no avail. As a last resort, he bade Vishnu confuse the stalwart guardian using his powers of Maya_(Hinduism). Then, at the right moment, Śiva hurled Trishula and cut Ganesha's head from his body. Upon finding her guardian dead, Parvati was enraged and called up the many forms of Shakti to devour Shiva's ganas and wreak havoc in Swargaloka. To pacify her, Śiva brought forth an elephant's head from the forest and set it upon the boy's shoulders, reviving him. Shiva then took Ganesha as his own son and placed him in charge of his ganas. Thus, Ganesha's title is Ganapati, Lord of the Ganas. In another version, Parvati presented her child to Shani (the planet Saturn), whose gaze burned his head to ashes. Brahma bade Śiva to replace with the first head he could find, which happened to be that of an elephant.

Karttikeya is a six-headed god and was conceived to kill the demon Tarakasura, who had proven invincible against other gods. Tarakasura had terrorised the devas of Swargaloka so thoroughly that they came to Śiva pleading for his help. Shiva thus assumed a form with five faces, a divine spark emanating from the third eye of each. He gave the sparks to Agni and Vayu to carry to Ganga and thereupon release. In Ganga's river, the sparks were washed downstream into a pond and found by the Karittikas, five forest maidens. The sparks transformed into children and were suckled by the Karttikas, When Śiva, Parvati, and the other celestials arrived on the scene, there was a debate of who the child belonged to. Further, Parvati, who was the most likely to care for the child, was puzzled as to how she would suckle five children. Suddenly, the child merged into a single being and Shiva blessed him with five separate names for his five sets of parents to settle the debate. The child, despite having been born from five sparks, had a sixth head, a unifying principle which brought together the five aspects of his father's power into a single being. From here, the campaign in which Karttikeya would vanquish Tarakasura and liberate Swargaloka began.

Attributes of Lord Shiva

The Third Eye: The third eye of Shiva on his forehead is the eye of wisdom. It is the eye that looks beyond the obvious. The third eye of Shiva also popularly associated with is untamed energy which destroys the evil doers and sins.

The Cobra Necklace: Shiva is beyond the powers of death and is often the sole support in case of distress. He swallowed the poison kalketu for the wellbeing of the Universe. The deadly cobra represents that “death” aspect whom Shiva has thoroughly conquered. The cobras around his neck also represent the dormant energy, called Kundalini, the serpent power.

Matted hair (Jata): The flow of his matted hair represents him as the lord of wind or Vayu, who is the subtle form of breath present in all living beings. Thus it is Shiva which is the lifeline for all living being. He is Pashupatinath.

Crescent: Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the fifth day (panchami) moon. This is placed near the fiery third eye and this shows the power of Soma, the sacrificial offering, which is the representative of moon. It means that Shiva possesses the power of procreation along with the power of destruction. The moon is also a measure of time; thus Crescent also represent his control over time.

Sacred Ganga: Ganga, the holiest of the holy rivers, flows from the matted hair of Shiva. Shiva allowed an outlet to the great river to traverse the earth and bring purifying water to human being (See: Origin of Ganga). The flowing water is one of the five elements which compose the whole Universe and from which earth arises. Ganga also denotes fertility one of the creative aspect of the Rudra.

The Drum: The drum in the hand of Shiva is the originator of the universal word ॐ which is the source of all the language and expression.

The Vibhuti: Vibhuti is a three line of ashes drawn on the forehead that represents the essence of our Being, which remains after all the malas (impurities of ignorance, ego and action) and vasanas (likes and dislikes, attachments to one's body, world, worldly fame, worldly enjoyments, etc.) have been burnt in the fire of knowledge. Hence vibhuti is revered as the very form of Shiva and signifies the Immortality of the soul and manifested glory of the Lord.

The Ashes: Shiva smears his body with cemetery ashes points the philosophy of the life and death and the fact that death is the ultimate reality of the life.

Tiger skin: The tiger is the vehicle of Shakti, the goddess of power and force. Shiva is beyond and above any kind of force. He is the master of Shakti. The tiger skin that he wears symbolises victory over every force. Tiger also represent lust. Thus sitting on Tiger skin, Shiva indicates that he has conquered lust.

The Elephant & Deer Skin: Shiva also wears elephant skins. Elephants represent pride. Wearing elephant skin, Shiva indicates that he has conquered pride. Similarly deer represent the jumping of minds (flickering mind). Shiva wears deer skin which indicates that he has controlled the mind perfectly.

Rudraksh: Lord Shiva wears wrist bands of Rudraksh which are supposed to have medicinal properties.

The Trident: The three head of Shiva’s Trishul symbolizes three functions of the triad – the creation, the sustenance and the destruction. The Trident, in the hand of Shiva indicates that all the three aspects are in his control.

As a weapon the trident represents the instrument of punishment to the evil doer on all the three planes – spiritual, subtle and physical.

Another interpretation of the three headed trident is its head represent the past, the present and the future. The trident in the hand of Rudra indicates his control over the present the past and the future.

Other forms and legends

Adi Sankara interprets the name Śiva to mean "One who purifies everyone by the utterance of His name" or the Pure One. That is, Śiva is unaffected by the three gunas (characteristics) of Prakrti (matter): Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

Additionally, Śiva can also mean, "the Auspicious One." He is often depicted as the husband of Uma or Parvati. In the process of manifestation, Lord Shiva is the primeval consciousness and creates the other members of the trimurti. He is symbolized by the wisdom of the Serpent. He has many other names, for example Shankara and Mahadev.

Śiva gave Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu, his axe. Śiva's great bow is called Pināka and thus he is also called Pinaki. Most depictions of Śiva show the three-pointed spear Trishula, another of his weapons, in the background. He is also known for having given the kshatriya Arjuna the divine weapon (Skt: Astra) Pashupata, with the stipulation of using it against someone of equal strength, for the weapon would otherwise lay waste to the mortal realm.

According to the foundation of Kaalism, the goddess Kali came into existence when Śiva looked into himself. She is considered his mirror image, the divine Adi-shakti or primordial energy while he is the primordial substance.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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