Understanding Shiva (Part-1)

    UNDERSTANDING LORD SHIVA 

Shiva also known as Mahadeva is one of the main deities of Hinduism. With pre-Vedic roots, Shiva is an amalgam of various non-Vedic deities, such as the Rigvedic storm god Rudra. In the Trimurti, which includes Vishnu and Brahma, Shiva is referred to as the Destroyer (a creator of all). He is the Supreme Lord who creates and protects the universe. The fascinating fact about Shiva is his Third Eye. Lord Shiva's third eye is perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of his persona it represents a power that is beyond the sensory world and the ability to see things that cannot be seen with a naked eye. The story goes that Lord Shiva was deep in meditation when goddess Parvati his wife playfully covered his eyes to surprise him but this act cause chaos in the cosmos plunging the world into darkness the gods were helpless and cannot restore balance. It was then Lord Shiva's third eye appeared on his forehead and with it he restored light to the world Lord Shiva's third eye is a symbol of knowledge and supreme power. It represents the ability to see beyond the physical realm and into the spiritual realm, people say that Lord Shiva actually resides in the graveyard, and he loves the ash very much when a person dies, he gets separated from his family and goes to the hell being alone he starts crying, then Lord Shiva calms his by saying that "I am there for you." Lord Shiva was worshipped by gods, rakshasas, devas, asuras. Lord Vishnu the God of Gods also worshipped him and in fact he was a devotee of Lord Shiva. One day, Lord Vishnu offered Lord Shiva that he will offer 1008 lotus to Lord Shiva. He went in search of lotus flowers and after searching he only found a total of 1007 in the whole world 1 was missing, he came and placed all the lotus flowers in front of Shiva, Shiva did not open his eyes but just smiled because one was missing, then Vishnu said I am known as Kamal Nayan which means "Lotus eye Lord" my eyes are as beautiful as lotus and he offered one of his eye to Lord Shiva impressed by his proposal Lord Shiva gave him the famous Sudarshan Chakra. 

Lord Shiva's avatar Rudra avatar fought not only with demons, but also fought with Lord Vishnu. There are many mysteries about Lord Shiva. There are many avatars of Lord Shiva and one of them is 1) Veerabhadra. The powerful avatar of Lord Shiva i.e. Veerabhadra also destroyed the Sudarshan Chakra of Lord Vishnu. Then goddesses Sati notable to tolerate the insult by Daksha sacrificed herself. As soon as Lord Shiva heard about matter, he was not able to control his anger and his eyes became red. Due to his anger the world became evil with full of dark clouds and the occurrence of the lightning. He plucked off one of his braid and threw it on the ground from this Veerabhadra was born. The anger of Shiva and his red eyes holding sword, Trishul, Bow and Arrow was the form of Veerabhadra (the Rudra avatar). On giving orders to Veerabhadra to go to Dhaksh to kill him and his army. The angry avatar of Lord Shiva not only killed the Dhaksh but also the devas and everyone who came in his way. Veerabhadra cut off the head of the leader of Dhaksh. Seeing this the deva and devatas were scared and Lord Brahma understood that the only way to stop Veerabhadra is to calm Lord Shiva's anger, then Lord Brahma said that to reborn Dhaksh and complete yajna, if he would not revive then the entire heaven will wipe out and this may impact on the entire world. It is said that Veerabhadra protects truth and destroys the iniquity. There are 19 avatars of Lord Shiva.

One of the most important avatars of Lord Shiva is 2)Tripurantak which means the pestiferous of three lions. The three demons of the heaven who were the sons of Tarakasur were Tarakaksh, Kamalaksh, Vidyunmali. These three demons were together called Tripurasur. It is said that Lord Shiva's son Karthikeya had a grudge on father of Tripurasur so he killed him. Listening this his three sons in order to take revenge made a penance for Lord Brahma. Brahma being impressed ordered tripurasur for a boom. The demons being creepy asked him to give three lions which are dangerous and cannot be killed by anyone. Listening this fact Lord Brahma gave a boom saying that the three lions, in shape of UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects, in shape of oval) can only be killed if the three lions are together. On receiving the boom tripurasur attacked the whole heaven with anger and the deva and the devatas who were suffering went to Lord Shiva asking for help then they were taught that they can only be defeated when all the heaven come together. After that the whole heaven merged together and formed a single warrior named Tripurantak holding a bow and sitting in a chariot, the bow was the Lord Vishnu, the chariot was Lord Brahma, the two wheels were the Sun and the Moon heading towards tripurasur. As soon as the arrow was hit the three lions emerged together and they were killed. So, these are some of the avatars of Lord Shiva protecting and destroying. Although there are many avatars of Shiva, he is considered as father and Parvati is considered as mother of all of us. This is explained by following sloka.

।।वागर्थविव संप्रक्तौ वागर्थः प्रतिपत्तये।।जगतः पितरौ वन्दे पार्वतीपरमेश्वरौ।।