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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Birth of Lord Shiva.

Birth of Lord Shiva.


According to one legend, shiva initial materialize when Brahma and Vishnu were arguing regarding which of them was more powerful. Their quarrel was interrupted by the unexpected look of a large burning pillar whose roots and branches complete outside sight into the earth and sky. Brahma became a goose and flew up to locate the top of the pillar, even as turned into a boar and dug in to the ground to appear for its roots. Unsuccessful in their search, the two god’s arrival and saw Shiva surface from an opening in the support. Recognize Shiva’s huge power, they established him as the third ruler of the universe.

Lord Shiva-God of formation of universe and he is as well referred has destructor. His huge position is to balance the good and evil events. Though this balance gets disturb he destroys the creation for the formation of next cycle. He is a deity of exercise in the cyclic practice of formation.


Lord Shiva is the lord of mercy. He guards the devotees since evil forces, trouble and suffering of their devotees.

He materialize with unclad body through tiger skin in his body, three matted locks on his head, Goddesses Ganga on his chief and he has a third eye and has a snake on his correct shoulder and he wear Kundalas, Rudraksha necklace.

He materialize with unclad body through tiger hide in his body, present matted locks on his skull, Goddesses Ganga on his skull and he has a third eye and has a snake on his correct accept and he wears kundalas, Rudraksha necklace.



His exterior symbolizes his behavior. The unclad body shows that he is a resource of whole universe. 3 metted locks are the integration of material, mental and spiritual energies. Goddesses Ganga shows destruction of sin, knowledge and bestows with information, peace and cleanliness. The third eye indicates the religious information and power. While he opens the third eye, the rotation of construction starts. The 108 beads represent the elements used in making of the earth. The tiger skin represents his potential power.

Lord Shiva has 1,008 names, including Mahadeva, Mahesh, Rudra, Neelkantha, and Ishwar. He is also called Mahayogi, or the huge ascetic, who represent the main form of serious penance and abstract thought, which results in salvation Shiva is supposed to survive in many variety. His mainly regular illustration is as a dark-skinned severe with a blue throat. Typically seated cross-legged on a tiger skin, Shiva’s hair is matted and coiled on his chief, adorned with a snake and a crescent moon. Ganga is forever depicted smooth out of his topknot.

Shiva has four arms and three eyes. The third eye, in the center of his forehead is forever closed and simply opens to destroy an evil doer. A garland of skulls, rudraksha bead, or a snake hangs from his neck. Lord Shiva also carries snakes as armlets and bracelets. The serpent, contest, despised and fear by all further creatures, establish a place of honour on Shiva’s holy being, just because he was enthused by their plight.



In single offer, Shiva hold his trishul, the Pinaka the trishul regularly has a damaru or wait beat joined to it. In a different hand, he holds a conch defense, and in the third, a rudraksha rosary, a club, or a bow. Individual hands are typically empty, raised in an indication of approval and defense. The added points to his foot, anywhere the devotee is certain of salvation. He carries a tiger or leopard skin around his waist, and his high body is typically bare, but dirty with ashes, as befits an ascetic.


His third eye is supposed to have emerged when Parvati, in a playful mood, covered his eyes with her hands. At once, the universe was plunged into darkness and there was chaos. To restore arrange, Shiva created a different eye on his forehead, from which emerged fire to return light.
The light from this eye is supposed to be extremely influential, and as a result destructive. Shiva opens his third eye only in anger, and the criminal is burnt to cinders.

The name Lord Shiva does not emerge in the Vedas. Though he is recognized with the Vedic god Rudra, lord of songs, sacrifice, and nourishment, the healer of diseases and provider of property. According to the Shiva Purana Shiva is said to contain five faces, related to his five tasks, the panchakriya formation, organization, destruction, awareness, and grace. His five faces are related with the formation of the holy syllable Om.

Shiva is supposed to live o Mount Kailash, a mountain in the Himalayas. His vehicle is Nandi the bull and his weapon, the trishul. Shiva’s wife is Parvati, who is as well thought to be a part of Shiva. One of the mainly well-liked forms of Shiva is that of Ardhanarishvara.


According to a legend in the Puranas, Brahma was ineffective of making. He propitiated Shiva who catch this form and separated Parvati from his body. Parvati has numerous incarnations, like Kali, Durga, and Uma. Their sons are Kartikeya and Ganesh.

Bhagwan God Shiva is invented to contain a huge number of attendants, called ganas. These mythological beings have human bodies with animal heads. Bhagwan Shiva’s son Ganesha is the head of the ganas.

Across the state, present are hundreds of holy place and shrines devoted to shiva. He typically worshipped in the structure of a Shivalinga, and also as a deity. He is worshipped by offering flowers, except the Ketaki Brahma Bel trees, milk, and sandalwood attach are also nice to him. Present is a particular arati to shiva and numerous hymns and poems in his praise.

Present there is lot of stories in the Puranas about the origin of Shiva According to the Vishnu Purana, at the establishment of this kalpa Brahma required a child and meditated for one. At present, a child appeared on his lap and started crying. While asked by Brahma why he was crying, the child replied that it was because he did not have a name Brahma then named him Rudra, meaning “howler”.

Though the child cried seven added times and was given seven more names. Shiva as a result has eight forms: Rudra, Sharva, Bhava, Ugra, Bhima, Pashupati, Ishana, and Mahadeva, which, according to the Shiva Purana, write to the earth, water, fire, wind, sky, a yogi called Kshetragya, the sun, and the moon respectively. Throughout the samudra manthan, when poison was churn out of the ocean, Shiva is said to have swallowed it to save the planet from destruction. Since he drank the poison, Parvati clasped his throat securely so that the poison was churned out of the ocean, Because of this, he is known as Neelkantha, the blue-necked one.


Bhagwan Shiva decided an irregular boon to a demon called Bhasmasura who wish that if he situated his hand on anyone’s leader, that person would turn to ashes. No earlier was his need resolute than he menaced Shiva himself, who took to his heels and was saved by Vishnu in the form of Mohini, mutual their energies and formed Hari-hara putra later, recognized with Sasta or Aiyappa, a celibate tribal deity in kerala, whose cult is currently huge in India. He lives on in Mohiniattam, the feminine equal of Kerala’s dance theatre, Kathakali.


Bhagwan Shiva is the maker of dance and of the initial 16 rhythmic syllables still uttered, since which the Sanskrit language was born. His dance of anger is called the Roudra Tandava and his dance, and they begged him to dance over. Lord Shiva promised to do so in the heart of his devotees and in a blessed grove in Tamil Nadu, everywhere the great temple of Chidambaram was build, the merely one in all Indian devoted to Shiva as Nataraja, the lord of dance. It is supposed that on the 13th day of every bright lunar fortnight after 6 o’clock in the evening, falls a blessed hour called Pradosha Worshipping Lord Shiva at this time is akin to worshipping all the powers.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Mahashivratri 2009, 23rd February 2009

This year
Mahashivratri
falls on

23rd February 2009
when the Shiva principle descends to Earth
a thousand times more than usual.
On this day, to obtain the full benefit of
Lord Shiva's principle,
one should chant

'Om Namah Shivaya'
as much as possible.



Shivratri
is the time when Shiva takes a rest.
Shiva rests for one 'prahar' (three hours) of the night..
This 'prahar' is referred to as the Shivratri.
When Lord Shiva takes rest, the function of
'Shivtatva' (Shiva Principle) ceases,
i.e. Lord Shiva goes into a meditative state.



Shiva's meditative state is the time when
He is engrossed in His own spiritual practice.

During that time,
the 'Shivtatva' does not accept any tamogun
(most base of the 3 elements in us - sattva, raja & tama)
or
any halahal (venom churned from the ocean)
coming from the Universe.
As a result,
the ratio of halahal or the pressure
of the negative energies increases.
For protection from this pressure, things like
'bilva patra', white flowers, 'rudraksha' beads etc
are offered to Lord Shiva.

These things attract the 'Shivtatva' from the atmosphere,
thus providing protection from the increasing
effect of the negative energies.
The Earth is a gross object.
Gross objects have very low velocities
i.e. they require more time to cover a specific distance in space.
Gods on the other hand, are subtle hence they
are capable of traversing space within a few seconds.
That is why one year on the earth
is equivalent to just one day of heaven.

Science in the worship of
Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri

The function of the
'Shivpindi'


1.
Emitting waves of Knowledge,
Devotion and renunciation

Predominantly
'sattva' waves of knowledge,
'raja' waves of devotion
and
'tama' waves of Renunciation (Vairagya)
are emitted by the 'Shivpindi'.

During Mahashivratri,
the emission increases by 30 percent.

2..
Emission of subtle vibrations
of chaitanya, bliss and peace

The 'Shivpindi' emits

subtle vibrations of chaitanya, bliss and peace.
During the Mahashivratri,
the emission increases by 25 percent.
This helps purify the subtle-body of
one who worships the Shivpindi on this day.
The 'sun' or the 'moon' channels
in the body get activated as per necessity.
The capacity to absorb the sattvaguna
and chaitanya also increases.
Due to the presence of the unmanifest
Shiva principle in the Shivpindi
and the vibrations of peace emitted,
the Shivpindi remains cool and the
mind too experiences peace.
Worship of Shivpindi with devotion,
activates the dormant Shiva principle.
An offering of puffed rice and milk
reaches Lord Shiva in the subtle form.

3.
Receiving the
'tarak or marak tatva (element)'
as required

There is a confluence of the manifest
and the unmanifest elements along with the
'tarak and marak tatva' in the Shivpindi.
(Tarak = Saviour; Marak = Destroyer).
That is how worshipers receive the required element.
The temperature of the Shivpindi increases due
to the emission of the marak tatva
and there one experiences bliss.
Similarly,
when the tarak tatva is emitted,
the temperature drops and one experiences peace and bliss.

Bilvapatra (Bel leaves)



Bilvapatra contains 2% Shiva tatva.
By offering bilvapatra to the Shivpindi on Mahashivratri,
the manifest Shiva tatva near the stalk of
the bilvapatra gets activated.
Due to this, waves of chaitanya as well as Shiva tatva
are emitted by the bilvapatra.

The bilvapatra
attracts 20% of the Shiva tatva present in
the Shivpindi towards itself.
By immersing this bilvapatra
in water or by placing it in grains,
the Shiva tatva present in the bilvapatra is transmitted to them.
The Shiva tatva in the bilvapatra
is activated to a larger extent on Mondays
when it transmits 10% of the Shiva tatva and sattvikta.
On other days only 1% of the Shiva tatva
is activated in the bilvapatra.

Bilvarchan

Offering bilvapatra
to the Shivpindi and chanting the mantra

'Om Namah Shivaya'


with each offering is known as bilvarchan.
Continue offering the bilvapatra until the pindi
is completely covered.
Offer the bilvapatra from the lower part of the pindi.
By starting from the feet of the idol,
more benefit is derived and the idol
can be covered completely.

Chanting on Mahashivratri

'Om Namah Shivaya'

Om represents an unmanifest state beyond
the 3 gunas (elements of sattva, raja & tama).
We bow to Lord Shiva, from whom Om was created.

What does the word 'Shiva' mean?

a.
The word Shiva has been derived
by reversing the letters of the word vash.
Vash means to enlighten; thus the one
who enlightens is Shiva.
He remains radiant and also illuminates the universe.

b..
He is the auspicious and
prosperity-bestowin g principle.

Some unique attributes

1. Physical attributes

a. Ganga :
Just as the sun is the focal point of the solar system
and the soul that of the body,
the focal point of divine consciousness
(chaitanya) in every object and
pure particles (pavitrakas) is ga-aum.
The flow from which ga-aum originates is gan gaha = Ganga.
Ga-aum flows from Shiva's head.
This is called the descent of the Ganga
from Shiva's head.
Since the river Ganga has a fraction
of the principle of the spiritual Ganga,
no matter how polluted it becomes,
its purity is perpetually retained.

Hence,
when compared to any other water in the world,
the water from the Ganga is the purest.
This is realised not only by those
who can perceive the subtle dimension
but also by scientific researchers.

b. Moon :
Shiva adorns the chandra (moon) on His forehead.
The point where the three frequencies
- affection (mamata), mercifulness (kshamashilata)
and motherly love (vatsalya) originate
is referred to as the chandra (moon).
Thus, one can conclude that chandrama
(the moon principle) is the state in
which the three attributes of affection,
mercifulness and motherly love are present.

c. Third eye :
Shankar is three-eyed,
i.e. He can perceive events of the past, present and future.
According to the science of Yoga
the third eye means the Sushumna nadi (channel).

d. Serpent :
One of the Names of Lord Shankar is Bhujanga-patihari.
Bhujang means a serpent or pure particles (pavitrakas) ,
pati means the nurturer and hari means one
with a garland around His neck.
Bhujangapatihari thus means the One
who nurtures pure particles and wears them like a garland.
Various serpents represent groups of pure particles.
Though externally they appear like serpents,
internally they are a kind of ladder.
To make spiritual progress one has to climb
up holding onto the tail of the serpent.
Lord Shankar adorns serpents at nine points on His body
- one on the head,
one around the neck,
one on each arm,
one on each wrist,
one around the waist and
one on each thigh.
This implies that His body is comprised
of pure particles or that serpents of pure particles
play all over the body of Lord Shankar
who has the universe as His form.

2. Spiritual attributes

a.. One performing severe
austerities and the great yogi

Shiva is always seated in a bandha or a mudra.
His temperature rises due to heat generated
by performing severe austerities;
Hence, He uses the Ganga, the moon and
serpents which endow a cooling effect
and lives on the snow-clad Kailas mountain.

b.. Short tempered
If someone disturbs His meditation
the radiance generated by spiritual practice
will be suddenly expelled and whoever is in front of Him
will not be able to tolerate it, and gets destroyed.
This is referred to as being 'reduced to ashes
by Shankar's opening of the third eye'.

c..
One who is willing to undergo
any distress for the sake of imparting happiness to others

The poison
generated during the churning
of the celestial ocean (samudramanthan)
was burning the entire Universe but no deity
came forward to accept it.
At that time Shiva drank that poison
and saved the world from destruction.

d.
One who has both,
deities and demons, as His worshippers

Neither did demons
like Banasur, Ravan, etc.
worship Lord Vishnu nor did Lord Vishnu bestow
any boon upon any demon.
However, they worshipped Lord Shiva who blessed them.

e. Master of the spirits

Since Lord Shiva is the master of spirits,
His worshippers are generally not possessed by them.

Science in the idol - in the Human form



This represents the Brahman
in the form of the word (shabda Brahman).
Alphabets consisting of the sounds of
fifty-two basic letters and the forms
of fourteen Maheshvar verses (sutras)
have generated from it.
Later the universe was created from these.

2. Trident :
represents the following -

The three components - sattva, raja and tama
The root of creation, sustenance and dissolution
Volition, knowledge and action

3. Noose (pash) :
The noose represents the noose of time (kalpash)
(The rope in Lord Ganapati's hand too is the same).

Worship

a. Application of holy ash (Bhasma)

Tripundra refers to the three horizontal
stripes of holy ash applied to the forehead.
These stripes symbolise spiritual knowledge,
purity and penance (spiritual practice of Yoga),
so also they represent the three eyes of Lord Shiva.

b.. Wearing a rudraksha

Wearing a rudraksha when worshipping Lord Shiva is ideal.
A rudraksha is reddish in colour with yellow stripes
and is flat like a fish.
On one side it has a slight opening which
appears like an open mouth.
The rudraksha converts light frequencies of deities
from the universe into sound frequencies in the
body of humans and vice versa.
As a result, humans can absorb frequencies of deities
and thoughts can get converted into the language of deities.

A Genuine Rudraksha

The rudraksha absorbs sama (sattva) frequencies.
Similarly sama frequencies are emitted by its crests.
A real rudraksha can be recognised by the
vibrations felt by holding it in the hand.
At that time the body absorbs the
sama frequencies emitted by the rudraksha.

Nowadays,
mostly Vikrutaksha is sold as a rudraksha.
This is the seed of a type of wild berry.
Vikrutaksha is used for sacrificial fires of
tantriks, black magic etc.
by sorcerers.

c.. Ritualistic worship of the pindi

Only cold water and bel is offered
to Lord Shankar's pindi.
Neither is it bathed with milk and panchamrut
(a mixture of milk, curds, ghee, sugar and honey)
nor offered turmeric, vermilion (kumkum)
or white consecrated rice (akshata).
Milk and clarified butter (ghee) symbolise sustenance
while turmeric is an underground stem and represents
fertility of the soil, that is creation.
Vermilion is prepared from turmeric.
Since Lord Shiva is the deity of dissolution,
substances such as milk, vermilion and
turmeric are not used in His worship.

d. Circumambulation
(pradakshina)

When circum-ambulating one should begin
from the left side and continue till the channel
of the shalunka from where the water offered
during the ritualistic bathing (abhishek) flows.
Without crossing it one should complete
a circum-ambulation by moving in the reverse direction up
to the other side of the channel.
The flow of a shalunka is not crossed
as it is the flow of energy which adversely
affects the formation of semen and
the five internal vital energies (pran vayu).

e. Chanting the Name of Lord Shiva

'Namaha Shivaya is Shiva's five-syllabled mantra.
The spiritual meaning of each of the five syllables is:
na = Foremost deity of all the regions (lokas)
ma = Bestower of supreme spiritual knowledge (gyan)
and redeemer of the greatest of sins
shi = Benevolent, serene and responsible for
initiation by Lord Shiva
va = Symbolic of a bull as the vehicle
and Vasuki and Vamangi energy (shakti)
ya = Auspicious abode of Supreme Bliss and Lord Shiva.
Hence, obeisance (namaskar) to these five syllables.


Hinduism is more a way of life than a method of worship.

Dharmo Rakshati Rakshithaha

If you protect Dharma, Dharma will in turn protect you.

Hindus, If people slap you once, slap them twice

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