Lord Shiva

Lord Shiva is the Good Lord and the Greatest God (Mahadeva) and God of Gods (Devadideva).

• He is mysterious and complex.
• He is the formless, timeless and spaceless Supreme God, but also the Lord of the Universe (Vishweshwara) and Supreme Lord (Parameshwara), Supreme Lord of Time (Mahakala) and Lord of Everything (Sarveshwara).
• There is nothing but him (Sarvavyapi).
• He is above everything(ParaShiva).
• He is beyond description, beyond all manifestation, beyond limitation of form, time and space.
• He is eternal, infinite, all pervading, all knowing and all powerful.

Lord Shiva is referred to as the Good Lord. One of his names is Bholenath, which means the innocent God. Shiva as Rudra is considered to be the destroyer of evil and sorrow. Shiva as Shankara is the doer of good. Shiva is 'tri netra' (three-eyed), and is 'Nīlakantha' (= "blue throated", as He consumed the poison Halahala to save the world from destruction). Shiva as Nataraja is the Divine Cosmic Dancer. Shiva as Ardhnarishwara is both man and woman.
He is both static and dynamic; both Creator and Destroyer. He is the oldest(Jyeshta) and the youngest(Kanishta); He is the eternal youth as well as the infant. He is the source of fertility in all living beings. He has gentle as well as fierce forms. Shiva is the greatest of renouncers as well as the ideal lover. He destroys evil and protects good. He bestows prosperity on worshipers although He is austere. He is omnipresent and resides in everyone as pure consciousness.

Shiva is inseparable from Parvati (also referred to as Shakti), who is the daughter of Himavant and Haimavatī. There is no Shakti without Shiva and Shakti is His expression; the two are one, the absolute state of being - consciousness and bliss. Shiva is said to have shared half of His body for Shakti and is known as Ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man) in this form. In Hinduism, Shiva is said to have taken this form to depict that Divine is both masculine and feminine.
The five mantras that constitute Shiva's body are Sadyojaata, Vaamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Eesaana. Sadyojaata is Shiva realized in his basic reality (as in the element earth, in the sense of smell, in the power of procreation and in the mind). "Eesaana" is Shiva invisible to the human eye. The Vishnudharmottara Purana of the 6th century BC assigns a face and an element to each of the above mantras (Sadyojaata - earth, Vaamadeva - water, Aghora - fire, Tatpurusha - air and Eesaana - space). The names of the deified faces with their elements are Mahadeva (earth), Uma (water), Bhairava (fire), Nandi (air) and Sadasiva (space).

In Shiva temples, Parvati, Navagraha (9 planets), Ganesh, Skanda, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Vishnu, Brahma, Ashtathig balar, Durga, Bhairava, and all the other Hindu Gods will have the place, denoting that Shiva is unique among the gods, so that only He is in a shapeless form (i.e. in linga form).

In most of the South Indian temples, we can see all the five forms in a Shiva temple. All the five characteristics in a single face is said to be Sadashiva.

Shiva is not limited to the personal characteristics as He is given in many images and can transcend all attributes. Hence, Shiva is often worshipped in an abstract manner, as God without form, in the form of linga. This view is similar in some ways to the view of God in Semitic religions. Hindus believe that God can transcend all personal characteristics and yet have personal characteristics for the grace of the embodied human devotee. Personal characteristics are a way for the devotee to focus on God. Shiva is also described as Anaadi (without beginning/birth) and Ananta (without end/death).
The tale about Shiva splitting into two halves of male and female indicates the origin of the Ardhanarishvara - the union of spirit and material, the Being and his Shakti (force). He is also above Spirit and Material.

According to a school of Kashmir Shaivism entitled Spanda, Siva is the transcendent aspect of the Divine, being beyond any mental representation. Anything we could imagine about Siva is not Siva, because Siva cannot be defined, cannot be thought, cannot be evoked.

Shiva: Supreme God

The Good Lord Shiva is the supreme God of Shaivism, one of the four main branches of Hinduism practiced in India today (the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism, and Smartism).

His holy Vahana (Sanskrit for transport) is Nandi, the Bull. His attendant is named Bhadra. Shiva is usually represented by the Shiva linga. In images, he is generally represented as immersed in deep meditation.


The Good Lord Shiva is the God of all and is worshipped by all, from Devas (gods) such as Brahma, Indra, by Asuras(demons) like Bana, Ravana, by humans like Adi Shankara, Nayanars, by creatures such as Jatayu, an eagle, Vali, an ape, and the list goes on and on. Furthermore, people of different backgrounds and qualities worship the Good Lord with many temples having histories of even cranes, bees, elephants, (see Kalahasti), spiders, snakes, worshipping Shiva and getting blessed. It concludes that the Good Lord blesses anyone who worships him with sincere devotion as there is no discrimination based on the seeker. Although Lord Shiva loves His devotees equally as He does not ignore the tapasya of rakshasas, asuras or anybody, even those with bad intentions, He always finds ways to protect dharma and not allow any evil to triumph over good.

Consorts, and the burning of Kamadeva


Shiva's consort is Devi, God's energy or the Divine Mother who comes in many different forms, one of whom is Kali, Adi Shakti. Parvati, a more pacific form of Devi is also popular. Sati is another form of Devi who is the daughter of Daksha, who forbade the union with Lord Shiva. Sati disobeyed her father. Daksha once held a Yajna, but did not invite the Lord.

In disgust, Sati self-immolated through yogic meditation (or, in another version, in the same fire Daksha used in his sacrifice) which awoke Lord Shiva from deep meditation.

Different versions of what happened afterwards follow. It is reported that Lord Shiva in his anger, began the cosmic dance of death, Tandav which threatened to destroy the world. Worried, the Gods and priests attending the Yajna decided to scatter Sati's ashes over Lord Shiva which calmed him and in deep anguish over the loss of his wife, he went back into meditation.

Another version of the story says that upon learning of Sati's death, the Lord tore off a lock of his hair and lashed it against the ground. The stalk split in two, one half transforming into the terrifying gana Virabhadra, while the other caused Mahakali to manifest on the scene. The Supreme Lord ordered the pair immediately to annihilate Daksha's Yajna. They destroyed the Yajna as commanded by the Lord. Daksha was decapitated by Virabhadra.

Then, Shiva is said to have carried the body of Sati with him and wandered around aimlessly forgetting all the cosmic duties. When the devas pleaded Lord Vishnu, he used his discus(Chakra) to cut the body into 18 pieces which fell to the earth.The places are now known as the Shakthipeeths and form very sacred places of worship.

Sati was later reborn in the house of Himavat (Himalaya mountain-range personified) and performed great penance (Skt: Tapasya) to win over Shiva's attention. Her penance brought Kamadeva and his consort Rati to the scene, whereupon they attempted to interrupt Shiva's meditation with Kamadeva's arrow of passion. It caused Shiva to break his Samadhi, but he was so infuriated by Kamadeva's assault that he burned the deva of passion to ashes on the spot with his glare. It was only after Rati's pleading that Shiva agreed to reincarnate Kamadeva.

Parvati would try again without Kamadeva's aid to win over Shiva, and this time, through her devotion and the persuasion of other rishis, yogis, and devas, he eventually accepted her.