Shiva as the Supreme Reality
As the primal reality, Shiva is looked upon in four main ways. Shiva is first the original light of reality, Prakasha. Second, he is the immortal life force, Prana. Third, he is primal sound, OM or Pranava. Fourth he is the primal being or pure consciousness, Atman orPurusha, our own inner Self and true nature.
Shiva as the primal power of light and awareness represents our own higher search for Self-realization, and is not simply an external deity. That inner light is the real basis of life and is beyond all birth and death. It is ever resounding as the cosmic vibration that is both the manifest and unmanifest reality. It is our true being beyond the limitations of body and mind, which are but its instruments.
Shiva is the embodiment of mystery. His true nature cannot be known and does not dwell in the domain of speech or mind, word or thought. We contact Shiva when we realize the limited nature of all that we can know or think. This makes Shiva something of a terrible deity, the power of the great unknown that renders our lives but a grain of dust in the cosmic dance. Shiva is the deity of paradox. He stands above all dualities. He is beyond good and evil. He is the being of cosmic consciousness far beyond the constraints of any creaturely mind and its compulsions.
Shiva is also the great deity of nature, the lord of animals or Pashupati. He is the lord of the wild. He really has no human form. We find his face and form hidden in nature, whether in the mountain, tree, the cloud, the animal or the rock.
The Duality of Shiva and Shakti
Yet Shiva forms a duality of cosmic powers at a manifest level as the cosmic masculine force, along with his complimentary Shakti or feminine principle.
Shiva is the male, the fire, the mountain, and power of stillness, as Shakti is the female, water, valley, and power of action. Shiva is the central still point and Shakti is the turning of the wheel. Shiva is the root and trunk of the tree; Shakti is the branches, leaves, flowers and fruit.
The worship of Shiva and Shakti or the dual cosmic powers represents the natural religion of all humanity and of the entire universe, which revolves around honoring these two forces in all their manifestations in both the animate and inanimate realms. We find this honoring of the dual mystery in all native and traditional cultures, and in the ancient world overall. Shiva is the standing stone, pyramid or obelisk, while Shakti is reflected in the ring stone, the altar or the cave such as we already find worshipped in the earliest humanity long before what we call history began.
Looking back in time and history, we could say that Shiva is the deity of the shaman also, and as such perhaps the oldest formulation of the sacred in humanity He is the lord of the dance, of ecstasy, of the drum, of dream and trance which the Shaman seeks. To Shiva belongs the sacred fire and the sacred plant, the Agni and Soma of Vedic lore. In fact the Vedas are nothing but the mantric expression of Shiva, with the four main Vedic deities of Agni, Soma, Surya, and Indra or Fire, Sun, Moon and Lightning as the four aspects of his light.
However, as the cosmic masculine force, Shiva is not a mere phallic symbol or glorification of sexuality or promiscuity, as some would like to portray. He is also the great ascetic and yogi, reflecting the highest self-discipline and inner equipoise. He indicates the power that pervades the universe and allows us to ascend in consciousness to our highest potential, which is that of Self-realization.
Shiva is symbolized as a bull, or his vehicle is the bull (nandi). Yet this is not the bull as a mere symbol of virility but the bull of dharma or cosmic law. The bull represents the spirit or the Purusha, the enduring principle of awareness which holds all things together and gives significance to all.
Forms of Shiva
Shiva has many forms through which his different aspects and attributes are worshipped and brought into our lives.
He is Nataraj, the great lord of the cosmic dance of ecstatic dissolution, who consumes the entire universe in the all-pervasive cosmic fire.
He is Dakshinamurti, the enlightened youth who sitting beneath a banyan tree teaches through silence even the most senior of the sages.
He is Chandrashekhar who holds the crescent Moon on his head as an ornament and has the power to control the mind.
He is Nilakantha or the blue-throated deity who can transform poison into bliss.
He is Gangadhara who holds the Ganga River on his head, allowing the cosmic waters to stream into the Earth.
As Shankara, the giver of boons, he is auspicious, and promotes healing, blessings and abundance.
As Rudra, the fiery one, he is fierce, demanding purification, humility and self-abnegation.
There are special forms of Shiva for all the directions, elements and chakras, which are the inner ruling powers behind nature. Everything in the universe has its Shiva or spirit-power, through which we can connect to the Cosmic energy and Prana.
Shiva reflects the entire universe composed of both fire or Agni and water or Soma. He is Vayu or the cosmic wind that animates all things and balances all dualities. He is Mahakala, the great lord of time and eternity. His forms are innumerable and his names are unending.
Shiva, the Supreme Lord of Yoga