God Shiva | Who is it? How important is it? 🤔

God Shiva is one of the deities that make up the most powerful triumvirate of the Hindu pantheon, being responsible for the destruction of the universe at each new end of the cycle, which happens every 2,160,000,000 years.

The other two deities are Brahma and Vishnu. Brahma is the creator of the universe while Vishnu is its preserver. Shiva’s role is to destroy the universe in order to recreate it.

Now you must be thinking, if two gods are responsible for creation and maintenance, why would we have a god to undo everything? Wouldn’t that be contradictory?

Contrary to what many think, the god Shiva is not evil and much less enjoys doing evil. This is a misconception propagated by early European Christians.

If the god who presents himself is not the Christian god, he soon takes on an air of “devil”, even if the belief in question does not know or believe in the devil entity. Anyway, Shiva is not the incarnation of evil, despite creating demons, and is very necessary in Hindu belief.

Hindus believe that their powers of destruction and create anew are used until now to do away with the illusions and imperfections of this world. Thus, paving the way for beneficial changes.

According to Hindu mythology, this destruction is not without reason, but constructive. Shiva is therefore seen as the source of good and evil and is considered to be one that combines many contradictory elements.

God Shiva is contradiction: ascetic and hedonist

According to the dictionary, ascetic is a quality that indicates a person who turns away from the pleasures of life, undergoes trials in search of spiritual perfection.

The word “hedonism” is the complete opposite of ascetic: the incessant pursuit of pleasures, even being adopted as a way of life.

How can the god Shiva be an ascetic and a hedonist at the same time? How does he keep his balance?

Its stability comes from Parvati, one of the many reincarnations of Devi, the Mother Goddess. Parvati, the eternal wife, is Shiva’s companion.

No, she doesn’t control him, nor does she command him. She is a companion, understands him and guides him unconsciously.

Without Parvati, the god Shiva is passionate and extreme in behavior. With his presence, he knows when and how to act in ways that do good for humanity. Learn about other characteristics of this god.

Shiva: god of fertility

Shiva when represented together with Parvati, has a whole symbology of universal dualism, of the feminine and masculine. Also, it represents fertility.

When Hindus want his representation to be related to fertility, so that they have thriving crops and abundant food and happiness in their homes, god Shiva is represented by a Shiva Linga.

According to legend, after the death of Sarti (one of Devi’s reincarnations), and before his reincarnation as Parvati, Shiva was in mourning and went to the forest of Daru to live with Rishis (sages).

However, Shiva was a very graceful, beautiful and attractive god. Then the wives of rishis began to be interested in him. jealous, the Rishis decided to take revenge and premeditated his death.

First they sent a large antelope and then a huge tiger to attack the god Shiva. As was to be expected, Shiva got rid of the animals and even put on the tiger’s skin.

So the still jealous sages cursed Shiva’s manhood. The curse caused the god’s cock to fall from his body.

When the phallus touched the ground, a series of earthquakes began to occur. Fearing for their lives, the sages begged for forgiveness.

God Shiva, forgave them and ordered that, from that moment on, they should worship the phallus that would be known as Shiva Linga.

Shiva: lord of dance and yoga

He is attractive, temperamental, represents fertility, destruction and, on top of that, dances! I think now I understand the wives of rishis…

All kidding aside, dance is an important art form in India. Hence, the god Shiva is believed to be her master.

He is often called the Lord of the Dance. The rhythm of the steps is a metaphor for the balance in the universe that Shiva believes is so masterful.

The most important dance is the Tandav. This would be the cosmic movement of death, which he performs at the end of an age, to destroy the universe and rebuild everything anew together with Brahma and Vishnu.

He is also known as the Lord or Creator of Yoga. He therefore starts from the principle of the destruction of the old form and of the old thoughts. In this way, it manages to physically and emotionally transform those who practice it.

The Legend of the Dancing Lord

According to a Hindu legend, Shiva nearly signaled the end of this universe by performing the Tandav ahead of time…

At that time, the god Shiva was married to Sati, but unfortunately, her father did not accept the relationship. As a way of offending him, Sati’s father decided to have an event and not invite him.

The event was a meeting where all the gods (except Shiva) would stand in prayer. Offended by what was happening to her husband, Sati began to pray fervently and suddenly threw herself into the sacred fire to die.

At that time, Shiva was in deep meditation, when he felt that his beloved’s life had been cut off. With hatred, his third eye opened and the destruction began.

First, he conjured two demons that invaded the meeting and ripped Sati’s father’s head off. At the same time, Shiva began to dance the Tandav. Afraid of the end of the age, the other gods tried to calm him down.

For this, they scattered Sati’s ashes on Shiva and began to pray. Shiva calmed down and went into deep meditation, setting aside all his duties as a god until his wife was reincarnated.

Shiva is the god of destruction, not death.

Many people confuse destruction with death. The Hindu goddess of death is Kali, who is even highly worshiped in India. Devotion to Kali is given to have a painless and dignified death.

Therefore, Shiva is only god of destruction, Lord of Dance, Lord of Yoga and god of fertility. He’s a multitasker, isn’t he?

Now that you know a little more about the god Shiva, keep reading more articles on our blog.

A big hug and see you soon! ✨