Characteristics of Lord Shiva
Shiva is not someone who you can contain within boundaries of characteristics. He is everywhere and in everything. The energy which drives us is him. The knowledge we possess is him. The cleverness is him and the innocence too.
What is the lowest number in your opinion? Is it 0 or -infinity? What is the extent of -infinity? You can’t define it because there always exists a number lower than lowest. This extreme smallest and lowest is Shiva which is indefinite.
Similarly the highest is him. The universe is ever expanding and you can’t reach the end of it. Science proved it that universe expands all the time and Shiva contains this universe.
A seed gives birth to a plant which gives birth to several seeds. But what came first, seed or plant? Neither seed can contain plant nor plant can contain seed. Nature gave shape to all these things and this nature is the consort of Shiva which we call Adi Shakti. It is his female element.
The one who has no name, no class, no figure, no knowledge, no caste, no parents, no desires, no expectation, no cleverness, no foolishness is Shiva.
He is Nirguna i.e. without any quality while on the other hand he is Sagun too, i.e. full of qualities. From emptiness to completeness, everything is him.
There is nothing absolute or perfect or complete or un-containable. A house is in a street which is in a city which is in a state which is in a country which is in world which is in solar system which is in galaxy which is in universe which is in… well, we don’t know.
We are a tiny part of Shiva and inside us the whole Shiva exists.
With our rational and logical thinking, we keep seeking answers about our curiosity and will unfold many truths and will put stamp of accurateness on the theories of our great epics and Vedas. But new questions will arise and this process will never stop. For those questions, we won’t be able to find answers, we will call them mystery and raise fingers on the answers provided by our epics. We will call this process a modern world thinking or logical thinking or Scientific thinking or non blind thinking. But in the end, we can’t find the answer of ‘Nothing’.
Why he is so gullible?
We call him, Bhola (gullible) because He is free from procedures and methods. You can please Him in any way you want and there is no particular way of worshiping. You just need to love Him and show your devotion.
He pleases very easily and grants all the wishes which Vishnu or Brahma might not. He doesn’t care about outcomes because He is beyond them. Due to this gullible characteristics, He granted a boon to Bhasmasur who later tried to attack him. But He doesn’t care about all these things.
Why he is the God of Destruction?
With great power comes great responsibilities and Shiva, Himself, signifies power. He is the God of destruction but it doesn’t mean that He kills.
He destroys anger, arrogance, pride, materialistic desires, stress, hatred, lust, greed, competitiveness, expectations, ambitions and all those things which are the sources of pain and troubles.
He destroys the world when it needs to end the era, but in that case too he protects the city of Kashi by holding it on his trident and later place it back in new world. Even in holocaust, Kashi remains safe.
Why Kashi is the favorite city of Shiva?
The power of destruction should be in the hands of someone who is extremely patient. Shiva is gullible because he can’t get angry easily otherwise the world would destroy before reaching its defined lifespan.
The extreme patience of Shiva makes him the God of Destruction. He has no fear of disrespect or endearment of praise.
Why he is worshiped as Linga?
Shiva Linga Credis: Wikimedia.org
He is worshiped in both Linga and Idol form. The Linga form signifies the birth while his idol form signifies after birth.
The first Shiva Linga was created when Vishnu and Brahma argued over the issue of superiority. The infinite pillar of light appeared between them and taught the endlessness of knowledge as well as pride.
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