The pursuit of Shiva

Om Namah Shivay

This is one of the most popular hymns all over the world, to praise Lord Shiva, also a simplest one, starting with the magical word ‘Om’ and ends with 'Shiva'. also very pleasant for meditation.

In the pursuit of Shiva, it's interesting to understand his legend; he in one hand conceals the mystery of universe and on the other, balance it with deep meditation, the practical inactivity. For this, he addressed as Rudra, the God of fear and destruction and Ashutosh, who is ever satisfied, respectively.

Proto-Shiva (Image Google)

Shiva is addressed as ‘Jogeswara’ in the Vedas which is about 3500 years old, also his posture as ‘jogi’ was recognized as ‘Pashupatinath (Proto-Shiva)’ yielded from the excavation of Harappan civilization which is dated around 2500 BC. Also from other scriptures we find Shiva with activity of persistent concentration, with half-closed eyes he is immersed in meditation in divine bliss.

From Shiva, we get the knowledge of meditation since the rise of civilization, as Shiva is one of the oldest Gods, but unlike other Gods he lives in our planet somewhere in the Himalayan range, means he lives amongst us. As per our ancient scripture to reach Shiva at Himalaya, someone needs to cross a crematorium first, in order to get rid of their mortal body, in order to enlighten their soul. Thus, only a pure soul can reach to Shiva.

Now if we follow the direction given by our ancient religious scriptures, one can purify his soul by meditation. A prolonged meditation means domination of the basic necessity of our mortal body, which leads us towards salvation and purify our immortal souls. The intense state of meditation is described as ‘Shivoham’, defines the passion of Shiva. If someone can reach the state of ‘Shivoham’ by deep unification of his soul and eradication of certain mortal needs, then he can reach Shiva and his level of wisdom.

Aghori; (Image: Google)

In order to gain the knowledge of the mortal needs of human life and to get rid of it, some followers of Shiva choose the extreme way of meditation, they are known as 'Aghoris'. They engage themselves in post-mortem rituals, by dwelling at the crematorium, smoking weed, covering themselves with ashes and also have been known to use skull and bones from human corpses to perform their rituals. Though it is contradictory to the Vedic religion belief, but the concept of meditation is the same. Also there is other way of following Shiva; those followers or Shaivas are called Naga Baba, Gorkhanathis, Udasin etc. and one thing is common in all the disciplines - the knowledge of meditation (Tapasya).

Shivoham (Image: Google)

So meditation or yoga is the only way to praise Lord Shiva, by any method of following him. Also meditation is very positive course to pursuit a healthy life, it refreshes us from our inside, our soul and strengthen our body and it is not any elaborate way of worship. By adopting meditation one can remain unaffected from any worldly misery or pleasure and look forward to his prime cause of life.

Lord Shiva has shown us an extraordinary lifestyle with the knowledge of devotion and meditation, which unifies with the prime discipline of all the religions. Thus anyone can be a follower of Shiva, his religion doesn't matter and this way Shiva is an icon beyond religion differentiation. He has shown us a distinct way to eternal happiness. 

So, if someone can forget everything and centralize himself with utmost concentration, he can reach the level of Shiva, i.e. Shivoham.


Thanks & Regards,

Milan Chatterjee

P.S.: I’m a least eligible person to describe such a versatile legend, also as per my knowledge Shiva can't be described by any other word, apart from 'Shiva'. I tried to concentrate his way of life, ie. Meditation.
© Milan Chatterjee