HOW SHIVA PLAYS!

 

The Yogi and the snake is a story written by author Shail Gulhati ,  which is basically  a conversation of a bhakt with God Shiva. Here,  the Bhakta has taken the form of a snake, in order to be able to meet the Great  Yogi, Shiva. It is like a spiritual diary full of questions that  we want to ask  God, and the answers in simple conversations.In the following chapter, the bhakt discovers that the whole Universe created by Shiva is still young, and it will become full of more and more adventures.

“Does God aspire?” asked the snake.

“I had asked you to meditate upon this”, said the Yogi.
“They say God cannot desire. This calls for a high spiritual understanding.
If God does not desire, there is no need for creation, life, and God itself.
The God of no desire can only rest in a void, in the primordial state, why should He go for the dynamics of creation?
The God of no desire would thus be a neutralized force.
Such a state of God can last for longer than the age of the Universe itself”, the Yogi was becoming very still.
“Then, there is a stir!  and the God of desire begins to vibrate!” said the Yogi, changing his tone dramatically. “This vibration is His very Nature. He always aspires for play and growth. He is not just content with tranquility, as in the state of extreme nothingness.
He needs to manifest, needs to reflect His own power of creation, to put it to use.
So the process of cosmic evolution is still in its infancy, and God is just a baby whose play has just begun.
Shiva’s Mantra is not just Om Shanti, it must culminate in Om  Anand, ultimate bliss!  at all levels of existence”     

~ From the book The Yogi and the snake ( conversations with God Shiva)

Shiva is Ādiguru-The Primal Teacher.

 

Shiva is Ādiguru-The Primal Teacher.

He Respects, upholds and teaches His own principles of Shaivism to His Rishis,Ganas, Yogis and Siddhas,from Yuga to yuga. शिव आदिगुरु हैं-आदि शिक्षकवे अपने शैव सिद्धांतों का सम्मान करते हैं, उन्हें बनाए रखते हैं और अपने ऋषियों, गणों, योगियों तथा सिद्धों को युग-युगांतर सिखाते हैं।

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

SRISTI ISWARA MAHARAJ

 

Sati announced Her intention to go every morning to worship the ancient Shivlinga in the royal forest reserves. The Shivlinga was so old that no one knew its history, not even Daksha or the noble ministers of the court, nor too the sages who were rumoured to have meditated in the mountains long before the city of Daksha had come into full being.

But the Shivlinga was there, in its monumental presence.
An enormous and beautifully carved out marvel, in mystic grey granite. All around it was the lush green of the forest, and the contrast of grey and green gave it a yet greater mystic feel.
A snake or two were always seen cuddled around it, as though to assert that they were a permanent part of Shiva.
Flowers strung together as garlands, put on the Shivlinga by worshippers, were undoubtedly more transient than the snakes, but nevertheless lay alongside in devotion.
It was common for Shivlingas to have a name. Usually the devotee of Shiva who had constructed a Shivlinga would name it by adding the suffix of Ishwara to his own name, thus acknowledging Shiva’s supremacy and also immortalizing himself, in the bargain.
Almost all the devatas had ritually made a Shivlinga. So there were Indreshwara, Varuneshwara, Agnieshwara Shivlingas.
They were magical and purported to be standing in the winds, fire and the celestial sky itself.
They formed the earliest places of Shiva worship, much before the Jyotirlingas that would become popular in later times.
But this, the colossal forest Shivlinga, grounded as it was, had a magnetism to it, which none could compare. True to its enigma,
it was unnamed. No devata was even born before it existed; so who would name it?
But it did have an extraordinary title - ‘Sristi Iswara Maharaj’,
The Lord of all creation itself.

Sati loved Sristi Iswara Maharaj. Whenever She approached the forest, She felt Her feet breaking into a run; She could never just walk. In the forest, She thought She clearly heard the leaves rustling into a chorus of invitation, singing ‘Sristi Iswara Maharaj’.
She thought that they sang to Shiva, but in Her haste to get to Sristi Iswara, what She did not notice was that the leaves were actually bowing in Her direction when She ran deep into their midst.
This became a daily ritual: She would not stop running till She reached the enigmatic Shivlinga, Her heart beating and the leaves pulsating with Her run till she arrived at the Sristi Iswara.
Faster each day was the run and the pace of life, faster this divine heartbeat, the mystic crescendo that had become all -encompassing. So fast, that She would almost fall in sweet collapse at the Shivlinga.
And then She would remain there in bliss, for hours on end, day after each passing day. Till the days turned into months and the months into a year. Her entire life itself had become an offering, Her time a rosary count.
 And then, one day, Shiva appeared.

~ From the book ~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
by Shail Gulhati  

Shiva is Mṛgavyādha-The Divine Hunter.

 

Shiva is Mṛgavyādha-The Divine Hunter.

Shiva is not merely the hunter of the forest; He is the hunter of the wildness within us — pursuing the restless mind until it surrenders to stillness. Even the deer, symbol of the wandering mind, finds refuge in Him. शिव मृगव्याध कहलाते हैं... शिव केवल वन के शिकारी नहीं हैं; वे हमारे भीतर की जंगली प्रवृत्ति के शिकारी हैं — बेचैन मन का पीछा करते हुए जब तक वह स्थिरता के सामने समर्पण न कर दे।यहाँ तक कि हिरण, जो भटकते मन का प्रतीक है, उनमें शरण पाता है।

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

THE SUPREME REALITY OF SHIVA

 

Inside Shiva's cave, the animals never  disturbed Him as He meditated. Sometimes, He opened His eyes after hours of inward concentration, to see a deer looking at Him curiously! A snake or two cuddled peacefully in a cozy corner was not uncommon either. It was unbelievable, that sometimes, bumble bees hovered around His Kamandalu, desperately looking for the source of a sweet and enigmatic aroma that would emanate almost every time He went into meditation.
Even thesnakes knew that He was the One who existed even before the world began.
He was the One who has been prayed to, even when He was unseen.
And ever since the very first time He chose to make His presence known, Shiva was loved by millions.
~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller. A modern story telling of Great God Shiva

WHEN HE WALKS BACK

 

WHEN HE WALKS BACK

When He walks back into the scene

What will life look like?

When He walks back into our life

What will the scene look like?

We are among those who understood long ago

Even eternity is without meaning

If not with the eternal one

Bhom Shivo bhom Shivo bhom.

~ Shail Gulhati

MAHAKAAL MAHADEVA, SHIVA!

 

Why is Shiva called Mahakaal?
Because, He is timeless.
Time did not exist when He did.
He is the creator of time itself, along with space.
Time and space and causation are the trinity,
that bring forth our known universe.
And Shaivites believe He creates this universe,
lovingly with His Shakti.
But look at the wonderful nature of Shiva;
Even though He is the creator,
He also meditates along with all the sadhus and rishis and shiv ganas for the welfare of this Universe.
This is because He Cares for His bhaktas.
As the prayer goes:Karpur Gauram Karunavataram |
Sansara Saram Bhujagendra Haaram ||
Sada Vasantam Hridayaravinde |
Bhavam Bhavani Sahitam Namami ||
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारम् |
संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ||
सदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे |
भवं भवानि सहितं नमामि ||
Shiva is Mahakaal, the Ultimate Time Traveller. As The Timeless One vouchsafed to us by the ancient tellings of the rishis, down to our grandmothers’ tales, He is sansara saram, the very seed of the world itself, from the beginning of time: He is the Pauranic Shiva: The Shiva from Kailash. Shiva, the mountain Chieftain who lives happily with His beautiful Queen, Parvati, and the merry mountain men called ganas.
But He is also Sadavasantam, the ever green! The Adhunik Shiva; the Omnipresent, who is always here, Always seated in our own hearts, in the present, and thus the most modern at any time.
Aum Shiv Bhakti Namah!
~ Shail Gulhati
Is the author of the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller