Sheran Waali, Lady of the lions!

 

Parvati was different from the very beginning. She was well loved by everyone, She played with the girls of Her age, She won the love of Her elders and admiration of Her palace staff, but She was different. There was always a sense of knowership in Her, as if She knew that She was someone very special, born for a very special destiny. But this was not in a conceited way at all. She did not have even an iota of arrogance, even though She was easily the prettiest among all the girls in the whole province.

She was good at Her studies and all the rishis who came to teach Her gave Her an excellent report card. “She can do even better, if She wants,” said Bhrighu one day to Himavat. “But…”
“But?”

“But I have noticed, your Majesty, that Parvati puts in only as much effort as is required to get the basics right. She could excel in anything that She wants, and to be honest She does all things very well, but then, I have noticed, She leaves it at a level of ‘fairly good’, and weans off. It is as if She has Her heart in something else.”

“Hmm… like what?”

"Like, She hardly plays with Her  dolls, She keeps making Shivalingas in the sand.”
“The only thing that interests Her about the dolls, is when a  doll  marriage is arranged!”

“Yes! Yes, that’s true,” said Mena. “I have to make new dresses for the doll bride, and Parvati insists that I make many sweetmeats in the kitchen!”

“Hmm… does She still say She will marry Shiva?” Himavat asked Mena.
“Oh, come on, She is just a child. And those things are very far. Who knows who will marry whom?”

“Shiva. It will always be Shiva,” said Bhrighu with a solemn look.

“Always be Shiva what?” asked Mena.

“It will always be Shiva, whom Shakti marries. It was so in the past, and it will be so in future,” said Bhrighu, his eyes now half closed in meditative bliss. 

"My Lord! My Lord ,what is one to do with Princess Parvati?” asked the captain of the private guard of Himavat’s security.

“Why, captain? What has Parvati done?” smiled Himavat.

“My Lord, She goes after the mountain leopards and panthers, catches them and then pats them as if they are little kittens. It’s dangerous my Lord, this sort of play.”

“But do not all princes play with the wild cats as if they were our domesticated cats? Is it not part of their training and even courage?” asked Himavat.

“Yes, my Lord, but we must not forget that Parvati is all of eight years! And my Lord… She is a girl!”

“Hmm… you are right, captain. I think Parvati deserves a new title for this trait,” laughed Himavat loudly. “From now on we should call Her, Sheran Waali, Lady of the lions!”

“Haha, what are you gentlemen discussing about my little Goddess?” chipped in Mena. “Parvati is luminous, resplendent; She is Jyotan Waali, the embodiment of light…”

From the book ~  SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.    , a modern rendition of Great God Shiva's story by Shail Gulhati

GAMES, MUSIC AND BONFIRE NIGHTS

 

GAMES, MUSIC AND BONFIRE NIGHTS

The welcome to Parvati in Kailash was stupendous.

Ganas and ganikas had lined up on both sides of the mountain path leading up to Shiva’s cave.

Their hands were full of forest flowers and some wild berries which they showered upon the divine couple as Nandi brought them through. They cheered loudly, “Welcome Parvati, welcome Mistress of the jungle, Ruler of the world, Goddess of our hearts! Welcome to Kailash, Mother Annapurna, nourisher of our bodies! Welcome Bhagwati, nourisher of our souls! Welcome, welcome, welcome home!”

At night, there were festivities.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

SARVATRA BHAIRAVA- Shiva is all around !

 

Dear Friends
this very beautiful Nataraja pic gave me a very positive vibration.
And then the realisation:

'Sarvatra Bhairava', Shiva's dance is everywhere.
If you look closely, and match this with your science lessons, you will be taken back to the fact of how the entire cosmos is made up of One energy, which manifests into the smallest matter as atoms, which then join other atoms, to make molecules, and which in turn join yet more, to create elements. Shiva is 'Bhuta Ishwara', Lord of the elements, this then, is His science.
And we are also told that He enhances this skill by Bhuta Sandhaan ( combining) to make compounds, and that He allone knows the mystical science of Bhuta Prithak ( dis- engage)

But unlike the generation of 'things' by AI (artificial intelligence ), it all happens not as a mathematical equation or logarithm. The ancient Kashmir Rishis told us, Shiva creates like a poet, not out of calculation, but out of His over flowing pure ecstasy.This reminds me of a beautiful analogy i once heard : When God was a baby He spilled his milk and created the milky way! ( The entire galaxy where our own planet earth lives)

Shiva is the ancient drummer, His Damaru sounds the pulse of the Universe, it is the 'pacemaker' of the heart of this world....And commensurate with His own beat, next comes the tapping of His Divine feet...
and the dance begins; the play of Nataraja is on, and He seems to invite us by being ' The first on the floo'
We must know that we are are part of it and dance our steps accordingly, with Shiva consciousness; come, join the dance of Shiva.
Aum Namah Shivaye!

~ Shail Gulhati is the author of the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

KASHMIR SHAIVISM

 

KASHMIR SHAIVISM

In Kashmir Shaivism , we learn that even Gyan is of two types. Baudh Gyan ( Theory ) and Paurasa gyan ( Practical )

Thus Kashmir Shaivism deals with both Non -dual philosophy and experiential spirituality.

What is meant by Non dual?

It is pure monism:

‘There is nothing in the world except God’ .

This is Advaita Vedanta explaining Non duality.

‘There is ‘ No thing ‘in the world that is not God’.

This is Kashmir Shaivism explaining Non duality.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

SUDDENLY SATI KNEW THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF HER LIFE

 

SUDDENLY SATI KNEW THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF HER LIFE

There was gold everywhere. Gold in the mountains, gold in the valley, gold in the sky. It was a golden luminosity basking in its own unending lustre. When Sati opened Her eyes, a golden sun was at Her window. She was in the palace.

She remembered everything that Rishi Vashishta had taught Her.

Suddenly, Sati knew the whole purpose of Her life.

The thought of Shiva penetrated Sati like an arrow ,and She actually felt Her heart flutter, like a well-gotten target.

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

Shaivism Today Soul Speak ( 3 ) The woman behind the man.

 

The one person that Shiva loved meeting in this cosmic mind field, the one person whose memory He would not allow to fade even when they were not together, was, unchallengeably, His Woman. In a whole universe that had been projected by Him, She was the one being He loved immensely.
Parvati, His inseparable better-half.
Parvati, without whom, Shiva felt like ‘not Shiva’.
Parvati, without whom, Shiva didn’t feel anything at all.
Parvati, without whom, the Seers summarized, “He was Shava, a corpse.”
And without whom, as He Himself told Her once, ‘Nothing’, was actually possible.
And just as great an enigma as He was, so too was Parvati. It was She who was Sati, in a previous life. She it was, who was Shakti, the Goddess of power, in eternal wedlock with Shiva, making Him Shaktiman, the wielder of all the power there was in the Universe. She was always present in His presence. Even if that meant being reincarnated from one lifetime to another.

These lines from my book  SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.  have been read and appreciated by many, over the past four years , when it was first published. It’s  gratifying for an author to get complimented for his thoughts expressed through his writings, but I now want to take this further on The Shaivism Today blog for an important extension :
How does Shiva's life thousands of years ago affect us in our own daily lives today?

For this, we must first understand that Shiva is different when He is alone, and different when he is with Parvati. By Himself he is a great meditator, a great warrior, a great dancer, a great chieftain. But when He is with Parvati, His meditations are translated to welfare of the world, His might is used to restore order by vanquishing  Rakshasas who have gone astray, His Tandava is not Raudra  Tandava-the dance of destruction, but Ananda Tandav-the dance of joy; and lastly, He is no longer the aloof God somewhere in a Himalayan cave, but a fond father- Kulapati to all the ganas of Kailash and the very Universe.
So we see through all the stories and narrations that Parvati  gets out the best version of Shiva, who is already the best of all! She fulfills Him and His greatness, and we salute her as His Ardhaangani.

As the Vedas teach us , 'Yatha pinde tatha brahmande, yatha brahmande tatha pinde', meaning, “As is the individual, so is the universe, as is the universe, so is the individual” or that if you understand one, you understand the other. And actually, the beauty of the stories of ancient Hindu  Gods  is exactly this:  Much can be derived out of those stories that has a relevance for us even in these contemporary times. Don’t we have a phrase "My better half" which is usually spoken as a salute to one's wife while introducing her to someone ? This is Ardhaangani, the better half, exactly.

You must also have heard the phrase 'Behind every successful man there is a strong woman'. This is so true.  Look around yourself for examples and you will come up with not just wives of Kings in the past, Rani Padmini, wife of Rawal Ratan singh ( Chittorh ), Ahilya bai Holkar, Queen of Khanderao Holkar ( Indore) and of course Rani Joda Bai wife of Emperor Akbar amongst a galaxy of others. But again, even this is true in modern times: Wives of statesmen and political leaders have been known for their  contributions, like  Hillary Clinton, a political figure in her own right, Coretta Scott King ,wife of  Martin Luther King Jr , Michelle Obama , Wife of President  Barrack Obama. And amazingly, it's true even if you venture into the field of music - Yoko Ono wife of John Lenon, who helped him create his most famous song ,' Imagine'.
It holds true even with writers . Did you know that Lillian Disney  wife of Walt Disney  helped him to name the famous character Mickey , otherwise you would have had Mortimor mouse! In the field of science too ,we know Marie Curie, pioneer in radioactivity was married to scientist Pierre curie, But did we know that Gabrielle Émilie de Breteuil, married to the great french historian and philosopher Voltaire was herself  a natural philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and author!

So, the fact is, that if you are married to someone who is your perfect soulmate, She will make you grow like you could never have done on your own. She will actually double your achievements  by always being with you through your decisions. She will enhance your basic goodness, your traits, your attitude and appearance to others, by being your personal critic and even teacher. We often hear that wives tutor their husbands against their old norms and this is when they take them away from their past affiliations.
There is a different way to ‘see’ this. We have thus far, been so used to our own environment that we are no longer capable to ‘see’ any faults in it, we are therefore never going to be able to improve it. Ask any writer, he must always get someone else to check and edit his writing, because once he has written it, and just suppose there is a spelling mistake in his text, he will never be able to detect it! This is natural, it’s the way our mind works: It cannot detect its own mistake shortly after it is committed. And though, in these modern times we have things like  auto correct, spellcheck , and voice commands ( auto dictate ) etc  for the purpose of writing, there are some things technology cannot do for you!

Technology cannot think like a Co-human, it cannot know your innermost Self, and why you react the way you do to certain situations. Only a loving soulmate can both know that, and also tell you how to change that in a future response.
So never think of your woman as just a housewife, never aspire for her to just look after your home when she can actually more importantly ‘look after’ your very soul, your growth, your evolution, and help you to upgrade to the very best version of yourself. Do not wish for Her to be a demure partner who will say ‘Yes’ to your every thought, but rather one who will engage you in a healthy debate to hone that original thought  to a more Universal view.

I once read something long back which described exactly what is true for a soulmate . ‘ I love you not only for what you are, but also for what i am , when i am with you'.  For my own part I must say that my wife Simmi has been my best friend and soulmate through 35 years of marriage. Through thick and thin, through loss or a win, Happy times, sad times, funny times, trying times, and of course, 'Together times', It' been fantastic. And yes, it was She who asked for me to write a blog on Shiva, which has a relevant meaning in our own lives!
                                               
In the end I will leave you to view this picture of Shivji . It always makes me smile with the thought : Who’s are the hands behind Shiva’s back? We are used to thinking of Him as one with many hands, especially when we see His depictions like this. But consider for a moment that it may just be a great woman at His back, the woman who is actually the Great Mother of all, Durga Parvati!
Aum Namah Shivaye.
~ Shail Gulhati

SHIVLINGA

 

SHIVLINGA

You uphold the entire Universe.

Your symbol,the Shivlinga is the very embodiment of creation itself. How then, could you be called the destroyer?!!

But , Ah, yes, destroy this sense of separation in my mind from Thyself. How can anyone even take a breath if God is not present? Aum Namah Shivaye!

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.