Shiva, who loved His fellow men and the elementals, would never ever allow them to cast servile titles on themselves

Shiva, who loved His fellow men and the elementals, would never ever allow them to cast servile titles on themselves. He insisted they were ‘ganas’, the friends. Despite their devout feelings for Him, He always regarded His followers as that—Friends. And loved them with the passion of a fellow in arms; and in so doing, ushering in a vibrant camaraderie.
So many times, when any of them went overboard with their emotion and actually asked for an eternal enslavement at His feet, as was in vogue with other Gods and their worship, He asked them to see Him as a friend instead.“You are my ganas,” He would always insist. He repeated this to them till the time they began to love the word gana for themselves, till the time they completely imbibed it, and each one declared proudly, “I am a Shiv Gana.” which was very much what Shiva wanted.