Shiva is the Supreme God who creates, protects and transforms the universe

Shiva is the Supreme God who creates, protects and transforms the universe. He is not only the creator in Shaivism, he is the creation that results from him, he is everything and everywhere. The Sanskrit word Siva means auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind, benevolent, friendly. The roots of Siva in folk etymology is "Si" which means "in whom all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace". The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda, as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra. The term Shiva also connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one". The term evolved from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics and the Puranas, as an auspicious deity who is the "creator, reproducer and dissolver". Shiva is known by many names such Viswanathan (lord of the universe), Mahadeva, Mahesha, Maheshvara, Shankara, Shambhu, Rudra, Hara, Trilochana, Devendra (chief of the gods), Neelkantha, Subhankara, Trilokinatha (lord of the three realms), and Ghrneshwar (lord of compassion). The highest reverence for Shiva in Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahadeva ("Great god"; Maha "Great" and deva "god"), Mahesvara ("Great Lord"; Maha "great" and isvara "lord"), and Paramesvara ("Supreme Lord"). Shiva is often depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash. Among the many attributes that distinguish Shiva is his long, matted hair. Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair" or "wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion". A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a braid of hair in the form of a shell, or, more generally, hair that is shaggy or curly. Hindu scriptures tell that Shivas long matted hair or dread locks were used to safely guide the holy Ganga from heaven to the earth. Trishul or The trident that Shiva carries represents Shiva's three aspects of "creator, preserver and destroyer", or alternatively it represents the equilibrium of three Gunas of "sattva, rajas and tamas"!! ✨👁🐍🔱💀🌙🎨🕉📿🌷🌀🍃🙏🏻🐚🔔✨

Hari Om Tat Sat ~ Har Har Mahadev ✨🙏✨