“Shiva is the only god and none other exists”

 

Sanatana dharma has evolved based on several theories to its current state. If you ask a regular hindu, their understanding is that there are 30 million gods out of whom some are primary and they refer to these gods as Trimurthis (Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra). Their corresponding Shaktis in the form of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. There is also a combined form of these three Shaktis referred to as Adi Shakti and her forms are represented as Durga and other aspects. So if there is a combined form of Shakti, that power also has a husband just like others and form is inevitably attributed to Shiva (if you go to any Shakti temple, her husband is Shiva and you’ll find an associated Shiva temple too). There are also other main gods such as Ganesh, Kartikeya and Surya(Sun) who have at points of time in history derived as much importance as the Trimurthis and Shakti.

Now depending on whom you ask, the answers will vary as they believe is specific faiths of Sanatana Dharma aka Shaivam, Vaishnavam, Shaakteyam, Gainayakam, Souram etc.

So IMO, the question above should have been -

“Why do Shaivates believe Shiva is the only God?” and I’ll answer that question here.

While so many gods are part of Sanatana Dharma, it is a common understanding that there is a Niraakara Brahma (or some people add an “n” and call it Brahman) who is the source of everything. Such a Niraakara Brahma is referred as Shiva aka Para-Shiva. ParaShiva doesn’t have a form, neither exhibits qualities, cannot be measured, and is incomprehensible.

Such Parashiva, out of his own play, transforms to SadaShiva and Adi-Shakti. This is the Saakaara rupa (formful as opposed to formless Parashiva). SadaShiva has 5 faces - Sadyojata, VaamaDeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana. With the five faces he does five tasks - Srsti (creation), Sthithi (sustenance), Laya (annihilation), Tirodana (recycling, maya due to which rebirth occurs), Anugraha or Moksha (taking out of cycles of birth and death). Modern day Hindus don’t know much about Tirodana and Anugraha because they don’t learn about these concepts. Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra (Trimurthis) come out of the respective aspects of this SadaShiva.

As per Shiva Purana, out of SadaShiva and AdiShakti’s play emerges Naara (can be assumed as ether) that spreads out of their left side and a child was born flowing in these Naaras. That child was called Narayana (as he has naara as his aayana). Since he was born from the left side of Shiva and has the the quality of spreading everywhere he was called Vishnu. So Shiva is considered the mula (root) of all the gods.

While Chaturmukha (four headed) Brahma is responsible for Srsti, Vishnu for Sthithi, Rudra for Laya, there are two other forms for other two tasks. Maheshwara does Tirodana and SadaShiva grants Anugraha/Moksha. All these five forms are considered as Shiva own forms or pancha brahma swarupas. These five forms are Saakara and Saguna (they have qualities and shape) ie,, they exhibit themselves as someone wearing snake and trishula or someone wearing a shaka and chakra, male form, female form etc. They also have color - Vishnu is dark/blue, Rudra is Red, Maheshwara is White etc. When qualities are exhibited such forms are meant to perform certain duties. It should be noted that regular hindus today combine the aspects of Rudra, Maheshwara and Sadaashiva and collectively refer them as Shiva and they don’t know that Vishnu and Chaturmukha-Brahma are also Shiva’s forms. They also attribute one duty (Laya) to Shiva whereas Shiva does all the duties in different forms. This is the primary difference between how Shaivates view Shiva vs other hindu faiths.

Now the original Parashiva from which all these forms originated doesn’t exhibit any qualities, or form or gender. Such lack of quality is called Shuddasatva and is represented in terms of Shuddha Spatika/transparancy - no color.

Shiva is the ONLY god worshipped both as Saguna and Nirguna (both formful and formless).

• The formless Shiva is represented as Linga (which literally means a sign/symbol in Samskrt).
• The formful Shiva is the Nagabhushana (one who wears snake), Neelakanta (on who held poison in his throat), Tryamabaka (with three eyes), etc.

While both forms of worshipping are ok, since Shiva is a direct representation of ParaBrahma, the worship of Shiva in the form of Shiva Linga is the most common. This practice of worship gives utmost importance to Shiva on top of all the gods. You’ll also notice that people who have earthly desires tend to worship gods with forms. But those who are focussed internally, invariably worship the formless god which is Shiva , irrespective of which faith they belong to. Hence Shiva, the formless one, is the greatest of all.

Generally people think Shiva is a person. But this formless thing is referred to as Shiva, for not being a person, but for the meaning of the word. Let’s look at one of the definitions of the word Shiva -

“shivah shamyati paramaananda rupatvah nirvikaro bhavati iti shivah”

the word Shiva represents the one who is extremely peaceful (shamyati), that one who is an assimilated form of extreme amount of happiness or bliss (Paramaananda rupah) and one who doesn’t go through any transformations/six vikaaras (conceive, birth, growth, change, decay and die) like other things do (Nirvikarah).

shivayeva parabrahmah sarvalokaika karanam , anyadha sharanam naasti shivaacharsya lakshanam

Shaivates consider Shiva as the reason for everything (sarvalokaika kaaranam) and Shiva is the parabrahma and hence they bow only to Shiva:

Such formless Shiva is also called Sachhidaananda

Sat - represents Satta - complete control on everything

Chit- represents endless awareness that is spread out everywhere and in every being

Aanada - represents the bliss that is never ending

A combination of absolute control, all-aware, ever-blissful Shiva is the one to be realized through the process of self-realization. Such Shiva resides in everyone and in every heart as Aatma.

One realizes that Shiva through different saadhanas such as yoga, bhakti etc and by imbibing the concept of Shivoham (I am Shiva), ahambrahmaasmi or Tatvamasi (you are no different from me) in ones mind. Hence, Shiva is not only the greatest, realizing Shiva is the goal of life. If you there are other materialistic goals in life, you can approach other gods.

Once realized, the state where an individual becomes one with Shiva is called “Adwaita” the state of being indifferent. Adwaita also means “there is no second one” - hence, Shiva is the only thing that exists and there is no second one.

To summarize,

If you ask people leading materialistic life in Hinduism, there are many gods and they commonly refer to Rudra when they use the word Shiva, They are referring a personified god with name Shiva.

If you ask someone who is focused on self-realization, the answer is “Shiva is the only god and none other exists” and you would find that Shiva within yourself. Shiva is not a person but the Parabrahma, the root cause of everything.