Happy Maha ShivaRatri @ 2017................

SHIVOHAM

How can you describe me in words and sentences when i am beyond the very origin of sound. All the descriptions you have of me is just only a fragment of my damru from where all the sound and thus language originates. I AM SHIV .... You can only realise me as your very soul/aatma... I am your soul beyond all the boundations of this Universe.
Realise ?#?SHIVOHAM? in complete silence

Not merely those who, residing within a league from Arunachala - My Frame of Grace - and behold Me with their physical eyes but even those who, though afar yet perceive Me with their inner eye will attain with ease the true Knowledge (of the Self) that can unravel the subtle content of the Vedanta - the rarest of rare Knowledge - that cannot otherwise be obtained without the rigours of painful observances : ONS....

Saiva Shaiva Sivite

Saiva, Shaiva, Sivite Sect.—The name given to Hindus who venerate Siva as their special god. Siva, whose name signifies ‘The Propitious,’ is held to have succeeded to the Vedic god Rudra, apparently a storm-god. Siva is a highly composite deity, having the double attributes of destroyer and creator of new life. His heaven, Kailas, is in the Himalayas according to popular belief. He carries the moon on his forehead, and from the central one of his three eyes the lightning flashes forth. He has a necklace of skulls, and snakes are intertwined round his waist and arms. And he has long matted hair (jata), from which the Ganges flows. It seems likely that the matted locks of the god represent the snow on the Himalayas, as the snow is in reality the source of the Ganges; the snow falling through the air and covering the peaks of the mountains might well suggest the hair of a mountain-god; and this interpretation seems to be accepted in Mr. Bain’s In the Great God’s Hair. Siva has thus three components from which the idea of death might be derived: First, his residence on the Himalaya mountains, the barren, lifeless region of ice and snow, and the cause of death to many pilgrims and travellers who ventured into it. Secondly, he is the god of the moon, and hence of darkness and night, which are always associated with death. In this light he might well be opposed to Vishnu, the god of the sun and day, and the source of growth and life; their association as the two supreme deities representing the preservation and destruction of life, would thus, to some extent, correspond to the conflict of good and bad deities representing light and darkness among the Zoroastrians. Thirdly, Siva is a snake-god, and the sudden death dealt out by the poisonous snake has always excited the greatest awe among primitive people. The cobra is widely revered in India, and it is probably this snake which is associated with the god. In addition the lightning, a swift, death-dealing power, is ascribed to Siva, and this may have been one of his earliest attributes, as it was probably associated with his Vedic prototype Rudra. Whether Siva obtained his character as a god of destruction [303]from one only of the above associations, or from a combination of them, is probably not known. Two great forces lend the deity his character of a god of reproduction, the bull and the phallic emblem. The bull tills the soil and renders it fertile and capable of bringing forth the crops which form the sustenance of mankind; while the phallic emblem is worshipped as the instrument of generation. It is believed that there is a natural tendency to associate these two objects, and to ascribe to the bull the capacity of inducing human fertility as well as the increase of the earth. It is in these two attributes that Siva is worshipped in the rural tract; he is represented by the emblem referred to standing on a circular grooved stone, which is the yoni, and in front of him is a stone bull. And he is revered almost solely as a beneficent deity under the name of Mahadeo or the Great God. Thus his dual qualities of destruction and reproduction appear to be produced by the combination in him of different objects of worship; the Himalayas, the moon, the cobra and the lightning on the one hand, and the bull and the emblem of regeneration on the other. Other interesting characteristics of Siva are that he is the first and greatest of ascetics and that he is immoderately addicted to the intoxicating drugs ganja and bhang, the preparations of Indian hemp. It may be supposed that the god was given his character as an ascetic in order to extend divine sanction and example to the practice of asceticism when it came into favour. And the drugs,1 first revered themselves for their intoxicating properties, were afterwards perpetuated in a sacred character by being associated with the god. Siva’s throat is blue, and it is sometimes said that this is on account of his immoderate consumption of bhang. The nilkanth or blue-jay, which was probably venerated for its striking plumage, and is considered to be a bird of very good omen, has become Siva’s bird because its blue throat resembles his. His principal sacred tree is the bel tree,2 which has trifoliate leaves, and may have been held sacred on this account. The practice of Sati or the self-immolation of widows has also been given divine authority by the story that Sati was Siva’s first wife, and that she committed suicide because she and her husband were not [304]invited to Daksha’s sacrifice.3 Siva’s famous consort is the multiform Devi, Kali or Parvati, of whom some notice is given elsewhere.4 The cult of Siva has produced the important Sakta sect, who, however, venerate more especially the female principle of energy as exemplified in his consort.5 Another great sect of southern India, the Lingayats, worship him in the character of the lingam or phallic emblem, and are noticeable as being a Sivite sect who have abolished caste. The Sivite orders of Gosains or Dasnamis and Jogis also constitute an important feature of Hinduism. All these are separately described. Apart from them the Hindus who call themselves Saivas because they principally venerate Siva, do not appear to have any very special characteristics, nor to be markedly distinguished from the Vaishnavas. They abstain from the consumption of flesh and liquor, and think it objectionable to take life. Their offerings to the god consist of flowers, the leaves of the bel tree which is sacred to him, and ripe ears of corn, these last being perhaps intended especially for the divine bull. The sect-mark of the Saivas consists of three curved lines horizontally drawn across the forehead, which are said to represent the tirsul or trident of the god. A half-moon may also be drawn. The mark is made with Ganges clay, sandalwood, or cowdung cakes, these last being considered to represent the disintegrating force of the deity

Jyotirlingam Stotram.....................

Yoga Philosophy

what's the role of shiva in imparting yoga and enlightment to the mankind Shiva , the first yogi, and how he transmitted the yogic sciences to the Saptarishis (7 great sages). According to the yogic lore, over fifteen thousand years ago, Shiva arrived at the upper regions of himalyas People saw that he was experiencing something that nobody had known before, something that they were unable to fathom. Interest developed and people came wanting to know what this was. They came, they waited and they left because the man was oblivious to other people’s presence. He was either in intense dance or absolute stillness, completely uncaring of what was happening around him. Soon, everyone left… Except for seven men. These seven people were insistent that they must learn what this man had in him, but Shiva ignored them. They pleaded and begged him, “Please, we want to know what you know.” Shiva dismissed them and said, . The way you are, you are not going to know in a million years. There is a tremendous amount of preparation needed for this. This is not entertainment.” So they started preparing. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, they prepared. Shiva just chose to ignore them. On a full moon day, after eighty-four years of sadhana, when the solstice had shifted from the summer solstice to the winter solstice – which in this tradition is known as Dakshinayana – the Adiyogi looked at these seven people and saw that they had become shining receptacles of knowing. They were absolutely ripe to receive. He could not ignore them anymore. They grabbed his attention. He watched them closely for the next few days and when the next full moon rose, he decided to become a Guru. The Adiyogi transformed himself into the Adi Guru; the first Guru was born on that day which is today known as Guru Pournami. On the banks of Kanti Sarovar, a lake that lies a few kilometers above Kedarnath, he turned South to shed his grace upon the human race, and the transmission of the yogic science to these seven people began. The yogic science is not about a yoga class that you go through about how to bend your body – which every new born infant knows – or how to hold your breath – which every unborn infant knows. This is the science of understanding the mechanics of the entire human system. After many years, when the transmission was complete, it produced seven fully enlightened beings – the seven celebrated sages who are today known as the Saptarishis, and are worshipped and admired in Indian culture. Shiva put different aspects of yoga into each of these seven people, and these aspects became the seven basic forms of yoga. Even today, yoga has maintained these seven distinct forms. Transmission of the yogic sciences to the seven rishis The Saptarishis were sent in seven different directions to different parts of the world to carry this dimension with which a human being can evolve beyond his present limitations and compulsions. They became the limbs of Shiva, taking the knowing and technology of how a human being can exist here as the Creator himself, to the world. Time has ravaged many things, but when the cultures of those lands are carefully looked at, small strands of these people’s work can be seen, still alive. It has taken on various colors and forms, and has changed its complexion in a million different ways, but these strands can still be seen. The Adiyogi brought this possibility that a human being need not be contained in the defined limitations of our species. There is a way to be contained in physicality but not to belong to it. There is a way to inhabit the body but never become the body. There is a way to use your mind in the highest possible way but still never know the miseries of the mind. Whatever dimension of existence you are in right now, you can go beyond that – there is another way to live. He said, “You can evolve beyond your present limitations if you do the necessary work upon yourself.” That is the significance of the Adiyogi.