Shiva is
God as absolute quiescence and stillness, the aspect of . . .
. . Shiva
is depicted as a celibate yogi. |
. . . the Divinity beyond vibratory
manifestation. From the
vibrationless Lord
arises vibration and all creation.
God-as-Shiva cannot be grasped by the rational intellect,
but can be contacted
and experienced through meditation, the stilling of the mind, in the
state of samadhi. By
becoming
established in yoga, the thought-free state of samadhi, one comes to
experience
Shiva directly and to take on the nature of Shiva. Although Shiva is God in a formless aspect, those inclined to think of Shiva conceptualize him as a renunciate yogi or saddhu in deep meditation. He sits on Mt. Kailasa with the traditional tokens of a renunciate. Shiva is considered to be the "King of Yogis" -- those whose aim is to attain the state of Shiva through the stilling of the mind. Shiva and Shakti Shiva is viewed as the masculine aspect of God. Along with absolute quiescence exists the companion to Shiva called Shakti. Shakti is the "feminine" aspect of Shiva, the throb or vibration (spanda) which constitutes and controls the entire material creation. Shakti is God with form, manifest as nature and knowable with the mind. A sufi saint said: "God without form is my father; god with form is my mother." Shiva is "God without form." Otherwise, there is no difference between Shiva and Shakti. |
In the Vijnana Bhairava, an ancient scripture of India, the Lord as Shiva carries on a conversation with Shakti, who asks for the sake of humankind "What are the ways by which one can attain to divine consciousness," or the "nature of bhairava"? Shiva responds by enumerating 112 different meditation techniques, or "dharanas," each with the potential to lead the meditator to "the nature of bhairava" or divine consciousness. ATMAJYOTI.ORG |
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