Wednesday 6 July 2011

Posture of Lord Shiva

Shiva Bhikshatana:  The murti who asks for alms

Shiva Bhikshatana is the mendicant posture of Lord Shiva where he is depicted without cloths and seduces the wives of the rishis. The sculpture is found made with bronze with a dog accompanying Lord Shiva. In Kailashanatha temple of Kanchipuram This Bhikshatana sculpture of Lord Shiva is inlaid in the rocks. Here Shiva is enchanting mendicant, with sandals, unbound hair and carrying his few possessions on a staff. He is depicted as youthful abstainer who is being worshiped by the Rishis` wives he seduced. A disappointed husband raises his fist in the upper left corner. The whole composition is poised with vitality. The flexion of Shiva`s left leg and sandaled foot, his upward pointing left hand, the kneeling adoration of the seduced wives all gives the relief a mundane simplicity. Shiva`s upward pointing left hand was later imitated in the sculpture of his boy devotee, Sambandha.

Srimad Bhagavatam 4.3.2
kim barhaspatyeha paratra vatha
kaivalya-natha-priya-parsva-vartinah
asadya devam girisam yadrcchaya
prapuh param nunam atha pracetasah

SYNONYMS

kim--what; barhaspatya--O disciple of Brhaspati; iha--here; paratra--in different planets; va--or; atha--as such; kaivalya-natha--to the bestower of liberation; priya--dear; parsva-vartinah--being associated with; asadya--after meeting; devam--the great demigod; giri-sam--the lord of the Kailasa Hill; yadrcchaya--by providence; prapuh--achieved; param--the Supreme; nunam--certainly; atha--therefore; pracetasah--the sons of Barhisat.

TRANSLATION
My dear Barhaspatya, what did the sons of King Barhisat, known as the Pracetas, obtain after meeting Lord Siva, who is very dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the bestower of liberation? Certainly they were transferred to the spiritual world, but apart from that, what did they obtain within this material world, either in this life or in other lives?

PURPORT
All types of material happiness are obtained in this life or in the next life, on this planet or on another. The living entity wanders within this material universe in so many species of life and so many planetary systems. The distress and happiness obtained during the span of life are called iha, and the distress and happiness obtained in the next life are called paratra.
Actually, Lord Mahadeva (Siva) is one of the great demigods within this material world. Generally his blessings bestowed on ordinary people mean material happiness. The predominating deity of this material world, Durga, is under the control of Lord Mahadeva, Girisa. Thus Lord Mahadeva can offer anyone any kind of material happiness. Generally people prefer to become devotees of Lord Girisa to obtain material happiness, but the Pracetas met Lord Mahadeva by providential arrangement. Lord Mahadeva instructed them to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he personally offered a prayer. As stated in the previous verse (rudra-gitena), simply by chanting the prayers offered by Lord Siva to Visnu, the Pracetas were transferred to the spiritual world. Sometimes devotees desire to enjoy material happiness also; therefore, by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the devotee is given a chance to enjoy the material world before his final entrance into the spiritual world. Sometimes a devotee is transferred to a heavenly planet--to Janaloka, Maharloka, Tapoloka, Siddhaloka and so on. However, a pure devotee never aspires for any kind of material happiness. The pure devotee is consequently transferred directly to Vaikunthaloka, which is described here as param. In this verse Vidura asks Maitreya, the disciple of Brhaspati, about the different achievements of the Pracetas.

SB 7.10.51 P Prahlada, the Best Among Exalted Devotees
Lord Siva is known as Mahadeva, the most exalted demigod. Thus Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says that although Lord Brahma did not know the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Siva could have known them. This historical incident proves that Lord Siva derives power from Lord Krsna, the Parabrahman.

SB 10.1.69 P The Advent of Lord Krsna: Introduction
It is said that all the demigods, accompanied by Tri-nayana, Lord Siva, went to the shore of the ocean of milk and offered their prayers through the mantra known as purusa-sukta. From this statement it is understood that the demigods cannot directly approach Lord Visnu, who lies on the ocean of milk, or enter His abode. This is also clearly stated in the Mahabharata, Moksa-dharma, and the next chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has His abode in Goloka (goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya). From Lord Krsna come the catur-vyuha, the quadruple expansions Sankarsana, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and Vasudeva. There are innumerable brahmandas, all of which emanate from the pores of Karanodakasayi Visnu, and in every brahmanda there is a Garbhodakasayi Visnu, who is a partial expansion of Aniruddha. This Aniruddha is a partial expansion of Pradyumna, who is partially represented as Ksirodakasayi Visnu, the Supersoul of all living entities. These Visnu expansions are different from Krsna, who resides in Goloka Vrndavana. When it is said that the demigods offered prayers to the Lord by chanting the purusa-sukta, this indicates that they pleased the Lord by enunciating prayers of bhakti.
Source(s):
Author: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Srimad-Bhagavatam
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
Life Comes from Life
The Science of Self Realization
Nectar of Instruction
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead(Krsna Book)
Srila Prabhupada letters, Lectures, Conversations
Caitanya Caritamrta
"We request you to chant HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE, HARE RAMA HARE RAMA, RAMA RAMA HARE HARE, and your life will be sublime."

Kalyanasundara Murti - wedding of Shiva and Parvati

Mother goddess Shakthi was reborn as parvati, the daughter of the king of Himalayas. As a young child, she was not interested in playing with the other children. She was more inclined towards meditating on Lord Shiva in the mountains and she desired to marry him. For that she wanted to perform austerity in the snow covered Himalayas. Her parents hesitated, but finally had to subdue to the determination of Parvati.

Lord shiva who was happy with her worship, came as an old devotee to her place. Parvati offered her respect to the old bhakta of her beloved lord. Now, he tried to convince her that she shouldn't waste her youth doing tapas, but should enjoy life getting married ! He further suggested that she could get married to him, instead of desiring for Lord Shiva Who dances in the cemeteries and wears skulls and bones! parvati, without knowing who he is, got very angry on hearing his words told him that she showed him respect only because he seemed like a devotee and she would not want to hear any little blasphemy of God further.


The Lord, pleased with her determination and devotion, reveals who he is. He gave her the boon she yearned for and accepted to marrying her. The Himalayan king's family was delighted to have their beloved daughter wedded. The region was decorated and shining with prosperity. The young beautiful Parvati was decorated with beautiful ornaments for the wedding.

Now came the groom, lord Shiva to the wedding place on an old bull, with skull and bone ornaments, with the skin of the tiger as the clothing, accompanied by the roar of the bhuta ganas !! Having seen this form of Lord Shiva, the wedding was called off. In order to please the royal family and having realized the hypocrisy in society Lord Shiva decided to change his form, into a groom in glittering beautiful wedding robes and golden ornaments! The queen could not belive that what came in such a hidious form now looked so devine and beautiful ! The enchanting Lord in the wedding robe got married to the daughter of the mountains and this form of god is called kalyana sundhara.

Rishabharudar : Deity sitting on the Bull

Rishabha ArUDhar : deity sitting on the Bull(bhOga mUrti)
This is one of the very auspicious mUrtis, praised in periya purANam as blessing the devotees for their great deeds.
There are two bull vehicles associated with Lord shiva. They are the mahAviShNu bull and the bull of justice.
dharma dEvatA(divine of justice), in order to be immortal, worshipped God very ardently. God as an indication of the justness ever, took the dharma as the bull vehicle. Thus dharma attained endlessness.

During tripura samhAra(1) as soon as the God put Its leg on the chariot, which the divines proudly thought "they" made it for God, the chariot's axle broke off ! The divines realized the futility of their pride. In the meanwhile Lord viShNu took the form of a bull, on which Lord shiva sat. This is the viShNu bull vehicle of God.


Charashekar:
Means "One who has Moon crown" in Sanskrit(Lord Shiva).It is derived from the joining of two Sanskrit words - Chandra (meaning Moon) and shekhar (meaning crown).

daksha had twenty seven stars as daughters. All of them were married to moon. But the moon had special attraction towards rOhiNi. So all the other wives complained it to the father dakasha that their husband moon is not treating them fairly. daksha got angry and cursed the moon to lose its luminance (kala) day by day. Everyday the moon started loosing one luminance part (kala) out of his 16 parts. Afraid and ashamed moon disappeared into the ocean. There are many herbs that require the light of the moon to grow. Without moon, they were harmed. Consequently there was suffering in the world. To end the problem the celestials advised moon to take refuge in the Great Divine, Lord shiva. Left with only one kalA, he took refuge in Lord Shiva. Being the graceful Almighty, He wore the moon crescent on His head, making him grow for 15 days and decay for 15 days periodically. Thus chan^drashEkharar is considered a giver of refuge.

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