Lord Śiva by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj @ ISKCON JAPAN
This is a very short presentation on Śiva. We don’t speak too much about Śiva but Śiva is very popular in India. So you’re on North India and South India, you’ll see a lot of Śiva temples and even one group in South India, Śivaites, they worship Śiva as supreme. So Śiva, of course, is also mentioned by our ācāryas and though we consider him a Devata or demigod, he’s actually like Viṣṇu, at the same time, he’s also a devotee of Viṣṇu, but this also is not too surprising.
Balarāma is a devotee of Krishna, he is also Supreme Lord, Advaita āchārya was a devotee of Lord Caitanya, he is also Supreme Lord. So sometimes the Lord also acts as a devotee, however, though we say that Śiva and Viṣṇu are non-different, we also make a distinction.
So, of course, we have our nāmāparāda, second nāmāparāda, which says the name of Śiva and Viṣṇu are to be equal. Though it’s not really popular in temples, we do also find trimūrti mentioned in the scriptures, even in Bhāgavatam, Śiva, Brahma and Viṣṇu. Because they’re mentioned together, people often assume they’re all equal. Therefore, they think they’re all God. So, ācāṛyas make the distinctions very clear. Of course, scriptures sometimes say Śiva is supreme.
Even in Bhāgavatam, whole sections are praising Śiva as supreme, then we’ll have many Purānas like Śiva Purāna, Skanda Purāna, and Linga Purāna, they glorify Śiva as superior to Viṣṇu. On the other hand, we have other Purānas that glorify Viṣṇu as supreme, greater than Śiva. So, we have alternatives, Śiva is supreme, Viṣṇu is supreme, or they’re equal. But how can they all be correct? We cannot have contradictions. One is supreme, others cannot be supreme. So, that is why we have gradations of scriptures. For instance we have types of Purānas , Sāttvic Purānas , rājasic Purānas, and tāmasic Purānas.
Tāmasic Purānas glorify Śiva as supreme. Rājasic Purānas glorify Brahma as supreme. Sāttvic Purānas glorify Viṣṇu as supreme. So, our ācāryas say that if there’s contradiction in the statements, the authority of the Sāttvic Purānas is stronger, thus the statements of the Sāttvic Purānas, like Viṣṇu Purāna or Bhāgavatam, are stronger than the statements in Śiva Purāna or Linga Purāna which are Tāmasic Purānas. So, what this means is, we have to read scriptures very carefully and any statement, we have to confirm that with other statements from other sources. If there’s contradiction, we have to solve the contradiction somehow or other. There is another distinction, some people say Vedas or śrutī are stronger than Purānas and Mahābhārata and thus, many ācāryas will often use Vedas or śrutī as their main proof. And, of course, Śankarācārya uses this argument to show that we should rely more on Upanishads than anything else and if we take the statements of Upanishad, Brahman is supreme, Brahman has no form, Brahman has no qualities, that is the ultimate form. But, though, yes, everyone respects the Vedas, still, our ācāryas say Purānas and Māhābhārata have equal strength,
Translator devotee : They have equal strength as Vedas?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj : Yeah, they’re equal authority.
So, if Bhagavad Gitā says Kṛṣṇa is supreme Brahman, we can’t say, oh, that’s Bhagavad Gitā, it’s not Vedas, so we’re not going to accept it, that should be accepted also. So, we should look through all the scriptures and find out what is the ultimate.
So, as I said, we do have the Purānas classified in this way. If the Tāmasic Purānas have statements that are non-contradictory, we can accept those, and we often quote from Skanda Purāna or Matsya Purāna, etc. Nevertheless, if it’s contradiction, we’ll take the authority of the Sattvic Purāna over the others.
So, Śiva, as I said, is not an ordinary living entity, he’s not an ordinary Devata, because he is not a Jīva. So, Jiva’s take material bodies, subject to ignorance, birth and death. Śiva doesn’t have a material body, he has an eternal body.
In the Nectar of Devotion, when Rūpa Goswāmi classifies the qualities of the Lord, he says 50 of these qualities belong to the Jīva, 55 qualities to Śiva, 60 qualities to Viṣṇu ,and 64 qualities to Kṛṣṇa. So, Śiva has five more qualities than the Jīva and one is, he’s got an eternal spiritual body, unlike the Jīva.
The other Devatas, on the other hand, have material bodies, like Indra and Vāyu, etc. So, though we sometimes call Śiva a Devata, we can’t equate him with Indra and others, that would also be aparādha. These are the five extra qualities mentioned by Rūpa Goswāmi that make Śiva different from the Jīvas.
So, he’s never influenced by māyā, of course, why is Śiva getting angry? Śiva is covered by ignorance, why? He shouldn’t be influenced by māyā. So, such statements are actually not true, he is not covered by māyā, he’s not in a mode of ignorance or whatever, but, for pastimes, he may sometimes act like that. Like Supreme Lord, he is Sarvajña, he knows everything and he does not age, he is ever fresh. He has a Sat-Cāit-ānanda body that possesses all surprising powers, so this distinguishes him from Jīvas.
So, because he is so different from Jīvas, then people say, ok he must be Supreme Lord and we also say, yes, he is also a form of Viṣṇu, at the same time, we have to make some distinction.
So, that’s why Rupa Goswāmi says that Viṣṇu has five extra qualities that Śiva does not have, so that distinguishes him. So, of course, Śiva had miraculous powers, Supreme Lord has acintya śakti, inconceivable powers. So, Viṣṇu creates unlimited universes, Śiva does not create universes. He is the source of all the avatārs in the material world, Śiva is not. When Viṣṇu kills a demon, demon gets liberation and those who are already liberated or peaceful ātmarāmas, they also become attracted to Viṣṇu. So, in this way, we distinguish Viṣṇu from Śiva, but we have to distinguish Śiva from the Jīvas also.
So, in the Brahma Samhita, this example is given—”I worship the Supreme Lord Govinda, who becomes the form of Śiva, but who is said to be non different from Govinda, but who is also different from Govinda because of his contact with transformations of prakṛti. Example is given, milk becomes yogurt, so, yogurt and milk are non-different, because one comes from the other, but they act differently and have different qualities.”
So, Śiva is a form of the Supreme Lord, but acts in a somewhat different way. Śiva is pure because he is not a Jīva, but he seems to be covered by māyā and, of course, he is in charge of tamoguna. The nature of tamoguna is to cover everything. So, the example is given also by our ācāryas of the difference between Śiva and Viṣṇu. So we have a lamp which is nice and bright, when we put a little glass over to cover from the wind, then it often gets black. So, the light cannot show through so much. So, the light is still there inside, but it’s burning the same strength, but from our point of view, we don’t see all that light. So, in that way, Śiva has all the power, sometimes it looks a little bit covered over.
So, Śiva is famous because he’s in charge of tamoguna in the material world, but Viṣṇu also is in charge of a guṇa, sattva guna. Śiva is also in charge of ahankāra, and of course ahankāra means ignorance. So, this ahankāra covers the Jīva and he does all sorts of activities in the material world.
So, Śiva’s got a rather unfortunate job of being in charge of the bewilderment of Jīvas. So, of course, ahankāra manifests as sāttvika ahankāra, rajasika ahankāra, and tāmasika ahankāra. So, the tamasika ahankāra is most prominent in Śiva’s demons. So, that’s one part of Śiva, trigunas are there and in the material world, then Śiva has many roles that he plays.
So, Prabhupāda often gives the example, Śiva is very easily pleased- āśutośa and if you pray to Śiva quickly you get your material desires fulfilled. However, once that happens, people generally become more covered over by matter once they get their desires fulfilled.
So, Śiva very liberally gives out those material desires. Viṣṇu is more hesitant and the reason is he knows that if you give those desires then people will fall into more māyā.
So, when the Devatas come to Viṣṇu and pray for some material benediction, he’s a little disappointed, but because Śiva does easily reward people, he becomes popular for worship. So, Viṣṇu, of course, is not covered by matter and by worshiping Viṣṇu, one becomes free from matter. Of course, we can say, well, Śiva is also a form of Viṣṇu, so why can’t we also get free of matter by worshiping Śiva? So, that is possible if you worship Śiva in a different way, don’t ask for the material benedictions. So, many people worship Śiva for liberation also. Of course, we also say ultimately only Viṣṇu gives liberation and when the Lord kills the demons he gives them liberation.
There is a story of Vrkasura in the Bhāgavatam. Vrkasura was very ambitious for power. Nārada Muni told to Demon, you worship Śiva and he will give you your benedictions.
So, Narada said, Śiva is very pleased that he sees a little bit of quality in his devotee, but, he also becomes very angry easily if he sees a fault in that devotee. The demon began to worship Śiva in a very tamasic way. He cuts off bits of his own flesh and offers it to Śiva to show his great sacrifice. He was a little impatient and after seven days, he didn’t get the results so, he took an axe to cut off his head. So, Śiva became very merciful. The demon asked that anyone who I touch, his head should fall off. And of course, he tried to test it. So, then a trick was that the Lord said, okay, test it by putting your own hand on your head and he did that and then he died. So, in this way, Śiva’s benediction was true in one sense, but, what this past time illustrates is that even Devatas and Śiva, they often give benedictions and the benedictions get misused. So, Śiva is famous for giving material benedictions, but, he is distinguished from the Devatas because he’s actually a form of Viṣṇu. At the same time, we have to distinguish him from Viṣṇu because he manifests five less qualities.
There’s the story in Bbhāgavatam of Bhrgu testing Brahma, Śiva and Viṣṇu for tolerance. From this then he understood that Viṣṇu is supreme, but, of course, these are there to show the supremacy of Viṣṇu, but at the same time, we should not think that Śiva, therefore, is covered with anger and ignorance because he is actually a form of the Lord.
So, we understand the position of Śiva, but we also give him great respect and we give more respect than we give to other Devatas and Bhāgavatam glorifies Śiva as the greatest vaiṣṇava. Of course that is also relative because it is said that gopīs are the greatest vaiṣṇavas ultimately. But at the same time he is also a form of Lord, so that makes him a great devotee because he serves the Lord.
Q & A
1)Devotee asks about Rudra.
Maharaj : Rudra means Siva, the same thing.
2)Devotee : 12 Rudras are they exactly Siva?
Maharaj : Well these are expansions from the main Śiva and they are incharge of different elements and parts of material nature but they are actually expansions of Śiva from the universe.
Devotee : In Padma purana , Śiva admitted his actual position. Confidentially Śiva spoke to parvati, even if the person in modes of goodness happens to hear my statement he will fall down.
3)Is there more detailed description of Sada Śiva loka (not clear) ?
Śiva has many names but sometimes SadaŚiva also refers to Visnu form. So it is a little ambiguous , of course Śiva is also name of Visnu in thousand names of Visnu because it means auspicious , so there is a little confusion there. So Sada Śiva in the spiritual world often means a form of Visnu, but then many people also refer to Sada Śiva as Rudra siva( Śiva in the material world).
4) Brahma samhita talks about Sada Śiva loka there is sometimes description of that. Do we have any other scripture describing this?
We don’t have so much description of Siva. I think Saivites of south india they have a whole bunch of scriptures, saiva siddhanta scriptures. They have 32 Saiva saints or something, like that they worship.
5) So Sada siva when he glances. Is it Sada siva who glances ?
Usually it is Maha Visnu. Of course we have the idea that Advaita acarya Is Maha visnu but he is also Siva, so that is where it gets confusing. But generally its Maha Visnu, like in Bhagavatam Visnu glances. Karanodakasayi Visnu glances over prakrti and then matter reforms and then the Universes form and then he expands as Garbodhakasayi Visnu within each Universe. So that is actually Maha Visnu glancing.
6) Is Siva Ratri recommended for us to do?
Well, it’s in the Hari Bhakta Vilas, Śivaratri. But, of course, it’s not that we compulsorily have to do everything that’s there. In Vrindavan, it’s celebrated in quite a big way. Of course, it’s good to respect worship, but it’s very important to understand the position of Śiva and to worship.
7) You mentioned that Śiva is not affected by Maya. And we know that Śiva is esentially recognized as Vaishnava Sreshtha, as the best devotee. But in Srimad Bhāgavatam, we see that even though he is the best devotee of the Lord, but he could not recognize him as when Lord appeared as Mohini Murthy and Śiva got agitated. So, in such an example, as a sadhaka, my learning point should be that even such an exalted person like Lord Śiva can be bewildered by Maya. So, as a sadhaka, I must be very, very careful. So, would you like to comment on that point?
So we have a lot of pastimes in which the devotees become bewildered, Arjuna becomes bewildered so that Bhagavad Gita can get spoken. Parikshit becomes bewildered and gets angry at the sage and puts a snake around his neck. So, we always explain that it’s not their fault, it’s an arrangement of the Lord like Yogamaya.
So, we can say the same thing about Śiva. If he gets bewildered, it’s not real bewilderment, it’s an arrangement of the Lord. Well we think How can the Lord be bewildered? But even Balarama gets bewildered.
For one year, when the calves, cows and cowherd boys were stolen, even Balarama couldn’t understand what was happening. It’s not real ignorance, it’s the Yogamaya of Krishna being stronger than any power of Balarama.
Baladeva Vidyabhusana says , even for Devatas like Indra, they get bewildered and insult Krishna and whatever, even that we should not take as a mark against the Devatas because they’re also devotees. So, it’s an arrangement of the Lord he says.
8)There is a description in Brahma samhita that we know that Lord Brahma, for example, he’s Jīva, the qualified Jiva who gives the powers. But there is a description also that in their instances, when there is a non-qualified Jīvas, Lord Krishna/Maha Visnu becomes Brahma. Are there any particular pastimes?
We haven’t seen any, but even the Lord becomes Indra. In one of the Bhāgavatam, in one of the Manvantara periods, the Lord becomes Indra even because there’s 14 Indras in one day of Brahma, one time the Lord becomes Indra even. So, you can take any of these forms and even Śiva sometimes can be a Jīva. Sometimes.
9) What is Harihara and Ayyapan?
Harihara is a combination of Śiva and Viṣṇu. So, there are people who worship that form, but we don’t hear it in the Bhāgavatam, so, I don’t know if it’s bonafide or not. In Godrumadvipa there is Hari-hara kshetra , so its there , but whether its accepted or not I don’t know. Ayyapan is a form popular in South India. But again, there is no Sastra reference to it as far as Purānas , whatever is concerned. But very popular.
10) What is an Atmarama?
Okay. Literally, it means one who takes pleasure in the self—Atma. So, generally, it means one who has attained Brahman realization. So, a person who is unattached to anything in the material world and meditates on Brahman. Though they are not attached to anything in the material world, but they can get attached to Krishna. The famous example is Sukadeva, he started out as Atmarama, but when he heard Bhāgavatam he became attracted to Krishna.
11)In Vrindavan we have Gopesvar Mahadev (audio not clear)
Well, there is Śiva as the doorkeeper of the Dham, also in Mayapur. There is Śiva, said to be the doorkeeper of the Dham. So, he is acting as a great Vaishnava. So I guess he is acting as a nice Vaishnava, like the doorkeepers in Vaikuntha.
12) In Brahma samhita, there is a description of those entities who are constantly being materially motivated. One of them is elevationists. You know, like the living entities described by Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, they are going through the upper-middle, lower-bottom systems, and they have the symptoms of ordinary people who are attached to fruitive activity. And then there are the yogis, Ashtanga yogis, and the elevationists. You know, the people who try to climb to a superior, you know, in thinking being superior by being hired in some way. Can you define that in some more clear way? What it actually means, the elevationism?
Maharaj : I think it would mean that by the dint of their own intellect, they can get liberation. As we say, the ascending process.
Devotee: Oh, so Jnani, basically. Elevation?
Another devotee : Elevationists is a description of a certain category of materialists, or people who are actually… Brahma samhita talks about that if we don’t pay attention to you, to take care of our intelligence, to be engaged in practice, then we can stray away in all these different alternate ways of practicing.
But that is about Jnanis right.
Devotee : And then there are those definitions. I cannot translate so much.
Maharaj : Elevationists. People who try to ascend, go upwards.