Title: Seen Shiva?
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Blog Entry: Shiva sits in meditation, between the dissolution and creation of
the universe. He is often seen with a new moon anchored in his hair,
while the Ganges River flows perpetually, like a life-giving fountain,
from his top knot.
His entanglement of matted locks is the ideal means by which the
catastrophic might of the Ganges is constrained. Serpents and skulls
adorn his body, which is also smeared with the cremated ashes of the
dead.
A large cobra coiled round his body is the kundalini power harnished
through meditation. Salvation is said to reside in Shiva’s feet, which
are also said to be deformed.
As Nataraja he is the Lord of the cosmic dance, revealed and concealed,
that creates, sustains, and destroys the universe. He dances upon the
back of a dwarf called ignorance, subduing him, and producing
illumination.
When open, Shiva’s third eye unleashes the destructive power that
annihilates the universe, reducing Kama (desire) to ashes. Shiva’s
mount, or vehicle, is the bull Nandi.
The commonest sacred image to be found in India today is the Lingam,
an abstract stone phallus, the supreme form (manifest and unmanifest)
of Shiva, often worshipped in conjunction with the Yoni; a circular
stone base on which the Lingam stands, representing the female sex
organs, and associated with Devi, Shiva’s consort. Both symbolize
creative energy. In myth, Shiva’s time is generally divided between
sessions of intense lovemaking with his wife and periods of equally
intense meditation.
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