Was Shiva ever a person? Isn’t he blue, dwells in Kailash, and dances there?
Is Shiva somebody? Is he a form? Is he someone sitting in some place? No! Shiva is the entire universe. He is in every atom of the universe.
Some people say Shiva was a man, a yogi who lived 10,000 – 15,000 years ago. This is not true. Never ever limit Shiva to time.
Shiva tattva has three stages: arupa – without form, rupa-arupa – form emerging from the formless, and sarupa – with form. Before creation and the process of creation is Shiva.
Shiva doesn’t have a body. He was never a person at all. To symbolize the unfathomable, the infinite divinity, and to make it comprehensible for young people, for children and others, they made a form.
Shiva is a principle (tattva) from where everything has come, in which everything is sustained, and into it everything dissolves.
Shiva doesn’t have a body. He was never a person at all
“Virupe-bhyo vishva-rupe bhyash-cha vo namo namah”. Virupe-bhyo means that which has no form and, Vishva-rupe-bhyo means, yet it is in all the forms of the universe.
Everything, all forms are the manifestation of the formless Shiva. Shiva is the consciousness that is present all over; it is an energy field.
How Brahma and Vishnu competed
Shiva is never born and has no end. He is eternal. He is the fourth state of consciousness, known as the turiya avasta ( in the meditation), that is beyond the waking, the sleeping and the dreaming states.
There is a beautiful story related to Shiva. Once Brahma the creator, and Vishnu the preserver of the universe wanted to find Shiva and understand him completely.
Brahma said, “I will go and look for his head and you find his feet.” For thousands of years, Vishnu went down and down to find Shiva’s feet but couldn’t find it. Brahma went up and up to find his head but couldn’t find the head.
The meaning here is that there is no feet and no head to Shiva. There is no beginning and no end to Shiva. Finally they both met at the middle and said that they couldn’t find either.
This universe is ananta vistara (of infinite expanse). The consciousness pervading this infinite universe is also infinite and is agneya (not knowable). It is only lovable.
The symbolism of Kailash and blue body
Shiva is the space. Shiva is the consciousness. There is no way that you can step out of Shiva at any time because Shiva is the summum bonum of the whole creation. That is why Shiva’s body is depicted in blue because blue signifies the sky; the all-pervading infinity which has no limits, and no shape.
Shiva means serene, benevolent, sinless. The gross meaning that people assume is that Shiva lives in a mountain somewhere, Kailash, in China. This means he dreaded the devotees and ran away to a place where nobody recognizes him.
Shiva’s body is depicted in blue because blue signifies the sky; the all-pervading infinity which has no limits, and no shape
Kailash means where there is only celebration. Kailash is happiness. Kailash means where there is only happiness, only joy. And Shiva dwells there. That is inside of you. There is not an inch of place where Shiva is not.
Shiva was never a man who walked on the planet. Kailash is not a mountain, where he lived all his life.
Kailash means where there is only celebration. Where there is only joy that is Kailash.
When Shiva tattva dawns in you, your life becomes all celebration. Everything becomes a celebration. Or when there is celebration that is where the Shiva principle resides or has blossomed, has manifested.
