The Power of Shiva
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In Hindu Cosmology, Shiva is the deity who is empowered to reconcile creation with the Absolute Place of Existence, or Divine Spirit as New Agers would say. In the Sacred OM Invocation, there are three letters that comprise the OM (AUM) sound. “A”, which represents the material plane of being. “U” which represents the astral plane of being. And “M” which represents the causal or purely archetypal plane of being - this is the plane in which Shiva is the presiding deity.
According to the late Master Paramahansa Ramakrishna, creation is reconciled back to the Absolute in three major steps. First, the physical universe (A) merges with the astral universe (U). Then, the astral universe is merged into the causal universe (M), where Shiva is the presiding deity. And, now here is the great mystery of absolution: Shiva performs his miraculous dance where by all three planes: physical (A), astral (U), and causal (M) are merged back into the Absolute Plane. And even Shiva himself is reconciled back to the Absolute Plane of Being.
Shiva is not an eternal deity, but rather has the highest role within creation to reconcile all created beings back to the Limitless Absolute Plane of Being, or that of Pure Divine Spirit. In Hindu Cosmology, Shiva’s consort is Shakti, who provides Shiva with love and support as he benevolently serves the best interest of all living beings. The word “Shiva” means “benevolence” in the ancient Sanskrit language of India. Namaste.
1 Comment
May 18th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Great post Keith.
There are a lot of details that I didn’t know of in there, very interesting.
The way I see Shiva and Shakti or should I say another way to grasp them is in correlation with the duality of the universe. Shakti is the creative energy that is sleeping in all of us. She represents our feminine side and she is the seed from which the rest emerges. Shiva is Action, active masculine energy. The embodiment of this creative force that sprung from Shakti.
We could also use other analogies like yin and yang, conscious and subconscious, sun and moon, sleep and waking, ida and pingala nadis and many more things. The Hindus have colorful and very imaginative ways of portraying our inner and outer world and I think one may learn a lot from them.
Share your thoughts, leave a comment!