Understand Siva , Understand the Eternal Truth of Life

If one tries to understand the philosophy of Siva, its much easier to understand the eternal truth of life. Let us inquire further in to aspects of Siva.

1. Jyotirlingas: Siva is considered to be manifested in the forms of 12 Jyotirlingas ( The phallus of light) and is revered and anointed. What is that light about? Its about destroying the darkness of ignorance so that the truth is visible clearly.
2. The shape of Linga: Linga is in the shape of Phallus supported by a base ( called Panavattam) The top portion is in the form of Phallus and the bottom portion is in the form of a base that holds the phallus. These two represent the male and female elements of the universe and signify that one cannot exist without the other.
3. Destruction: Siva is considered by many to be the god of destruction. How can a destroyer be someone worth knowing? Siva is considered to cause 3 destructions — the first one is daily sleep in which all worldly illusions are forgotten. The second is the bodily death which destroys the 3 illusory bodies — physical body, mind and ignorance. The third one is the annihilation in which everything is absorbed into Him. The inner meaning is the futility of hanging on to the 3 illusory bodies and siva helps by destroying all of those.
4. Siva, Vishnu and Brahma : Vishnu is created by Siva and Brahma is born out of Vishnu. It is considered that Brahma creates and Vishnu sustains, while Siva destroys ( see #3 above). Inner meaning: The cycle of creation/sustenance/destruction comes from the same source and goes back to the same source.
5. Celebrating death: If you visit the ghats of Varanasi, its perhaps the only place in the world where as you cross the ghats on a boat, you can see the entire life cycle — birth, sustenance and death. The bhasm aarti for Siva in Ujjain comes from a dead body cremated the previous day. Siva spreads ash on his body all over.
6. Lingas in the form of 5 elements: The five element lingas ( Panchabhuta Lingas) in the forms of Air, water, fire, earth, sky in Southern India signify the all pervasive cosmic energy that is Siva. Is there anything that's not Siva?
7. Einstein Energy principle : This states that energy can only be converted from one form to another but not destroyed. Can Siva be explained better than this? The cosmic energy thats all pervasive is the eternal truth and manifests itself in multiple shapes and forms. The shapes /forms /containers are not permanent. The cosmic energy alone is .
8. Rudram : The established way of praying to Siva is through Mahanyasam, Namakam and Chamakam. What do they signify? Mahanyasam ensures that you personify yourself as Siva before doing anything else ( The principle of Advaita — Non Duality). Chamakam talks about everything in this unverse as Siva ( upto things like the foam on water, theif, elements….). What do they mean? They are conveying that the eternal truth is this cosmic energy and there is nothing that is not Siva/Cosmic Energy. The shapes/containers that we identify ourselves with are just illusions and we are Siva and nothing else.
9. The meditative pose of Siva: Self enquiry is the path to the eternal truth of non-duality.
10. Advaita — The philosophy of Non-duality enunciated and propagated by Adishankara : Its not accidental that the name of the proponent is Siva. The birth-life-death cycle is part of the great illusion ( Maya) , the shapes and containers are ephemeral and the only truth is the cosmic energy ( Brahman) and there is nothing else. The great sentences such as Tat Twam Asi ( You are that), Sivoham (I am Siva), Aham Brahmasmi ( I am the supreme brahman) explain this same point.

Every aspect of Siva , if you dig deep, explains that the eternal truth is this cosmic energy and identifying with anything else is the ignorance that Siva destroys!