The Eternal Love Story of SHIVA & SATI

When I was a kid lot many questions used to arise in my mind and among those one was very auspicious one which was about SHIVA and I was unable to find the answers from my so called social sources and now years later I’m grown up I found few answers and few were remain unanswered.

It is really not easy to write or explain anything and everything about Shiva. However many have tried to explain him as per their knowledge but the details is endless and it is un-imaginable from a human being.

Here I just tried to put all my thoughts, insights and believes together about SHIVA, which I read in books and heard from many sources. And as it is Shivarathri love to share with all of you.

SHIVA:-

SHIVA, Devi (Shakti) and Vishnu are the 3 major aspects of god presented in the Hindu pantheon during the post-Vedic period. Like the 2 important cults of Vishnu and Shakti, the cult of Shiva also has contributed significantly to the cultural and has spiritual grace of Hinduism rooted in the Vedas and nourished by the secondary scriptures like the agamas and puranas.

SHIVA is one of the most fascinating among all other gods. He is the arch-ascetic, the Divine Yogi, who sits alone on Mount Kailasa, high in the Himalayas on a tiger skin. He is unusual in appearance but he is reality. Shiva is distinct from other deities: his hair piled high on the top of his head, with a curve folded into it and the river Ganges falling from his hairs. Around his neck is a coiled serpent. He holds a trident in his left hand in which is bound the 'damroo' (small leather drum). He wears the 'Rudraksha' beads and his whole body is smeared with ash. He is immortal, beyond time, actually he is the Time.

SATI:-

SATI (Dakshayini or Gauri)’ She is form of Shakti-the most powerful energy of the universe and yet so beautiful. She is the eternal source of knowledge and wisdom.
Shakti must always be cantrolled, otherwise it is worthless & dangerous just like uncontrolled electricity. Shakti is of value only when it has been conditioned. Lord Shiva is conditioner the male aspect of the universe. So she was born to be his eternal better half. They complement each other in everything – Power, beauty, Knowledge and Wisdom.

The power of Shiva is his spouse Shakti, First being Sati also known as Dakshayani, the second being Parvati (Both SATI and PARVATI are powerful forms of SHAKTI) In Hindu legend, both Sati and Parvati consecutively plays the part of bringing Shiva away from ascetic remoteness into ingenious participation in the world.

The Goddess Shakti, took human birth at the request of the god Brahma. Sati was born as a daughter of Daksha Prajapati (son of Brahma) and his wife Prasuti. As the daughter of Daksha, she is also known as Dakshayani. Also was called as Satī. She was named Gauri, "the turmeric-hued one," since she was of the fair, gold skinned complexion of auspicious turmeric.

“All that has a beginning by necessity must have an end. In destruction”, truly nothing is destroyed but the illusion of individuality. Thus the power of destruction associated with Lord Shiva has great purifying “power” with which Sati fell in Love.
When Sati entered adulthood she knocked back waves of advances from admiring kings and noble-folk, but against her father’s wishes to win the regard of the ascetic Shiva, she left the pampered life of the family palace and retired to the forest to worship God of destruction-SHIVA.

She worshiped him day and night and So rigorous were her penances that she gradually gave up food itself, at one stage she manage to survive on one bilva leaf a day, and then giving up even that food; this particular self-discipline earned her the name Aparnā. She loved him to the core being his wife became motto of her life.
Finally one day her prayers bore fruit when, after testing her determination, Shiva finally agreed to marry her. Daksha didn't like Shiva much but Dakshayani (Gauri) decided to marry him anyway. Dakshayani (Gauri) made her home with Shiva in Kailasa after marriage.

Daksha once organized a yagna to just showcase his negligence towards Shiva and Gauri and invited all gods except Shiva and Gauri. Gauri alone preferred to attend the occasion even without formal invitation from her father so her loving husband could not resist her from attending the Yagna.

Gauri didn’t received well by his father soon after her arrival discussions has been started about Shiva and every passing moment made it clearer to her that Daksha was not capable of appreciating the many excellent qualities of Shiva. Soon she realized that Shiva had forced to face this dishonor by Daksha just because Shiva married her. For her death was looking painless comparing to the insult done by her father to her loving husband. Using her yogic powers she immolated herself.

Shiva was furious that his wife had been forced to destroy herself. He was in pain, anger and his emotions were uncontrolled towards his wife. He was a destroyer so there was nothing expected other than destruction. With that painful anger he created Virabhadra and Mahakali from two locks of his hair. As they proceeded to destroy everyone at the Yagna Shiva slung Dakshayani over his shoulders and did the dance of loons-Tandava.

It was a pretty exceptional dance so severe that his beloved wife’s body was broken into fifty one pieces that were scattered all over the world. The bits became Shakti Peethas, the top hot-spots of pilgrimage.

Regaining his senses Shiva brought all of the slain back to life. Even Daksha was revived and although his head was replaced with the head of a goat.
Shiva and Gauri’s love was so eternal and beyond the Universe so she had to born again to complete him because he is incomplete without her and so she is. She born as Himavan's (king of the mountains) daughter Parvati, Himavan was a great follower of Shiva and appreciated him passionately.

Naturally, Parvati required and received Shiva as her husband. Lord Shiva was married to Devi Parvati on Shivratri.Shiva and Parvati are often shown couple in full happiness, intimate embrace. They also like to discuss philosophy. Shiva taught Parvati on Vedanta (transcendent knowledge), while Parvati taught him Sankhya (cosmological knowledge). Both were perfected yogis.

With Parvati by his side, Shiva became complete again. Shakti always inspired Shiva by her beauty, knowledge and wisdom, SHIVA became the source of the arts, dance and drama. But he did not abandon his ways as a hermit and continued to meditate. His carefree attitude and his refusal to shoulder household responsibilities sometimes angered Parvati. But then she would come to terms with his unconventional ways and make peace. The consequent marital bliss between Shakti and Shiva ensured harmony between Matter and Spirit and brought strength and peace to the cosmos.

Being Human….

"Being Human"….It may be a popular word who knows Salman khan and his organization… but I feel much more out of this word...Yes there are so many living beings in world. What makes human beings so unique due to which we stand above all on the earth? Is it the power of thinking..? The power of talking..? Is it the power of inventing and implementing new ideas or processes?

I frankly don’t know what makes us unique compare to other living beings…OR do we really need to consider ourselves unique compare to other animals on the earth..?



Where we are standing as human beings..? We are inventing disasters to kill other humans, we don’t bother what mother earth has given and how to worth it. We became so busy in our own world, and there is very less or no time to think about anything else happening around.

Today we find less peace and more tension in our social atmosphere (I may be wrong, few of them may be with more peace and less tension :P but I’m not mentioning about them here; again I can say it is only few). The main reason for this is disharmony in our relationships. This disharmony is reflected in various forms like jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed, violence, etc. So much selfishness has crept in our behavior that all the times we are thinking and bothering about our own comforts, luxuries and gains, even at the cost of harming others.

What I feel is, at some extent we are meant to be so because of our social structure where we will be respected or identified by all the material things we have with us. I still remember when I was a kid my mother prefer to not participate in some of our relatives or friends weddings because we don’t have that much gold jewelry and rich cloths to be there. Yes it is very unfortunate thing but it is fact. As a kid I used to think it is better to not be among them who give importance to nonliving things which got no value compare to a human being.

Whenever these thoughts arise in my mind, I feel to discuss with someone and sometimes I did so and the reaction was so obvious that the other person either think that I don’t have work to do or I’m so frustrated with the life :P and this reaction is a sign of being human :)

Do I really need to think about it? Do I really need to change the world..?
Answer is NO…I don’t want to change the world, I don’t want to change the society, and I don’t want comment on anything out there. Even if I want to I can’t do all this…. just I feel I want to make my life little more beautiful and little more meaningful in my own way.


How..?
It is good to make sincere efforts to effect transformation in the self, to improve my relationships with others and to be good to others. It would definitely be a step forward towards a Better World (again I don’t want to change the world, society or people; according to me my world starts from ME).

If I want to become negative I can find 1001 reasons to be so. Another factor is I may be influenced by people that I work with and sometimes it is their negativity attacking me. But above all these factors I’m a human being and I have my own identity. If I really want to do well nothing can stop me, I can’t control any one out here but I can control me. This enables me to bring about change, firstly in my environment, workplace, family and at home and this is my world.

These are the promises I’m keeping for myself: (It may be difficult for me initially to keep all these promises but when I get good results or make people happy by these definitely I will be happier than now)

• I will not hurt people who trust me. :)
• I will help as much as I can to the people who are in my surroundings and who are in need. :)
• I will respect to elders and love children. I will not show disrespect towards anyone who work with me and who seek work from me. :)
• Also I will try to keep my beloved nature clean and green as much as possible. :)
• Above all I will love myself more so that I can share same to others. :)

:) Feeling Good and Better…:)

Whatever our profession is we meet so many people in our daily life. We will meet regular persons like paperboy, milk person, khirana shop guy, woman who sell flowers to us and sometimes we meet strangers while on our regular way to our jobs or travelling to new places…..Do we ever try to recall or remember any one of them, if yes why? What is the reason that we remember only that person not others?



The reasons may be so many but one thing I can assume is the impression they leave on us in that short time may be effective enough to recall or remember them. The impressions can be negative or positive but we will be able to remember them.
Among them we may remember someone for really long time if they made us feel good or better at that particular moment.

In similar way, will any of them remember or recall us the next time we meet them..?
To how many of them we make feel good or better in our daily life…?:)
Or what is the necessity of making them feel good or better …?

We designed our life in such a way where we always try to search for happiness, peacefulness, satisfaction by achieving something for ourselves, our families, our friends and for job we do. Of course it is important to give happiness to our loved ones and whom we love but is it the end of the world…? Is it the end of happiness..?



Mother Theresa had once said. “The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the “feeling of being unloved.” “There is more hunger in the world for “love” and “appreciation” than for bread”. We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must try to remedy this kind of poverty.”

So many of us want to do really good for others but we feel that we don’t get opportunity to do so or things are beyond our levels and limits. I think we really need not to do big things or need not to sacrifice something from our life to do good things. Simple and small things we do for others may get ‘sparking smile’ :) on their faces, it is possible only when we have real wish to make them feel good or better.

By simple appreciation words, by wishing good for the day, by giving something to someone which really not costs anything for us and gives real happiness to them, by saying some nice words when someone is in trouble and by doing little things like this we can make people feel good. By doing this we will also feel happy, good and better...For that day :)



As a person, what makes me feel good is a “smile” :) on someone’s face and if I’m reason for that smile. Believe me that feeling is amazing, it will cherish me for really long time and boost my energy levels…:)

So I have decided that I will try to make people feel good or better as many as I can and as much as I can in my daily life… :) :) :)