om namo shiva

Shiva is the most interesting god in the trimurti of Bramha Vishnu Mahesh , the three pillars of Hindu religion and mythology . Shiva is the destroyer also known as Shanbhu , Natraj , Yogi raj and many more names . He is the essential asthatic always dressed in the shin of a tiger , bare chested covered with holy ash of the shamshaan which he smears on his body . A serpent dangling from his neck with rudraksh beads and mala’s as his garlands .Shiva dances with a damru in his hand also called the tandava. He is escort is Mata Parvati , Ganesha sits on his lap as his son and nandi the bull is his chariot .

On my spiritual journey across india , i can across shiv many times . I meet him in Kedarnath as a rock in the middel of the temple . I passed the statue of Nandi and whispered a wish in his year . I enjoyed talking to the aghodi’s and the naga baba’s who surround his temple. To see his splendour in the temples of yamnotri . The ganges flowing through the mountain passes as the glaciers melt , as if the ganga was coming down the heavens through the jata of shiva . The great cedar he is called . I ventured around the temple the whole place is full of rocks and boulders with snow peaked mountains all around . I was happy that i finally found the great Bheem Shila the rock that fell from the mountains in front of the temple and saved it from devastation when floods came to the region and destroyed everything in sight . The Bheem shill has now become the symbol of divine intervention , many devotees have started praying to if . Kedarnath is a sight to behold with the Sumeru mountains on one side the air is chilled and crisp , oxygenate levels are a bit low . We reached their by a helicopter which took us in between the valley to the temple . People from all walks of life where to be seen . Even the poor the sick the weak and the handicapped had arrived to make this pilgrimage . All intoxicated by the beauty of shiva and his abode .

I was to meet bhole nath again this time in Kathmandu nepal at the Pashupati Nath Temple . Here the temple is full of animals like monkeys , goats , sheep , birds and hen. Their a huge Nandi mad of brass just inside the temple and sadhus per for puja’s and hawan . I walked around the temple right in the middle is a huge pond mad out of brick walls , inside is green muddy water and between the pond is a huge statue of shiva covered with serpents , a majestic sight. I bought some rudraksh needs her , each rudrash being different then the other one called do mukhi rudraksh , the other panch mukhi , the rudraksh with five heads . I sat down with the pujari of the temple and did my fathers shard , i prayed for his soul to rest in peace and asked for his forgiveness . Doing this in one of the holiest places pleased me and i was happy to ahead a huge burden from my shoulders

I danced with shiva again in the ghats of the holy City of Banaras which is an abode of shiva himself , the legend has it that the city rests on shiva’s trident . Banaras is the town where the journey of every hindu comes to rest . The Hindus bring their dead to Banars and burn them on the ghats of the ganga . Funeral pyres are light continuously one after the other . Asse ghat is one such ghat where pyres have been light for thousands of years without a break . This is the land of death , the shamshaans of shiva . On the ghats wander the flesh eating Aghodi’s and the naga’s , they are the children of shiva . Shiva the lord of shamshaan the ultimate destroyer watches upon this holy city of Varanasi . Banaras is also known for Hindutvta and it’s great university like the Banaras hindu university . It is the home land of poets like Nirala and kaka hathrasi . But shiv is omnipresent here tourists from euorpe and America come to varanasi in search of nirvana of ultimate salvation.Seekers come here to gain enlightenment and the banks of the ganges pilgrims bathe to purify their sins and get ready to sin again .

I was surprised to see Siva in Cambodia during my vist to the Ankor Watt temples . Huge statues of shiva reside in the galleries of the Ankor Watt temple . A soothsayer sat me down and read my future from old pali scriptures written on barks and leaves and ancient culture resides in the city of Siam reap in cambodia and shiva was a part of it . Ever smiling and pleasing he stands tall and benevolent .