The origin of this sculture in its prototype can be taken right back to the Indus valley civilization with the seal that depicts a three headed god. This does not mean that the other two heads belonged to Vishnu and Brahma. A good many centuries down the line depict the same concept of the Trinity in the Shiva cave at Elephanta, off the Mumbai coast. Here definitely the three heads of the Trinity depict Aghora or Bhairava to the left, the center depicts Shiva Mahadeva and the right depicts Vamadeva (Uma).
Before you come back with a contradiction the introduction of Vishnu and Brahma into the Trinity seems more like a political move to me. I may be wrong here and you are completely entitled to your opinion.
The next form of the trinity as pure shiva symbolism is Nataraja in Tandava. Oh what a beautiful sculpture. The more i realize it the more the beauty of it i see. Perfect. Here it does not remain a scultpure anymore. But shiva comes to life. The concept of the trinity, or the concept of creation, preservation and destruction is not left for Doom's Day, but its meant to be part of every activity that we do. Every act of ours is either of creation, maintenance or destruction.
Here destruction is not negative, its not that something perishes, but its the end, as in the end of a particular activity, the completion of it.
When you start something, you bring life into it. it could be as simple as starting a painting, or buying a plant. the moment you bring your interest and attention to it, the activity is created. As you go about your business of painting or watering a plant the act of maintenance continues (preservation). When the painting is over or the plant has lived its life the end is near, it ceases to "exist". its complete. (with respect to the painting, i am unable to grasp the subtle reality of "existance", i am still biased that destruction means a sad ending/death).
In every act of yours there is Shiva. In every move of yours He rules. Isnt that just beautiful. I know for a fact that i am perfect when it comes to creating some thing or destroying it for that matter. But maintenance has been a problem with me until i realized this.
The appearance of the act of maintenance is boring on the surface. But as you put your mind to it, it transforms itself. The churning of your ocean starts, there is rhythm in your activity and you grow with it. You mature with it, realizing and learning along the way the beauty of the activity itself. Thats where only you are thoroughly enlightened and excited and nobody else can share that joy with you (because they have not been there). Thats a moment when you elevate yourself, the activity ceases to remain just an activity but something much greater than that, because you grew up to understand yourself better. Its a crazy feeling.. and the fact that you can't share it with anyone simply frustrates you. I would say, dont share... just cherish the moment.
Its worth a lifetime!
Oh Shiva is great. Simply great... and i didnt see it at all....i just didnt get to see it for so long.
Thank you GOD.
P.S. The trinity explains why Aghora is called the left hand path. (refer earlier posts on aghora)
4 comments:
The following might help:
If you ask the question: How many sides does a coin have? 99.99% of the time the answer would be, “Two”! You would need a mad person or a ‘philosopher’ to say, Three”! He would point to the third side - besides the printed ‘Head’ and the ‘Tail’ sides - i.e., the blank side (Nirguna side) that helps in determination of the thickness of the coin or in giving it a physical form!
This is perhaps due to ‘Maya’ or illusion, i.e., the limitation of physical senses in average apparent human forms - as stated by the ancients. If one were to recall the essence of ‘Hindu’ mythology, the ancients described the entire universe - the three aspects of the apparent physical forms - to rest on a dot, such that both, the real time and space, in fact, were zero! And the apparent time and space, however, appeared extended up to infinity within the Creator’s head, because of illusion! The universe, in Sanskrit, was called Brahmand or the (unborn and unending or Swyambhu) Creator’s egg, thus communicating, in just one word, the essence (Satva or Satya, as in Satyam Shivam Sunderam to describe the Creator) that physical forms are like dreams within the head of the Creator, i.e., the ‘Creation’ ever remains undelivered, and could be expressed just by the word ‘OM’ the hum or the background sound in the Cosmos! All other words were considered as means to cast the web of illusion! The ‘Munis,’ therefore on realization of the truth, used to remain speechless. And, the other Yogis used to keep distance from the householders so as not to disturb their individual ‘thought planes’ that kept them involved in the rituals of day-to-day life.
Thus, in essence, as far as the seeker is concerned, only the formless Creator exists and the apparent Creation is a dream like illusion within His head.
Hi Kavitha,
Interesting information.
all the very best
- desikan
Hi Kavitha,
Thanks for the comment on Tamil blog. I m wondering why u cant access http://matchlessgifts.blogspot.com
:(
What is your email ID?
This is a excellent post!
A very nice and interesting blog. Keep up the good work!
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