Confused on Shiva, Shaiva, Siva

[Believer]

Namaste,

Im not saying that shiva is the supreme god.

Got it Karthik; sorry about wrong conclusions on my part of your posts. In future I will spend more time on your posts to get the real meaning.
Peace.

Pranam.

PS Stop banging your head against the wall please. My head hurts just watching you do it!

[karthik]

Namaste,


Got it Karthik; sorry about wrong conclusions on my part of your posts. In future I will spend more time on your posts to get the real meaning.
Peace.

Pranam.

PS Stop banging your head against the wall please. My head hurts just watching you do it!

Thanks

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

I cannot count the number of times this conversation arises on who is Supreme...

It is like saying yes, blue is the best color; another says oh no, it must be while; and another says both of you are incorrect it is red that is most high.

Yet all have left out the notion that all these colors are the expression of the electro-magnetic spectrum - just a small-small slice of it.

What does the wise say? I take my support from Svāmī Brahmānanda Sarasvatī, Śaṅkarācārya of Jyotirmath (from 1941-1953) - my teacher's master; He informs us of the following ( no words or transliteration added):

"Shiva, Ganesha, Surya, Shakti (Durga, Lakshmi) etc are the limbs of Bhagavan. Any devotee of Shiva can say 'Our Shankar (Shiva) is really Bhagavan', any follower of Surya can say that 'Surya is really Bhagavan', then this is really like not knowing the whole shape of the elephant.

Some blind men took hold of an elephant's trunk and said 'This elephant it is like a pestle.' Seizing the foot one said it was like a pillar. Taking the ear one said it was like a winnowing basket. The thing is really this that the blind men having seen the elephant got stirred up in dispute. He who knows the whole form of the elephant will never say that the elephant is similar to a winnowing basket or to a pestle.

In the same way, he who has taken a good understanding of Bhagavan, he can never say that Shiva is the true form of Bhagavan or Ganesha is the true form of Bhagavan or that the four-armed form of VishhNu is really the form of Bhagavan. He who is familiar with the essence of Bhagavat (God) that all these several forms are really the separate parts or limbs of Paramatma (God). In truth worshipping any of the gods is really worship of Bhagavan. This is really the established truth of the shaastra".

"He alone is the best devotee who sees his Adored One everywhere. For the devotee of Vishnu the Lord is omnipresent. He should see Lord Vishnu even in the images of Shankar, Devi, Ganesh and Surya etc. Likewise a devotee of Shankar, Devi etc. should visualize his Adored One omnipresent."



...think as you see fit ( my words not guru dev's)

iti śivaṁ

[Suhita]

Are these all just different transliterations or spellings of the same Hindi/Sanskrit name?
Siva is described as all compassionate and patron on a mystical path of self realization as Siva.

Shiva is the destroyer and part of the Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva trinity.

Not that a destroyer can't also be compassionate, but the different descriptions are confusing.

Thanks!

Hello Liang Ch'an,

The names are just the different types of names addressed to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is also referred as 'Rudra'. Even If you will listen the Lord Shiva Mantras people address him with different names.
Start reading the mantras you will get used to these names.

~Hari Om