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Thread: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

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    How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Namaste ! Om Namah Shivaya ! Hello . I am 19 years old and of Romanian and Greek Origin. I was born a Christian and i have been a Shia Muslim for 2 years . I studied all religions but i always felt drawn to Lord Shiva. Now after much thought and studying i decided to become a devotee to Him because i can't resist the Love i Have for Him. My question is as a non-Indian how can i start Worshipping him . How do i pray to Him. I know i can offer him milk and water but apart of that how do i pray to him ? is there any particular words to utter ? I always recite his mantra. Also apart from Vedas what are the books of Shivaism ? Thank you !

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Namaste,
    Worshipping Lord Shiva is very easy as He gets easily pleased by His Devotees. You can start by offering milk and incense as form of worship, assuming you have statue of Shiva Linga or something else. You can chant 108 Names of Lord Shiva (Ashtottara Namavali) and move onto Shiva Sahasranama Stotram.

    This book is very good from Swamy Sivananda on Siva and His worship. I think this would be a good starter for you.

    http://www.saivism.net/

    http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

    For me loving Siva is good enough and remembering Him several moments every day. So this is all I could offer.
    ॐ महेश्वराय नमः

    || Om Namo Bhagavate Rudraya ||

    Hara Hara Mahadeva Shambo Shankara

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Quote Originally Posted by LordShivaSlave View Post
    Namaste ! Om Namah Shivaya ! Hello . I am 19 years old and of Romanian and Greek Origin. I was born a Christian and i have been a Shia Muslim for 2 years . I studied all religions but i always felt drawn to Lord Shiva. Now after much thought and studying i decided to become a devotee to Him because i can't resist the Love i Have for Him. My question is as a non-Indian how can i start Worshipping him . How do i pray to Him. I know i can offer him milk and water but apart of that how do i pray to him ? is there any particular words to utter ? I always recite his mantra. Also apart from Vedas what are the books of Shivaism ? Thank you !

    Namaste

    Although the word Slave sounds bit odd to me, I ll consider it as an equivalent of the word 'dAsa'. I don't know why you chose your handle name with the word slave in it. I just want to tell that, as a Hindu one can't be a Slave to another that too to a deity. Surrendering (Saranaagati) to the Almighty is different from being Slave to him.

    That said, I take the opportunity to welcome you and at the same time guide you to share about your self in the introduction forum. This post of yours is as good as an introductory post but it's a norm (Check with HDF policies) that a new member introduces in the introduction sub forum. You may ask the moderator to move it to the respective forum, me thinks.

    Realdemigod has given you a place to start and very good answer for your question.
    Quote Originally Posted by realdemigod View Post
    For me loving Siva is good enough and remembering Him several moments every day. So this is all I could offer.
    Chanting hymn/mantra has definitely got its own value, but my sincere suggestion for beginner (especially a newcomer to Hindu tradition) is to begin with loving the deity you are attracted to. I believe the deity chose you and I, although we think we chose HIM. Read / Listen to songs/write ups/books that explains the attributes of your chosen deity preferably in your mother tongue or in a language you are comfortable SO THAT you can easily understand. IT will bring you closer to Sri Shiva, your chosen deity.

    Explore the forum especially Shiva which contains lot of Shaivism related threads.


    Dasa is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the Rigveda and Arthasastra. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but dasa, or das, also means a "servant of God", "devotee," "votary" or "one who has surrendered to God".
    Anirudh...

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Namaste

    Dasa generally is translated as slave, sometimes as servant. Since most of the translators of Vedic scriptures into European languages are from Christian tradition they think according their tradition.

    Christianity has no bhakti thus it has no bhakta and no dasa. There is no benevolent ‚play‘ between creator and creature. In Christianity God is feared. Bible has very harsh words … in very few modern translations they are moderated.

    In German Bible, prayers and hymns the devotee is called ‚knecht‘. A knecht is a man who depends fully unto a master. A knecht had no rights. A knecht could be punished even killed by his master without any consequences. The same applied to his whole family. In European middle ages great land owners had their knechts. Nowadays this word is no more used in society but still in Bible.

    There are many words for which Christian tradition has no equivalent and thus cannot be translated according to their real flavour.

    Thus I suggest LordShivaSlave to start reading
    Living with Shiva http://www.himalayanacademy.com/medi...web/cover.html
    and Dancing with Shiva http://www.himalayanacademy.com/medi...web/cover.html to get the flavour of Shiva Bhakti.


    Pranam
    Dance with Shiva - live with Shiva - merge with Shiva

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    hariḥ om̐
    ~~~~~~

    śubhāśayāḥ¹


    How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    As I see it, it is removing the 'a' & 'devotee' from the sentence quoted - how to become lord śiva.

    इतिशिवं
    iti śivaṁ

    1. śubhāśayāḥ śubha + āśayāḥ = ( may you have) bright + disposition of mind
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Namaste

    how to become lord śiva

    ... read Merging with Shiva

    http://www.himalayanacademy.com/medi...web/cover.html

    Pranam





    Dance with Shiva - live with Shiva - merge with Shiva

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    Vannakkam: I've never seen this as a process of becoming, but rather a process of recognising. Have a clear look at your own ways of thinking, and then do research to find a match. If that match is worship of Siva, then you've discovered that you were a Siva devotee all along.

    Aum Namasivata

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    Re: How to Become a Lord Shiva Devotee

    hariḥ om̐
    ~~~~~~

    śubhāśayāḥ EM,



    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Mind View Post
    Vannakkam: I've never seen this as a process of becoming, but rather a process of recognising. Have a clear look at your own ways of thinking, and then do research to find a match. If that match is worship of Siva, then you've discovered that you were a Siva devotee all along.

    Aum Namasivata
    What you offer is quite true ( being vs. becoming) ... it is the re-recognition of one's own nature.

    We find the following in the pratyabhijñāhṛdayam¹ and the 12th sūtra found therein, it says: tadaparijñāne svaśaktibhirvyāmohitatā saṁsāritvam | 12
    This says,
    to be the saṃsārin¹ (saṁsāritvam) or the one that goes from birth-to-both means to be bewildered or perplexed (vyāmohitatā¹) by one's own powers (śaktibhiḥ) on account of the complete ignorance (aparijñāne¹) of that (tad) ||

    In the beginning for the 'new' aspirant looking to find the Supreme it is suggested some 'comfort time' may be required. That is, if early-on they are faced with the fact they are non-different from
    śivaḥ, it takes some getting use to; per the verse above they are\may be bewildered to begin with, just because of the human condition.

    The 1st stop is to gain the knowledge that one can 'become' Him; the next stop after some
    time is to then offer that you are non-different from Him. It's a vision of possibilities that are offered in droplets so one takes it without being over-whelmed. This has been a teaching method for some time. I have seen it often. Yet for some ripe aspirants, offering this wisdom just may deposit them in God-consciousness. Then the whole universe rejoices and the world is a better place.

    इतिशिवं
    iti śivaṁ

    words used

    • pratyabhijñāhṛdayam- this is twenty sūtra-s written by Kṣemarāja . It is the nectar ( or condensed version) of utpaladeva-ji's Īśvarapratyabhijñā which offers 199 sūtra-s; this book would be equal to the brahma-sutras of vedanta.

      • the term means the heart (hṛdayam) of recognition (pratyabhijñā)- or re-recogntion of the ~heart~ code for your core nature, SELF.

    • saṃsārin - attached to mundane existence ;moving far and wide
    • vyāmohita - bewildered, infatuated.
    • aparijñāne - means 'not flashing forth'; not aware of


    Last edited by yajvan; 10 September 2016 at 04:05 PM.
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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