The Festival of Shiv: Day 13 & 14-Shiv a Family Grows!

Shiv and Parvati did a family grow...two sons Ganesh and Kartikeya...however while in earlier blog posts I marveled at how wonderful a religion Hinduism can be for having the ability to look at things microscopically and macroscopically both at the same time...well tonight I have to admit that same wonderful thing has now confused me! :) Because you have to admit Hinduism is like Greek mythology on steroids!:) And there are so many tales in Hinduism as to the exact origins of Ganesh and Kartikeya I don't know why they didn't just say they dropped from the heavens already! :) Or simply flew in with the stalk! LOL! But it seems the more I read on this the more I get confused but you see both the kids are such star kids in their own right so! I guess they are already to be honest super Gods so how could they have parents!:) LOL! I think is what they mean you know...but if we are pretending on the microscopic level it seems they make the stories in some like if Kartikeya was made through union from Shiv and Parvati but in other stories they make it as if Shiv's 'seed' alone spurred into the form of Kartikeya etc etc. All stories of Kartikeya seem to suggest he was nurtured and breast fed by more than one maternal celestial beings however! :)

And in the case of Ganesh well all the stories I've read say he was purely Parvati created and Shiv chopped off his head not knowing that Parvati had created him as her son while Shiv was off as always...after all she was lonely already and he was roaming all over the great big cosmos...but then he is a cosmic dancer can you blame the man for doing his job? LOL! I'd like to think from the Youtube vids I've pulled up from the TV serial Om Namah Shivay that the 'Gods' that reside on various celestial planes no doubt headed by Narad muni that cosmic wanderer himself had a hand in it! But in the end Shiv got the elephant head (a part of the story that makes me shed tears for the baby elephant whose head is taken...awww...:( )and fixed matters! And there you had it my Ishq devata Ganapati or Ganesh was re-born so to speak and all good to go again! So perhaps he is then indeed a creation of both Shiv and Parvati since his new head was placed by Shiv! :)

But everything in Hinduism is always not just microscopic and macroscopic but all inter-twined and interwoven...all over the space-time continuum so Kartikeya was to be born so that he could kill the rakshas Tarakasura and well Ganesh being my Ishq devata we all know of his many exploits on UCP already! :) But here are a couple excerpts to be enjoyed showing the 'Gods' coming from various celestial planes to salute the son of Shiv and Parvati, Kartikeya after he kills Tarakasura and then two more vids showing how Ganesh lost his head...mummy got mad...very mad (in all her nine forms mad!) and then daddy put on a head for him again! LOL! :)

And us here at UCP are left to wonder if in the Shiv household well Kartikeya always boasts about being a daddy's boy whilst Ganesh says he's a mummy's boy! :)

The Festival of Shiv: Day 12-A Fun Ode to Shiv and Parvati!

Today on the Festival of Shiv we join with our sister blog Meady's Musings and their Funtastic Fridays as they also loving and funningly celebrate Shiv and his courtship with Parvati! :)

Hope you enjoy it...OM NAMAH SHIVAY!



For the details of the blog posting with accompanying explanations and rights as to where the pictures etc. used in the cartoon are attributed to, please read the full blog post on Meady's Musings here.

The Festival of Shiv:Day 11-Shiv's Marriage to Parvati!

Photo of carvings of Shiv-Parvati wedding in the Ellora Caves-Maharashtra, India taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Last Tuesday we explored on the festival of Shiv and discovered that yes indeed Shiv can be a family guy. And when we left off the Katha (story) on Tuesday he was on his way to his wedding...in fact we left off as we were following the Baraat (wedding procession) filled with ghosts and goblins each and every side!:)

Tonight on the festival of Shiv we shall explore the actual marriage of Shiv and Parvati and their Honeymoon so to speak on both the cosmic and microcosmic levels since as we also remarked last Tuesday, Hinduism as a religion has the amazing capacity to look at things from the big and small and just like in the Sesame Street classic song...That's about the size of it! It's all about where you put your eyes! :)

So let's put our eyes first on the microscopic details of the story on the material plane so to speak...can you imagine a man showing up for his wedding dressed in loin cloth, a necklace of skulls with ash smeared on his body accompanied by a host of glaring ghosts and goblins! OMG! Well neither did Parvati's family and all but the great goddess fainted and then she 'subtly' hinted to Shiv that he should please put on some wedding clothes...but she did this hinting in song and dance as shown in the classic film- Har Har Mahadev here...



Luckily Shiv changed and the wedding proceeded and then they went on to the honeymoon...which is shown here in a much later TV serial adaptation of the Shiv Katha that was titled Om Namah Shivay...



But what of the cosmic level of this marriage? Well I think this site sums it up well here:

"Throughout Hindu mythology it is well known that one of Shiva's principal functions is the destruction of cosmos. In fact, Shiva has about him a wild, unpredictable, destructive aspect that is often mentioned. As the great cosmic dancer, he periodically performs the tandava, an especially violent dance. Wielding a broken battle-ax, he dances so wildly that the cosmos is destroyed completely. In descriptions of this dance, Shiva's whirling arms and flying locks are said to crash into the heavenly bodies, knocking them off course or destroying them utterly. The mountains shake and the oceans heave as the world is destroyed by his violent dancing. Parvati, in contrast, is portrayed as a patient builder, one who follows Shiva about, trying to soften the violent effects of her husband. She is a great force for preservation and reconstruction in the world and as such offsets the violence of Shiva."

The Festival of Shiv: Day 10-Lent and Shiv as a Yogi?

UCP-Universal Collective Prayer doesn't usually occur between the Catholic and Hindu worlds during the season of Lent. Since Maha Shivratri normally falls before Ash Wednesday and the start of the Catholic Lent season. In fact you will often find Maha Shivratri even falling on what people here on the island call Carnival Monday and Tuesday or the preceeding Fantastic Friday! So actually while Hindus are engaged in UCP others are engaged in fete or bacchanal or everything that might be considered the antithesis of the following Lent season. However because we here on UCP have decided to worship Shiv whenever we so Shiv willing please we are worshipping Shiv all February long and so on this here blog as we celebrate the Festival of Shiv so too does the Catholic season of Lent break upon us on Ash Wednesday!

I've not asked my brother in UCP Deacon Greg Kirk to join me today but I recall his blessings from last year's Ash Wednesday here! And reflect here in true UCP styling on how good a yogi Shiv is and so how he can be an ideal prototype for anyone who is looking to reflect this Lent season! Please note my Intent here is not meant to convert Catholics to Hinduism or Saivism but just to embrace what this blog is about...UCP by showing how things of good overlap and cross thread in all the great world religions...so indeed Catholics reflect in very much the same way Shiv does! (and Hindus emulate him). Both religions can learn from each other here and for sure engage in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer!:)

So here it is Shiv as a Yogi...as quoted from this site:

"For one who is ignorant of that light principle and only dwelling in the prakriti, in the material world, there would be no celebration in one’s life. He may tries to enjoy his life in many ways dancing, singing or drinking but these are not permanent, these push him towards misery. Because he uses only his mind and senses to enjoy this world. And the mind and senses have their own limitations. The real peace and celebration is beyond all the limitations. If your peace is dependent on something, then that is not peace. Peace is beyond everything. In Sanskrit the root word of peace is “Sham”. In vedanta there are six treasures are explained. The first treasure is also “Sham”, meaning control of mind and senses. You can connect the both the peace and control of the mind. When one overcomes the bondage of all the sensual attachment, then one could experience the “Shiva lingam or Jyotir lingam”, which is our real self, guide, God, or whatever you may call it"

The Festival of Shiv:Days 8 & 9- Shiv as the Family Guy?

Photo courtesy of Webshots

Hinduism is a fascinating religion...at least we here on UCP always find so...since it seems to be so good at taking the big and making it little and also the little becomes the big...just like the Sesame Street tune shown here!:)


So these days on The Festival of Shiv we've been asking ourselves..."Can Shiv be the Family Guy?" LOL! I mean it's so perplexing to think of the cosmic figure hugging up with mummy...a kid on one lap and animals at his feet but yep it happens...and only in Hinduism folks...the big becomes the little bit...that's about the size of it...where you put your eyes...that's about the size of it! :)

According to Hindu legend in fact Shiv marries Paravati on MahaShivratri night! I always loved how my mommy told the story and was so excited by it! :) Especially by the fact that ghosts and goblins...yes folks you heard us right...all sorts of Bhoot (ghosts in Hindi) made up the wedding procession! :) In fact sometimes Shiv is called Bhootnath perhaps to honour those who made up his wedding procession? You see Shiv was just putting on a show and he is really this big cosmic size being so he really had no kith...no kin...so being the cosmic sized figure that he is...he is in charge of it all...and so it is and so it was...he rustled up some ghouls who were more than willing! :) Let's put on a wedding folks! And so it is so it was...

Later in our Festival of Shiv we shall tell more stories about how he then proceeded to his family grow and become yes indeed UCP's very own Family Guy! :)

But for now let's follow the Baraat(wedding procession)folks! Hmmm...as here on UCP we are left to wonder if when we all become 'Shivoham Shivoham...I am Shiv I am Shiv' if we will all too realise that we all too just putting on a show here on planet earth! ;) OM NAMAH SHIVAY!

The Festival of Shiv: Days 5, 6 & 7 -These are some of my Favourite Shiv Things!

Days 5 and 6 of the Festival of Shiv leads me into the weekend and after the big night of Shiv celebs I figured I'd take it a bit easy on UCP's very own Festival of Shiv and show you on these days...in a combo blog...some of my favourite things related to Shiv. Of course it's not about Shiv really since Shiv is formless and timeless and boundless and everything less! In fact in some Vedantic traditions it is said that Shiv is everything that is not! However for me, try as I may daily and with especially hard effort yearly on Maha Shiv Ratri (the big night of Shiv). I'm still not Shivoham Shivoham and as a result I'm still Om Namah Shivaya(ing)and have these favourite things that I like about Shiv that perhaps will one day make me Shivoham Shivoham...I am Shiv...I am Shiv...for it is my life long pursuit to become more Shiv like!

So here are some of my favourite Shiv things...if you've been following UCP you may already be acquainted with some of them but as I journey forward...I learn and acquire some more favs...so here they all are!

1. The photo of Shiv's murti in Rishikesh that I use as a guru...mimicking his posture so that I can become as meditative as him.



2. My favourite recitation of the Shiv Rudrastakam that I only stumbled upon in the last days of 2009. And I've since been starting many a mornings with it! :)



3. An older favourite is this recitation of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra but really I love any version of the recitation of this mantra. And my favourite explanation of it is on this CD version I have that is not on YouTube but I received from my grandfather in 2002 or there abouts and the swami who speaks I know not his name...however perhaps one of these days I'll share it here on UCP all the same as a sound file...if I can figure out how to do it Shiv willing! :)


4. The Shiv murti that I saw at the end of my pilgrimage in Kartik of 2009 to the El Dorado Shiv Mandir here in Trinidad.

The Festival of Shiv: Day 4-Maha Shivratri and is Shiv Time Bound?

Photo courtesy the kindness and seva of the creators of the book What Is Hinduism? and the editors of Hinduism Today.

There is always much contention throughout the Hindu world as to when Maha Shivratri...the big night of Shiv should be celebrated...it's generally cool in India but once you start traversing those longitudes and those hours a counting well things start to get all neither here nor there and this guru says this...this body says that and all kinda ah things! :)

Here on UCP-Universal Collective Prayer if we look back at the origins of this blog...participating in a global candle/deeya lighting event(read blog's description above for details) in unison with people all over the world well we'd say we'd wish Maha Shivratri could take place at exactly the same time world over! But it's meant to be at night you see and then there is all this business with Mr. Sun you see ...Suryanarayana if you wish to use the Hindi/Hindu terms for him.

If you ask us at UCP we'd say check the time it is in India and then minus the 12 hours and you'd get what time it should be here in Trinidad for instance...if it is to be held in India from 6 PM to 6 AM Fri 12 Feb into Sat 13 Feb 2010 then well shouldn't the time then be 6 AM to 6 PM on Fri 12 Feb 2010 to celebrate it in Trinidad? But of course that's not night in Trinidad so what do you do? You either celebrate it on the Thursday night or the Friday night I guess. Dunno? Wish I could ask Shiv himself! :)

"Shiv when would you like your big night to be celebrated here on the island? Technically I'm out of the celebs as my dad left the mortal coil you know and the mourning period and all but for others on the island when Shiv when?"

But guess what the great thing is Shiv himself is not time bound! :) Since when can Mr. Suryanarayan tell Shiv what to do anyway! LOL! He is dancing all over the cosmos after all and is also the cosmos so to be honest can't we just all worship Shiv whenever we so Shiv willing please!:)

You know it! And let's continue to engage in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer...however we can wing it! :)

But if you're not convinced about this Shiv business as yet from your own inward journeys...you're still not...Shivoham, Shivoham. Well keep searching this Maha Shivratri in whatever time zone and location you may reside...Om Namah Shivay!;)

'In the ignorant state (i.e. without Self-Realization), one considers oneself separate from Shiva and recites ‘Om Namah Shivay’ (I bow to Shiva), but after Self-Realization, one comes into a constant awareness of being the Soul, which is separate from the body. So instead of bowing to Lord Shiva, he experiences the state of, ‘Shivoham, Shivoham’ meaning, “I am Shiva, I am Shiva.” I am the Soul and not the body. There remains no distinction between Shiva and myself. Shiva is my true Self and when I realize this, I become Shiva.' As referenced from this site