Lord Shiva in Meditation

Lord Shiva in Meditation

Pala Dynasty,10th Century AD

      Lord Shiva is the Mahayogi, the great Yogi, who sits in eternal meditation at Mt. Kailash, his abode. He is the ultimate symbol of a man who is able to control all his senses, who is detached from the material world, who is pure intellect or the mind. He is the ideal mendicant. In one hand, He holds the trident, the symbol of three states of consciousness--but which is controlled by the Mind--the staff of the trident. In another hand, He holds a 'damaru' , a small drum, symbol of the cycles of Time; in the third hand, He holds a rosary, symbol of deep concentration; in the fourth hand, He holds a water container, symbol of His ability to purify the world, to cleanse the world. He is the God of the gods, the Mahadev.

      But through Him, we are also warned about the adverse impact of too much of intellectualism: it is a barren, lifeless world without emotion, without warmth, without love and compassion. Objectivity has its limits. Thus He sits in the barren snowclad landscape of Mt. Kailash. In order to breath life into the cosmos, He had to be united with love, compassion, beauty, with emotions: hence His marriage with Godess Parvati.

            The world doesn't run just on pure intellectual thought, on mind; it has to be balanced with emotions, with the heart. Objectivity and subjectivity have to go hand in hand. Otherwise, it is a lifeless, a wild world, a wasteland.