Mahadeva

“ I then sought the protection of Maheswara. The great Deity said unto me,—'Thou shalt be freed from disease of every kind, and besides immortality shall be thine. Grief shall never afflict thee. Thy friendship with Indra shall remain unchanged, and let the sacrifices of both Indra and thyself increase.' The illustrious and puissant Mahadeva favours all creatures in this way. He is always the great dispenser and ordainer in the matter of the happiness and sorrow of all living creatures. That illustrious Deity is incapable of being comprehended in thought, word, or deed. ”

“ Thou art incapable of being known by the gods, how then canst thou be known by me? All forms of being that are in the universe are seen in thee! The gods with Brahman at their head worship thy boon giving self, O sinless one! Thou art everything! Thou art the creator of the gods and it was thou who hadst caused them to be created! Through thy grace, the gods pass their time in joy and perfect fearlessness!' Having praised Mahadeva in this manner, the Rishi bowed to him, 'Let not this absence of gravity, ridiculous in the extreme, that I displayed, O god, destroy my ascetic merit! ”

“ O son, O thou that are the best of warriors (through the grace of Mahadeva) , there is none that is equal to me in learning."—After this, Vasudeva, that foremost of all intelligent men, once more said,—"Mahadeva of golden eyes was gratified by me with my penances. Gratified with me, O Yudhishthira, the illustrious Deity said unto me,—'Thou shalt, O Krishna, through my grace, become dearer to all persons than wealth which is coveted by all. Thou shalt be invincible in battle. Thy energy shall be equal to that of Fire.' Thousands of other boons Mahadeva gave unto me on that occasion. ”

“ Thou hast visible evidence, O chief of the celestials, of the fact that the universe has sprung from the union of the sexes (as represented by Mahadeva) . The universe, thou knowest, is the sum of what is vested with attributes and what else is divested of attributes and has for its immediate cause the seeds of Brahma and others. Brahma and Indra and Hutasana and Vishnu and all the other deities, along with the Daityas and the Asuras, crowned with the fruition of a thousand desires, always say that there is none that is higher than Mahadeva. ”

“ At the very scent of the enraged Mahadeva, foes in battle tremble and become senseless and fall in large numbers. For this, the gods in heaven adore and bow to him. Those men in this world and those other men of pious conduct, that devoutly worship the boon-giving, divine, and auspicious Rudra, obtain happiness here and attain to the highest state hereafter. O son of Kunti, bow down unto him that is peace, unto him, called Rudra of blue throat, exceedingly subtle, and of great effulgence, unto him called Kapardin, him that is terrible, him that of tawny eyes, him that is boon-giving ”

“ Bending their heads with reverence and gratifying Mahadeva and his boon giving spouse Uma, both of whom were seated together, they addressed Rudra, O perpetuator of Bhrigu's race, saying, "This union, O illustrious and sinless one, of thine with the goddess, is a union of one endued with penances with another of penances as severe! Verily, it is the union, O lord, of one possessed of very great energy with another whose energy is scarcely less! Thou, O illustrious one, art of energy that is irresistible. The goddess Uma, also is possessed of energy that is equally irresistible. ”

“ The race produced by Mahadeva were very numerous, and devoted themselves exclusively to the worship of the male Deity, but their intellects were dull, their bodies feeble, their limbs distorted, and their complexions of many different hues. Parvati had at the same time created a multitude of human beings, who adored the female power only, and were well shaped, with sweet aspects and fine complexions. ”

“ Wrapped thus into hushed intensity lies Kailash, above Lake Manasorovara, the mountain home of Mahadeva, and there, with mind hidden deep under fold upon fold of thought, rests He. With each breath of His, outward and in, worlds, it is said, are created and destroyed. Yet He, the Great God, has nothing of His own; for in all these that He has created there is nothing—not kingship, nor fatherhood, nor wealth, nor power—that could for one moment tempt Him to claim it. One desire, and one alone, has He, to destroy the ignorance of souls, and let light come. ”

“ Adored with diverse hymns uttered with diverse kinds of voice and worshipped with diverse Mantras fraught with encomiums, he, that is sometimes called Sarva, is the Destroyer of all creatures in the universe, and it is upon him, again, that all creatures rest as their common foundation. Mahadeva is the soul of all creatures. He pervades all things. He is the speaker of all discourses (on duties and rituals) . He resides everywhere and should be known as dwelling in the hearts of all creatures in the universe. He knows the desire cherished by every one of his worshippers. ”

“ He who took his birth as the Danava named Hiranyakashipu, whose strength was so great that he could shake the very mountains of Meru, succeeded in obtaining from Mahadeva the puissance belonging to all the deities and enjoyed it for ten millions of years. He who was the foremost of all his sons and who was celebrated by the name of Mandara, succeeded, through the boon he had obtained from Mahadeva, in fighting Sakra for a million of years. ”

“ When a creature becomes cleansed of all his sins in course of millions of births in diverse orders of being, it is then that devotion springs up in his heart for Mahadeva. It is through good luck alone that undivided devotion to Bhava who is the original cause (of the universe) fully springs up in the heart of one that is conversant with every mode of worshipping that great Deity. [185] Such stainless and pure devotion to Rudra, that has singleness of purpose and that is simply irresistible in its course, is seldom to be found among even the deities, and never among men. ”

“ Devotees in countless numbers crowded the streets puffing their cheeks, and shaking their sides, as they shouted aloud in enthusiasm: Oh, Mahadeva! Lord of the Universe! Women, devotees of Shiva, carrying tridents in their hands, and wearing scarlet raiment, were perambulating in their hundreds, about the temple of Shiva, engaged in their devotions to Shiva and Durga, and laughing madly the while. Ascetics there were in great numbers, who striving hard to subdue their bodies, and their passions, sat solitary with their hands uplifted, hair all matted, and bodies covered with ashes. ”

“ And being pleased, Mahadeva addressed them, saying,—"For your welfare there will be born a woman who shall be the cause of the destruction of the Rākshasas". As hunger, being engaged by the celestials, did destroy in olden time, all the Dānavas, so shall she (Sitā) the root of the extinction of Rākshasa race destroy us all with Rāvana. Alas! for the foolishness of the vicious-minded and insolent Rāvana destruction has faced us and we are overwhelmed with grief. We do not see any such being in the world who can afford us shelter. Rāghava has attacked us like unto the fire of dissolution. ”

“ Hence we see the irreverent familiarity with which the highest gods, even Mahadeva, is personated by the Hindus in religious processions, or even on the occasion of the wild saturnalia of the Holi festival, when a man painted white with a wig of long yellow hair on his head, a string of huge beads about his neck, and a trident in his hand—the Supreme Deity personified—is borne aloft amidst a crowd of excited men who are indulging in the grossest license of obscene speech and gesture. ”

“ I trust indeed, Lady, that your heart is not given to that Madman!"
"Ah," said Uma, sighing gently, "you speak thus because you do not understand! The actions of the great are often unaccountable to the common mind. The ways of Mahadeva may well be beyond your ken!"
"But," he persisted, "believe that I speak wisdom! Spend your life no longer in a vain effort to reach One who is not worthy of your love. Give up the thought of Siva. Even if He be what you say, He does not deserve——"
"Stop!" said Uma, "I have let you speak too long. I cannot listen to one word more," and she turned to go. ”

“ I have seen the top of this lingam, which is spacious, pure, delightful, adorned with the leaves of the ketaki, and wonderful to behold, but without my assistance no one can see it.’ On hearing these words the immortals were astonished, and Vishnu said,—‘This is most surprising; for I have penetrated through all the lower worlds, and have not been able to discover its base; but most assuredly this lingam form of Mahadeva has neither beginning, nor middle, nor end; for it was through his divine will that you, O gods and holy sages! ”

“ And O bull among men, the presence of Mahadeva is there. Arriving then, O Bharata, at the spot where the Sindhu mingleth with the sea, one should with subdued soul bathe in that tirtha of Varuna. And bathing there and giving oblations of water to the Pitris, the Rishis, and the gods one acquireth, O bull of the Bharata race, the region of Varuna, and blazeth forth in effulgence of his own. Men of wisdom say that, by worshipping the god known by the name of Shankukarneswara, one acquireth ten times the merit of the horse-sacrifice. ”

“ He is a giver. He is regarded as possessing prowess. Those men who make gifts of ample and fertile earth unto Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas, always shine in the world, in consequence of their energy, like so many suns. As seeds scattered on the soil grow and return a goodly crop, even so all one's wishes become crowned with fruition in consequence of one's making gifts of earth. Aditya and Varuna and Vishnu and Brahman and Soma and Hutasana, and the illustrious and trident-bearing Mahadeva, all applaud the man that makes a gift of earth. ”

“ And the illustrious Deity was adored, all the while by the attendants that always wait upon him, and by others that subsisted on meat, that were invincible in battle, and that danced in joy on the present occasion, running wildly on all sides and shouting at one another. Rishis also, of great good fortune, possessed of ascetic merit and endued with high qualities, as also the gods, wished for Mahadeva's success. When that boon-giving Lord, that dispeller of the fears of the three worlds, thus proceeded, the entire universe, all the gods, O best of men, became exceedingly gratified. ”

“ Humanity is continued in the worship of my country."
"I have nothing against your worship as such, but how is it you propose to conduct your worship of God by hating other countries in which He is equally manifest?"
"Hate is also an adjunct of worship. Arjuna won Mahadeva's favour by wrestling with him. God will be with us in the end, if we are prepared to give Him battle." ”

“ The image of Mahadeva has gone through many further phases of simplification since the day we speak of, but this Shiva of Benares and the other of Elephanta belong to a single historic period, and the small four-headed stupa outside the caves is one of their most precious relics.
Hinduism throbs with the geography and history of India. In every image of Shiva speaks the voice of pre-Gupta Benares. In that complex conception of Krishna which blends in one the Holy Child of Brindaban, the Hero of the Gita, and the Builder of Dwarka, we celebrate the vision of the royal house of Pataliputra. ”

“ He wished Modon to shoot one of his invisible arrows into the heart of Siva.
The tall and graceful young god turned pale when he understood at last what was wanted. It was believed in the divine world that the Great God was proof against mortal weakness, and the impertinence of attempting to inflict on Him the wound of human love was almost too much, even for these merry-hearted souls. They feared failure, and discovery, with the anger of Mahadeva.
Yet they had a strong affection for Indra, the God of the Sky. They owed him much. They were eager to serve him. ”

“ He is endued with terrible eyes. He is fair, he is darkish, he is dark, he is pale, he is of the colour of smoke, and he is red. He is possessed of eyes that are large and terrible. He has empty space for his covering and he it is that covers all things. Who is there that can truly understand the limits of Mahadeva who is formless, who is one and indivisible, who conjures of illusions, who is of the cause of all actions and destructive operations in the universe, who assumes the form of Hiranyagarbha, and who is without beginning and without end, and who is without birth. ”

“ The space between four of the pillars is formed into a small temple sacred to Mahadeva, and has an entrance on each side guarded by colossal figures. On the walls are several groups of figures in basso-relievo, evidently relative to the Hindoo mythology, and principally to Mahadeva: many of the figures are of colossal dimensions, and well executed. To the east and west are small apartments, decorated also in the same manner. ”

“ Not the mere knowledge, for then it would follow that the study of any system would be superfluous, inasmuch as without any institutional system one might, like the uninstructed, attain emancipation by the bare cognition that Mahádeva is the lord of the gods. Nor is presentation or intuition of the deity the cause of emancipation, for no intuition of the deity is competent to sentient creatures burdened with an accumulation of various impurities, and able to see only with the eyes of the flesh. ”