Last night on the dark moon of March, with the sun in Aquarius we payed homage to Lord Shiva - the first yogi. Shiva means many things to many people including Hindus, yogis & Vendantas.
In my language, Shiva is the name of God.
I cleansed the house, prepared a feast & picked flowers. Dazla prepared the havan & organised the children's prasad - lollies. They love havans because they get to do adult things & they get to eat sweets.
This celebration is one of the biggest in our calender at home. It is Maha Shivaratri, meaning the Great night of Shiva. Shiva was married to Parvati on this day. Traditionally we stay up all night & fast - with children we have to change things so last night we were up eating, singing mantra, kirtans & bhajans or hymms, telling stories of Shiva, performing a havan, watching some children's Shiva dvd's, playing & laughing. We were all in bed by 9:30pm, early!
Here are some images from our Shiva Party ~ & some of the Essences of Shiva.





Shiva is seen as the Benefactor; He is easily pleased, he is seen as the bestower of happiness, generous with boons & blessings. He takes away all sorrow, misery, pain. He guides his devotee toward eternal bliss.
Shiva the Guardian; Shiva watches over the cosmos, he protects all & everything. He is the lord of the martial arts who offers weapons to warriors. He is the fearsome knight at once fascinating & frightening, brutal yet benign.
Shiva the Teacher; the fountainhead of all wisdom, the founder of Reiki. The knowledge he imparts helps man to live a richer & fuller life. The lord of the performing arts, fine arts, martial arts, literature, science, mysticism & philosophy. He taught humans the secret of herbs the art of animal husbandry & horticulture.

Shiva the Outsider; the rebel who challenges orthodoxy, a nonconformist, the refuge of all outsiders, individuals who feel alienated in a traditional society.

Shiva the Man; he symbolises cosmic virility. The cosmic man in eternal unity with the cosmic woman. He is thus the father-god who complements the mother-goddess. If he is the seed she is the field, if he is the sky she is the earth, if he is stillness he is the movement. Together they are fused, two halves of the whole.

Shiva the Destroyer; Brahma creates the world, Vishnu sustains it & Shiva destroys it. Together this holy trinity ensures the rotation of the cycle of life. Shiva accepts all that is unclean, dirty, rejected; he destroys the corruptions within them all & prepares them for rebirth. He is the renewer, the regenerator, the transformer. He also destroys pride & pomposity by his simplicity. He destroys all prejudice & prudery by his unorthodox lifestyle. At a more subtle level, Shiva is the destroyer of karma, ego & attachment that traps humans in samsara.

Shiva the Transcendent; means the auspicious one. Yet everything about him seems inauspicious: he dwells in isolated hills, dark caves, dense jungles. He dances amidst funeral pyres, rattling bells & drums, he smears himself with ash, smokes narcotics, smells like a goat, demands worship during the dark half of the moon. Shiva thus transcends the suality of good-bad, right-wrong, auspicious-inauspicious. Shiva stands above it all, understanding it all as love - no judgement, loving all.
Shiva the Soul; the cosmic spirit untouched by material transformations. He stands beyond gender, space & time yet permeates the entire cosmos. He is the vitality of life, the source of all things & their final destination. He is absolute truth, pure consciousness, eternal bliss.
Shiva the Approachable; despite his awesome cosmic status, Shiva presents himself as a simple, uncomplicated god - unassuming, guileless, free. His is domestic. In his celestial abode he lives just like his devotees: loving his wife, Parvati, sometimes quarelling with her, playing with his children, singing & dancing, sharing his chilum with his friends. He is a god who many people can identify with, feel close to. He is close to people, their caretaker, their friend, father, lover, a divine answer to human questions.
Shiva the God-head; the supreme being. He has five aspects representing creation, preservation, destruction, oblivion & grace. He has eight forms representing the soul, the sun, the moon & the elements: earth, fire, water, wind & ether. He is a mystery waiting to be unfathomed, just like life. To understand him is to understand the ultimtate reality that governs the cosmos: the eternal absolute Truth.


Sunset Maha Shivaratri 2011