IS THERTE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD SHIVA & DEITY SHANKAR ?SHIVA -07

God Shiva and Deity Shankar came to be presumed as one. But There is a subtle difference between the Supreme Soul Shiva and Shankar the deity. WHO IS SHIVA, THE SUPREME ?-

15 FACTS;- 1. Supreme Soul . 2. Incorporeal point of light. 3. Worshipped in the oval or egg-shaped form of the Shivalinga. 4. Worshipped as the Supreme Father of all deities and of Rama and Krishna. 5. We Always say “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” means Satya hi shiv hai . God is Truth. 6. ” Om Namah Shivay..” the great redeeming mantra. 7. Known as Trimurti, the creator of the three subtle deities ...Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar. 8. The three lines marked on the Shivalinga symbolise His triple characteristics of Trimurti: i. Trinetri ...The one with the third eye of wisdom . ii. Trikaldarshi ... The one who sees the three aspects of time. iii. Trilokinath ... The lord of three worlds. 9-Shiva is also known as Shambhu or Swayambhu and Sadashiva meaning that Shiva is the eternal Soul who has no creator above Him. 10-To Him whom the yogis see as the bright light and by whom the yogis becoming sinless cross over maya, I offer my obeisance. I surrender to that supreme essence, supreme lord, always blissful, independent, without form (parts) supreme Shiva. 11-All the Vedas state that the purusha (or supreme entity) is always blissful, pure, and has the form of truth. Those who have understood the meaning of the Vedas meditate upon Him through the pranava (OM). Neither the earth, nor the water, nor the mind, nor the speech, life air, wind or sky, nor the intellect, nor the consciousness, nothing shines in the supreme sky, only one Shiva alone 12-The festival of Shivratri symbolises the divine incarnation of Shiva on this earth. The night indicates the moral degradation in souls that sets in due to the ignorance in this world. The true fasting (upvaas plus close company) on Shivratri is that we link our intellect with Shiva and stay in His company.

13-The true Jagran or awakening means to awaken from the slumber of ignorance and to protect the self from the negative influence of vices such as lust, anger, greed and ego. Absolute formless God, Sadashiva appeared in the form of Lingodbhav Moorti exactly at midnight on Shivratri. With all this insight into the Supreme Soul Shiva, let us all celebrate Shivratri and know its spiritual significance 14-The LINGA PURANA has the description regarding the origin of SHiva;- 14-1-Just before the beginning of the creation, Brahma and Vishnu had some disagreement and a quarrel ensued. At that time a column of bright light appeared before them and solved their issues. That bright light is described as below:- 14-2-That linga was surrounded by thousands of flames and hot like fire of death. Without any beginning, middle and end, that was free from decay and growth. This endless formless form of bright light is known as Shiva. 15-- Shiva alone, being Brahman, is known as formless and quality less. WHO IS SHANKARA ,THE DEITY?- 03 FACTS;- 1. Shankar has a human form residing in the subtle world . 2. H e is responsible for destruction of the old world order. 3. In some paintings and sculptures, Shankar is shown meditating in front of the Shiva Linga, which also indicates that the two are different from each other. WHO IS RUDRA ?-

03 FACTS;- 1-The Vishnu Puran has the following description regarding origin of Rudra:-- 1-1-Later on Brahma commenced the process of creation. During that time he desired a child like himself. Then a blue-red colored child appeared on his lap and started crying as he wanted a name.

1-2-Brahma named him Rudra, but he still continued to cry. So Brahma gave him another seven names. They are: Bhava, Sarva, Ishana, Pashupati, Bhima, Ugra and Mahadeva. Rudra married to Sati, the daughter of Daksha. 2-Also, in the Gita Shri Krishna says He is Shankara among all the rudras: Of all the Rudras, I am Shankara 3-So it means Shankara is a Rudra. Hence, although Shiva and Shankara both imply the same deity, Shiva means his formless pure bright light form (meditated upon by Yogis) and Shankara means his commonly known Kailasa dwelling ascetic form (worshiped by devotees). DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD SHIVA & DEITY

SHANKAR (ACCORDING TO SHIV PURAN) ;--

22 POINTS;- 1-Lord Shankar is a human, husband of Goddess Parvati, father of Lord Kartik & Lord Ganesh. He resides in Himalayas whereas Shiva is the sign of Lord Shankar. 2-At the beginning there were no species in universe. Most of the parts of the earth were surrounded by water. Lord Vishnu resided in water.

3-While he was sleeping a Lotus flower sprouted from his naval. From the Lotus flower Lord Brahma was born. Lord Brahma then wandered to many parts of the earth to explore it & to also know about himself, like who he exactly is, how & from where did he come, or who made him? What is his role, etc? 4-To get the answers Lord Brahma prayed for many years. Seeing Lord Brahma’s dedication Lord Vishnu appeared in front of him & said “I’ve created you from my body.” Lord Vishnu also explained to Lord Brahma how & when he did this. 5-Lord Brahma wasn’t convinced by Lord Vishnu’s explanation. He started arguing with him & a fight started between them. 6-As both are powerful lords their fight could have destroyed the universe thus to protect the universe Lord Shankar appeared before them as a somewhat oval shaped ling known as Shiva Ling.

7-The Ling’s size was immeasurable. Seeing such a big Ling Lord Brahma & Lord Vishnu stopped their fight. They realized that there is a third person also who is extremely bigger than them. 8-To know who that third person is Lord Brahma took an avatar of a white swan & flied up to see how tall the Ling is & what is on top of the Ling. Lord Vishnu also took an avatar of a wild boar & started digging the ground to see how deep the Ling is. 9-Lord Brahma kept flying & Lord Vishnu kept digging but both weren’t able to reach a point to know whatever they wanted. 10-They both got tired & prayed together in front of the Ling to get their answers. Pleased by their prayers Lord Shankar returned to his real avatar from the Ling i.e. Ling became Lord Shankar.

11-Lord Shankar then gave his introduction to Lord Brahma & Lord Vishnu.Often Shiva and Shankar are thought to be one but there is a subtle difference between them. 12-While Shiva is the One supreme being, Shankar is his creation. 13-Shiva as the name suggests is Benevolent. Is formless, ageless, timeless, is above everything is the supreme creator, the “Bramha” itself. 14-Shiva’s creations for the proper fuctioning of the cosmos are; 1. Bramha – The Generator 2. Vishnu – The Operator 3. Shankar – The Destructor These three combined together define GOD. 15-The difference between Shiva and Shankar is the same as in between a Sculptor and the self-sculpture he created. 16-This is the reason that Shiva is worshipped in the ‘linga’ form -a form of absolute, a form of shoonya, a form of an ovoid resembling that of the bramhanda. 17-While Shankar is represented in the physical form of an ascetic meditating. If Shankara and Shiva were the same whom did Shankara meditate upon?

Actually Shankara is the creation of Shiva and hence is seen meditating upon Shiva in his representations. 18-Shankar resembles Shiva the closest amongst the trinity due to his ascetic nature HIS.important five face & five pattern of worship are:------ 1- Sadhojat --The lord of earth 2-Vamadeva---The lord of water 3-Aghoresh--The lord of fire 4-Tatpurush,--The lord of air 5- Ishan.----The lord of space 19-The eight idols of the Lord Shiva are-----

1- Ugra 2-Sharva 3-Bhava 4-Rudra

5-Bheema 6- Pashupati

7-Ishan 8-Mahadeva 20-In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad the Rishi Yajnavalkya at one stage says “The eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajapati are the thirty-three gods".

21-He goes on to explain- "Who are the Rudras?" and says "The ten senses and the mind make eleven. These are the Rudras.""When the senses and the mind leave the body, they make one cry in anguish." While a person is alive, these eleven: the senses and the mind, subject the individual to their demands, and make him cry in agony if he violates their laws. 22-Rudra is the intermediary between physical elements and the intellect, between the spheres of earth and the Sun. Rudra as a divinity associated with winds represents life-breath (prana-vayu).Rudra is thus the principles of life. IN NUTSHELL;-

1-We can say ..

SHIVA IS SAMASITI(whole)

while SHANKERA IS VYASTI (PART).

2-HERE is a brief of THE LORD OF SEVEN CHAKRAS; -- 1-BASE CHAKRA; --BRAHMA 2-SACRAL CHAKRA; --VISHNU 3-NAVEL CHAKRA ; -RUDRA 4-HEART CHAKRA ; -ISHAN RUDRA (MAHESHWAR) 5-THROAT CHAKRA ;--SADASHIV (space--FORMLESS) 6-THIRD EYE CHAKRA; --JYANDATA-SHIV (PRAJYANAM BRAHMAN) 7-CROWN CHAKRA; --PARAMBRAHAMAN PARMESHWAR ...SHIVOHAM.....