(2) This world is said to be the dance of Shiva – Natraja but at the same time he is described as a destroyer (Brahma as creator & Vishnu as preserver) in puranas.
(3) He is the only great god who has a complete family like we humans but is depicted in not so groomed & domesticated look and considered as the granter of Moksha.
(4) Unlike other great gods, his abode is on earth – Kailasha and Kashi.
(5) His consort Parvati also has two contrasting aspects – Nurturing Gauri & Fierce Kali.
(6) What do our scriptures are trying to signify through these contradictions?
(7) Does his living on Kailasha means he and his family are the closest gods to call for.
Help me out in clearing each of them.
Shiva’s story is of synthesis rather than of contradictions. It is our human misreading that has erected the gulf between the spiritual and the material, between this worldly and other worldly, between family life and ascetic life, between creation and destruction. Shiva represents the Force aspect of Sacchidananda. It is one and the same Force that operates everywhere and in everything. This is the same thing that Sri Krishna teaches, the difference being that the path of Shiva is of tapasya and the death of the ego identified with the physical body. Hence it starts from the shamashan bhabhuti, the ashes of the pure. Sri Krishna is the path of surrender where the ego is annihilated by a complete self giving to the Divine. So it goes through all the activities of the world. But the end result is the same. Annihilate the ego and desire-self and then it doesn’t matter whether you are in this world or another, whether you are a householder or an ascetic.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
