Why Shiva Has a Thousand Names
Shiv tattva is not experienced by an ordinary person because he does not need it. A basic person spends his life in the pursuit of the five senses, which pertain to the five basic elements and the five basic chakras. The sense of smell is controlled by Mooladhar, sense of taste by Swadhisthan, sense of sight by Manipoorak, sense of touch by Anahad and sense of sound by Vishuddhi.
These five are sufficient for the daily pleasures, which one indulges in from morning till night. There is no need for anything beyond for experience of basic pleasures. When there is no need, then there is little incentive to look further, and so, an ordinary person remains unaware of the Shiv tattva. Shiv is beyond the five tattvas, the partattva, in which all the tattvas reside. The experience of Shiv requires the awakening of Agya through yog. You may be given the experience a couple of times forcefully, but till you have control over your basic senses, till you elevate to the level of Agya, it will not happen to you naturally. Till you keep evaluating everything in life with these five senses, you will not be able to go above them.
Even the thought to find Shiv will not come to you. Even though Shiv is right here, sakshat, but you will not be able to see Shiv because that vision is not there; the third eye has not opened because you are bound by the other five senses.
Shiv is in the whole of brahmand and the whole of brahmand is in Shiv. A yogi has the sakshatkar of Shiv; a yogi is above the domain of five senses and their related pleasures. An ordinary being is tied to one or more of the basic senses, because of which this experience eludes him. Let us understand this with an example from daily life. If you see a man and a woman walking, holding hands.
A person at Anahad will see them as brother and sister, the one at Swadhisthan will think of them as lovers. A yogi, the one who is at Agya, will call it a relationship of Shiv-Shakti.
He just will not see anything except Shiv and Shakti. The merger of Shiv and Shakti is creation and separation is dissolution.
The day you see Shiv and Shakti, understand, that you have come in yog, whatever anyone may say. When the awakening happens, all the pleasures of the five senses come within it.
You can get anything you want just by accessing the Agya but for this yog needs to be done. Shiv is at Agya but where are you? Till the time you do not give first priority to yog, you will not see Shiv and Shakti and keep moving in circles in these senses only, even after doing yog for 100 years! ConclusionThe many names of Shiva are not a sign of divine multiplicity but of human fragmentation. As our inner clarity diminished, our need for symbolic anchors multiplied.
Each name — Rudra, Bheem, Ishan or Mrityunjay — points to a specific state of consciousness and a precise inner requirement. When seekers approach the sacred without knowing what they truly seek, they drift from one practice to another, mistaking movement for progress.
The writer is a spiritual Guru; views are personal
