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Shiv
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In
a sense Rudra was too much a part of the Life-Force, too acutely felt to be just
a god. Rudra punishes Prajapati for the first primordial act of incest and in a
sense he is the defender of Dharma ever since. He is also a slayer of a brahmana,
Prajapati, in the service of a higher morality, a fact that has caused much
anguish to medieval commentators who were busy trying to show brahmanas were
gods on earth as well as in heaven. Rudra-Shiva is thus always about living an
authentic life, with utter disdain for convention.
This
Vedic manifestation of Shiva was thought to be the earliest known(1500 B.C.)
before he became the great God of later Hinduism. Then came the discovery of a
few seals from the Harrapan civilization (2750 B.C.) and the picture changed
completely. The seals show a figure who is so manifestly Shiva that it had to be
acknowledged as such, even though it smashed the nice theory that was emerging
of invading Aryans destroying the cities of the Indus valley. It is known as the
proto-Shiva seal. However, for those who can read the signs and can decode the
evidence, this figure is far more important.
He is surrounded by animals, which directly links him up with the
Rudra-Pashupatinatha of the Vedas. The tiger, the elephant, and the bull
depicted here, all play prominent parts in the Shiva mythology. Even more
importantly he is shown in a typical yogic posture, which would indicate the
knowledge of the ancient art.
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- This posture is the Udharva Linga posture
(and not the ithyphallic posture as is so easily assumed) and it indicates the
triumph over the sexual impulse.. The balls of the feet press into the sacral
region behind and beneath the testicles as is shown. The lingam is erect and it
presses into the navel, signifying the complete conquest of the sexual energy.
He is now Udharva Retas, "he whose semen flows upwards". In the
yogic system when you do not dissipate semen through ejaculation, it transforms
itself into a food for the brain called ojas, vital energy, and is the source of
the creative force that alone can provide you with the fuel to break through
into enlightenment. This posture is commonly practiced even today and the
udharva linga experience is not uncommon for many spiritual practitioners. Even
the founder of Kriya yoga has left an account of precisely this linga entering
the navel and the subsequent freedom from all thoughts and desire of lust.
- Inevitably,
Shiva the Conqueror of Lust and Desire is also known as the erotic ascetic! The
Tantrik tradition uses the Shiva Energy very heavily and many of the texts of
Tantra are lectures that Shiva gives to his spouse who may be Kali or Parvati,
but actually is a representative of all the Divine Feminine energy in the world.
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- Shiva's
sexuality inevitably brings us to the Shiva lingam, the supposedly sacred
phallus. Contrary to popular perception, the Shiva lingam has a world of meaning
attached to it and it is not just the obvious one of phallic symbolism. Most
lingams are representations of Shiva who is never worshipped in the form of an
image. Popular mythology holds that he was cursed so by an enraged rishi. The
lingam is an abstract stand-in for the Howler who must never be named. The
entire process is an elaborate avoidance of naming the dread name by
substituting something else, which is also a creative and generative force.
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