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The Stop
Śiva1 is the third god in the Hindu triumvirate which is composed of the gods responsible for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the world. Śiva’s role is to ‘destroy the universe in order to re-create it.’2 These combined functions of destruction and creation inherent to this role means he is presented as a combination of contradictory elements. His powers of destruction and creation are believed to ‘destroy the illusions and imperfections of this world, paving the way for beneficial change’ and as such in his hands destruction becomes constructive.3
In Sanskrit the word Śiva means ‘mild’ or ‘auspicious’, but the presentation of the god in the Mahābhārata4 is appropriately contrary to these meanings. Believed to possess ‘untamed passion, which leads him to extremes in behaviour,’ Śiva is ‘wrathful, incalculable, jealous in the Old Testament sense of that term, and devoid of comeliness.’ Haunting the cremation-ground, dressed in ‘elephant-hide or tiger-skin, his neck encircled with a necklace of skulls, with serpents in his hair,’ Śiva is also the ‘Lord of animals’ who appears in the form of almost every animal at one point or another. Additionally, he is a ‘fierce ascetic’ who abstains from all worldly pleasures: when a love goddess once disturbed a meditation session with an offer of sex, he glanced at her with his third eye5 and ‘reduced the impudent godlet to ashes.’ However, in other presentations this devout ascetic is an equally committed hedonist who wouldn’t have thought twice about accepting her offer.
The contradictory nature of Śiva is found at the heart of his role as ‘Lord of the dance.’ Śiva dances for two reasons: either in the ‘sheer joy of overflowing power’ through which he dances creation into existence, or like a ‘madman or drunkard, surrounded by a rout of half-human, half-animal creatures’ as he destroys the world. Usually presented in paintings and sculptures as white (from the ashes of corpses) with a blue neck (from swallowing a poison at the beginning of creation that threaten to destroy the world), Śiva is the ‘reconciliation of all opposites … both creator and destroyer, terrible and mild, evil and good, male and female, eternal rest and ceaseless activity.’
Śiva is believed to be half man and half woman, and is sometimes portrayed as a figure with one half showing his body and the half that of his consort, Parvati. He is also represented by the Śiva linga - a phallic-shaped (and often explicitly penile) votary object. Worshippers believe the lingum represents the ‘seed of creation’ and as such contains both the ‘totality of his nature and the totality of all created existence.’ During the Mahashivratri festival, devotees to Śiva - known as Śhaivites - will bathe the lingum in water, milk and honey as an act of worship.
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to a short (6:47) video, The Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Music of Tetris. As an occasional player of Tetris,6 I found it a brilliant way to explain the failed Soviet experiment - just make sure you listen to the lyrics!
The Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Music of Tetris
The Recommendation
Today’s recommendation is J. A. B. Van Buitenen’s The Bhagavadgītā in the Mahābhārata (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981). It’s the translation we used in my Hinduism course in university and, having not picked it up for over 30 years, I’ve enjoyed reading it again with more mature eyes. It’s breathtaking.
From the back: No other Sanskrit work approaches the Bhagavadgītā in the influence it has exerted in the West. Philosophers such as Emerson and the other New England Transcendentalists were deeply affected by its insights, a dozen or more scholars, including Annie Besant and Mahatma Gandhi, have attempted its translation, and thousands of individuals struggling with the problems of divided loyalties have found comfort and wisdom in its pages.
The Bhagavadgītā (‘Song of the Lord’) tells of the young and virtuous Prince Arjuna who is driven to lead his forces into battle against an opposing army composed of close relatives and others whom he loves. The Lord Krishna, appearing in the poem as Arjuna’s friend and charioteer, persuades him that he must do battle, and we see Arjuna changing from revulsion at the thought of killing members of his family, to resignation and awareness of duty, to manly acceptance of his role as warrior and defender of his kingdom.
Remember: You can buy this text at Amazon, but you can also get it from your local new or used bookstore - or check it out from the library. And those options are better for everyone.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is a collection of five tracks that are connected - some tenuously, some less so - to today’s topic: ‘Teenage Lust’ (The Jesus and Mary Chain, 1992), ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead’ (Monster Magnet, 1994), ‘Dr. Buck’s Letter’ (The Fall, 2000), ‘Siva’ (The Smashing Pumpkins, 1991) and ‘Under the God’ (Tin Machine, 1989). Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from the Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman, Seneca (4 BCE - 65 CE):7
‘Perhaps the worst will happen, perhaps not, but until then, look forward to better things.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next stop …
Pronounced and alternatively spelled Shiva.
The triumvirate consists of Brahma - the creator, Vishnu - the maintainer or preserver, and Śiva - the destroyer.
Yes, another Stop on a topic far too big for one issue! Śiva - and the Hindu pantheon in general - is a fascinating subject that will continue to appear from time to time. In the meantime, for more information you could follow today’s sources: Shiva (Britannica), Shiva (World History), Shiva (BBC) and Zaehner, R. C. Hinduism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1966 (reprinted 1988).
Along with the Rāmāyana, the Mahābhārata is one of the two great Sanskrit epics of ancient India. Containing a ‘mass of mythological and didactic material arranged around a central heroic narrative,’ with a total of nearly 100,000 couplets the poem is considered the longest in history. The May/June 1998 issue of the Utne Reader (remember that?!) gave an excellent description: ‘The Iliad on acid. This vast, fantastically elaborate Indian epic of warfare is also a profound meditation on duty; it contains a religious allegory (The Bhagavadgita) that has shaped Indian culture as no other book has.’ For more information, see: Mahābhārata (Britannica).
The ‘eye of contemplative wisdom,’ the third eye is directly above the bridge of the nose.
At least, I do when I’m stuck on a long-haul flight and bored with the film selection. However, I have to be careful as when I first played it in the 80s, I started seeing the shapes everywhere so decided to stop.
For more information, see: Seneca (Britannica).
I always find it interesting learning about other culture's gods. The Thought is spot on, especially in today's world.
Great trip!
I likely have copies of Bhagavadgītā and the Epic of Gilgamesh stashed somewhere from college. The UNC system had an obsession with those books in the 90s...