Lord Shiva Idol – His Abode and His Message
His Physical Appearance
Well, at first glance, he
does look something like a beggar. His skin is covered with wood ash. His
clothing is poor and skimpy. Beggar-like, too, he may carry a begging bowl. And
sometimes, also, he goes from door to door begging alms. Yet there’s something
very different about him – not at all like a beggar.
In fact, in a way, he seems
like a king, for he gives you a feeling of enormous power. He doesn’t seem rich
like a king, certainly, and yet – you can’t imagine him needing anything, and
that does make him rich in a way – richer than most millionaires, who with all
their money keep on wanting things they haven’t got.
Again, the Shiva idol online doesn’t seem powerful in any ordinary sense. He lives alone. There isn’t anyone around for him to the boss about. And yet – somehow you get the feeling that everyone he meets – even things like trees and birds and animals – draw their power from him: that they need him in order to exist at all.
There’s a strange look to him. Yet, he doesn’t seem to care how he looks. His hair is thick and long and matted from never being brushed. He piles it in a high coil on top of his head. At the top of this coil, too, is placed a new moon to show that Shiva’s thoughts are always of high things. If ever you see him, you may find him dressed in only a leopard or tiger skin.
One thing you’ll know him by is his tall staff, which he always carries with him. This is no mere stick, but a trident: that is, a staff with three metal prongs at the top, something like a tall fork (though I’m sure he never uses it to eat anything with). There’s a hidden meaning to this trident. It shows that he’s always centered on himself.
His Abode
You won’t often find lord Shiva
idol in just any wild place. His
home is the snowy peaks of the Himalaya Mountains, in the north of India – the
highest mountains in the world. He seldom comes down into the towns of men, and
when he does so, it’s usually to make people long for his remote kingdom of
silence and peace.
The Himalayan Mountain he
lives on, you see, is really just a way of saying. He lives in that part of you
that is high above all your worries and distractions. Even the stories about God Shiva
statues are really only told to
help us to understand things about our own Higher Self – that part of each of
us, which can reach up and, maybe, touch the hand of God.
The Message of Shiva
For Shiva’s work on earth is to remind us that, out of God, nothing lasts – that life itself is short compared to eternity, even if we should live a hundred years.
So you see, that’s why, although he dresses like a beggar, still he’s so very rich. He seems poor because he never puts a tag on anything that says, “That’s mine.” But He’s really very rich because He doesn’t need anything. He never weeps for anything. He’s always happy in himself. Anyone who can be like that can do anything he sets out to do in life.
Comments
Post a Comment