Dance is an important art form in India, and Shiva is believed to be the master of it. He is often called the Lord of Dance. The rhythm of dance is a metaphor for the balance in the universe which Shiva is believed to hold so masterfully.
His most important dance is the Tandav. This is the cosmic dance of death, which he performs at the end of an age, to destroy the universe.
Om represents an unmanifest state beyond the 3 gunas (elements of sattva, raja & tama). We bow to Lord Shiva, from whom Om was created.
Naampatti made by Sanatan Sanstha Seekers to remind Naamjap
What does the word 'Shiva' mean?
a.The word Shiva has been derived by reversing the letters of the word vash. Vash means to enlighten; thus the one who enlightens is Shiva. He remains radiant and also illuminates the universe.
b. He is the auspicious and prosperity-bestowing principle.
Some unique attributes
1. Physical attributes
a. Ganga : Just as the sun is the focal point of the solar system and the soul that of the body, the focal point of divine consciousness (chaitanya) in every object and pure particles (pavitrakas) is ga-aum. The flow from which ga-aum originates is gan gaha = Ganga. Ga-aum flows from Shiva's head. This is called the descent of the Ganga from Shiva's head. Since the river Ganga has a fraction of the principle of the spiritual Ganga, no matter how polluted it becomes, its purity is perpetually retained. Hence, when compared to any other water in the world, the water from the Ganga is the purest. This is realised not only by those who can perceive the subtle dimension but also by scientific researchers.
b. Moon : Shiva adorns the chandra (moon) on His forehead. The point where the three frequencies - affection (mamata), mercifulness (kshamashilata) and motherly love (vatsalya) originate is referred to as the chandra (moon). Thus, one can conclude that chandrama (the moon principle) is the state in which the three attributes of affection, mercifulness and motherly love are present.
c. Third eye : Shankar is three-eyed, i.e. He can perceive events of the past, present and future.According to the science of Yoga the third eye means the Sushumna nadi (channel).
d. Serpent : One of the Names of Lord Shankar is Bhujanga-patihari. Bhujang means a serpent or pure particles (pavitrakas), pati means the nurturer and hari means one with a garland around His neck. Bhujangapatihari thus means the One who nurtures pure particles and wears them like a garland. Various serpents represent groups of pure particles. Though externally they appear like serpents, internally they are a kind of ladder. To make spiritual progress one has to climb up holding onto the tail of the serpent. Lord Shankar adorns serpents at nine points on His body - one on the head, one around the neck, one on each arm, one on each wrist, one around the waist and one on each thigh. This implies that His body is comprised of pure particles or that serpents of pure particles play all over the body of Lord Shankar who has the universe as His form.
2. Spiritual attributes
a. One performing severe austerities and the great yogi
Shiva is always seated in a bandha or a mudra. His temperature rises due to heat generated by performing severe austerities; Hence, He uses the Ganga, the moon and serpents which endow a cooling effect and lives on the snow-clad Kailas mountain.
b. Short tempered
If someone disturbs His meditation the radiance generated by spiritual practice will be suddenly expelled and whoever is in front of Him will not be able to tolerate it, and gets destroyed. This is referred to as being 'reduced to ashes by Shankar's opening of the third eye'.
c. One who is willing to undergo any distress for the sake of imparting happiness to others
The poison generated during the churning of the celestial ocean (samudramanthan) was burning the entire Universe but no deity came forward to accept it. At that time Shiva drank that poison and saved the world from destruction.
d. One who has both, deities and demons, as His worshippers
Neither did demons like Banasur, Ravan, etc. worship Lord Vishnu nor did Lord Vishnu bestow any boon upon any demon. However, they worshipped Lord Shiva who blessed them.
This represents the Brahman in the form of the word (shabda Brahman). Alphabets consisting of the sounds of fifty-two basic letters and the forms of fourteen Maheshvar verses (sutras) have generated from it. Later the universe was created from these.
2. Trident : represents the following -
The three components - sattva, raja and tama
The root of creation, sustenance and dissolution
Volition, knowledge and action
3. Noose (pash) : The noose represents the noose of time (kalpash) (The rope in Lord Ganapati's hand too is the same).
Worship
a. Application of holy ash (Bhasma)
Tripundra refers to the three horizontal stripes of holy ash applied to the forehead. These stripes symbolise spiritual knowledge, purity and penance (spiritual practice of Yoga), so also they represent the three eyes of Lord Shiva.
b. Wearing a rudraksha
Wearing a rudraksha when worshipping Lord Shiva is ideal. A rudraksha is reddish in colour with yellow stripes and is flat like a fish. On one side it has a slight opening which appears like an open mouth. The rudraksha converts light frequencies of deities from the universe into sound frequencies in the body of humans and vice versa. As a result, humans can absorb frequencies of deities and thoughts can get converted into the language of deities.