File:Attributes of Lord Shiva.jpg

= Attributes of Lord Shiva =

 Lord Shiva is passionately in love with Parvati. He is a brilliant dancer and a consummate musician. He is the author of the Vedas. He treats his devotees with respect. He has this love for bhang. The long hair of Lord Shiva are piled high on the top of his head wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like fashion. Goddess Ganga being the holiest of the holy rivers flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The Lord allowed an outlet to the great river to traverse the Earth and bring purifying water to Earth. The fl owing water is one of the five elements, which compose the whole universe, and from which Earth arises. Ganga also denotes fertility, one of the creative aspects of Lord Shiva. His throat is blue being the poison churned up from the world ocean. The third eye of Lord Shiva, which is located on His forehead, is the eye of wisdom. It is the eye that looks beyond the obvious is his untamed energy, which destroys evildoers and sins.

 Lord Shiva bears on his head the crescent of the fifth day moon. This placed near the fiery third eye and this shows the energy of Soma, the sacrificial offering, which is the representative of Moon. It means that

 Lord Shiva possesses the energy of procreation along with the energy of destruction. The moon is also a measure of time; thus, the crescent also represents his control over time. He is holding a trident in left hand in which a small two-headed drum is bound. The three points of the trident symbolizes three functions of the triad – the creation, the sustenance, and the destruction that again needs citation. The trident besides indicates that all the three aspects are in control. The three lines of ashes drawn on the forehead that represents the essence of Being which remains after all the impurities of ignorance, ego and action, and likes and dislikes, attachments to one’s body, world, worldly fame, worldly enjoyments, etc have been burnt in the fire of knowledge. He seated on a tiger skin with a water pot on right side. You wear the ‘Rudraksha’ beads. Your entire body smeared with ash. Hence, Vibhuti revered as the very form of Lord Shiva. This signifies the immortality of the soul and manifested glory of the Lord Shiva.

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