In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said, "Only the
ignorant see Me different from Shiva, Brahma and the Like.
The wise know all to be the same."<br><br>The
following story is that of a Vaishnavite, wherein Vishnu
shows Him that He and Shiva are the same.<br>Once there
lived a staunch devotee of Vishnu. He loved Narayana so
much that He would not accept other Gods as Gods. He
considered all else inferior. <br>One day he set out on a
pilgrimage to visit all the Vishnu temples. (In those days,
they used to travel by a cart or on foot. Since the
travel typically involved a few days, they used to rest
in the village / town en route during the night.
)<br><br>As night fell, he was approaching a village, and
decided to rest in the temple of the village. Pretty
tired after the long days journey he didn't even check
which temple it was, and just spread his bed, and went
to sleep. Then suddenly in the middle of the night
he got up, and he wondered whether he was in a Shiva
temple or a Vishnu temple. He was hoping it would be a
Vishnu temple, as he considered it a sin to even step
inside a Shiva temple. So he fearfully approached the
sanctum sanctorum (garba graha) and felt the statue. It
felt like Shankar ! He was shocked to the core and
immediately lit a lamp to get a glimpse of the statue. When
he lit the lamp, he saw a statue of Narayana ! He
then closed his eyes and felt the statue, it again
felt like Shankar ! When he opened his eyes he saw a
statue of Narayana. He repeatedly did this, and each
time he felt the statue, it felt like Shankar, and
everytime he openend his eyes , he saw a statue of
Narayana. <br><br>He was aghast at his strange experience
and prayed to Narayana. The All Merciful Vishnu then
appeared before him and said, " I did all this only to
show you that Shiva and I are the same. " The devotee
then folded his hands and reverently bowed to Vishnu
and said, "My Lord, I now understand that You and
Shiva are the same."<br><br>This is the basis of the
ShankarNarayana temple in Tamil Nadu. In the sancum santorum, the
main idol is half Shankar and half Narayana thus
pointing out that both Shiva and Vishnu are the
same.<br><br>In Ramayana, Lord Rama prays to Lord Shiva before He
sets out for Lanka. In Shiva Purana, Shiva seeks
Vishnu's help to save Him from Basmasura. All this is only
to show that they represent different aspects of the
Same Entity namely Brahman and hence are the
Same.<br><br>Hence, serve Him to whom your mind gets attuned to the
most. <br><br>Hari Aum !!!