Fw: Lord Siva: 'the glance of love'

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Wishing you a very happy Shiv-Ratri. I am forwarding a very fine message

which shows the glories of Lord Shiva.

Sanjay Rath

 

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" S a n g a 2001 vol 3/7 " <editors

<srath

Wednesday, February 21, 2001 3:33 AM

Lord Siva: 'the glance of love'

 

 

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S a n g a Tuesday, February 20, 2001

srath

 

Re: Lord Siva: 'the glance of love'

 

Wednesday, February 21, Sri Sivaratri

Thursday, February 22, Amavasya [dark moon]

Friday, February 23, Disappearance of Srila Jagannath das Babaji

 

" Out of love for all the jivas, the Lord glances at material nature to

manifest them, that they may come to meet their maker and love him. Thi=

glance of Visnu, this is Siva, it is the glance of love for all jivas. =o

how we can not appreciate Lord Siva? "

 

Hari katha with Swami B.V. Tripurari, Vrindavan, India, March 5, 2000.

 

Q. What is the position of Lord Siva from the perspective of the Gaudi=a

sampradaya?

 

A. Sankaracarya is said to be an incarnation of Lord Siva. The arch ene=ies

of Sankara's notion of advaita Vedanta are found in the Madhva and Rama=uja

sampradayas. Some in the Madhva sampradaya chant a mantra while

passing=urine which says they are urinating on Sankara. Such a strong

opinion. =n

the Ramanuja sampradaya there are also very negative feelings about Lor=

Siva. It is said, perhaps by Ramanuja himself, that it would be better =o

enter the mouth of a tiger and be devoured than to enter a temple of Lo=d

Siva. By this they mean that by entering the mouth of Sankara's concept=on

of advaita Vedanta, which originated from Lord Siva, one loses all hope=for

any future prospect in Vaisnavism.

 

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu sought to bring some harmony to the ongoing

war=between the Saivites and the Vaisnavites. When he visited South India,

Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited all the temples of Lord Siva and showed muc=

regard for him. Lord Siva and Parvati even appeared to him in South Ind=a

as a brahmana and his wife to get his darshan.

 

So we should have proper conception of, and proper regard for Lord Siva=

'vaisnavanam yatha sambhu.' Mahaprabhu entered all the temples of Lord =iva

with this in mind, that Siva is a great Vaisnava. Mahaprabhu reasoned i=

discussing with the Saivites, 'Who is better - Visnu or Siva?'

Although=there were lengthy arguments, discussions and quoting so many

scripture=,

what did Caitanya Mahaprabhu say? He said 'The foot wash of Lord Visnu =s

the Ganges and Lord Siva takes the Ganges on his head. So Visnu must be=in

a superior position to Siva.' In this way, in a simple way, Mahaprabhu

converted them. But in this there was no disregard for Lord Siva. How c=n

we disregard someone who has the Ganges on his head constantly?

 

Q. What is Siva's relationship to Visnu?

 

A. Out of love for all the jivas, the Lord glances at material nature =o

manifest them, that they may come to meet their maker and love him. Siv= is

this glance of Visnu, it is the glance of love for all jivas. It is sai=

that God decides to become many. All the baddha-jivas are in a homogene=us

form within Maha Visnu and upon his awakening, out of love for the jiva=,

he causes them to again become many by glancing over material nature. T=is

goes on in perpetual cycles of creation and annihilation. It is said th=t

Visnu does not associate with material nature. Material nature does not=take

precedence over him. He is intimately associated only with his sva=upa

sakti, which is his own nature and which conquers him, Radha conquers

Krsna.

 

All the devotees conquer Krsna under the influence of this svarupa sakt=.

But the maya sakti does not conquer Krsna. Visnu does not associate wit=

maya. But by glancing, he goes there. It is said in the Bible when you

glance at a woman, you go there. Just by glancing you are implicated. S=

Visnu glances at maya and in that sense goes there. That glancing is Si=a,

all the jivas' consciousness in touch with material nature, activating

material nature and the whole world starts again.

 

It is said in Vedanta Sutra that the world is about love. We may

think,='What? This world is a place of misery, suffering - how is it about

lov=?'

In fact all theologians have to deal with this problem: the world is fu=l

of suffering, God is full of love, but God created the world. How do

we=harmonize this? Gaudiya Vaisnavism has this idea, out of love for all t=e

jivas, the Lord glances at material nature to manifest them, that they =ay

come to meet their maker and love him. And within the world he goes to

canvass them, he gives the scripture, so that they may learn how to

regulate their lives and come to him. But being of the stamp of himself= a

unit of consciousness with will, they don't always take advantage. Stil= he

comes after them. This glance of Visnu, this is Siva, it is the glance =f

love for all jivas. So how we can not appreciate Siva?

 

It is said in Padma Purana there are ten offenses to chanting the holy

name. The second offense says 'to consider Lord Siva different from Vis=u

is an aparadha.' Sometimes it is also rendered 'to consider the names o=

the demigods to have equal efficacy as that of Lord Visnu is an offense=

But it may be rendered in another way, 'to consider the difference betw=en

Siva and Visnu, that is offensive.' Siva means auspicious. Krsna is

all-auspicious, so Siva is also a name for God. Actually all the names =f

all the demigods are names for Krsna.

 

Q. Is Siva the greatest Vaisnava?

 

A. If we study Bhagavatam in its entirety we see that

paradigmatically=speaking, Siva represents jnana-misra bhakti, devotion

mixed with

knowledge. And above jnana-misra bhakti is Prahlada, suddha bhakti, pur=

devotion. This is shown in Sanatana Goswami's commentary, Brhad

Bhagavatamrta, which is an explanation of Srimad Bhagavatam, showing th=

gradation of all the different religious conceptions. So it goes in

the=highest realm to the gopis. But there we find Siva also: Mahadeva

Gopisvara. Siva's desire to become a gopi.

 

We should note this about all the great persons in the Bhagavatam like

Prahlada, and Narada. They are representing something theologically but=that

representation does not entirely represent their personhood,

their=potential, their prospect in spiritual life. Therefore the Gaudiya

Vaisnavas also find them all in Krsna lila. Narada Kunda is there, wher=

Narada bathed and came out as a gopi. Lord Siva appeared as a gopi and =opa

also, Gopesvara, Gopisvara. And the famous Mahadeva Gopisvara temple is=here

in Vrindavan and in that lila Siva is said to have desired to beco=e a

gopi and enter the rasa dance.

 

Why? Because unless we pass through what Siva represents, that detachme=t,

how can we enter into rasa dance with Lord Krsna? That rasa dance that

looks like ordinary love, in every respect is completely selfless. It i=

selfless love camouflaging itself as selfishness. We have to look close=y

to see what it is. The idea of Lord Siva being posted at the gate of th=

rasa lila is that we have to pass through what Siva represents, complet=

detachment from sense objects, if we are to interact with them in such =

way as to not be implicated. In love of Krsna, Gaudiya Vaisnavism is re=lly

about interacting with sense objects, properly understanding that

every=sensual opportunity in the world is an opportunity to satisfy the

sense= of

Krsna.

 

This is why in regards to high, maha-purusa Gaudiya Vaisnavas who are n=t

acting as acaryas, it is sometimes difficult to understand some of the

things they do, like Ramananda Raya teaching the devi dasis how to danc=.

When Mahaprabhu sent Pradyumna Misra to learn about Krsna bhakti from

Ramananda Raya he came back a little bewildered. But Mahaprabhu sent hi=

back. That is a very high thing. We should know how to understand that.=To

apply that, to live in that, we have to cross through the plane of

Lord=Siva. He is posted at the gate of the rasa lila and no one can get by

h=m.

So symbolically it means this.

 

So in this way Lord Siva has a high position in Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Lor=

Siva is actually the brother-in-law of Krsna. From Yasoda a daughter an= a

son were born. When Vasudeva exchanged Devaki-nandana Krsna for the

daughter, Devaki-nandana Krsna merged into Nanda-nandana Krsna and the

daughter was taken and she showed an eight fold form, Katyayani, Durga =nd

chastised Kamsa. So Katyayani is the wife of Lord Siva and sister of Kr=na.

So Lord Siva is the brother-in-law of Krsna. In this way he is part of =he

extended family. Krsna's guru, Sandipani Muni, was a Saivite. In Mathur=,

Krsna was initiated by a Saivite, so Siva is in our guru parampara! You=see,

we cannot avoid Lord Siva.

 

In this way we can find ways to harmonize regard for Lord Siva and rega=d

for Lord Krsna. So we should mull over these things and properly repres=nt

the harmonizing capacity of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. It is not about making

enemies and drawing lines, black and white. We should know that the

parameters of Gaudiya Vaisnavism are broad. There are parameters, but t=ey

are very broad. It includes all that is spiritual, all possibilities, a=l

spiritual possibilities and that means all the way up to the highest

possibility that Mahaprabhu particularly came to represent and to make

available.

 

So in this way we should have a proper understanding of Gaudiya Vaisnav=sm.

It is the highest ideal to get some service of Radha. Radha's name is a=so

Kartika since she is the daughter of Kirtika. Her mother was named Kirt=ka

because it was the custom to name all of the ladies of Vrindavan after =he

daughters of Daksa - and then we recall the relationship between Daksa =nd

Siva. So if we read and study the Bhagavatam we can find so much room t=

understand, accommodate, and appreciate Lord Siva.

 

Questions or comments may be submitted at the Q & A Forum,

http://dailysanga.com, or email editors.

 

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Moderator: editors

Tuesday, February 20, 2001 Vol. III, No. 7

Readership: 6,989

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