Shiva Mahimna Stotra

Shloka 8

Meaning: O Giver of the Boon (Lord Shiva)! Your household properties include (i) Nandi (Bull), (ii) a club weapon, (iii) an axe, (iv) tiger-skin cloth, (v) ashes, (vi) snakes, and (vii) a human skull. But the devas (gods) enjoy an abundance of wealth given by you out of your grace. Truly, one who enjoys bliss by focusing one’s mind on the Self within never gets deluded by the temptations of worldly pleasures.   

Reflections:

We can learn four things from this shloka: (1) Simple living and high thinking, (2) Remain focused on the Atman lying within, (3) No worldly attractions like wealth, sense-pleasures, power, position can disturb the blissful mind of a person who is established in the Atman, and (4) the interpretations of the symbols of Shiva’s belongings.

(1) Simple living and high thinking:  Lord Shiva’s household belongings are minimal and simple. He looks like a poor God. But that is not the case. Pushpadanta says that when Lord Shiva gets pleased with the prayers of gods and out of pleasure his eyebrows get stretched a little the devas receive tons of wealth. Thus, Lord Shiva can have all the wealth of the world, but he keeps minimum things for his living, and on the other hand, he keeps his mind always focused on Atman or Brahman.

We see in the world that many Saints are capable of acquiring any amount of wealth, power, and high worldly positions, but they do not go after them and remain focused on the Atman.

The householders also can perform their responsibilities following the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, live a simple life, but keep the mind focused on the goal of realizing the divinity within and manifesting it in their thoughts, speech, and actions and do unselfish service to humanity. Sri Ramakrishna said that when the householders are busy with work, they should hold on to God with one hand and perform responsibilities with the other hand. When they are free, they have to hold on to God with both hands.

(2) Remain focused on the Atman lying within:  We find Lord Shiva is absorbed in meditation in most of his pictures and statues.  His face is serene and beaming with bliss. Pushpadanta used the word “svatmarama” to describe Lord Shiva. He is always focused on the Atman within. Thus, he is a great yogi and encourages us to be a yogi. The following shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita describe yoga and the state of a yogi which gives us a picture of Lord Shiva:

Bhagavad Gita (6.20-21):

Shri Krishna says, “That in which the mind restrained by the practice of concentration; rests calm;

that in which seeing the Self (Atman) through the self (pure intellect), one rejoices in one’s own Self;

that in which one experiences the boundless joy beyond the reach of the senses and grasped only by the understanding (the special knowledge); and

that in which being established, one never departs from Reality;…”

Here is another shloka:

“The yogi, who is happy within, who rejoices within, and who is illumined within attains freedom in Brahman, becoming one with Brahman.” (Bhagavad Gita (5.24))

(3) The Bliss of Atman:                                        

Shri Pushpadanta teaches what we can learn from Lord Shiva. He says, if like Lord Shiva, we remain absorbed in the Atman within, then we will experience infinite bliss, and no worldly temptation will delude our minds.   

Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (6.28):

“Thus (by the practices of meditation) making oneself ever steadfast, the yogi, freed from sins, easily enjoys the touch of Brahman, which is exceeding bliss.”

Scriptures teach us that all the joy of the world combined together is equal to a fraction of the bliss experienced by a realized soul.  

We can see this from the lives of realized souls. I heard an interesting story from a Saint.  He said that a Sadhu was sitting on the bank of a river and enjoying the cool breeze on a hot summer day. One passerby came, saluted him, and said, “I am a diamond merchant and I want to give you a special gift.” He took out two very precious diamonds and gave them to the Sadhu. The merchant said, “You can have all the luxuries of the world from the money you get from these two diamonds.” The Sadhu smiled and started playing with these two diamonds as if he is playing with two small pebbles. After a few minutes, he threw one diamond as far as he could in the river like a child’s play and started laughing. The merchant was shocked, and he said, “Sir! Where did you throw the diamond in the river? I can go and get it back.” The Sadhu took the other diamond and through it in the direction of the first one and said, “There it is.”. The merchant could not believe what he saw, and then he left in dismay. Sadhu taught him that compared to the inner bliss one gets by dwelling on the Atman, the two diamonds are nothing more than two pebbles.      

Sri Ramakrishna wanted to make sure that the money would not deviate his mind from his spiritual goal. So, as a spiritual practice, he took a few coins in one hand and dirt in the other hand, sat at the bank of the river Ganga, and tried to feel that there was no difference between the two. He repeated a few times, ‘money, dirt’, ‘dirt, money’ and when he did not feel any difference between the two, he threw both of them in the river. He knew that money was needed to maintain the living, but it should not deviate the mind from our spiritual pursuit.

One Marwari businessman wanted to give Rs. 10,000 to Sri Ramakrishna. At that time, this amount was huge. But Sri Ramakrishna was happy with what he had, and he didn’t accept the money. Once Mathur Babu, Rani Rasamani’s son-in-law, expressed his wish to transfer an estate to Sri Ramakrishna’s name so that Sri Ramakrishna enjoys the money produced by the land for his entire life. Sri Ramakrishna became angry and chased Mathur Babu out saying, “O Rogue! Do you want to make me a worldly man? Get out of here.”          

Such examples teach us that compared to the inner bliss experienced by being absorbed in the Atman the worldly pleasures are very trifles.  

(4) Symbols and their interpretations:

In the Hindu scriptures, many things are symbolic. Those who cannot make efforts to find the deeper meanings of these symbols, they get confused and think that Hindu gods and goddesses and the things around them are primitive. On the other hand, people make various interpretations of the symbols according to their mindsets. Thus, there is a wide range of interpretations, and we cannot say which one is correct. Actually, the interpretations reflect the spiritual state of the interpreter. A person with a higher spiritual state, a higher consciousness state than the state of only material and body-mind existence, sees spiritually uplifting meanings behind the symbols.  A person bound by the material body-mind existence sees a much lower-level interpretation of the symbols.

It is not that someone sits down one day and makes all the symbols. These symbols have evolved over a period of hundreds or thousands of years from a cultural or a religious tradition. A highly evolved spiritual soul visualizes the Ultimate Reality in a certain way and expresses it in one’s own way to his/her disciples. Then, over a period of time, many followers also had the vision of Ultimate Reality through that expression and this expression became a symbol. From various spiritual souls, these symbols develop in a culture or a religious tradition. To laugh at any symbol reflects our own mental, moral, and intellectual immaturity. If we don’t understand the meaning behind a symbol, it should not matter.   

The symbols help us in our spiritual practices, especially in our meditation to focus and uplift our minds. That is all that matters.      

Lord Shiva’s seven household belongings are also symbolic. Here are a couple of interpretations of the symbols that I have read, heard, or thought about them.  

(1) Nandi (Bull):  Nandi is considered Lord Shiva’s pet. Nandi is always sitting outside Lord Shiva’s temple facing Lord Shiva’s image. Nandi represents devotees of Lord Shiva. It represents Jiva with the ego of body and mind. Shiva rides on the Nandi meaning Shiva controls Jiva.

Another way to look at Nandi (Bull) is to be the most useful animal for farmers in farming. In earlier times, most people had farms and their living was completely dependent on farming. Farmers loved bulls dearly. Thus, Lord Shiva becomes the god of most common people. Shiva’s temples are always open. Many of Shiva’s temples don’t even have doors as there is nothing there to steal like ornaments or any precious things.    

(2) A club weapon: This represents a staff more than a weapon. It symbolizes that Lord Shiva is the controller of the whole universe. By following the command of Lord Shiva, the sun, moon, earth, planets, and all continue to do their jobs. Those who do not follow the command, get punished by the law.

(3) An axe: In earlier times, people used an axe to cut trees. In the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna describes this universe as an upside-down tree. Actually, it is the universe developed in the minds of people due to attachment created by our ignorance. Lord Krishna says that in order to attain the highest knowledge and to be free from all bondages one should cut this tree with a weapon of detachment. Thus, this axe represents detachment. Lord Shiva is absorbed in meditation and shows us to become detached from the world created out of delusion.          

(4) A tiger-skin cloth: Tiger is a ferocious animal. It represents mainly lust and also all the other five enemies of a spiritual seeker, which are anger, greed, delusion, ego, and jealousy.  Lord Shiva wears tiger-skin cloth and sits on it. This shows that Lord Shiva has total control over all of these six enemies and is teaching devotees to do the same. 

(5) Ashes: Lord Shiva adorns his forehead and the body with ashes gathered in the cremation ground showing us that this body is ultimately going to turn to ashes. Therefore, think about the priorities of life. Don’t spend too much time pampering the body and decorating it. The goal of human life is to acquire the highest knowledge of our true divine identity which will give us everything we are seeking, like fulfillment, infinite bliss, knowledge, freedom from all bondages, and love for all. We have to take care of the body to help us as an instrument to achieve this highest goal. 

(6) Snakes: Lord Shiva adorns himself with snakes. There are a couple of interpretations for this.

(i)  When poison comes out from the churning of the ocean, according to the rule, someone has to drink it. Devas and demons ran away from the poison. No one on earth was ready to drink it. Finally, Lord Shiva agreed to drink the poison to save the world. He drank it and held it on his neck with his yogic power.  The poison remained there which made his neck dark blue (nila) and had a burning sensation. A snake’s body is cool by nature, so the snake gave him some relief. Lord Shiva’s other name is ‘Nilakantha’, a God with a blue neck.

(ii) Snakes represent the worldly pleasures that bite us with their attractions and then we get the poison in the form of the painful consequences. Lord Shiva has total control over these worldly pleasures.

(iii) Except for the snake charmers and the snake controllers, all are afraid of the snakes. Generally, if people see a snake, their natural instinct is to kill it before it kills them. There is a story that King Janmejaya, whose father Parikshita died of a snakebite, was angry at snakes. He held a fire ritual in which he started burning all the snakes of his kingdom. Later, a saintly person convinced him to stop this ritual. Thus, people hate snakes. Lord Shiva welcomes snakes as his adornment. It is a symbol that Lord Shiva loves all, especially those who are neglected and hated by society.        

(7) A human skull: Again, like ashes, the skull reminds the end of a person’s body. Men or women of different colors, cultures, forms, intelligence, and skills look alike as the skulls. Lord Shiva wears a garland of skulls considering all people equal.