Lord Shiva was described by one of my younger readers as the Dude of the Gods. One may wonder, what makes Him so popular with the modern man and woman? He is, after all, an ascetic in a tiger skin skirt, who smears himself with ash, drinks bhang with His ghoulish friends in His free time, and dances in cremation ghats. Does this sound like a ‘cool’ God? It appears contradictory, right? But being contradictory is His way. And therein lies the secret behind the immense devotion He generates.
Allow me to digress a bit and bring to your notice a long dead English author, Charles Dickens; actually, a line from his book, A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It might well have been written to succinctly describe our present world. We live in times of complex contradictions, which furthermore, are wrapped within conundrums!
In some sense, once again, it can be said that these are the best as well as the worst of times. Women have far greater rights today than they have had in, well, millennia, and yet crimes against women are unabated. Religious liberalism is being forcefully championed in a world that is connected as never before; technology and curiosity has resulted in a healthy dialogue between different faiths and yet, religious fundamentalism is tearing the world apart.
Perhaps for the first time in human history, the poor can legitimately dream of a lifestyle that was previously unthinkable and yet, our break-neck speed of economic growth is threatening environmental collapse. Social media has brought the whole world close and our life is seemingly cluttered by people and yet, too many feel desperately alone.
Sex seems to pervade the media and public space and yet, people are ridden with a terrible sense of guilt regarding sensuality and desire. We are surrounded by massive public displays and celebrations of love, but the emotional succour that simple, but deep, unheralded love brings seems to be missing.
Yes, these are times of intense change and contradictions.
Is it any wonder then that the God who can shepherd us in such times would also be the Lord of contradictions? Of course, He wears clothes that none would don in polite society, but He’s also the originator of many art forms that are beloved to the elite. He is the Nataraj, the Lord of Dance. Mythology holds that the Neelkanth revealed the secrets of Indian classical music to Maharishi Narad. He drinks bhang, an intoxicant that reveals to the mind an ethereal world, but harms the physical body. At the same time, He is also Adi Yogi, the originator of Yoga, the path to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance.
He prefers coarse, unpolished and even macabre companions and yet, the respect and love with which He treats His wife is a lesson in nobility. He’s an ascetic, the ultimate Guru of renunciation who’d rather keep the material world at bay. But the erotic is the stuff of lore. His representation, the Shiva Linga, is regarded by many as the phallic symbol of creativity.
He is an anti-elitist God who’s always on the side of the disempowered, dispossessed and those who’re on the fringe. But the most powerful kings have built massive temples dedicated to Him. As the originator of the Vedas, He has the intelligence of the ages and yet, His childish innocence makes His devotees lovingly call Him Bholenath. While one may fear His ‘Rudra roop’, the proprietary love of His devotees remains undiminished.
Why would a God be so contradictory? Because that is what we need. He attracts us. And then He balances us. The aristocrat is attracted to Lord Shiva as He is the Lord of the arts. And if the aristocrat is a true devotee, he will learn sensitivity towards the dispossessed from the Mahadev.
A commoner is attracted to Lord Shiva as He behaves as if He is one of them. But the commoner would, over time, learn from Lord Shiva that he too can aspire and achieve; like the legendary Kannappa Nayanar.
The Mahadev may attract the marijuana-smoking man, but if he is a true devotee, he will delve deeper into the philosophy of the Neelkanth and learn that yoga and spirituality can give him a greater high. And an ex-atheist like me gets pulled into the world of Lord Shiva because … He wishes it. He treats His devotees with respect, and as I developed a deeper understanding of the stories of the Mahadev, I learnt that the Lord wants us to respect all religions and Gods.
Many times, in order to balance our frenetic lives to find peace, we have to embrace contradictions. I have found my balance and peace through my devotion to Lord Shiva. I hope you find it as well.
(This article is an excerpt from Amish’s new book Immortal India. It has been republished with permission and was first published in The Week, 2012.)
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