In the Vedanta, there is a reference to various gods and goddesses to facilitate an easier understanding of the unmanifest energy form and its functions. The concept of the unmanifest can be a huge challenge for most educated human beings today, let alone when the first Vedantic scripture was written in 5th century CE. Vedanta is a philosophy taught by the Vedas, the most ancient scriptures of India. Its basic teaching is that our real nature is divine. God, the underlying reality, exists in every being. Being a spiritualist is to be able to appreciate the spirit of the word from every religious scripture when seen from a perspective of establishing a commonality between all religions.
To understand, Who is Mahadev? one has to understand the journey of his life.
Mahadev is aardnarnareshwar – which means he is half Purusha (Male) and half Prakriti (Female), he is a personification of balance. Prakriti is the left side of the body where the heart is and thus is the seat of emotions. Purusha is the Creator and Prakriti is the energy that creates. So, you see they are both complimentary to each other and when they are in sync they create effortlessly. Every woman can harness the powers of Prakriti and every man can harness the powers of Purusha. A loving couple is the perfect creative instrument of consciousness.
Please note this is a simplified essence from the Shiva Purana and a significant amount of details has been deliberately omitted to stay essential and concise.
The Primordial form of Mahadev is RUDRA this is where the journey of his evolution starts.
RUDRA:
When Mahadev is in the Rudra form both (Purusha and Prakriti) are in sync, together they destroy and create unconsciously until such time that eventually the Purusha aspect of Rudra awakens and realizes the futility of what is happening. However, the feminine creative energy is still craving more. At this point, Purusha decides that he has had enough and wants to stop participating. If the feminine energy (the creative force) of the universe rests the universe will cease to exist. At this point, Brahma intervenes and takes away the feminine energy from Rudra so that the Purusha can rest whilst the creative energy in the universe is kept going under the direction of Brahma. After the bifurcation of Rudra happens, Purusha steps into the next stage of his evolution as AGHORI where he learns the secrets of Yoga, Mantra, Tantra, and Yantra. In the Aghori avatar, Purusha consumes bhaang and smokes weed from his chillum to calm his mind.
SHIV:
Shiv is the peaceful, dormant, resting form of Purusha on mount Kailash without his creative energy. In this form, he is also referred to as Bhola Bhandari, as he is totally detached from human life and without Prakriti he is emotionless. However, whilst Shiv is in this state of existence, Prakriti (Shakti) is supporting Brahma, Saraswati, Vishnu, and Lakshmi to keep the universe going. During this phase there is a degradation of the value system in human life as the fear of the Lord (Rudra) is removed.
Ma Gayatri takes care of Shiv in the absence of Prakriti on mount Kailash. Eventually, Brahma and Vishnu realize that Shiv has to take control of Prakriti his feminine energy and participate in the running of the universe to bring some sensibility and reinstate dharma. As Shiv (Bhola Bhandari) Purusha gives a boon to anyone without thinking of the implications which he has to correct eventually. During this phase, Daksha the son of Brahma is in charge of organizing the world however he is arrogant, emotionless, and completely process-orientated (Karma Kandi) and has no regard for human values like love and compassion. Shiv has his followers who are in Bhakti (unconditional surrender to him) knowing that he is in fact the Primordial Man. The situation in the human world deteriorates to such an extent that finally Brahma and Vishnu approach Shiv to accept Prakriti, however, Shiv being emotionless and in a state of samadhi is reluctant to accept Prakriti as he fears that the reunion will revert him back to his RUDRA form. Brahma and Vishnu along with other gods conspire to unite Prakriti with Shiv. This reunion of Shiv and Prakriti takes him into the next stage of evolution where he is known as SHIVA.
SHIVA:
Shiv eventually succumbs to the requests of Brahma and Vishnu and agrees to reunite with Prakriti (Sati), however, Prakriti like Shiv has been granting boons and blessings to those undeserving humans on earth (whilst she was in her primordial form detached from Rudra) supporting Brahma and Vishnu in the running of the universe. Shiv of course has evolved from Rudra whilst Sati is yet to evolve. Shiv tries his best to teach Sati the dharma aspects of human living (Sati is still not beyond the body), she suffers from the pangs of ego and makes mistakes and eventually has to surrender the body to fire (her ego). Shiva is devastated and loses his emotional balance, this is when Vishnu destroys the body of Sati which is fragmented into 51 parts scattered all over the earth. Eventually, Shiva becomes emotionally stable and is advised by Brahma and Vishnu to ensure that the 51 parts of Sati’s body are brought to rest (Shanti) by him, thus offering his solace to her soul. Shiva creates temples at each of these 51 locations known as Shakti Peeths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti_Peetha. Once he has established all the Shakti Peetha, Sati’s fragmented soul comes together and is released. Shiva becomes Mahadev. The Spirit of Sati is then re-unified to reincarnate as Parvati in a much more stable form to move towards the realization of her true nature as Prakriti.
MAHADEV:
Mahadev unites with Parvati (reincarnated Sati) and he then bestows the knowledge and wisdom that he has acquired as RUDRA, AGHORI, SHIV, and SHIVA to help Parvati become SELF-REALISED. Mahadev once again becomes complete as aardnarnareshwar – which means Purusha (Male) and Prakriti (Female) unite – in a balanced and realized state of being. Parvati having acquired this knowledge and wisdom from Mahadev is tasked by the Trinity to destroy all that has gone wrong whilst the Purusha and Prakriti were separated. They work together in sync to re-establish Dharma in human society.
MAHADEV IS PURUSHA AND PRAKRITI UNITED AND IN BALANCE AS CREATOR AND THE CREATIVE ENERGY!
Can this be used as a reflection of our individual evolution toward becoming balanced human beings?
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