I searched Google to seek how many religions prevail in the entire world and I was shocked to see the numbers. It’s 4200!
The major ones out of these lots are Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Out of these, Hinduism is one religion that is considerate the most moderate of all. The very basis of Hinduism states that there is one God and no one can match the power of that supreme spirit.
But, when it comes to Hindu scriptures and religious tales, it can be found that Hinduism stands on the pillar of 3 deities named Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva. These 3 are not Gods but yes, a representation of different functionalities of God. The physical figure and the manifestation is developed to make people understand the teachings of almighty in an easy way.
Moving on, out of the triumvirate, Brahma is the ultimate creator, Vishnu is the one who sustains life, and Shiva is the one that destroys it.
Hinduism believes that Shiva not only destroys the universe but also paves the path for recreation. Shiva is quite interesting as per the scriptures and the more you read about him, the more curious you become. Even the artists across the world were and are obsessed to develop some appealing and breath-taking Shiva paintings.
People decorate their houses, workplaces, and other premises with Shiva artworks. Shiva is considered to be the most powerful deity of all.
Along with this, Shiva is also known to hold the untamed passion. He is also called as the Adi Yogi, the first saint who walked this Earth ever.
The physical manifestation
One thing that is often understood by the fewer intellects or less educated people is that how can Shiva, Vishnu or Brahma exist in manly figures. Vedas and Upanishad clearly state that God has no image at all.
Well, in the older or ancient period, the tales and teachings of the Almighty were not easy to convey to people in its purest form. Instead, if you present the teaching in form of a picture and a story, it makes more sense to the people.
In the same way, you must have encountered a lot of Shiva paintings and seen the representational figure. The figure where Shiva is wearing the skin of a tiger, holds a damru in one hand and trident or ‘trishul’ in other, a neck folded along his neck, a crescent moon on the head, and a river flowing through his hair.
All these things may or may not exist, but the value and the teachings that each of these elements offer us is more relevant.
For example, the blue neck of Shiva tells us that in order to save human life from extinction, Shiva drank the poison and held it in the neck, turning it into the blue colour. This signifies sacrifice.
Similarly, the crescent moon is a representation of time. And since, the ultimate Mahadev is free from time too, so it’s just an ornament for him.
Hence, each of the physical representation means something.
