```
Lord Shiva is Shaivism’s supreme God, and is also known as Lord Mahadev, Lord Mahesh, and Lord Bholenath. In scriptures, He is depicted in the following benevolent forms:
An omniscient Yogi leading an ascetic life on Mount Kailash
A celestial householder living with His wife Goddess Parvati, and sons namely, Lord Ganesha and Lord Kartikeya
In His abstract form, Shivji is worshipped as a Lingam, also known as a Shivling. This representation portrays His limitless, transcendent, unchanging, and formless qualities.
Becoming Shiva, from Jiva
Param Pujya Dadashri explained that identifying oneself as the relative self is “jiva”, and identifying one with the real Self (the Soul, the Atma) through awareness is called “Shiva”.
A seeker asked, “If Atma (the Self) was a Shiva, how did it become a jiva?”
Param Pujya Dadashri replied, “Due to wrong belief, it became jiva - that which lives and dies. One is a Shiva, but illusion has arisen; wrong belief has set in. It does not take long for jiva to become Shiva. When a Gnani Purush fractures the wrong belief and replaces it with the right belief, one becomes the Self again, one becomes Shiva.”
Anyone who attains Atma Gnan (Self Realization) moves from a mortal stage of jiva to the immortal stage of Shiva.
Param Pujya Dadashri identified another level of attainment of “Shiva”:
“Whoever becomes Kalyan Swaroop (embodiment of salvation) is called Shiva. (The title) ‘Shiva’ itself means Kalyan Swaroop, or Savior.”
What is a Jyotirling?
Param Pujya Dadashri described, “What people generally refer to as a Jyotirling is at a physical level. Further than that, there are subtle and even subtler levels. Lastly, there is the subtle-most level of it - and that is the Self.”
Param Pujya Dadashri explained that the Self is an embodiment of Jyoti (divine light) and Prakash (divine illumination). The Self is genderless, and it is beyond the form of deha-linga (the form of the body). He further clarified that it is the qualities of the Self - Gnan (Knowledge), Darshan (Vision), Charitra (Conduct), and Sukha (Bliss) – that are represented in the form of a Jyotirling - the symbolic form of divine light of the Soul, a Shivling.
About the Author
DjNeshan is a name among millions who struggled, failed and surged ahead in search of success, happiness and contentment. Just like any middle class guy, he too had a bunch of unclear dreams and a blurred vision of his goals in life. All he had was …