Shiva (शिव )From a Form to the Formless: A Journey Towards Shiva-मूर्ति से अमूर्त तक : शिव की ओर एक यात्रा —



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Every journey has to start somewhere.....For most of us, the journey towards the divine begins with a name, a form, a story, a statue in a temple, a chant or a tale from mythology.

This holy Shravan, we embarked on a sacred journey — beginning with invoking Shiva through the  material form: with  different shlokas, stutis, and symbolic images of lord shiva everyday.

But now, I invite us all to go deeper — to immerse ourselves in the very  Shiva element the essence, beyond the drum, the jata and  the damaru —

Into the primordial, omniscient, and transcendental cosmic vibration — energy from and beyond matter —A waveform of the particle, not much different from the wave-particle duality we've all encountered in physics. Shiva can be experienced in all forms — and also beyond all form —In the vastness of the cosmos, and in the silence within.Our understanding of Shiva is often bound by the limitation of our own seeing,not of Shiva’s infinite being.

And when we go deeper — truly deeper —Shiva is not just out there in galaxies or mantras,

But ever-present within: ever-free, ever-shining.

"Form is the doorway to the formless."In the beginning, the mind needs anchors — a murti, a mantra, a myth — each becomes a sacred starting point. But as we as the seeker walk inward, something subtle gradually begins to shift. 

Shiva is not merely a statue in a temple, someone confined to Kailasha.

He is the very fabric of the cosmic existance— and the cosmos itself. He is space, He is you, He is me. He is the beholder of the cosmos. Shiva is Dharma —not in the ritualistic sense, but in the deepest essence.

"यः धारयति इति धर्मः" — That which upholds is Dharma.

Dharma is not just a set of rituals. It is that which sustains, upholds, and maintains the cosmic order(धृत-ऋत)-  society’s balance, and our own inner alignment.

From the Vedas to the Upanishads, Shiva is not merely worshipped, but realised — as pure conciousness and as the substratum of all that exists.

ॐ "निर्गुणं गुणभोक्तारं महान्तं विश्वतोमुखम्।"

He is beyond all qualities, yet experiences all qualities; vast, and facing all directions.— Śvetāśvatara Upanishad.

As one dives deeply, the whisper arises from within:

ॐ "शिवोऽहम्" — I am Shiva.

Not the deity in form,But the formless, boundless being behind every name, mask or makeovers.Not separate — but One.Not outside — but within.

This is the very essence of Advaita (non-duality): 

ॐ "सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म" — All this is indeed Brahman.— Chandogya Upanishad

Everything seen, heard, or felt — is pervaded by the same Reality.

ॐ  "अहं ब्रह्मास्मि" — “I am Brahman.” — Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The individual self is none other than the infinite Self.

ॐ "तज्जला" — That from which beings arise, in which they live, and into which they dissolve.— Chandogya Upanishad

ॐ "एको वशी सर्वभूतांतरात्मा"-The One who rules and resides in the hearts of all beings. — Shvetashvatara Upanishad

ॐ  "तदन्तरस्य सर्वस्य"“It is within all this.” — Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

That divine presence is not elsewhere — it is right here, now, in everything.

ॐ  "सर्वतः पाणिपादं तत् सर्वतोऽक्षि शिरोमुखम्"- “His hands, feet, eyes, heads, and faces are everywhere.” — Bhagavad Gita 13.13

The divine is not in one place — it is all places.

ॐ  "यदिदं किंच जगत्यां जगत्"-“Whatever moves in this universe is pervaded by the Lord.” — Isha Upanishad

And so, the journey that began with form —Finds its fulfilment in the formless. In the unchanging, ever-present, all-encompassing Shiva —The Self of us all.


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