The single solution -- Love
Hate not your enemies,
Keep them close to your heart,
Just like Lord Shiva keeps the snake
Around His neck, giving it liberty to move.
Love transcends everything,
It is the quintessence of life.
Wherever you go, tie eternal knots of love,
For love is so healing, so revealing.
Promise to yourself that you are
A winged messenger of love
And under any condition,
You will not allow this promise to sink.
Without love, children feel so lonely,
So caged, insecure, mellowed and withdrawn.
With love, their conversing eyes glow,
Their silent lips smile in colors brilliant,
Like variegated bougainvillea,
Swaying in Spring under the pastel sky.
Love has the beauty of cascading waters,
Like Ganga and Gangotri, it flows with grace,
Supporting life and offering the best to
mankind.
It is the absence of love
That creates war, pallid and grotesque,
Making our smiles cold and frozen.
Remove hatred and a glowing light
Adds peace to the serenity of the soul.
All problems have a single solution—–
It is the power of love.
Shiva (Sanskrit for "the auspicious one") is the creator, protector, and transformer of the universe. He is often depicted with a cobra around his neck, depicting the ego -- which once mastered can be worn as an ornament. It also symbolizes the endless cycle of life and death. Coiled serpents also signify that Shiva is the master of time and energy. According to the "Skanda Purana" (named after Skanda, the son of Shiva and Parvati), Shiva gathered all the poisonous things and made them into wedding ornaments for Parvati.
ReplyDeleteThe water springing from his hair is the Ganga (Ganges), which Shiva released from his locks at Gangotri, Uttarakhand. King Sagara had slain the demons on Earth and decided to stage an Ashvamedha to demonstrate his imperial sovereignty over the world. (A ruler would release a stallion to wander for 1 year; in any territory in which the horse traveled, anyone could dispute the king's authority by challenging the warriors who accompanied it, but if no one killed or captured the animal it would be guided back to the king's capital and sacrificed, and the king's authority would be proclaimed.) Indra, the king of the gods, stole the horse and tied it to the ashram of Kapila while he meditated. When the 60,000 sons of the king found the horse they believed Kapila had stolen it and prepared to attack, but when they disturbed his meditation he cursed them for their disrespect and they were all consumed by fire from their own bodies. Then Sagar abdicated in favor of his grandson Bhagiratha, who performed penance in the Himalayas for 1,000 years. The goddess Ganga told him she would descend from the sky to grant grace to his uncles but warned that the force of her fall would be difficult to sustain without the help of Shiva. So Bhagiratha did severe penance for Shiva's aid, which led to Ganga's descent as the river Ganga to absolve his uncles from their sins.