All women are indeed, in the form of Shakti

She was the perfect wife, the perfect partner that one could ever have had. She loved Shiva with a purity and passion that was unmatched.
 But it was not as if they did not have their share of quarrels. As the days passed into months, and months into a few years of living together, rubbing one’s persona completely onto the other, the formality that newly weds often maintain, started to fade away.
They would get into animated discussions, and this was actually a sign of the maturing of their fondness for each other. Shiva saw it that way, and He saw it as Sati coming into Her own self-confidence.
Shiva actually loved that She could assert Her own individuality. He understood Her vociferous debates as an assertion of Her womanhood.He was outrightly a lady’s man. In fact, He respected all women,often telling Sati, “Though you are Shakti Durga Herself incarnated as a woman, all women are indeed, also in the form of Shakti.”
Sati loved the fact that Shiva had great respect for Prasuti, Her mother. He had always liked her, and they shared a special relationship. In His jests, He often told Sati, “You are very beautiful, but not the most beautiful of all.” And then, on Sati’s indignation, would add, “Your mother, Prasuti, is the mother of pearl, ”referring to the oysters under the ocean that would birth pearls. Sati had marvelled at His analogies: they always pointed to oceans and underlying mysteries.
At other times, Her own role as that of mother of the whole community in Kailash would sparkle clearly in their lives.~ From
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
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TIME STOOD STILL

                                                           The moment of decision


As He climbed the first mountain, He turned around to see in the distance, the city of Daksha. The city of Daksha, which, at one time used to get Him all excited by mere sight, just because of knowing Kankhal as Sati’s address.
But on today’s sighting, extreme fury overcame Shiva;
a volcanic anger arose, with the thought: why should He not destroy this whole world?
This wicked, conniving, ungrateful, selfish, indifferent, insensitive world did not deserve to live. If He could not have Sati, His beloved, why spare the rest of the ungrateful wretches?
All of a sudden He realised He could do without them all.
A moment ago, He had been the ‘all merciful, all loving God’, ever bestowing boons and favours, joys and happiness on all, and in the next moment He wanted to finish them all, without exception.
The cause was in His arms. She, Sati was the cause, Hetu, of the universe.
With Her gone, there was no cause left for it, He reasoned, with a temper that was ascending like mercury. Like Daksha’s life had no importance in His own after Sati, Shiva realised that life itself had no meaning anymore.
It was a simple revelation of Death. Sati gave up Her own life because of Her own father Daksha, dishonouring Her beloved husband.
He, the great God Shiva, could not bring Her back to life, after She chose to self-destruct, but what He could do, was to destroy the entire Universe.He saw the smouldering Havan smoke even from the distance and knew at that moment, that His own internal smouldering would be forever.

That was the moment of decision. When Shiva stood atop His hill with Sati in His arms, wondering if anyone deserved to live when She was dead. Time stood still.

The world shivered. Devas shivered, Brahma shivered, Vishnu shivered. Shivering in Shiva’s wrath had become the new extension of the presence of Shiva.
Something they had not seen before, but a vague and very uncomfortable feeling told them that the end of the Universe was near.
“Pralaya,” spoke Indra. “Pralaya,” chorused the Devas. They feared their own death which seemed inevitable.
“O Mahadeva, save us from Pralaya, save us from your own wrath!”
But the ganas spoke a different language. “Dissolute it all, O Mahadeva,” bellowed Nandi.“We don’t wish to live without our Mother.”
Always teams, always, different prayers for different reasons, always, a duality, Shiva noted even in His grim cognition.
A million thoughts went through His mind, a million scenes; landscapes, memories, histories of the entire universe, how just for the sake of love, He had created it all, along with His beloved Shakti. How, right in the beginning, He had told Her that He did not need any Universe, that She was His Universe, and they could spend an eternity like this. “Unnata—NO,” He had said.
And how She had sweetly told Him of Unmesa—the springing forth, the manifestation of children, and how their love would multiply.
“Imagine so many children born of your love, imagine being the father of them all,” She had said. The memory of Sati’s beseeching touched His heart like an arrow that found its mark at the dot center.

He took the decision, to spare them, in Her love. Even though they had amply shown their disregard for the divine message and purpose of love itself, it would not be right to end them in Her love; She, who had wanted love to multiply.
She, who had understood Him so well, who had painted His verses unto the canvas of the Universe. She, who had understood the only thing that God Himself desired: love.
And had created alongside Him, for Him to ‘simply love and to be loved’. And so it was, that in the moment of decision, love won over anger.  
“Bhole Nath…” He heard Her sweet voice again and tears fell freely from His eyes. Love, over anger. Indeed.
And Shiva walked away.

There was a sigh of relief from the devas; their lives and kingdoms had been spared. But the ganas who truly loved God, not for their own motives, but for the love of God Himself, cried.
They realised, God, had turned His back.
~ From
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
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RUDRA

Eko hi rudro na dvitīyāya tasthe ya imāṃl lokān īśata īśanībhiḥ /
pratyaṅ janās tiṣṭhati saṃcukocāntakāle saṃsṛjya viśvā bhuvanāni gopāḥ
There is only one,
RUDRA!
No second one,
Ruling all ,with powers great
He sustains too each from within,
And in the end He stands alone,
taking them all back in.

~ Svetasvattara Upanishad

His mind raced back to the time when Brahma first lovingly called Him, “Rudra, my son.”

He had a tremendous ability to remember most things from the past; an ability, which could not be termed simplistically as a gift. Sometimes it brought up wreckage from a timeless sea, which was unrelatable, if not downright unpleasant. True, He was now called Shiva the Auspicious, but He could remember things that were not Shubha, auspicious, as the name suggested. Long ago He was called Rudra the terrible. Rudra, who destroys the world.
People were so scared of Him that the elders and Medicine men of all tribes learnt only a prayer of fear.
Rudra had a unique propitiation: One of absence. While all other Gods were invoked for a visit, He was actually prayed to stay away. It was only with the passage of time that He evolved into His present persona of a well-loved and hugely admired Shiva. But then, talking about the Timeless Sea, Shiva remembered Himself even before He was Rudra. It was aeons ago, but He remembered it vividly; it remained freshly etched in His memory, as if the birth of Rudra had happened only a little while back.

~ From
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
Available on Amazon as an E book, downloadable on your laptops, ipads, iphones, androids or any other device. To order a copy click the link below:
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SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller

He is the One who existed even before the world began.
He is the One who has been prayed to, even when He was unseen.
And ever since the very first time He chose to make His presence known, Shiva has been loved by millions.
Records about Him from ancient folklore are very interesting;
He is the perfection of opposites:
Supreme spiritual Guru, but warrior Chieftain,
Ascetic, but perfect husband,
Mendicant, but householder,
Meditative, but intoxicated,
Master of yogic stillness, but King of dance;
Shiva is the fountainhead where paradox reconciles.
In the Hindu pantheon of Gods, He is called the destroyer,
And yet, known by the beautiful symbol of creation, the Shivlinga.
Shiva is a storyteller’s delight.

But because Shiva is hugely paradoxical, it comes as no surprise that, much as He is loved by the masses, there havebeen times when He has actually been maligned in some circles.This may have been by the design of a select few, as had happened at the instance of His own father-in-law, Daksha. Or then, it may simply be because of ignorance—a lack of knowing Shiva’s esoterics. Ignorance is not always bliss; ignorance mostly leads to a fear, which then makes up its own stories. 

I believed it was important that Shiva’s endearing mythology, as well as His scintillating spirituality, both needed to be known.
The twin wings that make the truly ethereal flight He eternally embarks upon. It became my call to write a book that gives equal emphasis to Shiva’s story and reveals the fabulous mystic that He is, and indeed, has always been. 

At first, I was overwhelmed by His infinite aspects: What could one write about Him, who is Timeless, Limitless and Boundless? And then, the question itself revealed the answer. One sure mark of Shiva, is that He is bound to Parvati. It is said of Shiva that He does not incarnate. Of Parvati's bhakti (devotion), it is said She is one who can make even Shiva incarnate.

He is Timeless, and yet when Parvati manifests, it is time for Shiva to arrive. He is formless, but when She arrives, He manifests form. She is His eternal soulmate, and they always find each other, through the mists of cosmic time, even through lifetimes; such is the magic of their love! For it is said, Parvati is His wife even from Her previous birth, when She was called Sati.
And I realised that behind the innumerable tales about Him,
at the core of the myriad roles that He plays out, Shiva's story,
is essentially a love story, over and over again.

There is the Pauranic Shiva: The Timeless One vouchsafed to us by the ancient tellings of the Rishis, down to our grandmother’s tales. The Shiva from Kailash.
Shiva, the mountain Chieftain who lives happily with His beautiful Queen, Parvati, and the merry mountain men called ganas. Because His traditional story must always be respected and passed on, it is important to read about Shiva from the Puranas and assimilate this learning into the contemporary idiom of His legend.

But there is also the Adhunik Shiva; the Omnipresent, who is always here, lurking in our own hearts, in the present, and therefore the most modern at any time.
For Shiva is Mahakaal, the Ultimate Time Traveller...The Shiva who sometimes comes into the fantasies of writers to make up new stories—as indeed in my own heart He has been, and remains a constant inspiration, stroking my own imagination…

In the deepest reflection, we realise that all things are possible to God; As long as we do remember the Traditional, the modern can be imagined.
In my book, therefore, while there will be conformity to tradition in recalling the magnificent trysts of the players from ancient times, there will also be exciting new characters to introduce a dramatic interplay. These are names which may not have been heard before, but who nevertheless encapsulate the spirit of Shiva’s fantastic bhakts. They reiterate that the enigmatic story of Shiva, enfolds All! Past, present, future, history, mythology and fantasy.
A magical story about the possibility of Shiva in dance with all the mystics of all the worlds, through all the ages and to our own present time.

Aum ShivaShakti Namah!


~ Shail Gulhati
Author  of   SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
Available on Amazon as an E book, downloadable on your laptops, ipads, iphones, androids or any other device. To order a copy click the link below:
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Also by Shail Gulhati :
The Yogi and the snake
Shiva Poetry
NAAM ROOP- A Tribute to the Divine
And Life Said.
Facebook page:
Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.
Trishula art : Ritu Agarwal