Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Shiva

Shiva:
Shiva is a Hindu God. He is the destroyer and regenerator. He is believed to have three forms. Natraj the God of Dancing skill, and anthromorphic form and the lingam form. In front of any Shiva temple, one usually sees a statue of Nandi, the divine bull that serve as Shiva’s vehicle. In anthropomorphic form, Shiva is depicted with his consort parbiti and usually holds a trident and a small drum.  Another popular form of Shiva is the terrifying.

  • Third eye: Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire (Kama) to ashes, called "Tryambakam" (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम्), which occurs in many scriptural sources. In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "having three eyes
  • Crescent moon: Shiva bears on his head the crescent moon. The epithet Chandraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रशेखर "Having the moon as his crest" - Chandra = "moon", Sekhara = "crest, crown") refers to this feature. The placement of the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva. The origin of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma. The crescent moon is shown on the side of the Lord Shiva's head as an ornament. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end. Since the Lord is the Eternal Reality, He is beyond time. Thus, the crescent moon is only one of His ornaments. The wearing of the crescent moon in His head indicates that He has controlled the mind perfectly.
  • Ashes: Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma).
  • Matted hair: Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair”  or “ wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion".
  • Blue throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ;  nīla = "blue", kaṇtha = "throat")refers to a story in which Shiva drank the Poison churned up from the world ocean.
  • Sacred Ganges: The Ganges River flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The epithet Gangadhara ("bearer of the river Ganga”) refers to this feature. The flow of the Ganges also represents the nectar of immortality.
  • Tiger skin: He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin. Tiger represents lust. His sitting on the tiger’s skin indicates that He has conquered lust.
  • Serpents: Shiva is often shown garlanded with a Snake. His wearing of serpents on the neck denotes wisdom and eternity.
  • Trident: (Sanskrit: Trishula): Shiva's particular weapon is the Trident. His Trisul that is held in His right hand represents the three Gunas-Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. That is the emblem of sovereignty. He rules the world through these three Gunas. The Damaru in His left hand represents the Sabda Brahman. It represents OM from which all languages are formed. It is He who formed the Sanskrit language out of the Damaru sound.
  • Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a damaru (Sanskrit: ḍamaru). This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation, known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.




Monday, December 13, 2010

White Tara (Sapta lochana tara)

Tara is the female deity of the Buddhist Pantheon. White Tara ws born from a tear of the Boddhisatwa of compassion, Avalokiteswora. She holds a very prominent position in Tibet and Nepal. Tara is believed to protect the human beings while they are crossing the ocean of existence.
Among the two forms of Tara. White tara is regarded as consort of Avalokiteswara, some time of Vairochana. She is portrayed usually seated, dressed and crowned like a Boddhisatwas. And sometime she is regarded as Saptalochana or seven eyes Tara. Extra eyes on her forehead, palm, and feet and lotus flower at one or both of her shoulder. She is seated in full Vajra Posture. Her right hand in teaching gesture holding the stem of the lotus. She is wearing all sorts of precious ornaments and looks beautiful. The practice of White Tara is Basically performed in to prolong life as well as for healing purpose.

Lord Ganesh

Ganesh, the elephant headed god of wisdom and success is the defender and remover of obstacles and has to be propitiated first before worship to other gods. He is known as "Sidhi Data" or bestower of success in the work. His elephant head has only one full tusk, while the other is broken. He said to have lost it in a fight with Parasuram. It is also said that he broke it to write the Mahabharata to the dictation of sage Vyasa. His elephant head is believed to be an emblem of wisdom and his mount an emblem of sagacity. His mount is the "Mooshika" called shrew. He is also Known as Vinayaka.

Vairochana

There are five Dhyani Buddhas  Vairochana is one of them and he is  regarded as first Dhyani Buddha by the Nepalese Buddhist. His place is in the sanctum of the stupa where he is the master of whole temple and its contents. Therefore, he cannot be represented outside the stupam but exception to this rule is frequently met within the important stupa of Nepal where he is assihgned a place betweenAkshobhya in east and Ranta Sambhav in the south
Vairochana represents the cosmic element of Rupa (form). When represented, He is white in colour and his two hands are held against the chest hand unieted. His female is Vahradhatviswari. He is in preaching attitude.