what are your fav stories in mythology like you know icarus and deadalus
e.g. i always like hearing those kinds of stories

I wanna know more about this shiva
if this is a godess of destruction, why would one worship this
particular entity?
there has to be a plus side.

i dont know im not hindu but i believe it has to do with a balance and
order to the world you know the destroyer makes way for new

I tend to read alot of th Celtic mythology, like the stories about
Epona, Rosmerta, and Cernunnos. I also enjoy hearing and reading the
Native American stories of creation.

Cookieie I'll be right back with a bit more on Shiva

i like all kinds of mythology my fav i think is norse mythology
havent studied it in years been spending more time playing my
instraments latley than anything else but i always love a good story

This is from WIkipedia and just the intro about Shiva, it was hella
long.

Lord Shiva is the Good Lord and the Greatest God (Mahadeva) and God of
Gods (Devadeva). He is mysterious and complex. He is the formless,
timeless and spaceless Supreme God, but also the Supreme Lord of the
Universe (Vishweshwara), Supreme Lord of Time (Mahakala) and Lord of
Everything (Sarveshwara). There is nothing but he is above everything.
He is beyond description, beyond all manifestation, beyond limitation of
form, time and space. He is eternal, infinite, all pervading, all
knowing and all powerful.

Lord Shiva is referred to as the good lord. One of his names is
Bholenath, which means the innocent God. Shiva as Rudra is considered to
be the destroyer of evil and sorrow. Shiva as Shankara is the doer of
good. Shiva is 'tri netra' (three - eyed), and is 'Nīlakantha' (= "blue
throated", as he consumed the poison Halahala to save the world from
destruction). Shiva as Nataraja is the Divine Cosmic Dancer. Shiva as
Ardhnarishwara is both man and woman.

He is both static and dynamic; both creator and destroyer. He is the
oldest and the youngest; he is the eternal youth as well as the infant.
He is the source of fertility in all living beings. He has gentle as
well as fierce forms. Shiva is the greatest of renouncers as well as the
ideal lover. He destroys evil and protects good. He bestows prosperity
on worshipers although he is austere. He is omnipresent and resides in
everyone as pure consciousness.

Shiva is inseparable from Parvati (also referred to as Shakti), who is
the daughter of Himavant and Haimavatī. There is no Shakti without Shiva
and Shakti is his expression; the two are one, the absolute state of
being - consciousness and bliss. Shakti in turn is the entire energy of
the cosmos. Shiva is said to have shared half of his body for Shakti and
is known as Ardhanarishwara (half woman, half man) in this form. In
Hinduism, Shiva is said to have taken this form is to depict the
equality of men and women.

The five mantras that constitute Shiva's body are Sadyojaata, Vaamadeva,
Aghora, Tatpurusha and Eesaana. Sadyojaata is Shiva realized in his
basic reality (as in the element earth, in the sense of smell, in the
power of procreation and in the mind). "Eesaana" is Shiva invisible to
the human eye. The Vishnudharmottara Purana of the 6th century BC
assigns a face and an element to each of the above mantras (Sadyojaata -
earth, Vaamadeva - water, Aghora - fire, Tatpurusha - air and Eesaana -
space).

The names of the deified faces with their elements are Mahadeva (earth),
Uma (water), Bhairava (fire), Nandi (air) and Sadasiva (space).
A statue of Shiva near Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi
Enlarge
A statue of Shiva near Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi

In Shiva temples, Navagraha (9 planets), Ganesh, Skanda, Saraswati,
Lakshmi, Vishnu, Brahma, Ashtathig balar, Durga, Bairava, and all the
other Hindu gods will have the place, denoting that Shiva is unique
among the gods, so that only he is in a shapeless form (i.e. in linga
form).

The five different avataras (forms) of Shiva are

1. Bhairava भैरव
2. Nataraja नटराज
3. Dakshinamurthy दक्षिनमुर्थ्य्
4. Somaskandha सोमस्कन्ध
5. Pitkchadanar पित्क्चदनर्

In most of the South Indian temples, we can see all the five forms in a
Shiva temple. All the five characteristics in a single face is said to
be Sadashiva.

Shiva is not limited to the personal characteristics as he is given in
many images and can transcend all attributes. Hence, Shiva is often
worshipped in an abstract manner, as God without form, in the form of
linga. This view is similar in some ways to the view of God in Semitic
religions such as Islam or Judaism, which hold that God has no personal
characteristics. Hindus, on the other hand, believe that God can
transcend all personal characteristics and yet have personal
characteristics for the grace of the embodied human devotee. Personal
characteristics are a way for the devotee to focus on God. Shiva is also
described as Anaadi (without beginning/birth) and Ananta (without
end/death).

The tale about Shiva splitting into two halves of male and female
indicates the origin of the Ardhanarishvara - the union of spirit and
material, the Being and his Shakti (force). He is also above Spirit and
Material.

According to a school of Kashmir Shaivism entited Spanda, the central
role for a human devotee is not played by Siva but by Shakti. This is
not paradoxical because in the spiritual vision of Shaivism, Siva and
Sakti are not two separate realities. Siva and Sakti are two-in-one, and
they seem separate only for the ignorant and limited mind that is
subjected to duality. In truth, Siva is Sakti and Sakti is Siva; when we
have consciousness, there is also energy. When we have energy, there is
consciousness who animates that energy. Therefore, for the aspirant to
spiritual liberation, the instrument (path) is Sakti and not Siva. Siva
is the transcendent aspect of the Divine, being beyond any mental
representation. Anything we could imagine about Siva is not Siva,
because Siva cannot be defined, cannot be thought, cannot be evoked.

wow that was really interesting were did you find it

Out of all that this statement stands out for me. So If I believe this
summerization (is that a word?) am I understanding it correctly??

Shiva is considered to be the destroyer of evil and sorrow.

yes it is a word adverb i think

Lion= I found it on wikipedia.org.. a great source for all sorts of
information.


Cookieie..yes you've got the gist of Shiva..makes for interesting
reading and I love to learn about other cultures and religions

I like this shiva.
I'm keeping it.
Thank you for the information.

Lion...Freya is the goddess of fertility, love, beauty, attraction and
magic. see a beautiful name :)
And with this I bid you all a good morning ,I am off to do some
domestic goddess type things and start geting dinner together for my
dad's regular Sunday visit. TaTa for now :)

have a good one c.c. thanx for the info talk to you later.

to answer your question cookie many in the ancient times thought that
all gods should be feared and respected it was their way to prevent
things from happening my friend loves mythology and archaeology so some
of it rubs off on me.