Misunderstood Shiva and Shiva nagari mentioned by Guru Nanak

Based on my personal experience during a meditation session, I believe that the Hindu God shiva is grossly misunderstood. I will first explain my experience and then with refrence to a website giving probable meanings associated with shiva and the items he carries, I will try to explain what the real meaning, as I now believe is.

My experience

I had the most impressive and confusing experience ever. I firmly believe in Guru Nanak and the Sikh religion that he started. I do not have the slightest doubt that he can ever lead me astray about anything. So in my meditation, when I was yearning to see the formless God, I prayed to Guru Nanak to show me what he saw. The next minute Ifirst saw Guru Nanak, a 65 year old Sikh man, with a white round turban and white robe looked like a kurta from the neck, on my right hand side. Then Guru Nanak moved in the background to show me what he saw. I saw someone sitting in meditation pose far away on a mountain. I noticed the hair tied up, resembled the perfect temple dome. Since I have seen Hindu calendars of Shiva in India, I associated this figure as Shiva. As I am not a Hindu, I questioned Guru Nanak, "I asked you to show me what you saw. This is not what I want to see. I am a sikh, I do not intend to change my religion". I probably was trying to spell it out just in case Guru Nanak has misunderstood me just because I am meditating. Guru Nanak stopped me right there and indicated to become quiet and said thats exactly what I am showing you, just see. I realised that I was arguing with Guru Nanak! How foolish of me. I became quiet to see whatever he was showing me without judging and analysing. I will have time for that later.

Then that far away shiva came closer and I saw a very beautiful big eye with pink shaded outline of the eye. It was truly beautiful. Then my mind said, "Hey, its not angry at me!"According to myth, when shiva opens his third eye during meditation, beacuse it was disturbed, he burns everything in his way. Then I realised that it is not angry, on the contrary, its very pleased with me. While I was admiring it, I saw two rays of light came out of the eye. I have mentioned the rest of experience in an earlier post.

Guru Nanak's shabad on page 901 of Guru Granth Sahib ji in Raag Ramkali reads, line 8, Shiva nagari meh asan audhu, alakh agam apari.

Guru Nanak made it very clear in the MoolMantra that the God he talks about and sang the praises of is a formless God. Then what does Shiva Nagari meh asan means? According to Hindu facts on the website http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Shiva#encyclopedia

Shiva is the god of the third eye. I was meditating on the third eye at that time after reading the first chapter of the book opening the third eye by Samuel Sagan. I recommend this book to everyone interested in meditation without any religious jargon or baggage.

All the symbols mentions in the website as linked to Shiva have a symbolic meaning like the snake, a symbol of kundalini energy which I felt rising and hissing like a snake upto my neck, in another session. Then I couldn't figure out where it should go afterwards. I sang all day that day. May be because it rested in the neck area. As is the nature of the energy, a couple of days later this energy went back in the base. The nine snakes that shiva is shown to wear is infact the energy points where the energy resides in everyone's body. Read some articles on meridians and pressure points and you will find out.

So shiva is basically the energy of the third eye. Once the third eye is opened, naturally it will help the throat chakra open as it is the one next to it. The colour of the throat chakra is Blue, hence the blue neck of the Shiva depicted in the paintings. So shiva bhaktas should really meditate on the third eye rather than do idol worship of a human figure shiva. The symbols have a deeper meaning than the physical objects. I am sure the serious bhaktas would know all this anyway. As much as I would love to paint what I saw, I think the paintings lead the ignorant ones astray. Without the personal spiritual experience, its very hard to tell in words the serenity and beauty of the formless.

So Guru Nanak has advised us to meditate on the third eye in his words "Shiva nagari meh asan audhu."

Another website mentioning the symbols worn by shiva http://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/festivals/mahashivratri/

My understanding again is very different of these symbol, based on my meditation experiences. The River ganga flowing from Shiva's head is a symbol of the Pranic energy that flows like a river, gushes from above into your body. If you had the experince of this energy, you will agree with what I am saying.

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23rd June, 2010

I discussed my experience of Guru Nanak showing me something with Baba Thakur Singh ji yesterday. I am so glad that he clarified to me that I misunderstood God's nirgun saroop with Shiva. Thakur Singh ji said that God wears a white turban. The moment he said that I recalled the image I was shown by Guru Nanak. His head was the same shape as the dome of a Sikh temple. I then tried to remember the other things that would ensure me that it was not Shiva. This prompted me to remember that I didn't see all those things that are shown on a Shiva's calendar - the snake around his neck, the three edged sword -trishool, or any other things that would indicate that he was Parvati's husband shiva, the father of the elephant head lord Ganesh.

May be Hindu mythology has degraded God's Nirgun Saroop and created this mythical God Shiva who has a wife and a son etc, which does not exist. If that is true then someone truly mislead the Hindu people, while whoever first invented those symbols of snake etc was trying to explain the stage when a person is ready to see God's Nirgun Saroop. To be ready to see that image a person's kundalini should have risen upto the neck, revealed by the symbol of snake around the neck.

Its clear to me that without the perfect Guru I wouldn't have been able to see God in his Nirgun Saroop. I now understand why Guru asked me to not argue, just see and said that he is showing me exactly what I asked him to show. I had asked him to show me the formless God. In that experience straight after the Nirgun Saroop, I then was able to see the third eye, one dot that turned into two rays and then developed in to one triangle and then another bigger triangle appeared followed by the light coming out of my temples onto my hands etc. The whole thing probably would have gone for nearly 40 days, if I wasn't disturbed by the family. What a pity, it didn't happen that way. I am sure its not family's fault but predestined as I hadn't done my share of meditation to be able to see the whole show. But the Guru took pity on me as I was desperate and showed me enough to help me believe in him and God. Now I must work on my meditation so I can have my 40 day experience.