Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy

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Overview

EASTERN PHILOSOPHY / HINDUISM

“An intimate portrait of Shiva, that most complex of Hindu Gods. Reading this book is like finding an oasis in the desert of monotheism.”
--Claudia Mueller-Ebeling, Ph.D., and Christian Rätsch, Ph.D., coauthors of Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas and Witchcraft Medicine

“Discusses the roots and the manifestations of Shiva, the original mystic, and his relevance to modern life in both the East and the West. This book will amuse, shock, and, most important, provoke readers to think about their own cherished conceptions of the world.”
--John R. Baker, professor of anthropology and translator of The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants, Marijuana Medicine, and Plants of Love

“An encyclopedic and highly inspiring account of Shiva.”
--Franz-Theo Gottwald, Ph.D., philosopher and Indologist

To his devotees Shiva is the entire universe and the core of all beings. Hindu myth shows him appearing at the beginning of creation as a giant pillar of fire from which this world sprang forth. Yet he is also the most approachable of gods, for he is the lover of lovers and the devotee of his devotees.

Ethnologist Wolf-Dieter Storl was first captivated by Shiva when he was in India as a visiting scholar at Benares Hindu University. In Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy he reveals the mythical world of Shiva as a study in contrasts: As the lord of dance Shiva looses himself in ecstatic abandon; with his consort Parvati he can make love for 10,000 years. Both men and women worship him for his ability to unite and balance masculine and feminine energies. But as the ascetic Shankar he sits in deep meditation, shunning women, and none dare disturb him lest he open his third eye and immolate the entire universe. Lord of intoxicants and poisons, Shiva is the keeper of secret occult knowledge and powers, for which he is worshipped by yogis and demons alike. Shiva dances both the joy of being and the dance of doom--but in every aspect he breaks through the false ego to reveal the true self lying within. This, Storl demonstrates through numerous stories and myths, is Shiva’s true power. In addition, Storl explores the relationship of this multidimensional god to contemporary culture, Tantra, and the dualistic religions of the West.

WOLF-DIETER STORL, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist who has taught at Kent State University as well as in Vienna, Berne, and Benares. He is coauthor of Witchcraft Medicine and has written a number of books on indigenous culture and ethnobotany. He lives in Allgäu, Germany.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781594770142
  • Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
  • Publication date: 11/30/2004
  • Pages: 312
  • Sales rank: 354,271
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 8.94 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Meet the Author

Wolf-Dieter Storl, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist who has taught at Kent State University as well as in Vienna, Berne, and Benares. He is coauthor of Witchcraft Medicine and has written a number of books on indigenous culture and ethnobotany. He lives in Allgäu, Germany.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 6
The Dancer in the Flames

This is my greatest desire: without fail,
one day you’ll show yourself to us,
My father with locks twisted like the flames of a lighted fire the place where you dance, in full night,
over the high flames . . .
Arputa Tiruvantati, fourteenth century Tamil poetess

Let us visit once again the hidden pine forest, where honorable hermits and their chaste wives are meditating and practicing asceticism, and see how Shiva makes fools of them. In this version of the story, there are not just seven rishis but tens of thousands. They have shaven their heads in penance; they despise all mundane joys and passions. Unremittingly, they preach to the common people that the universe is infinite having no beginning and no end and that there is no God who saves souls, but that each must work diligently on one’s own salvation. (The suspicion rises that this story tells of the struggle of emerging Hinduism with the dogmas of the Buddhists and Jains.)

Gracious Shiva, seeing the damage these fanatics were doing, decided to free them of their delusions. Using the power of his magical illusion, he stepped into their world as a most handsome young yogi. Vishnu was with him in the form of a beguiling Mohini, a heavenly nymph. At the sight of the young Adonis, the rishis’ wives were dazzled. Forgetting their duties, like silly girls, they daydreamed of being caressed by his strong, white arms and kissed by his full lips. They let the water jugs slide from their hands and break; they let the food scorch in the pans.

Their husband made fools of themselves likewise. Unthinkingly, they threw away the fruits of thousands of years of hardest penance in order to feast their longing eyes on the voluptuous curves of the heavenly maiden. But then, they suddenly regained their senses and were terrified to realize that their resolves had so weakened. Their shock quickly turned into hateful anger, which consumed the rest of the fruits of their asceticism. They meanly rebuked their wives and began to hurl the vilest curses at the handsome yogi and his seductive female companion. Combining their magic powers, they ignited a fire into which they chanted mantras of death and destruction. On and on they chanted, fanning the flame into the form of a monstrous, murderous tiger. This they directed to tear the strange, naked interloper to pieces. But the yogi skinned it with the nail of his little finger. Next, the hermits let a gigantic poisonous viper rise from the magic fire; but Shiva wrapped it around his neck as though it were a silk shawl. Seeing their efforts fail, the furious ascetics combined all their remaining strength to conjure the most terrible weapon of which they could conceive. It was a wicked, black, misshapen dwarf with an invincible club. But as soon as he leaped out of the flames, Shiva bowled him over and began to dance light-footedly on the squat torso, taking on his divine emanation as Nataraja, the king of dancers, revealing himself as the lord of the universe and of eternity.

At this, the poor rishis fell to the ground, trembling with fear, while all the gods of the universe appeared to behold the wonder of the dancing god. The world serpent Anant-Shesha, on whose back Vishnu sleeps in the intervals between creations, was so enthralled by the splendor of the spectacle, that he asked Vishnu for leave. His reptilian heart was filled with only one wish, and that was to be allowed to go on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. There, he wanted to engage in severe penance so that he might find out the meaning of this overawing cosmic dance.

Thus it happened that the thousand-headed, jewel-crowned primordial serpent spent eons in single-minded devotion. Nothing distracted him, until one day, Shiva, appearing as Brahma riding on the gander, told him, “Your devotion is perfect! I shall reward you with eternal paradise!”

But the snake refused paradise. Instead, it wanted to be allowed to continue watching Shiva’s dance forever. At this, Shiva took on his own radiant form and taught Ananta the essence of wisdom, which are the Vedas, and promised him, “You will shed your serpentine form and you will be born of a human couple. When you are old enough to leave your parent’s home, your footsteps will lead you to Chidambaram. There, in the shade of a hallowed grove, you shall find my lingam, which is cared for by an old meditant. You may help him in his duties, for here, at the Chidambaram Lingam, I reveal my eternal cosmic dance to all who have eyes to see.”

Ever since, Chidambaram, a town on the coast south of Pondicherry, is a much-visited place of pilgrimage. It was here that the now world-famous bronze casting of Shiva-Nataraja, dancing in a ring of fire, originated.

Let us now look at this dancing god. . . . Like Shankar, his face is calm and collected, and cobras and rudraksha beads decorate his limbs. But otherwise, he is in total motion, his hair swirling wildly around his head. Ganga is no longer visible as a jet of water, but as a tiny, hard-to-see female figure, riding the waves of his hair. The hand drum (damaru) no longer hangs silent on the trident, but vibrates energetically in his upper right hand. Every one of his four hands is flashing a special gesture, or mudra, expressing esoteric meaning. The upper left hand, held cupped like a half moon (ardhachandra mudra), contains a blazing fire. A third arm, bent like the trunk of an elephant (gajahasta mudra), reminds the worshipper of Ganesha, the clever bull elephant who overcomes all resistance. It points down toward the uplifted left foot, indicating cosmic lightness and nonattachment. The fourth hand stretches its open palm toward the beholder in the abhaya gesture, signaling, “Fear not! May peace be with you!”

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Journey to the Source of Time 3
Chapter 2 Fire and Ice 15
The Rock 21
Water 24
Kashi 26
Karttikeya's Strange Birth 28
Chapter 3 The Shaman and His Black Dog 31
The Old Huntsman 32
Pashupati, Lord of the Animals 36
The Noose 39
The Black Dog 39
The God of the Shades 40
Bhairava 46
Rudra and Odin 49
The Treacherous God 51
Chapter 4 God's Virile Member 53
Lingam Yoni 56
The Lingam Is Everywhere 60
How Arjuna Won His Magic Arrows 63
How Markandeya Became an Immortal 65
The Phallic Symbol 66
The Pillar of Fire 69
Chapter 5 Shankar, The Yogi on the Mountain 72
Shankara 74
The Tears of Rudra 76
The God Clothed in Air 81
The Third Eye 83
Three Lines of Ash 89
The Blue Neck 92
Shiva and Buddha 97
The Trident and the "Baton-de-Commandement" 102
Chapter 6 The Goddess 107
Devi 110
Durga 117
Kali 122
Annapurna 126
Ganga 128
Chapter 7 The Dancer in the Flames 135
Shiva's Dances 138
The Drum 141
Chapter 8 The Ideal Family 147
Karttikeya 149
Ganesha 157
Nandi the Bull 165
Chapter 9 The Destruction of the Sacrifice 173
The Aryan Background 176
Daksha's Great Sacrifice 180
Shiva the Sinner 185
Chapter 10 Shiva as the Devil 190
Zarathustra 191
The Earth Runs Well 198
The Righteous Battle 200
Chapter 11 Tantra: The Serpent's Path 206
The Heresy of the Agamas 209
Overcoming the Ego 213
Shakti 216
The Pathway of the Kundalini Serpent 222
Returning to Oneness 227
Chapter 12 The Saint, the Hero, and the Beast 231
The Rituals 234
Tantric Influence 237
Chapter 13 Pollen Dust and Ashes 241
Lingam Puja 245
Shiva's Flower Garden 246
Bel: Shiva's Triune Leaf 250
Bangeri Baba 251
Shiva's Garden of Madness 255
Sacred Ashes 260
The Shadow of the Night 264
Chapter 14 Shiva's Festivals and Holidays 266
The Descent of the Goddess 267
Festivals of the Hot Season and the Rainy Season 268
Festivals of the Fall Season 271
Festivals of Spring 273
Kumbha Mela 279
Notes 281
Bibliography 286
Index 289

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