HINDU DEITIES :: SHIVA, SHANKARA, MAHESHA, NATRAJ, BHOLENATH
THE TRINITY (TRIMURTI)
LORD BRAHMA (Creator)
VISHNU (preserver)
Shiva is arguably of the most important deity in Hinduism. He is part of the hindu trinity and also called Shiva, Shankar, Mahesh, Shiv, natraj, natarajan and by many other names.
Shiva represents a true duality in many forms - Shiva is both a benefector (as bholenath) and destroyer (as Rudra), Shiva is ascetic but He also gives importance to Grahastha-ashram, Shiva as Nataraj relates to both death and life - so the duality hidden in various aspects of Shiva again shows the basic idea of duality in various Hindu philosophies.
Shiva is many times associated with the "destruction" aspect of nature but I must clarify that "destruction" is not a synonym for "death" in this case. Instead, destruction is more of a symbol of beginning of new things (end of things is implicitly beginning of something new and remember that every beginning also has an end and an end is not necessarily an evil thing). In symbolic terms, Shiva's Tandav form of dance is a synonym of doomsday and it is said that whenever Shiva assumes his Nataraj (or Natraj or Natarajan) form of being, it results in doomsday.
THE TRINITY (TRIMURTI)
LORD BRAHMA (Creator)
VISHNU (preserver)
SHIVA (destroyer)
Shiva represents a true duality in many forms - Shiva is both a benefector (as bholenath) and destroyer (as Rudra), Shiva is ascetic but He also gives importance to Grahastha-ashram, Shiva as Nataraj relates to both death and life - so the duality hidden in various aspects of Shiva again shows the basic idea of duality in various Hindu philosophies.
Shiva is many times associated with the "destruction" aspect of nature but I must clarify that "destruction" is not a synonym for "death" in this case. Instead, destruction is more of a symbol of beginning of new things (end of things is implicitly beginning of something new and remember that every beginning also has an end and an end is not necessarily an evil thing). In symbolic terms, Shiva's Tandav form of dance is a synonym of doomsday and it is said that whenever Shiva assumes his Nataraj (or Natraj or Natarajan) form of being, it results in doomsday.
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