शिव
Shiva (as principle)
śiva
In simple words
Shiva is worshipped as a god, but in Shaiva philosophy the name also points to the highest reality: pure, free consciousness. Different Shaiva schools disagree about how that reality relates to us.
What is it?
In Shaiva traditions Shiva is the supreme Lord (Pati) and, philosophically, the ultimate principle. Kashmir Shaivism understands Shiva as luminous consciousness (prakasha) that is also self-aware (vimarsha), inseparable from Shakti; the individual is Shiva who has forgotten and can recognise itself. Shaiva Siddhanta holds that Shiva, souls and the bonds are three distinct eternal realities, and liberation makes the soul Shiva-like without merging identity. In the Gita's list of divine manifestations, Krishna names Shankara (Shiva) as foremost among the Rudras.
Scholar’s note
Trika's 36 tattvas place Shiva and Shakti at the top, above the Sankhya tattvas. Shaiva Siddhanta (Meykandar's Shiva Jnana Bodham) is realist and dualist or qualified-dualist about pati, pashu, pasha. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad is an early text that identifies the supreme with Rudra-Shiva. Advaita tends to read Shiva as one name of saguna Brahman.How its meaning differs
Shiva is all-inclusive consciousness, free and self-aware; the universe is its self-expression and the individual is Shiva in contracted form.
Shiva is the transcendent Lord, distinct from souls and matter; by grace he removes the soul's bonds so it shares in his nature without becoming him.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad presents Rudra-Shiva as the one Lord behind the world and the object of devotion.
Shiva, like Vishnu, can be revered as Ishvara, Brahman with qualities; beyond names, the absolute is attributeless.
Across Shaiva lineages Shiva is both the object of devotion and ritual and the goal of liberation, with sharp disagreements about identity versus distinction.
Where it appears in the Gita
Where else it appears
Follow this idea
Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1Gita verseBhagavad Gita 10.23Among the Rudras, Krishna names Shankara as his manifestation.
- 2Textश्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्Shvetashvatara UpanishadAn early Upanishadic vision of Rudra-Shiva as the one Lord.
- 3TraditionशैवShaivismThe broad family of Shaiva traditions.
- 4Textशिवसूत्रShiva SutrasKashmir Shaivism's foundational aphorisms.
- 5Conceptप्रत्यभिज्ञाPratyabhijna — recognitionRecognising oneself as Shiva.
- 6Conceptपति पशु पाशPati, Pashu, Pasha — Lord, soul, bondContrast: Shaiva Siddhanta's three distinct realities.
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