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“LIVING WITH NATURE RAISES SHIVA IN MAN” How Jungle Living In India Makes The Man God ?

“Shiva is an epitome of generation of spiritual energy in any human being who practices exertion. Shiva is an embodiment of how to upgrade the skill of individual

power which unifies human body, mind and soul with heavenly world”

Living amid natural surroundings, closer to nature, nearer to forests and beholding the spectacle of honey-bees, butterfly and wildlife with observance of penance, reparation and atonement fills a person with renewed energy of life, offers element of vivacity, delivers exuberance of cheerfulness. Living in wholesome pristine environment of India, transcends an inhabitant into the world of divinity, rectitude and consciousness. Indian “Hindu-way-of-life”, for millennia experimented living with nature, interacting with animals and staying amid bio-diverse environment evolved way of living a life of Shiva which means benefit to all or the benefactor. Which defines mysticism of living with nature, eco resonating life with gifts, rewards and bounties of nature. Such an art-of-living became a rare, extra ordinarily exceptional and outstandingly glorified example of Hindu way of living for the humanity the world over since millennia …A K Singh

There is a macho man in India who is an expression of masculinity, male power and virility of manliness. He is Shiva, an extra ordinary man with outstanding personality. He is the savior, protector, conservationist and generously benevolent. One the one hand he is a sagacious ascetic yogi who meditates in the valley of high mountains elevating his conscience with nature and at the other he is a thundering storm who kills the forces of ignorance and darkness. As a rudra he is portrayed beholding in his arms bow and arrow, an axe and a deer for the destruction of wicked and dreadful poachers who offend the nature. As an ardha-narishwara he is half man and half woman in his humane qualities of behaving masculine wherever the situation demands and being effeminate where things necessitates caring as a protective mother concerned with gentle healing and loving with affection and sophistication. As a Nataraja he dances to the tune of natural invention and performs his popular kaal mahakal tandava dance in tune

with natural disasters to prevent them from happening. He is therefore considered the man

who is skilled in management of disasters organizing the systematization of performance of the works by rendering techniques of craftsmanship. John Hubert Marshall the then Director General of Archaeological Survey of India in 1931 in his works “Mohanjo-Daro and the

Indus Civilization” found an inch high soapstone seal about a figure like Shiva where he quotes, as saying, “ There appears an ithyphallic-erect-penis-male-god, who is recognizable at once as a prototype of the historic Shiva. The lower limbs are bare and the phallus is tied to the end of the waistband to regulate the sensual pleasure. It is perhaps a vendantic snake or is it a rope as a troupe to control the power of illusion and

 

 

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imagination. The image on the seal is termed as Pashupati the “Lord of all Animals” which in Vedas is an epithet of Shiva recognized as five headed man with super power of showing five faces Sat-Udyogajata, Tat-purusha, Vamdeva, Aghori and Ishana representing five elements of earth, water, air, light and fire. Flaherty describes the “big nosed gentleman ..who sits in the lotus position with an erect penis as Shiva and the vagina of his consort. The protector of animals possessing the quality of being a true-entrepreneur, a macho-man, reflecting the character like a boar, a camouflage man who is engrossed in upasana in the service of what is truthful and straightforward. Wendi Doniger in her works “The Hindus An Alternative History” further interprets saying, ‘Marshall identifies the figure from Indus Valley of Mohanjo-daro as Shiva as Lord pashupati is seated on a low stool with knees pointed in padmasana a posture widely used for performing meditation. He wears a horn head, perhaps a buffalo horn mask. This image of pashupati who is five headed or panch-mukha is flanked by an elephant, a rhinoceros, a water buffalo, an antelope and tiger—huddle beneath is stool, he wears an animal skin, some times of a tiger, sometimes of an elephant. The description reveals the phenomenon that produces rich fantasies about the decipherment of the script that a man living interacting with natural forces and diverse animals emerges as being fuelled with mystical powers passionate with super natural zeal and vehemence who as a leader and “Lord of Beasts" who is capable of commanding the wild animals enriching his proximate wilderness in the vicinity. India has been a land of such man beset with natural powers since beginning due

to its highly diversified forests, expanded vast subtropical mountains, long drawn out colossal stretch of rich woodlands and wilderness consisting of mega fauna and wild animals illuminating the ideas enlightening the humanity that the real power comes from natural contiguous pristine beautiful jungles. Cave paintings from Mesolithic sites dating from 30,000 BC in Bhimbetka near Bhopal in Vindhya mountains in Madhya Pradesh demonstrate number of wild animals recognized as antelopes, frogs, fish, lizards, squirrels, birds, boars, deer, rhinoceros, elephants, leopards, unicorn and tigers. India has since millennia been a country rich in natural resources. There was plenty in nature to

eat, sufficient to take shelter, adequate enough to live with. Besides this, there was an opportunity to play with nature, enormous prospects to experiment. A healthy body, a vigorous mind and a spirited soul was ready to perform some thing mystical and sorcerous. A contented man sitting under the tree, in peace, in the sea of

tranquility, in a salubrious environment engrossed in meditation struggling to find something original, willing to invent something unprecedented and imaginative. He amassed the wealth of knowledge by simple meditation, he collected the hidden treasures of the bountiful nature. Shiva started controlling his senses, commanding his sanities and logic. He found mysterious powers by experimenting on his body, mind and soul. He became maha-yogi, controlled his senses, practiced celibacy and simultaneously loving his spouse Parvathi. He trained his outfit to be disciplined, restrained and methodical. He was termed “the-

 

 

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auspicious-one” who can control himself, who can command his body, expertise his mind and over powers his soul. He developed the sixth sense experimenting amid rich natural neighborhood, which became so powerful that it started offering intuition developing the perception of clairvoyance promoting the sensitivity to powerful natural instincts. He became a superman with his enormously developed sixth sense which was termed tri-netra the third eye and his name being Tri-lochan. This happens with observation of restraint in food, by dint of strict discipline performing meditation and yoga, practicing celibacy while living a healthy life with spouse, punishing the body with penance, propitiation

of the mental faculty and atonement of the soul. Such spiritual experiments were conducted by man living in wilderness playing with nature, interacting with rich environment, supplemented with high bio-diversity. Adi Shankaracharya interpreted Shiva who practicing with nature in the long run became as “The Pure One” the one who practices Satva: “the force of being pure”, he observes Rajas: “the natural force emanating from ecosystem of motion, preservation and energy but remain unaffected by Tamas: “the force of ignorance, sloth and darkness”, the one who purifies everyone coming to his contact. The super power emanating from the element of satva. Being satvic means by taking healthy green food, nutritious and clean diet, disallowing consuming any intoxicant, aphrodisiac and

pollutant. Sattva is state of mind where conscience is steady, calm and peaceful. Shiva means the one who is in routine pure, without contamination, which implies one who is pure, divine and spiritual. Such men are hardworking, alert and ingenuous. They live life moderately who posses good memory and deep concentration, lead a chaste life on frugal diet, speaking truth, avoid vulgarity, never jealous, unaffected by greed and selfishness. In India, which is one of the oldest civilization in the world where man through his regular practice of personal training evolved himself as super human being who not only taught the art of living, to be with nature and to be powerful, but also to be the liberator of soul from the

birth-rebirth cycle. The man who remains connected with his inside world, his world in present and his world of cosmos wearing a trishul or a trident he is the man termed Shiva. The man who is time conscious, who keeps a strict vigil on the movement of moon, watches calendar of time, understand the cycle of season and spells of different periods wearing in head the crescent moon. The man who smears his body with ashes of bhasma from cremation-yard for being bhairava epitomizing renunciation from material possession telling that luxury in life is redundant and pointless which leads the man towards disease and darkness. The man who becomes neelkantha: blue throated for he churns up in routine what is toxic in life and eliminate what is vicious, destructive and disparaging. The man who

 

 

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jettisons the obstacles from the streams so as to ensure unremitting flowing of water and help support the river ecosystem to flow taking a lead heading the movement for water conservation and developing the moisture regime of degraded hinterlands asking the humanity to help flow the sacred rivers like HE did for rive Ganges from his head. The man who collects the tiger skin from forests and sits upon it demanding the humanity to count your tigers the mega-animal for preservation of rich bio-diversity and plush green ecosystem of India holding in hands the deer the replica of wild animals soliciting for protection and preservation of wild animals along with unbroken pristine undisturbed virgin jungles of India. Not only this, he plays damaru by making a long drawn and appealing sound with plenty of hand gesture mudra conducting the tandava dance to spread his message to the world over as to how to be “The One with Nature” and how to be super-natural-man inhabiting the pristine environment of India keeping its natural heritage preserved, intact and well protected. The man who elevated his spiritual power to the pinnacle of super-consciousness by dint of the natural resources he started commanding supernatural world when ghostly hosts started following him in his tandav dance revealing the fact as to the man, the man, man from India is endowed with extra ordinary natural heritage inheriting from one of the oldest civilization of Indus valley. The valley of sapta-sindhu, the jamboo deepa which is full of bounty of nature and replete with abundance of natural resources where a man has tremendous potential to grow, who has an enormous opportunity to train himself, immense prospects to develop his skill like Shiva has done. Heritage of Shiva, customary practices of followers of Shiva the shaivaites converted millions of such devotees

in every nook and corners of India who could be seen as sadhu, saint and fakirs practicing the naturopathy, actively committed to following Shiva “The One With Nature”, performing the “Art-of-Living” by Nature, interacting with natural environment, observing penances, conducting different magics, playing with super-natural-world, evolving their own techniques of meditation for elevation of their mind, purification of their heart, raising consciousness of their soul ever engaged in fusing themselves with heavenly abode.

A K Singh is the member of Indian Forest Service 1997 serving in the Ministry of Forest and Ecology and Environment the Government of Karnataka working for restoration of

environment in mining affected areas. Views portrayed here are personal and some of them compiled and opinionated. Contact 9481180956, aksinghifs@gmail.com

References: 1. The Hindu History by Akshoy K Majumdar Rupa

and Company 2. Shiva Purana by J L Shastri, The Puranas by Ludo

Rocher 1986 , 3. The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy

Doniger A Penguin Book Religion/History 4. The Wonder That Was India by A L Basham 5. Mohanjo-Daro And The Indus Civilization by Sir

John Marshal London 1957 6. Siva Purana by B K Chaturvedi 2006 7. Essential Hinduism by Steven Rosen & Graham M

Schweig Greenwood publishing 8. India: A history by John Key..Grove press

publication. 9. The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective

by Gregory L Possehi 10. Vishnu Purana by Doniger O’Flaherty 11. Pre-historic Indian Rock Paintings by Neumayer 12. Hinduism: Deciphering the Indus Valley Script by

Knipe. 13. Rigvedic Base of the Pasupati Seal of Mohanjo-Daro

by Singh 14. Indus Script Deciphered by Krishna Rao 15. Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization by S

R Rao