You must have observed that all auspicious tasks are performed in the Northeast direction. This direction has been called Ishan in the ancient vedic texts. Even when Muslims offer namaaz, they do so in a particular direction, and their night prayer is called Ishaa — indicating that all religions have similarity and religious beliefs should not be a reason for intolerance towards each other.
Interestingly, Ishan is another name for Lord Shiva. In vedic times there were only eight names of Lord Shiva — Sharva, Bhava, Rudra, Ugra, Bheem, Pashupati, Ishan and Mahadev — representing various aspects and forces that play a pivotal role in managing the creation. Take, for example, Rudra. Rudra is the form of Shiva that is required for destruction. Similarly, Bheem represents the strength of Shiva — strength not of the muscles, but the strength needed to go from one dimension to the next. Pashupati epitomises the abundance of nature, the flora and fauna. The Pashupatinath temple in Nepal was made for this purpose, but later corruption seeped in and people started the incorrect practice of performing ritualistic sacrifices. This and other adulterations in the authentic vedic sciences have led us to completely forget our culture.
With the progression of times and change of yugas, men started losing touch with the creation and became self-centered. As a result, the eight forms of Shiva were not enough for them, and so newer names began to emerge — Mrityunjay being one of them. Earlier there was no “mrityu” but “iccha mrityu”, i.e. a person would leave the body at will.
But when people started performing wrong acts, they started fearing death. As a result, the name Mrityunjay originated. Today, the condition of human beings has deteriorated to such an extent that we have moved from worshipping the swaroopa of Shiva to the worship of lower beings like rakshas, pishach, bhoot and pret. And with every passing day, the situation is becoming worse. That is why today we have a thousand names of Lord Shiva, all readily available on CDs. People who pray to these names think they are worshipping Lord Shiva, unaware of the fact that Shiva has only eight names. Few years from now, the names of Shiva will multiply to such an extent that it would be difficult to contain them in a CD.
The thousand different names of Shiva pertain to different isht devas. According to yog, there is only one mantra, one aasan, one maala, one isht deva and only one Guru. If you combine any two, it amounts to adultery in yog and you are being unfaithful to the creation. And if you are unfaithful to the creation then the creation will be unfaithful to you. Therefore, before embarking on the journey of the spirit, be sure of what you are seeking. Only then the path to achieve it can be carved out by your guru. If you don’t know what you want, and since we have a thousand names of Lord Shiv, you’ll have to start doing thousand sadhnas. Where do you think you will reach?
Yogi Ashwini, the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation, is an authority on yoga, tantra and the Vedic sciences. His recent book is Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension. Contact him at dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com
