Lord
Shiva
Lord
Shiva, one among the trimurties, is a popular
deity of Smartha Sampradaya. The deity of
daily worship of Shri Kavle Math is Shri
Bhavani Shankar and many temples in Goa
are dedicated to Him in one name or the
other, like Shri Mangesh, Shri Nagesh, Shri
Ramnath etc. and according to one version all
the GSBs at one point of time
were the worshippers of Shiva only.
Going by the history of idol worship,
we learn that the Shivalinga was the first
symbol denoting God. Whatever is the history,
Lord Shiva is noted for bestowing
boons easily. Being the deity of
‘laya’ or destruction, we need His grace
to come or destroy our selfishness, ego, lust
etc. He is called Mrityunjaya, the conqueror
of the death-god and all havans and yajnas
craving for longevity or when there is a
danger for life, are dedicated to Triyambaka
or Lord Shiva.
He is regarded as a great Vaishnava and
so in many of our temples, Shivaratri is being
observed religiously, in the month of Magha.
Quite a few devotees will observe a daylong
fast and
chant His glories. Strangely there are hardly
any temples exclusively
of Lord Shiva’s
in Karnataka or Kerala under the GSB
management or ownership.
Shri
Parameshwar:
Indra,
the ruler of Swarga lost all his wealth on
account of a curse by the sage Durvasa. Under
the advice from Lord Vishnu, it was decided to
churn the milky ocean to retrieve the lost wealth besides getting from the ocean, amrita. But as
the tas was very difficult, Lord Vishnu
suggested that the demons be invited to join
hands with the devas on the understanding that half the amrit coming out from the waters
would be handed over to them. The demons
agreed. As the churning started, a great
quantity of poison was released from the ocean
and the terrible killer poison started
burning the universe. Knowing not what to do
everyone started praying to Lord Shiva
for protection. Without wasting time
Lord Shiva took the poison in his palms and
started gulping down. Goddess Parvati who was close by somehow felt that the poison must not enter
Shiva’s stomach and so pressed hard at his
neck. As
a result it remained there frozen making his
neck blue. Since then he is called Shri
Neelakantheshwar. As he had saved universe
from the deadly poison, he was hailed as Shri
Parameshwar. Thereafter the churning continued
and from the ocean emerged the cool crescent
moon. As
the poison had brought in enormous heat in his
body, Lord Shiva immediately took the moon and
kept
on his head. Since then he has another name, Shri Chandramouleeshwar also.
Shri
Mangesh:
How
did Lord Shiva become Shri Mangesh? The story
goes like this:
On account of some misunderstanding, Parvati
left Kailas angrily. As she was wandering aimlessly in a forest, Shiva assumed the
form of a gigantic tiger, and stood on the
way. Terribly frightened by a mere look at the
tiger, Parvati remembered Shiva and cried for
help calling him as Girish. Instead of
shrieking, “Pahimam Girish” she fumbled in fear and said, “Mangirish” which later became
Mangesh.