Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Lord Siva

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Lord Siva: 'The Glance Of Love'

 

BY SWAMI B.V. TRIPURARI

 

 

— "Out of love for all the jivas, the Lord glances at material

nature to manifest them, that they may come to meet their maker and

love him. This glance of Visnu, this is Siva, it is the glance of

love for all jivas. So how we can not appreciate Lord Siva?"

 

 

Q. What is the position of Lord Siva from the perspective of the

Gaudiya sampradaya?

 

A. Sankaracarya is said to be an incarnation of Lord Siva. The arch

enemies of Sankara's notion of advaita Vedanta are found in the

Madhva and Ramanuja sampradayas. Some in the Madhva sampradaya chant

a mantra while passing urine which says they are urinating on

Sankara. Such a strong opinion. In the Ramanuja sampradaya there are

also very negative feelings about Lord Siva. It is said, perhaps by

Ramanuja himself, that it would be better to enter the mouth of a

tiger and be devoured than to enter a temple of Lord Siva. By this

they mean that by entering the mouth of Sankara's conception of

advaita Vedanta, which originated from Lord Siva, one loses all hope

for any future prospect in Vaisnavism.

 

But Caitanya Mahaprabhu sought to bring some harmony to the ongoing

war between the Saivites and the Vaisnavites. When he visited South

India, Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited all the temples of Lord Siva and

showed much regard for him. Lord Siva and Parvati even appeared to

him in South India as a brahmana and his wife to get his darshan.

 

So we should have proper conception of, and proper regard for Lord

Siva: 'vaisnavanam yatha sambhu.' Mahaprabhu entered all the temples

of Lord Siva with this in mind, that Siva is a great Vaisnava.

Mahaprabhu reasoned in discussing with the Saivites, 'Who is better -

Visnu or Siva?' Although there were lengthy arguments, discussions

and quoting so many scriptures, what did Caitanya Mahaprabhu say? He

said 'The foot wash of Lord Visnu is the Ganges and Lord Siva takes

the Ganges on his head. So Visnu must be in a superior position to

Siva.' In this way, in a simple way, Mahaprabhu converted them. But

in this there was no disregard for Lord Siva. How can we disregard

someone who has the Ganges on his head constantly?

 

Q. What is Siva's relationship to Visnu?

 

A. Out of love for all the jivas, the Lord glances at material

nature to manifest them, that they may come to meet their maker and

love him. Siva is this glance of Visnu, it is the glance of love for

all jivas. It is said that God decides to become many. All the

baddha-jivas are in a homogeneous form within Maha Visnu and upon

his awakening, out of love for the jivas, he causes them to again

become many by glancing over material nature. This goes on in

perpetual cycles of creation and annihilation. It is said that Visnu

does not associate with material nature. Material nature does not

take precedence over him. He is intimately associated only with his

svarupa sakti, which is his own nature and which conquers him, Radha

conquers Krsna.

 

All the devotees conquer Krsna under the influence of this svarupa

sakti.

 

But the maya sakti does not conquer Krsna. Visnu does not associate

with maya. But by glancing, he goes there. It is said in the Bible

when you glance at a woman, you go there. Just by glancing you are

implicated. So Visnu glances at maya and in that sense goes there.

That glancing is Siva, all the jivas' consciousness in touch with

material nature, activating material nature and the whole world

starts again.

 

It is said in Vedanta Sutra that the world is about love. We may

think, 'What? This world is a place of misery, suffering - how is it

about love?' In fact all theologians have to deal with this problem:

the world is full of suffering, God is full of love, but God created

the world. How do we harmonize this? Gaudiya Vaisnavism has this

idea, out of love for all the jivas, the Lord glances at material

nature to manifest them, that they may come to meet their maker and

love him. And within the world he goes to canvass them, he gives the

scripture, so that they may learn how to regulate their lives and

come to him. But being of the stamp of himself, a unit of

consciousness with will, they don't always take advantage. Still he

comes after them. This glance of Visnu, this is Siva, it is the

glance of love for all jivas. So how we can not appreciate Siva?

 

It is said in Padma Purana there are ten offenses to chanting the

holy name. The second offense says 'to consider Lord Siva different

from Visnu is an aparadha.' Sometimes it is also rendered 'to

consider the names of the demigods to have equal efficacy as that of

Lord Visnu is an offense.' But it may be rendered in another

way, 'to consider the difference between Siva and Visnu, that is

offensive.' Siva means auspicious. Krsna is all-auspicious, so Siva

is also a name for God. Actually all the names of all the demigods

are names for Krsna.

 

Q. Is Siva the greatest Vaisnava?

 

A. If we study Bhagavatam in its entirety we see that

paradigmatically speaking, Siva represents jnana-misra bhakti,

devotion mixed with knowledge. And above jnana-misra bhakti is

Prahlada, suddha bhakti, pure devotion. This is shown in Sanatana

Goswami's commentary, Brhad Bhagavatamrta, which is an explanation

of Srimad Bhagavatam, showing the gradation of all the different

religious conceptions. So it goes in the highest realm to the gopis.

But there we find Siva also: Mahadeva Gopisvara. Siva's desire to

become a gopi.

 

We should note this about all the great persons in the Bhagavatam

like Prahlada, and Narada. They are representing something

theologically but that representation does not entirely represent

their personhood, their potential, their prospect in spiritual life.

Therefore the Gaudiya Vaisnavas also find them all in Krsna lila.

Narada Kunda is there, where Narada bathed and came out as a gopi.

Lord Siva appeared as a gopi and gopa also, Gopesvara, Gopisvara.

And the famous Mahadeva Gopisvara temple is here in Vrindavan and in

that lila Siva is said to have desired to become a gopi and enter

the rasa dance.

 

Why? Because unless we pass through what Siva represents, that

detachment, how can we enter into rasa dance with Lord Krsna? That

rasa dance that looks like ordinary love, in every respect is

completely selfless. It is selfless love camouflaging itself as

selfishness. We have to look closely to see what it is. The idea of

Lord Siva being posted at the gate of the rasa lila is that we have

to pass through what Siva represents, complete detachment from sense

objects, if we are to interact with them in such a way as to not be

implicated. In love of Krsna, Gaudiya Vaisnavism is really about

interacting with sense objects, properly understanding that every

sensual opportunity in the world is an opportunity to satisfy the

senses of Krsna.

 

This is why in regards to high, maha-purusa Gaudiya Vaisnavas who

are not acting as acaryas, it is sometimes difficult to understand

some of the things they do, like Ramananda Raya teaching the devi

dasis how to dance.

 

When Mahaprabhu sent Pradyumna Misra to learn about Krsna bhakti

from Ramananda Raya he came back a little bewildered. But Mahaprabhu

sent him back. That is a very high thing. We should know how to

understand that. To apply that, to live in that, we have to cross

through the plane of Lord Siva. He is posted at the gate of the rasa

lila and no one can get by him.

 

So symbolically it means this.

 

So in this way Lord Siva has a high position in Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

Lord Siva is actually the brother-in-law of Krsna. From Yasoda a

daughter and a son were born. When Vasudeva exchanged Devaki-nandana

Krsna for the daughter, Devaki-nandana Krsna merged into Nanda-

nandana Krsna and the daughter was taken and she showed an eight

fold form, Katyayani, Durga and chastised Kamsa. So Katyayani is the

wife of Lord Siva and sister of Krsna.

 

So Lord Siva is the brother-in-law of Krsna. In this way he is part

of the extended family. Krsna's guru, Sandipani Muni, was a Saivite.

In Mathura, Krsna was initiated by a Saivite, so Siva is in our guru

parampara! You see, we cannot avoid Lord Siva.

 

In this way we can find ways to harmonize regard for Lord Siva and

regard for Lord Krsna. So we should mull over these things and

properly represent the harmonizing capacity of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

It is not about making enemies and drawing lines, black and white.

We should know that the parameters of Gaudiya Vaisnavism are broad.

There are parameters, but they are very broad. It includes all that

is spiritual, all possibilities, all spiritual possibilities and

that means all the way up to the highest possibility that Mahaprabhu

particularly came to represent and to make available.

 

So in this way we should have a proper understanding of Gaudiya

Vaisnavism.

 

It is the highest ideal to get some service of Radha, Radha's name

is also Kartika since she is the daughter of Kirtika. Her mother was

named Kirtika because it was the custom to name all of the ladies of

Vrindavan after the daughters of Daksa - and then we recall the

relationship between Daksa and Siva. So if we read and study the

Bhagavatam we can find so much room to understand, accommodate, and

appreciate Lord Siva.

 

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