Why is Lord Shiva so scary looking?

[Guest guest]

I don't understand why people are attracted to him.

[Guest guest]

 

I don't understand why people are attracted to him.

I do not find him scary. But then, I have always been the courageous type.

 

If looks are what you are after, then make sure you do not get to see a picture of Krishna just waking up, red-eyed and unshaven,for you will probably lose interest.

 

Lesson: Religion is just movies....the central God has to be good looking or else he is not a box-office prospect.

 

Cheers

[Guest guest]

He doesn't look so scary to me.

 

Though Shiva does have a fearsome side, the name <i>Shiva</i> actualy means 'benign one'.

[renuka]

In my view Lord Shiva is very attractive and unique. His appearance is an embodiment of mercy. He is called 'Ashutosh' which means 'one who is easily pleased'. He extends his mercy not only to humans but also to ghosts and goblins. The ash on his body is from the graveyard and he wears animal skin as dress. His ornament is the snake around his neck. For a devotee of Lord Shiva his appearance signifies his merciful nature. These unique features infact add to his glories. Finally what to speak of his dancing which is glorified by all.

[Guest guest]

Siva's not scarey at all!

[aashish108]

make sure you do not get to see a picture of Krishna just waking up, red-eyed and unshaven,for you will probably lose interest.

 

This is such a stupid comment you have just made making offences for no purposes. I don't know where you got your intelligence from, but IF you have nothing positive or constructive to add then SILENCE! CLEAR?

[Guest guest]

 

This is such a stupid comment you have just made making offences for no purposes. I don't know where you got your intelligence from, but IF you have nothing positive or constructive to add then SILENCE! CLEAR?

I do not find Lord Shiva scary, but I certainly find Aashish108 scary. I would not want to be in a room alone with the gentleman.

 

Cheers

[aashish108]

 

I do not find Lord Shiva scary, but I certainly find Aashish108 scary. I would not want to be in a room alone with the gentleman.

 

Cheers

YOU ARE RIGHT you would find me scary with the amount of offences that you have said in this forum! Being in the same room with me would be the last of your concerns!!!

[Guest guest]

 

YOU ARE RIGHT you would find me scary with the amount of offences that you have said in this forum! Being in the same room with me would be the last of your concerns!!!

I do not see any offences from my side, but clearly we have different definitions. Well, if I have commited a number of "offences" then let the good lord strike me down dead with a bolt of lightning or have me run over by a bus or a truck.

 

In fact, I remember a post on this forum from a few years ago. Once when a person who was causing problems to iskcon wrt property rights or something died in an accident. Prabhupada said "Krishna killed him" for messing with iskcon. So apparently, Krishna does engage in such activities from time to time.

 

Anyway, we will leave it to the moderators. This is their job and if they find someone "offensive" they can easily ban the individual and you can breathe easy. There have been people banned from this forum in the past in case you think that will not happen.

 

Cheers

[Ganeshprasad]

 

I don't understand why people are attracted to him.

Jai Ganesh

Mangala arati

Karpoora Gauram Karunavataram

Samsara Saram Bhujagendra Haram

Sada Vasantam Hridayaravinde

Bhavam Bhavani Sahitam Namami

I salute to the merciful Bhava (i.e. Shiva) who is with his consort Parvati,

Adorned with the necklace of the serpant

by Pushpadant

shmashAneshhvAkrIDA smarahara pishAchAH sahacharaaH

chitAbhasmAlepaH sragapi nR^ikaroTIparikaraH .

amaN^galyaM shIlaM tava bhavatu nAmaivamakhilaM

tathApi smartR^INAM varada paramaM maN^galamasi ..

 

O,boon giver! O,destroyer of Cupid! You play in the burning ghats . your

friends are the ghosts . Your body is smeared with the ashes of the dead

bodies . Your garland is of human skulls . Every aspect of your character is

thus inauspicious . Let it be . It does not matter . Because, with all these

known oddness, you are quick to grant all auspicious things to the people

who just think of you.

"vande zambhuM umApathiM sura guruM

vande jagat kAraNaM

vande pannaga bhUshaNaM mRgadharaM

vande pazUnAM patiM

vande sUrya zazAMka vahni nayanaM

vande 'mukunda priyaM'

vande bhakta janAzrayaM ca varadaM

vande zivaM zaGkaraM"

I salute to Lord Sambhu, the Beloved Husband of Devi Uma and the preceptor of heavenly gods.

I bow down down to the Lord Who is the

root cause of the entire world .

I salute to the Lord Who has the serpents as His ornament, and Who carries the deer.

I bow down to the Lord of all beings.

My salutations to the Lord Who has the Sun, the Moon, and the Fire as His three eyes.

I bow down to the Lord, Who is VERY DEAR TO LORD MUKUNDA, KRISHNA.

My salutations to Him, Who is the refuge of all devotees and Who showers His Grace on all surrendered souls.

And I bow down again to the Lord, Who is the embodiment of all auspiciousness, Lord Sankara

Lord Shiva is not offended if you do not worship him because you find him to be scary.

But then will our offence to Shiva offend Krishna?

Jai Shree Krishna

[renuka]

'Vaishnavanam yatha Sambhu'- Lord Shiva is the greatest of all Vaishnavas. Isn't that enough to make him attractive. Please don't try to judge a vaishnava by his external appearance.

[Guest guest]

Because Lord Siva was out trying to forage, and Srimati Parvati gave birth to Lord Ganesha while he husband was away. Lord Ganesha was fully grown at birth and when the lord of the Manor (Lord Siva) returned, Ganesha told him that such a disgusting and bedraggled person could not enter the House of Parvati. Lord Siva said he was Ganeshas father, but ganesha refused to let him in, saying his father was not a homeless beggar with ashes covering his body.

 

Ganesha lost his head. But Lord Siva was not justified for his behavior by Srimati Parvati, who also called his a homeless beggar who was not presentable. So Lord Siva immediately replaced the severed head of Lord ganesha with the head of an elephant, and all was well again.

 

Hare Krsna, all glories to Lord Siva, Srimati Parvati, and Lord Ganesha, the patron of all writers, the scribe of the sages and, for the devotee, the remover of all impediaments on the path of devotion to the Supreme Lord.

 

ys, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

 

I do not find him scary. But then, I have always been the courageous type.

 

If looks are what you are after, then make sure you do not get to see a picture of Krishna just waking up, red-eyed and unshaven,for you will probably lose interest.

 

Lesson: Religion is just movies....the central God has to be good looking or else he is not a box-office prospect.

 

Cheers

 

And why do you find Krishna unattractive? This was a pretty superficial thing to say, obviously you need glasses.

[nekozuki]

Yeah I agree with aashish on this one, where did that comment on Krishna come from? Did it really have anything to do with Shiva, sounds like you have some personal problems.

[Sephiroth]

 

I don't understand why people are attracted to him.

Hmm ... Maybe it's that Snake He wears around His neck which makes Him look scary.

I don't think He's scary though.

[Guest guest]

If someone asked a question no one needs to feel offensive because they are just curious and we always forgive no matter who offens us..And many people find lord shiva a little strange ..but its just the way he is ..HES GOD ;]

[Sephiroth]

 

If someone asked a question no one needs to feel offensive because they are just curious and we always forgive no matter who offens us..And many people find lord shiva a little strange ..but its just the way he is ..HES GOD ;]

Strange? I don't see Him as strange?

Like I stated in another thread, I see Shiva-Shakti relationship as Power and Control which exists in Nature. So, I think if someone sees Him strange, it is because they don't have proper understanding on how the Power and Control works.

You should study Nature and how the World exists in perfect Nature, maybe then you could undertand Him a bit.

[Whitelotus019]

 

Strange? I don't see Him as strange?

Like I stated in another thread, I see Shiva-Shakti relationship as Power and Control which exists in Nature. So, I think if someone sees Him strange, it is because they don't have proper understanding on how the Power and Control works.

You should study Nature and how the World exists in perfect Nature, maybe then you could undertand Him a bit.

I totally agree with you. Personally I never said he was strange because hes not but many people who I came across did ask the same question as he/she did but your right they don't understand. Now I have an answer for those people. Thank you hari bole.

[gokulkr]

 

I do not find him scary. But then, I have always been the courageous type.

 

If looks are what you are after, then make sure you do not get to see a picture of Krishna just waking up, red-eyed and unshaven,for you will probably lose interest.

 

Lesson: Religion is just movies....the central God has to be good looking or else he is not a box-office prospect.

 

Cheers

Evil Asuras & demons find Lord Krishna scary. Maybe this person "Shiv" who posted the above quote is incarnation of a asura/demon, thats why he has made nasty comments on Lord Krishna.

 

Hare Krishna

Om Namo Venkatesha

[nekozuki]

 

Evil Asuras & demons find Lord Krishna scary. Maybe this person "Shiv" who posted the above quote is incarnation of a asura/demon, thats why he has made nasty comments on Lord Krishna.

Hare Krishna

Om Namo Venkatesha

oh that was a burn lol. Yeah, it just seemed to come out of nowhere.

[Guest guest]

 

Evil Asuras & demons find Lord Krishna scary. Maybe this person "Shiv" who posted the above quote is incarnation of a asura/demon, thats why he has made nasty comments on Lord Krishna.

Nasty?

 

What I actually want to say is "What a bunch of morons!!". But since that is not a nice thing to do, I am not saying that.

 

The thread was started by someone wondering why people are attracted to Shiva as he is scary-looking. I responded saying if looks are what are important to you, then if you see Krishna unshaven and red-eyed, you will lose interest in him too. In other words, the criteria for attraction is very superficial in this case.

 

Where is Krishna misrepresented here???

 

I can understand one dimwit not getting this, but for a whole bunch to follow suit is actually ridiculous and somewhat sad.

 

Cheers

[aashish108]

Nasty?

 

What I actually want to say is "What a bunch of morons!!". But since that is not a nice thing to do, I am not saying that.

 

The thread was started by someone wondering why people are attracted to Shiva as he is scary-looking. I responded saying if looks are what are important to you, then if you see Krishna unshaven and red-eyed, you will lose interest in him too. In other words, the criteria for attraction is very superficial.

 

Where is Krishna misrepresented here???

 

I can understand one dimwit not getting this, but for a whole bunch to follow suit is actually ridiculous and somewhat sad.

 

Cheers

Shiv doesn't need to be unshaven and red eyed for anyone to lose interest in him and the criteria for attraction is NOT superficial in this case .... its permanent!

 

[shiv]

[Guest guest]

Jai Shri Krishna, like always i think this thread has started to go of on a tangent!!!!!!

 

I dont have the full answer here, but i will try to answer to the best of my knowledge. Now what i want to say firstly is i personaly do not find shiva Scarey in appearance, he is often seen as a yogi, or family man where he is lovingly holding his wife and children!! However all the mojor vedic Gods have a multifaceted nature and their fierce forms represent aspects of their personality Shakthi appears as both the serene parvati and the fierce kali. And as we know Krishna the all attaractive one, and is very charming but in some of his forms as Narasimha and Varaha he takes on a very fierce form to protect his devotees, of course to devotees the fierce ugra-Narasimha-murti is worthy of praise, but to demons he is scary!!

 

Like Krishna and Devi Shiva also has many forms, some calm (shanta) such as Dakshinamurthy and Yogiraja, whereas others are fierce (ugra) and often unorthodox such as Bhairva. And even in his more calm forms some of lord Shiva's attributes come across as bizare or rather sacery such as his serpant garlands.

 

Why such a form????

Well lord Shiva is the lord responsible of the destruction of the material world, thus his scarey appearance reflects this. For example destruction is associated with death hence he mundamala (garland of skulls). Shiva also pervades over the mode of darkness (tamo guna) and is the very merciful one who reaches down to the lowest of the low who are deep in tamo guna, so he often takes on a un-orthadox and fierce form for the most low to reach him. Shiva also teaches us of the nature of this material universe. Due to the power of Krishnas external energy (maya) all is not perfect in the impermanent universe governed by time. This world is full of dualites, birth and death, highs and lows, times of misery-times of hapiness etc.... Often we humans like to think that life is perfect and forget about maya, Shiva is associated with things that we may not find desireable...... he wears snakes and skulls, smears his body with ash, roams the cremation ground and night, chooses ghosts and goblins as his associates thus telling us that nature is not all beauty and perfection!!

 

Jai Sri Krishna and Har har Mahadev!!!!

[Avinash]

 

And why do you find Krishna unattractive? This was a pretty superficial thing to say, obviously you need glasses.

In this particular case, I think Shiv has brought an important point. In the first post of this thread, a question was put as to why people are attracted to Lord Shiva even though He looks scary. The premise behind this question is that looks are important and people can be attracted only towards those who look good. If this is the case, then we cannot be attracted towards Lord Krsna if, in some painting, He is depicted as ugly-looking.

I know that you will take offence to my statement thinking that I have called Lord Krsna as ugly-looking and unattractive. But no. On the other hand, I find Him quite good looking and attractive in all the pictures, statues that I have seen of Him. I am saying IF He is depicted as ugly-looking, then what will be the reactions of people. Now, you will shout at me saying that you will always find Him attractive no matter how He is depicted. Fine. But the important point here is not how you will find Him. The point is how people for whom looks are important will find Him. As we can see from various posts in this thread, there are many who find Lord Shiva as quite attractive. But I am not answering from their perspective. I am answering from the perspective of those who find Lord Shiva as unattractive just because, according to them, He is shown as scary-looking.

[nekozuki]

 

In this particular case, I think Shiv has brought an important point. In the first post of this thread, a question was put as to why people are attracted to Lord Shiva even though He looks scary. The premise behind this question is that looks are important and people can be attracted only towards those who look good. If this is the case, then we cannot be attracted towards Lord Krsna if, in some painting, He is depicted as ugly-looking.

I know that you will take offence to my statement thinking that I have called Lord Krsna as ugly-looking and unattractive. But no. On the other hand, I find Him quite good looking and attractive in all the pictures, statues that I have seen of Him. I am saying IF He is depicted as ugly-looking, then what will be the reactions of people. Now, you will shout at me saying that you will always find Him attractive no matter how He is depicted. Fine. But the important point here is not how you will find Him. The point is how people for whom looks are important will find Him. As we can see from various posts in this thread, there are many who find Lord Shiva as quite attractive. But I am not answering from their perspective. I am answering from the perspective of those who find Lord Shiva as unattractive just because, according to them, He is shown as scary-looking.

Well, I don't think looks matter when it comes to worship. But God is supposed to be attractive, and I don't find Lord Shiva unattractive either. The way God looks shouldn't matter, but I think making them good looking makes us feel more comfortable. And when it does come to saying Lord Krishna is ugly then seriously get your eyes checked or something because that's just not right. I understand having different tastes in men and all that but it's Krishna, he not any ordinary guy.