Rudri - 5 - Who is Rudra and why do we want to sing his glory

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Arial">Rudra is another form of Shiva, the Consciousness of Infinite

Goodness. This term “Rudra” appears very frequently in the Vedas as

one of the Gods of the Hindu Trinity. Along with Brahma the creator

or the creative capacity, Vishnu the protector or preserving

capacity, Rudra or Shiva is the Destroyer or the Dissolving capacity.

FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> According to Adi Sankara’s commentary on the

Vishnu Sahasranama , Rudra means "One who makes all beings cry at the

time of cosmic dissolution." Our Swamiji has given us a more

compassionate description of Rudra. He translates Rudra as derived

from the words – asru-trayate. ‘Asru’- means tears, and ‘trayate’

means that which takes away. Swamiji says,” Rudra is the form of

Shiva who takes away the tears, and puts an end to all suffering”

(Side Note: For all you Chandi lovers out there, check out the verse

“Aham Rudrebhir Vasubhish caramyaham…” in the Vedic Praise of the

Goddess. It translates to “I travel with the Relievers of

Suffering”.) When we worship Rudra, he removes

our tears and relieves our suffering. The Rudrashtadhyayi is Rudra –

Ashta (Eight) - Adhyayi (Chapter); i.e. the Eight Chapters in Praise

of Rudra. Swamiji says, “It is chanted continually in all the Shiva

temples and especially in all the Jyotir Lingams

(See the list of Jyotir Lingams here -

http://www.shreemaa.org/faq_shiva.htm#_Toc118508011 ) , the special

places of pilgrimage for Lord Shiva in India, where Shiva has

bestowed his eternal light as a blessing to every devotee who comes

to pray with devotion.” Every scripture has a bhava all its own,

and the Rudri is no exception. The bhava of the Guru Gita is that of

a devotee melting with love for his/her Guru; the bhava of the Chandi

is one of the Divine Mother killing all the negativities of the

sadhak, and making him realize his innate divinity. The bhava of the

Rudri is something special – it is that of God singing to himself.

This bhava is very pronounced especially in the eighth chapter, where

the verses emphasize the note that everything he perceives is within

him. Tomorrow we will look into a glimpse of each of the chapters

in this wonderful text … I would like to leave you with a story

that I read about Rudra … The story goes that one day Rudra was

sitting on Mt. Kailash in meditation. He happened to open his eyes

and saw so much suffering that tears came to his eyes. As a drop was

about to fall from his face, Nature realized the tear would fall

around Kailash

which is a very remote area, so the wind swirled up and whisked away

the tear so that it might fall in a more populated area, thus

bringing Rudra's compassion to more people. The wind scattered the

droplets of Rudra's compassion far and wide, and everywhere a droplet

fell, a rudraksha tree sprang up. The seeds of the fruit of that tree

are the solidified compassion of Rudra.

================================ JAI RUDRA Nanda

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