Lord Siva, as known from classical literature is a benevolent, kind, compassionate, caring deity. He displays his nature through acts on Earth to help Jivas reach to him. To instil faith in his bhakthas and provide them with Siva-Jnyaanam. He is known as Girisha, the lord of the mountain as his abode is in Kailasam. He is also known as Triyambaka, the being with 3 eyes. Shiva is also called as HARA HARA MAHADEVA. The word Hara is the root word for Hru and the meaning of this is the being who, at the end of time brings the entire universe into his heart. Mahadeva is to highlight that he is the greatest among the Devas.
The Tale of the Shiva Jyothi
One day, it so happened that Brahma, after looking onto the universe quivered with pride "Take a look, my love, at my creation, at my intellect and prowess. How I have single handedly created the entire universe by my will." to his wife. Saraswati, the goddess of Knowledge said "Dear husband, think not of yourself as the doer, this will lead to arrogance and ego, drop the act of action and remember the great brahman through which all of us have manifested and curb this futile increment of ego"
Unfortunately, Brahma, was not convinced. His pride soon turned to arrogance and he started humiliating the devas considering himself greater than the manifold of the devas. Visnu, concerned that this would cause unrest within the pantheon, decided to check brahmas pride by challenging him. Visnu stated that it was his thousands of heads, thousands of feet which support the universe. His constant action in preservation is keep the universe alive and thus creation is a mere one off task. As such brahma is nothing compared to Visnu. This angered brahma and soon a huge argument broke out between the two titans of the universe.
The devas, concerned that this argument would lead to war, ran to Sadashiva. Shiva (also known as Sadashiva when he is in deep meditation), was awoken with gentle grace and songs of praise. Upon awaking (from deep meditation known as samadhi), he, as the supreme controller of the universe was well aware of its goings on. He assured the devas that he will take care of the situation and curb brahmas pride.
Mahadeva went to the two warring parties and proposed a solution. If either of them could reach his head (on top of his matted hair)or his feet, he would consider them the greater being. At once both Visnu and Brahma accepted to the challenge, when Shiva grew. Grew bigger than Girisa, the lord of the mountains, grew bigger than time and space, and Siva became the ultimate brahmaan. As Siva was growing Brahma flew on his swan in an attempt to catch his head.
Brahma Flying to the top
Visnu deciding that the head would not be of ease as Brahma has already a head start, turned himself into the Varaha Avataram (The Half man, Half Boar) and began digging. He burrowed furiously day and night but the thighs of Siva were so deep that no amount of digging even placed a dent on his distance. Days passed into months which passed to years, when Visnu saw a Mole and asked him "where are you digging from?" To which the Animal replied "I have been here all my life and I am trying to burrow out, I have been digging upwards for 17 years now" Instantly Visnu understood the imprudency of his act and stopped burrowing. He chanted a hymn in praise of Mahadeva and bowed to his feet. At that second, Siva bestowed him a vision of his feet.
Meanwhile, Brahma was still furiously flying to get to the top of Sarveshwara's (Sarva = All; Eshwara = Lordship) head. Finally he sees a flower falling down and asks the flower "dear flower, where are you falling from?" to which the flower replies "I have been falling from the head of this being" seeing that this is his cue he he asks "how long have you been falling?" and the flower replies "all my life, and I am 17 years old." Brahma, exhausted by the thought of flying for another 17 years, commands the flower to bear false witness by stating that He (Brahma) plucked the flower from Sivas head and the flower, fearing brahmas wrath agrees.
They both fly down to Visnu, and tell him the vision, and they speak to Shiva. Shiva, the all knowning brahmaan becomes infuriated by this act of blashphemy and forbids anyone from worshipping brahma for his lie and the flower, as it bore false witness was not allowed to used as an offering to any deity. Even today, there is only one temple dedicated to Brahma, in contrast to the hundreds of temples for Shiva and Visnu.
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