Who is Adi Yogi? Did Shiva live in the Himalayas fifteen thousand years ago? What is Shiva Tattva? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar beautifully explains the true form and symbolism of Shiva, and what it means to experience Shiva Tattva.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: One who is getting connected with Adi (ancient) is Adi Yogi. Adi means origin. The origin is right here, now! It is or was not time-bound. Not somewhere some time, ten thousand or fifteen thousand years ago, there was Shiva. No, this is completely wrong, it is nonsense! Shiva is not someone who lived fifteen or twenty thousand years ago. Anyone who is saying that has no clue about what Shiva is. Shiva is ever-present, Shiva is a Tattva. It’s like space, someone said space, the blue space was there fifteen thousand years ago or one million years ago. Come on, where are you? Wake up! The blue sky is right here, now! Shiva is Chidakasha, He is Akasha. Shiva never had a human form. That’s why whenever Shiva’s picture is created in a human form, it is done in blue. That means as transparent as the sky. Since you cannot have a conversation with the sky, you cannot have a feeling or connection to the abstract sky, they drew a human form as a human mind would like to relate to something of its own form. If a dog were to worship Shiva, it would find Shiva in the form of a dog! If a bird were to recognize Shiva, a bird would see Shiva in its own form. In the same way, humans did an outline of a human form and they put Moon on his ‘jata’. See, even those symbols indicate that he was not a man on the ground, on the Earth, not a physical personality. Shiva has been described so beautifully! His body is present in the entire Universe, the body is everywhere. How can a body be everywhere? If it is everywhere, it is just space. The Moon is in the space, they put a half-moon there and the moon indicates the mind. And if He is everywhere, is He in you? He is in you as you. You are Shiva, my dear! That is why we say Shivoham, Shivoham. That is why they put Moon, which indicates mind. You do have a mind. If the mind is very thin and small, it can perceive something bigger, something that is beyond the mind. So, it is a crescent moon there on the matted hair of Shiva. This is symbolic. And the serpent that is hanging on his neck is not His neck pillow or decoration. It is an indication of alertness. Snakes are considered to be the most alert animal and they are the symbol of alertness. And a trident in the hand indicates that something which is beyond the waking, dreaming, sleeping, that which is beyond Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, of which this whole material world is made up of. This is the true form of Shiva. And then there is Dumroo which indicates sound. Sound is part of this Universe and it is part of Shiva. Your intellect is Gauri or Parvati, your Self, the life force in you, your consciousness is Shiva. So, don’t think that Shiva was an Adi Yogi who lived some time. No. Adi means the origin and Adi is right with you, now. You are with your origin. You were born on this planet, you have to remain here, and you will go inside this planet only. In the same way, the space from which everything has originated is within you.
The first verse from Srimad Bhagavatam starts like this “janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ”. Janmadi means from where everything is born, in which everything remains, to which everything returns back, that thing I adore. I recognize that thing in the cave of one’s heart, which the ancient Rishis recognized. So, it’s the matter of recognition, recognizing that the source is here, in you, as you. So, it is a grave injustice to Shiva Tattva to say there was a Yogi called Shiva who lived in the Himalayas, fifteen thousand years ago, blah, blah, blah! It is total ignorance. Shiva Tattva is present and every knowledge that has come on this planet has come from Shiva Tattva. It is beyond intellect. The intuitive being deep inside you is Shiva and so many Rishis when they downloaded different scriptures, whether it is Yoga or Agama or Tantra Shastra, they all attributed it to Shiva. Instead of saying I’m the one who cognized it, they say it is Shiva, including Bhagavad Gita. A spiritual group says Bhagavad Gita has been said by Shiva. They are not wrong, they are correct. Lord Krishna himself says so. When Arjun asks Krishna to repeat Gita to him, he had forgotten, as it was the wartime. Krishna says, “No it is not possible, it is not me who spoke that”. He said, “I was in a different space. From a different space it was downloaded. Even if I want I cannot do that now.” So that space, from which all this knowledge has come out of, is Shiva tattva. And it is available to you even now, today.
