CONGRUENCE BETWEEN ‘YOUR’ GOD AND ‘MINE’
Maha Shivratri, observed as the most powerful, holy night of the year by believing Hindus, is on March 7. If interested in such dates and puzzled by regional differences, a good rule of thumb or cultural reflex would be to check when it’s happening in Ujjain. That’s because long before the Greenwich meridian was established, Ujjain was the prime meridian of our old universe of discourse. The Arabs called it Ujeini.
As to which, in the give and take that occurred on our shores, culture often sailed the seas as a songbird perched on the shoulder of commerce. It frequently flew inland and both sides benefited from learning new songs. The Arabs who came to our coasts were mainly peaceful traders, unlike some others who came overland via the Khyber. So we would all benefit today by shifting our focus to areas where happier histories may be found, without, however, needing to profile ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people as if we were babies. None of us was really any better than we ought to be, despite the wishful thinking of all parties concerned. But everybody had some good ideas to contribute, some of which still vividly animate our inner lives and outer lifestyles.
One such eternally intriguing homegrown concept is that of Lord Shiva. In my view, developed over time, he seems like a ‘Hindu Allah’ in several ways except of course for the striking difference that unlike ‘el-lah’ he is indivisible from his ‘el-lat’ or sacred feminine. Shakti is not his ‘partner’; the energies are one, which Maha Shivratri celebrates. In this view I may seem to presumptuously differ from Tulsidas, who appears to cast Lord Ram as Hinduism’s ‘Big God’ but, as Rahim understood Tulsi’s basic philosophy too
I notice though that Lord Shiva is perceived by his devotees a lot like Allah-tala is perceived by his; as Ahad (One) and Samad (Eternal), and not ‘born or begotten’, to quote from Surah al-ikhlas (‘The Unity’). Rigorous fasts and night vigils are considered pleasing to both.
Shiva’s idols are illustrative of his cosmic personality, especially as Koothan, the Dancer, in South India, which is Nataraja in Sanskrit. But the concept of Shiva is essentially formless, the shivling a geometric shape.
It’s also remarkable that male pilgrims on Haj look like Hindu pilgrims in their ihram or yatra dress of white, unstitched top cloth and lower cloth.
The purpose of this practice is similar, which is to equalise worshippers, make them shed their ego and appear (labbayk, ‘here I am’) for darshan in simplicity and submission to God. It is preceded by wudu or washing, like the Hindu snan.
In Ujjain, for instance, pilgrims take a cleansing dip in the Shipra before going to Mahakaleswar’s temple, a metaphor for going from outer to inner purity.
Another very interesting fact about Shiva is that he is worshipped as the Compassionate and the Merciful, wanting only acknowledgment. He is considered both lenient and loving to his devotees without any distinction. How poignant to think that Mahadev means ‘Great God’ and Allahu Akbar means ‘God is Great’