Shiva Ratri, the Appearance Day of Lord Shiva

Today, 14 February 2018, is Shiva Ratri, the appearance day of Lord Shiva. Srila Prabhupada describes the relationship between Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva as follows:

"Lord Krishna is also known as avatari, which means, 'one from whom all the incarnations emanate.' In Bhagavad-gita (10.8) Lord Krishna says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: 'I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me.' Thus Lord Krishna is the origin of everyone's appearance. As far as this material world is concerned, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva are all emanations from Krishna. These three incarnations of Krishna are called guna-avatars. The material world is governed by three material modes of nature, and Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva respectively take charge of the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance."

Lord Shiva is described as follows in the Brahma-samhita, Chapter 5, Text 45:

kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt
sañjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ
yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

"Just as milk is transformed into curd by the action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither same as, nor different from, its cause, viz., milk, so I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whom the state of Śambhu, Lord Siva, is a transformation for the performance of the work of destruction."

Since Lord Shiva is known as the topmost of Vaisnavas, devotees of Lord Krishna, we pray to him on this auspicious day of his appearance that he blesses with full absorption in service to our most beloved Lord Sri Krishna.

The Most Glorious Lord Shiva

The Most Glorious Lord Shiva

Video for the Day

Lord Brahma's Transcendental Vision of Radha

Answers According to Vedic Knowledge

Question: Why No Worship of Lord Shiva?

Hare Krishna, Dear His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada
All Glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate saṅkarṣaṇa-dāsādhikārin iti nāmine

namo prabhupādānuga prema-mūrti kṛpātmane
gaurādeśa-vikāśārtha-uttama-bhakti-varṣiṇe

Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudeva. As we know and as mentioned by Srila Prabhupada, Lord Shiva is considered as the greatest and foremost devotee of Lord Krishna. If that is the case, why there is no picture or murti of Lord Siva in ISKCON temples? With my limited knowledge about Krishna Consciousness, I have understood that we have to offer our utmost respect to the devotees of Lord Krishna, especially the great and advanced devotees, but hardly we can find the picture or murti (deity form) of Lord Shiva, Krishna's greatest devotee, in ISKCON temples. Why is that so?

Thank you, Srila Gurudeva.
Sivarooban

Answer: He is Automatically Worshipped

When we water the root of the tree all the leaves and branches are nourished. Similarly when we give our loving service to Lord Krishna, who is the root cause of existence, we automatically give our loving service to all of the great and advanced devotees. Thus there is no need to worship
Lord Shiva separately. He is automatically loved, worshipped, and served simply by our giving our loving service to Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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