How rudraksh come into existence: One Hindu legend says that once Lord Shiva opened his eyes after a long period yogic meditation, and because of strong feelings he shed a tear. This single tear from Shiva's eye grew into the rudraksha tree. It is believed that by wearing the Rudraksha bead one will have the protection of Lord Shiva . Rudraksha is a amalgamation of two words ‘Rudra’ meaning ‘Shiva’ and ‘Aksha’ meaning eyes. The Rudraksha beads range from being one faced to 21 faced; however, only 1-14 faced Rudraksha are worn by humans. Each of them has their own significance and is believed to have a few extraordinary powers Benefits: Rudraksha beads are actually the seeds of a plant named Elaeocarpus ganitrus. Since age old times, Hindus have been wearing Rudraksha beads in their bodies. Hindu scriptures talk of several benefits of wearing Rudraksh. Health benefits of Rudraksha Though mired in obscurity ...

Different forms of Shiva : "When the world puts you in trouble Shiva rescues you". My favourite God Shiva .I would love to share these details of Shiva. Lord Shiva is one of the trinity God who is a celibate and a destroyer of arrogance, materialism, desires, ambitions and negativity. He is the supreme lord whose appearance shows the moon on crest vasuki snake over the neck, tiger and elephant skin as clothes, necklace of skulls and trident in hand. He is called with different names like Pashupatinath, Bhootnath, Vaidyanath, Bhalanetra, Neelkanth etc.  Once Shiva became a small boy to fulfill the wish of one of his devotee, Vishwanath. This baby form is known as Grihapati. Along with that once he became the baby to calm the Kali down.     This is the closed eyes and opened third eye of Shiva. Once Parvati closed the eyes of Shiv with her hands. This lead to the darkness in the whole world and everything started destroying. To prevent this condition, Shiv opened...

Why the name Nataraj : Lord Shankara is seldom worshipped in a non-Shiva Linga form, like Nataraja. The most famous temple for Nataraja is the Chidambaram Temple. There is a beautiful story about how shiva got the name Nataraj. Once Lord Shiva and Goddess Kali wanted to judge who was the best in dance and expression. Lord Vishnu was the Judge. Lord Shiva's dance was natural and effortless. His expression flowed along with his movements and it mesmerized all the demigods and sages who were witnessing it. Goddess Kali also danced in the same way . She did just as Lord Shiva did, following his every pose and expression with the same grace. Then Lord Shiva lifted his right leg, dipped it in kumkum (saffron) and touched Goddess Kali's forehead and applied Kumkum to her. Goddess Kali was surprised. She couldn't do that for her husband. She smiled at him and stopped her dance. This was how the Lord Shiva was declared ' Nataraja ' by Lord Vishnu. Lord Nataraja...

Cosmic dance of Shiva :  Nataraja is Lord Siva dancing his Cosmic dance, which shows that he creates, sustains and dissolves the world. Nataraja’s left foot is raised and his right foot rests on a demon.The demon is symbolic of our pride and ignorance. In his upper right hand he holds the damaru, from which came the first sounds of creation. He holds fire, symbolising destruction In his upper left hand. The lower right hand is in abhaya mudra — indicating that he offers us protection. All  the three functions of creating, protecting and destroying are shown in the Nataraja icon. The lower left hand points to his raised left foot. The lord is surrounded on all sides by circular ring of fire.The ring represents the whole of creation.It is finite,cyclic & filled with energy of shakthi.As a creator he creates ,upholds& also destroys the world.We are bound by many desires and attachments in life, and we find it very difficult to break  from these bonds. ...