Life of Mahadev - lessons that we must learn

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Most of us put our faith blindly on God and call ourselves a "theist". We celebrate so many festivals to tribute them, and for then, we get to know so much about them. But, do we really learn anything from their life? Do we even realize why they were actually entitled as Gods? The honest answer for most of us would be "NO". The supreme reason behind them being referred to as Gods is their karma, not their supernatural powers, because the "asuras" or the evil spirits too, had such powers.

So, here is one of the best examples of one such God Mahadev, whose life has so much to teach us. The title "Mahadev" itself suggests that he is the supreme of all "devas" or dieties.

 So, first let's know how Mahadev was born. The truth is that he was never born because his origin is beyond the concept of life and death! There is no beginning or end for him. Technically, he was born out of nothingness and has been everywhere since the dawn of time. So, would there be any better option to learn, than Lord Shiva's life?


Here are some of the most important lessons from his life:
(i) Self-control is the key to living the life to the fullest:
An uncontrolled mind takes you nowhere but eventually to disaster. Living a life full of desires and addictions is just a way to lose focus from your goal and heart too.
By practising self-control, one can live a life more meaningful and eternal.

(ii) Calmness:
Lord shiva is known as "AdiYogi". He spends most of his time meditating. This helps him keep calm even in the worst situations, and hence he can make sure of the well-being of universe.
This teaches us that just by keeping calm, we can win half the battle even in a stressful situation.

(iii) Be kind to everyone:
Lord Shiva gives his blessings to everyone who comes at his door, be it sura or asura. He never discriminates between them.
This teaches us that we should be kind to everyone and make unbiased decisions in life.

(iv) Suppress negative things gracefully:
Lord Shiva once consumed poison and suppressed it in his throat and became "Neelkanth".
We must take a lesson from this incident, that even if you are surrounded by negativity, you must learn how to suppress it within yourself and bring out positive results.

(v) Everything is temporary:
Nothing in this universe is perpetual. Everything in it and even the universe itself, that has a beginning, will come to an end someday. This is the law of nature to keep balance.
Keeping that in mind, we should not live our life miserably during tough times, as they will come to an end. Similarly, we should not also be too excited and too happy while having good times.
In a broad sense, what is there today, is not going to last forever.

(vi) Have balance in your life:
We often push ourselves by giving too much priority to the responsibilities we have, and forget to live the life itself. Lord Shiva keeps balance between his family life and the spiritual life by giving equal time to both of them.

(vii) Have respect for women:
Lord Shiva is often called "Ardhanarishwara" meaning half woman, as half of his self is his wife Parvati. He gives utmost respect and importance that she deserves.

(viii) Control your ego and let go off pride:
Ego is the sole reason for not attaining greatness. The trident of Shiva symbolizes the control of three things - mind, intellect and ego. If we don't control them, they start controlling us.

(ix) Desires lead to obsession and obsession to destruction:
The attire of Shiva consist of a damru, a trishul and a serpant in his neck. This depicts that he always stays away from desires and wealth.

It teaches us that having materialistic happiness and desires will make you obsessed and this obsession will become the reason for your destruction.

Wearing a serpant as an ornament in his neck depicts that we must overcome our fears by accepting them, not by running away from them.