What a Friend We Have in Shiva

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By Jagabandhu Dasa

The screams have stopped. Again. For now.

In the early 80’s, I began to regularly recite the Rudra-gita from the
Fourth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. By the late 80’s I began to pray to
Shiva in my own words composing a short prayer as follows:
“O Rudra, Shiva, Shambu, Ashutosh —- topmost of all the demigods and
Vaishnavas; please be merciful upon us, forgiving our many offenses
against you, kindly protect our humble abode from all unwanted or
inauspicious intrusions of every description —- while simultaneously
protecting us from all those who wish us ill, whoever they and
wherever we may be. But more importantly, please be merciful upon us
and bless us that we will develop an ever-deeper internal
understanding of the individual soul’s eternal relationship with the
Supreme Soul, Lord Vishnu, while simultaneously sharing our genuine
insight in an unpretentious manner with all those souls who happen to
surround us. This is all possible by Your Grace.”

In the early 90’s, I came upon Srila Prabhupada’s Beautiful commentary
to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Chapter 7, Text 157 wherein he clearly
states that “…Vaishnavas can also worship all these demigods (Brahma,
Shiva, Durga, Ganesh and Surya), but only on the principles of Brahma-
samhita, which is recommended by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. We may note
in this connection the mantras for worshiping Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma,
goddess Durga, the sun-god and Ganesha, as described in the Brahma-
samhita:

srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka
chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga
icchanurupam api yasya ca cestate sa
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“The external potency, maya, who is the nature of the shadow of the
cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating,
preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the
primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durga conducts
herself.” (Bs 5.44)

ksiram yatha dadhi vikara-visesa-yogat
sanjayate na hi tatah prthag asti hetoh
yah sambhutam api tatha samupaiti karyad
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“Milk is transformed into curd by the actions of acids, yet the effect
‘curd’ is neither the same nor different from its cause, viz., milk. I
adore the primeval Lord Govinda, of whom the state of Shambu is a
similar transformation for the performance of the work of
destruction.” (Bs. 5.45)

yat-pada-pallava-yugam vinidhaya kumbha-
dvandve pranama-samaye sa ganadhirajah
vighnan vihantum alam asya jagat-trayasya
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship the primeval Lord Govinda. Ganesha always holds His Lotus
Feet upon the pair of tumuli protruding from his elephant head in
order to obtain power for his function of destroying all obstacles on
the path of progress in the three worlds.” (Bs. 5.50)

I already had a great fondness for Lord Shiva after reciting his words
from Srimad-Bhagavatam (Fourth Canto, Chapter 24, Verses 33-79) about
chanting the Holy Name and also praying to him with my own words for
many years. When I read these words of Srila Prabhupada along with the
accompanying slokas from Sri Brahma-samhita, I felt compelled to learn
them (which I did).

Not long after this, I was offered the opportunity to become the West
Coast distributor of a successful and popular commercially packaged
holy water from one of India’s holiest rivers. Yet somehow, in spite
of an obvious chance to increase my own lucrativity with this offer,
my peace of conscience could not quite agree. I began to ponder that
much the same as how the Lord’s holy prasad cannot be “sold” (or
“bought”) without any and all proceeds going to the Lord Himself,
similarly, how inappropriate it was for jivas to seek to profit off of
the holy water of the sacred river which Lord Shambu helped bring to
earth for the benefit of all souls(most of whom are too poor to have
to “pay” for it). Because of these considerations, I had decided that
I could not accept the position as a commercial holy water
distributor.

That night Lord Shiva came to me a dream. He wasn’t very much like the
rudrafied Vishnu depictions of Lord Shiva (of most popular artistic
renditions). He was much more terrible to behold, with matted reddish-
hued hair and a nearly coarse, ruddy (Rudrayi) countenance, not like
Vishnu at all. But its the eyes that I remember most. Reddish, and
fiery, blazing with an anger capable of incinerating all existence in
a blink. And also powerfully magnetic, like some great irresistible
vortex. Swell. Now this angry vision of universal destruction was
unhappily focused on yours truly. Why? Because I had even briefly
considered involvement in a commercial enterprise to distribute the
holy water that falls upon his head. For the benefit of all souls.
Regardless of apparent inability to “pay.”

I continued to chant the slokas from Sri Brahma-samhita and also pray
to Lord Shiva. It occurred to me how much Lord Shiva must like to get
Vishnu-prasada (and how because of popular misunderstanding probably
doesn’t get it as often as he would like to). I began to give the
puspanjali-prasada from Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga to Lord Shiva, Goddess
Durga and Lord Ganesha. I have continued to do so for many years.

A year later, my youngest daughter (she was around 2 at the time) had
what she calls the “green” dream which happened over two consecutive
nights and greatly terrified her. The first night a cobra’s head was
creeping over the her second story bedroom windowsill (in Concord,
CA). The following night the cobra actually crawled over the
windowsill and into her room while simultaneously the head of a
greenish, bluish-hued fierce person rose into view in her second story
window pane. She woke us with her screams. She’s still not quite sure
if it was just a dream.

I once dreamt that a gigantic cobra was blocking me from driving out
the dirt road from my house in the woods north of La Crosse (FL). In
the woods to the left of the road, towering through the treetops a
huge (30 feet tall sitting down) Shiva was seated in meditation by the
creek.

A couple of years ago, I dreamt that Lord Shiva came bursting out of
the roof of my house into the yard. At first, as he exploded out of
the roof, he was ashen-colored, grayish-blue, but when he landed on
the ground he changed to a more normal darkish complexioned Indian
aboriginal/yogi form, with long matted hair. This time he had a
mischievous gleam in his reddish eyes and a barely restrained smirk on
his lips, like he had just played a great prank by jumping out of my
roof as if to say, “BOO!” But I felt wonderment instead of fear and
this also seemed to please him as I said his name in amazed disbelief,
“Shiva? SHIVA?” He continued to smile.

From the scriptures we can know that Lord Shiva is the Lord of all
devastation (and my own life has plenty of that). Have we considered
how devastation is another of those modern words with its roots in
Sanskrit (and Latin)? “Deva” meaning well, you know; and “station”
being a variation of “status” or position. In other words, when the
positions of the devas (who are devotees of the Supreme Lord Govinda)
are not given proper regard, cataclysmic occurrences referred to as
devastation can become more likely. And “natural” disasters aren’t
disastrous for Nature. Of course, unique and extenuating circumstances
can also cause personal devastation. And I must think that such
merciful expressions of the Divine Will are my real inner necessity,
perfectly engineered for my benefit. With the help of my “friend”,
Shiva. When devastation occurs, I can know that Lord Shiva is near (at
this writing Tropical Storm Fay sits off the coast of Florida waiting
to turn into a hurricane before making landfall a third time). And
such consideration in the midst of the great pressure of severe
personal circumstances brings great comfort. Or, to use the vernacular
of Srila Saraswati Thakur, that every wave is favorable and that
whatever God (and His servants the devas) does is for my good. What
more can anyone else say to console me?

The screams have just begun again and now I must attend my Teacher.

Humbly,

Jagabandhu Dasa