The appearance of Lord Shiva, and how the universe was almost destroyed right at the start
Lord Shiva generated a great number of sons who were very angry in nature. They generated more offspring of the same quality, resulting in a huge population that started destroying the universe.
Who is Lord Shiva? This is a question many may ask, since he is a quite mysterious personality.
Lord Shiva is originally the look of Lord Maha-Vishnu, who carries all the souls who will take part in the material creation, togueter with the time energy. He inseminates the material nature and initiates the process of creation of the material universes. This original form of Lord Shiva (Sadha-Shiva) is considered an expansion of Lord Vishnu, on the level of Vishnu-Tattva. Lord Sadha-Shiva lives eternally on his own planet, Sadha-Shiva Loka, situated on the spiritual side, close to the border between the Brahmajoti and the causal ocean, where he eternally performs kirtana surrounded by his associates. His eternal consort is Ramadevi, an expansion of Laksmi. In the Brhad Bhagavatamrta, it is narrated how Gopa Kumara went there after passing through the impersonal Brahmajoti.
This original Lord Shiva incarnates as the innumerable forms of Lord Shiva present in all the different material universes. In this form, he associates with the material energy, the shadow of Ramadevi, and thus, part of his transcendental qualities are covered. He is then considered Shiva-Tattva instead of Vishnu-Tattva, exhibiting just 84% of Krsna's qualities. To explain this, the example of milk and curd is given. When milk is combined with an acid, it becomes curd. Curd is thus nothing more than a transformation of milk, but its properties change. Although curd is a transformation of milk, it doesn't have the same properties and can't be used in place of milk in recipes.
When it's mentioned that Lord Brahma created Lord Shiva from his anger, this means that from this pastime, the particular incarnation of Lord Shiva for this universe appeared. It's important, thus to understand that Lord Shiva is an indirect expansion of the Lord and not a separate god as some believe.
Apart from the Srimad Bhagavatam, there are 17 other Puranas, in a total of 18. These 18 Puranas are divided into three groups, destined for people influenced by goodness, passion, and ignorance. Some verses of the Tamasic Puranas appear to indicate Lord Shiva as the Supreme Lord, but this is done just to increase the faith of his followers. In reality, the names mentioned in such verses, such as "Shiva" and "Rudra", are mentioned as being names of Lord Vishnu, not names of the demigod. In other words, these verses just appear to refer to Lord Shiva. In reality, they speak about Lord Vishnu.
When the Kumaras refused to follow Brahma’s order in getting married and helping to populate the universe, Brahma tried to contain his anger, and he was able to control it to a certain extent by not showing it externally, but still, he was disturbed within, and this was sufficient to lead to the creation of Lord Shiva.
One could question how Brahma, being so elevated, could become angry. Prabhupada explains that because Brahma is in charge of the mode of passion of material nature, it was natural for him to become angry when his sons refused to obey his order. His anger was also not unjustified, because he wanted the Kumaras to beget children to help him in his devotional service of creating the universe. The Kumaras, on the other hand, also refused based on a higher purpose, to remain pure and instruct others in devotional service. This shows how sometimes even very advanced devotees can disagree due to differences in their preferences in performing their services. However, because in these cases the disagreements are centered in their service to the Lord, it is not outside the sphere of devotional service.
Lord Shiva performs many roles inside the universe, and thus he receives many names, such as Manyu, Manu, Mahinasa, Mahān, Śiva, Ṛtadhvaja, Ugraretā, Bhava, Kāla, Vāmadeva, and Dhṛtavrata. The particular form of Lord Shiva who appeared from the anger of Brahma is Rudra, the personification of anger. In this form, Lord Shiva has 11 wives, called Rudranis, who are all manifestations of the material energy. They were also created by Brahma as his daughters. In this way, at the beginning of the creation, Brahma created both sons and daughters out of his mind and tried to arrange their marriages so they would further populate the universe.
In our planet, marriage between brothers and sisters is condemned for several reasons, including the fact that similarities in DNA lead to miscarriages and birth defects, but such factors don't apply to higher beings like the descendants of Brahma, because they don't have gross bodies, and don't go through a process of growth like us. In the case of such elevated personalities, this type of marriage is not condemned.
Back to the pastime, the anger that is personified in Lord Rudra manifests in all conditioned living beings in the course of their activities. Srila Prabhupada explains how this works in his purport:
"The creation of Rudra from between the eyebrows of Brahmā as the result of his anger, generated from the mode of passion partly touched by ignorance, is very significant. In Bhagavad-gītā (3.37) the principle of Rudra is described. Krodha (anger) is the product of kāma (lust), which is the result of the mode of passion. When lust and hankering are unsatisfied, the element of krodha appears, which is the formidable enemy of the conditioned soul. This most sinful and inimical passion is represented as ahaṅkāra, or the false egocentric attitude of thinking oneself to be all in all. Such an egocentric attitude on the part of the conditioned soul, who is completely under the control of material nature, is described in Bhagavad-gītā as foolish. The egocentric attitude is a manifestation of the Rudra principle in the heart, wherein krodha (anger) is generated. This anger develops in the heart and is further manifested through various senses, like the eyes, hands and legs." (SB 3.12.11 purport)
Lord Brahma asked him to generate population in cooperation with his wives, but as Rudra, Lord Shiva started generating a great number of sons who were very angry in nature. They, in turn, generated more offspring of the same quality, resulting in a huge population that started destroying the newly created universe. The 11 principal Rudras are expansions of Lord Shiva, while others are ordinary living entities who are empowered by him. Their function is to assist him in destroying the universe, but in this case, the destruction started when the universe was just beginning.
"The sons and grandsons generated by Rudra were unlimited in number, and when they assembled together they attempted to devour the entire universe. When Brahmā, the father of the living entities, saw this, he became afraid of the situation.
Brahmā told Rudra: O best among the demigods, there is no need for you to generate living entities of this nature. They have begun to devastate everything on all sides with the fiery flames from their eyes, and they have even attacked me." (SB 3.12.16-17)
Alarmed, Lord Brahma asked Lord Shiva to stop generating offspring and instead engage himself in penance for the auspiciousness of all beings. In this way, Lord Shiva, followed by all his sons, went to his abode and fixed himself in the practice of devotional service of the Lord, giving us example as the greatest Vaishnava (vaisnavanam yatha sambhuh). Lord Shiva remains in this peaceful state until the end of the creation, when he again assumes an angry nature and destroys the universe in collaboration with Lord Ananta and the Rudras.
Just like material energy is considered the mother of all living beings, Lord Shiva is considered the father. As the father of the universe, he constantly meditates in ways to help all living entities to gradually advance spiritually and eventually go back to Godhead. We can see that throughout Srimad Bhagavatam, Lord Shiva appears to help and give blessings to both devotees and demons. The nature of Lord Shiva is explained by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in his commentary on the Brahma Samhita (5.45). He mentions that:
a) Since Lord Sadha-Shiva is an expansion of Krsna, they are not really different from each other, but Shiva is dependent on Krsna.
b) The difference between them is compared to the difference between milk and yogurt.
c) Shiva is empowered with the destructive power of time, and thus he is empowered to destroy the universe.
d) Lord Shiva also plays the role of the greatest Vaishnava, by teaching Dharma in the form of different types of pious duties that serve as stepping stones to the attainment of devotional service. In this way, he helps jivas in different stages of consciousness.
e) Apart from manifesting the 50 qualities of ordinary souls in much greater quantity, he manifests five qualities that ordinary souls don't have. In this way, Lord Shiva is a category apart (Shiva Tattva), different from ordinary souls.
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