Hi. Some gurus say that Shiva was a human being who walked on this Earth, many thousands of years ago. Is that true? And that Paravati and Kali were his real wives? I know for sure that Yogananda never taught this, but I wonder if he did not tell all he knows about Shiva. Sincerely and thanks
—Abel, Norge
Dear Abel,
According to Yogananda’s teachings, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are cosmic realities. Originally they are the forces of nature that respectively create, maintain, and destroy.
However, they are also more than just formless realities. They can be drawn to respond personally by the attractive power of devotion.
Let me explain it better: in Hinduism, the three eternal aspects of nature have been personified as Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. So real have these “persons” become in the popular mindset that it would be a mistake to describe them as mere myths. Devotion has given them an objective reality. Gods (and Goddesses like Parvati and Kali) become real and appear on Earth by the power of human thought and devotion. They become living channels for the truths they represent.
So has Shiva walked the Earth? Very probably, due to strong devotion which “froze” his formless Being into an objective reality. If so, he was more than a normal human being, but he had a human form. Shiva in this way has been a concrete human/divine reality, thousands of years back, and even now. In other words, he could appear to you right now, in human form, if your devotion were 100 percent.
It would be good for you to read Swami Kriyananda’s Hindu Way of Awakening, in which he discusses these teachings.
Joy to you,
Jayadev
