JaneSmith105
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Mythology has played a powerful and important role in survival and popularity of yogic principles. Yoga is associated with the god Shiva, who is revered as the Adi Guru or first teacher. And therein lies a tale! For millennia, the blue-throated, ash-smeared god with dread-locks would remain in deep meditation. Coming out of his trance, he would dance ecstatically over the mountains, blissed out, as moderns would say! He was different from other divinities, the most realized of them all. Curious, the Gods approached him for the secret of his evolved state, whereupon Shiva expounded upon the various types of yoga.
Shiva’s first student was his wife Parvati, Goddess of creation, to whom he taught yoga with great gentleness and detail. His classroom was the shore of an uninhabited island. Parvati, eager as she was to learn, fell asleep during the exposition. However, there was a listener hiding in the sea – the sage Lokesvara. Shiva appreciated his keen interest and named him Matsyendranath, or Lord of the Fishes; the sage was conferred with the authority to disseminate the techniques of Hatha Yoga, the yogic school that is most widely practiced worldwide. Matsyendranath passed his knowledge on to his disciple Goraksa and the tradition continued. Possibly, Lokesvara and his disciple were historical personalities. Of more interest is the question: why did Parvati fall asleep? Was she, god forbid, bored? Most myths have hidden meanings and so does this one. Shiva, in yogic philosophy, represents the Universal Soul or transcendent Self (in Sanskrit, “paramatma”); Parvati is us, the individual self (“jivatma”). Like her, we too go through life “asleep”, unaware of our spiritual potential. Yoga is the means by which we may attain union with that Self.
A second set of yogic teachings came down to the Saptarishis (the seven sages), or guardians of divine laws, near Kedarnath, Shiva’s icy shrine in the Himalayas. On Mahashivaratri, the festival that honors Shiva, devotees fast and stay up all night. On this night, the alignment of the planets in the northern hemisphere creates a rise in cosmic energies. Sitting with the spine upright in a state of wakefulness on Mahashivaratri is believed to boost spiritual powers.
Shiva’s first student was his wife Parvati, Goddess of creation, to whom he taught yoga with great gentleness and detail. His classroom was the shore of an uninhabited island. Parvati, eager as she was to learn, fell asleep during the exposition. However, there was a listener hiding in the sea – the sage Lokesvara. Shiva appreciated his keen interest and named him Matsyendranath, or Lord of the Fishes; the sage was conferred with the authority to disseminate the techniques of Hatha Yoga, the yogic school that is most widely practiced worldwide. Matsyendranath passed his knowledge on to his disciple Goraksa and the tradition continued. Possibly, Lokesvara and his disciple were historical personalities. Of more interest is the question: why did Parvati fall asleep? Was she, god forbid, bored? Most myths have hidden meanings and so does this one. Shiva, in yogic philosophy, represents the Universal Soul or transcendent Self (in Sanskrit, “paramatma”); Parvati is us, the individual self (“jivatma”). Like her, we too go through life “asleep”, unaware of our spiritual potential. Yoga is the means by which we may attain union with that Self.
A second set of yogic teachings came down to the Saptarishis (the seven sages), or guardians of divine laws, near Kedarnath, Shiva’s icy shrine in the Himalayas. On Mahashivaratri, the festival that honors Shiva, devotees fast and stay up all night. On this night, the alignment of the planets in the northern hemisphere creates a rise in cosmic energies. Sitting with the spine upright in a state of wakefulness on Mahashivaratri is believed to boost spiritual powers.
