By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation
Generally, in most parts of the world, anything that people refer to as divine is always referred to as good. But if you read through the Shiva Purana, you cannot identify Shiva as a good person or a bad person. He is Sundaramurthy, but he is also the ugliest. He is a great ascetic and also a family person. He is the most disciplined, but also a drunkard. He is a dancer and he is also absolutely still. Gods, demons and all kind of creatures in the world worship him. The so-called civilisation has tried to conveniently eliminate all those un-digestible stories, but this is where the essence of Shiva is.
A complex amalgamation of all the qualities of existence has been put into one person because if you can accept this one being, you have crossed life itself. The whole struggle with one’s life is we are always trying to pick out what is beautiful and what is not, what is good and what is bad. But you would have no problem with anything, if only you could accept this man who is a terrible combination of everything put together.
Opening Up the Third Eye
Shiva has always been referred to as Triambaka because he has a third eye. The third eye does not mean someone’s forehead cracked and something came out! It simply means another dimension of perception has opened up.
The two eyes can see only that which is physical. If I just cover them with my hand, they cannot look beyond that. That is how limited they are. If the third eye opens, it means another dimension of perception, which is inward-looking and looks at life completely differently, has opened up and everything that can be perceived is perceived.
What we refer to as Shiva is nothing but the very embodiment of ultimate perception. This is not religion, this is the science of inner evolution. This is a way of stepping beyond the boundaries that human beings are supposed to stay within.
It is in this context that the Isha Yoga Centre celebrates Mahashivarathri. It is an opportunity and a possibility for all to raise their perception by at least one notch. It is an opportunity to not be embroiled in thoughts, emotions or conclusions that you have drawn about life. This is what Shiva is about and this is what yoga is about.
May this Mahashivarathri night not just be a night of wakefulness, but let this also become a night of intense aliveness and awareness for you. It is my wish and blessing that you make use of this wonderful gift that nature offers us on this day. I hope all of you ride this upsurge and know the beauty and ecstasy of what it means when we say “Shiva.”
[Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. An author, poet and internationally-renowned speaker, Sadhguru’s wit and piercing logic provoke and widen our perception of life. www.ishafoundation.org]
This post was published on February 6, 2026 6:05 pm