A Cool Dude

Everyone would have been asked the questions of who is your favourite actor, singer, writer, cricketer, etc. Who is your favourite God? You would have been asked this rare question once or twice, probably not. I must declare my favourite God on this auspicious "Shivaratri." It unquestionably isn't easy. It was a neck-to-neck clash between Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva and the latter emerged as the winner.

Shiva is what we call in this age a "cool dude". He is a reclusive, resides in white mountain, wanderlust, simple, enjoys chillum, closed-nit family and friends.

Sati marries Shiva against her father, Daksha's wish. He despises Shiva for being poor, dirty, hermit, and befriending goblins and ghouls.  Shiva couldn't say no to Sati when she wants to go to "Daksha Yajna". However, was furious and heartbroken when he found out about her death. He holds his father-in-law responsible for her death and orders Veerabhadra to decapitate him. He was inconsolable with grief and wanders off with Sati's body.

Now, Parvathi reincarnation of Sati wishes to marry Shiva. All gods were in favor of this marriage for their own selfish reason, the undefeatable "Tarakasura".  Kamadeva (God of love) has been assigned to break Shiva's meditation with his flower arrow. Shiva is enraged, opening his third eye and turning Kamadeva into ashes. This is what I call collateral damage. Nonetheless, the grand scheme works and Shiva marries Parvathi.

Shiva is the ultimate lover and husband. He made Parvathi an inseparable part of him, hence gaining the name 'Ardhanarishwara'. He respects and honors his female counterpart, the one quality many Indian men lack. 
  
Shiva is easy to please with. He doesn't differentiate people for their class, creed, cast, or notoriety. He is compassionate, a man with golden heart. He is totally unorthodox. He breaks all societal customs and norms. He wears what he wants to wear, he eats what he want to eat, he drinks, he is high on chillum. He just lives the life just the way he wants to live.

He consumes Halahala (poison) to save the world. He adorns Chandra (moon) on his head to save Chandra from a vanishing bane, who happens to be his brother-in-law by the way. It was he who allows river Ganga to flow through his matted hair to earth to mitigate her forceful descent, which could have shattered the mother earth.

He is an absolute family man. His family is the powerful package of Parvathi, Ganesh, Karthikeya, and manikanta. I'm mixing both mythological aspect and contemporary aspects here.

And what not to like, he is a brilliant dancer and musician, a kick ass rockstar I must say. Happy Shivaratri folks.