Zeynep Oral's Books:

Shiva:

For me, Shiva is the most colorful, the most multi-sided god in the divine hierarchy. Shiva is a destroying, demolishing god. But he destroys and demolishes in order to recreate and resolve. If he lived in our time, he would be considered a very marginal and anarchist type. As with his destroying and creating, Shiva's wholeness is made up of many conflicts: life and death, male and female, moon and sun, water and fire…

For this reason, when Shiva appears as a man, then suddenly as woman, there is no need to be surprised.

While the earth was being created, and was rolling in the Ganges River's waters that were running from heaven and over his head, Shiva held it and in this way prevented the world from jolting hard and "wearing out" from the speed of the fall. For this reason, his hair, symbolizing the embracing of life, resembles the body of the river, long and wavy. He has fastened the new moon and the sun on his hair, rising in layers. His neck is blue, for he heroically swallowed blue poison that a snake spat to threaten the future of the earth. He is pictured with snakes over his head for this reason.

In the meantime, Shiva is the God of Aesthetics and Eroticism. As the ultimate aesthetician, he carries a third eye in the middle of his forehead. This third eye is there to look at the inner world. It awakens lust, raises passion to a higher pitch. It symbolizes the cosmic energy.

Once, in the darkness and loneliness of the night, I was somewhere along the Mekong River shore. I was sitting on a pebbly beach watching the sky… (Burma, Laos, Vietnam? I do not recall.) No sound could be heard other than that of running river and waters hitting the shore… All of a sudden: "Tom… tom…tom…tom…" Was it the sound of a drum? Was it some animal or bird that I did not know? Was it someone from the opposite side of the river?

The sound was coming from very close by; no, no, it was coming from right beside me. "Tom…tom…tom…" There was a sound. I was hearing it. I was not imagining the sound. But there was no origin to the sound. The next morning, "These things happen," they said. "It must be Shiva."

Shiva is the God of Dance and Music as well. While he was dancing in the circle of fire, he was designating the rhythm of the world with the drum in his hand…the rhythm of the world, pulse rhythm of humankind. And, according to this belief, when his dance ends, life on the earth will also end.

However, the most-encountered symbol of Shiva in the temples is "linga," that is the male organ. Sometimes we see it as a part of Shiva's body, other times we see only linga by itself. No, I have said it wrong. Linga without the body is never by itself. It comes out from the middle of "yoni". Yoni, that is the female organ, female energy. The two, together, complete each other. It is tradition to scatter water over yoni and linga at the entrances of the temples, to bless Shiva.

Shiva's wife, Parvati (of course, her names also change…), is the Goddess of Kindness, Beauty, Abundance, and Devotion. These two are in an "ideal couple" or "happy family" pose in all the statues, reliefs and pictures I have seen…

But I think this happy family picture is a bit exaggerated for, in between, there are stories of jealousy and deception…(Now stay firm) Shiva and Parvati have made love continuously for one hundred years. Many children, holy creatures or half gods, were born from this lovemaking. The most famous amongst them is Ganesha. He, himself, is an important god.

The last time I saw Shiva and Parvati, I was in Ubud. They were embracing each other tightly over the sacred ox, Nandi, symbol of fertility, climbing up towards Batur Mountain.