Shiva Is the Silence Beyond Thought, the Experience Beyond Name
Ankit Gupta | Jul 10, 2025, 10:25 IST
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Highlight of the story: "Shiva Is Not a Name or Thought but an Experience" is a deep spiritual exploration into the true nature of Shiva—not as a deity, concept, or idol—but as pure, infinite consciousness that can only be experienced. Drawing from Advaita Vedanta, Shaiva Tantra, and powerful scriptures like the Nirvana Shatakam and Vijnana Bhairava Tantra.
_"Na me dvesha rāgau na me lobha mohau
Na dharmo na chārtho na kāmo na mokshah
Chidānanda rūpah shivo’ham shivo’ham"_
— Nirvana Shatakam (Adi Shankaracharya)
In the hush between two thoughts, in the stillness beyond breath, and in the silence deeper than words—Shiva is experienced. Not as a god with a trident. Not as an image etched in stone. Not even as an idea in the mind. But as the pure, pulsating consciousness that breathes life into everything—without ever being touched by it. Shiva is not a name. Not a thought. But an experience. And that experience is the key to unlocking our deepest self.
The Word ‘Shiva’ Is Only a Doorway
Lord Shiva
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In common usage, we speak of Shiva as if He is a deity among many. We picture a blue-skinned yogi meditating atop Mount Kailash, smeared in ash, crowned in crescent moon, the Ganges flowing from his locks. But this is a symbol—a metaphor for something far vaster, for something that cannot be spoken.
In Sanskrit, the word Shiva (शिव) literally means auspicious, benevolent, or pure. But even that definition doesn't capture the truth. Shiva is not a person, but the unconditioned, untouched awareness that underlies all existence.
The Shaiva Agamas, Tantras, and Upanishads go further. They say Shiva is:
Sat – eternal existence,Chit – pure consciousness,Ananda – boundless bliss.Thus, when the sages say “Shivo’ham” – “I am Shiva” – they are not being arrogant. They are not claiming divinity in ego. Rather, they are pointing to the deepest self that is not separate from the Absolute. That self is not your name, not your body, and not your mind.
To understand Shiva, you must transcend the idea of Shiva.
To experience Him, you must forget Him.
Thought Can Never Touch the Infinite
Imagine a candle trying to illuminate the sun. That is what it's like to define Shiva with thought. Impossible.
The Ashtavakra Gita boldly declares:
“You are not the body, nor the mind, nor the intellect.
You are the unchanging witness of all these.
You are pure consciousness – Shiva itself.”
Thought can only point to Shiva, like a finger pointing at the moon. But mistaking the finger for the moon leads to ignorance. True knowledge is silence.
In deep meditation, when thoughts fade and mind dissolves, what remains? A quiet presence. A radiant stillness. That presence is Shiva—and it is your real nature.
The Anubhava Beyond Words
Shiva as the Inner Experi
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Every great sage from the Himalayas to Tamil Nadu, from Kashmir to Kashi, has echoed one truth: Shiva is to be experienced, not worshipped externally.
In the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, Devi asks Shiva to teach her the essence of supreme truth. He doesn’t reply with commandments or philosophy. Instead, He gives her 112 ways to directly experience the truth within—through breath, awareness, surrender, and wonder.
“Fix the attention in the middle of the two eyebrows,
let mind be before thought.
Let form be formless—thus one becomes Shiva."
— VBT, Verse 45
This shows that Shiva is a state of consciousness, not a being. An intimate, inner experience. A flowering of awareness when all other things fall away.
You may call it Samadhi. You may call it stillness. But when the experiencer and the experienced merge into oneness, that is Shiva.
The Dissolution That Is Bliss
In Shaiva Siddhanta and Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva is not separate from the world. The world is His vibration—Spanda. All motion arises from His stillness. All form arises from His formlessness.
The paradox is beautiful:
Shiva dances as Nataraja, symbolizing constant change,Yet Shiva remains the unchanging witness of that dance.This is the mystery:
He is the fire, and He is the one untouched by fire.
“The mind, once dissolved in Him, does not return.”
— Mandukya Upanishad
This is the experience of total surrender—when the “I” no longer stands apart from the All. When the ego dies, Shiva is born—not as someone else—but as your truest Self.
Living Shiva – Becoming the Experience
Detachment, not from life, but from bondage.Stillness, not inactivity, but inner silence amidst activity.Compassion, born from knowing all are One.Freedom, the highest state of being.The sages say: “Shiva is not attained through rituals, scriptures, or austerities alone—but by dissolving the sense of separateness.”
When you realize that the world is not happening to you but through you, and that you are the screen on which the entire play unfolds—that shift is the Shiva experience.
That’s why in the heart of every being, across every tradition, is this longing for wholeness. That wholeness is not outside. It is not in heaven. It is within. It is Shiva within you.
You don’t worship Shiva to meet Him.
You dissolve to realize you were always Him.
Shiva Is the Silence You Are
When you sit quietly, drop the mind, and listen—not with ears but with being—you touch the hem of Shiva.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
— Psalm 46:10 (The same truth in another tongue)
You may chant “Om Namah Shivaya” a thousand times, but its power activates only when the mind bows and ego surrenders.
Shiva is not to be believed in.
He is to be become.
Closing Thought
Shiva is the joy that arises when you stop seeking.
Shiva is the eternity between two heartbeats,
the presence that never leaves,
the self you never lost.
When you stop calling His name and start feeling His silence,
When you stop thinking of Him and start being Him—
That’s when the experience begins.
Shivo’ham – I am Shiva.
Not as a thought.
Not as a name.
But as a living, breathing, shining experience.