Lord Shiva’s Father & Mother: Does He Really Have Parents?

Shiva is known as the fatherless & motherless God in the Hindu religion.

You might think:

How a person or deity come into existence without a father and a mother! It’s weird!

Whether Shiva possesses parents or not, you are going to get your answer in this article today.

So let’s get started.

Father of Lord Shiva

I have to mention a story to tell you the names of his parents.

One day a saint asked Lord Shiva that who is his father.

Shiva replied that Brahma is his father.

Then the saint went on to ask him who is his grandfather…

Shiva replied that Vishnu is his grandfather.

Then the saint further went on to ask him who is his great grandfather.

Shiva replied that his own-self is his great grandfather!

Shiva’s reply boggled the mind of the saint.

Even Shiva’s reply is probably boggling your mind also…

How someone can be his own great grandfather?

Well, there’s another story behind this intricate reply of Shiva.

Here’s what once happened:

At the end of the last Kalpa, there was a little destruction taking place on earth. The whole earth was flooded with water.

Note: A Kalpa is equal is to 432 lakh years or 4.32 billion years, which is equal to a day for Lord Brahma.

Vishnu was sleeping on the water with his great snake Anant. Suddenly a lotus grew from his navel and after some while, Brahma arrived (Vishnu was playing with his lotus).

Brahma asked Vishnu, “Who are you and why are you sleeping on this water?”

Vishnu said, “I am Vishnu and I am the God of Everything.”

Brahma was not willing to accept Vishnu’s claim, so he asked Vishnu to enter his stomach to see that Brahma is the lord of the Universe.

Vishnu agreed and entered Brahma’s stomach. There he found lots of worlds, stars, mountains and living things including those that are yet to come into existence. Vishnu spent 1000 years and found that there is neither beginning nor end of Brahma’s stomach. Hence he came outside of Brahma’s stomach through his mouth. And Lord Vishnu finally accept Brahma as the lord of the Universe.

After that, Vishnu also asked Brahma to enter his stomach to see what’s inside.

Brahma did the same as per Vishnu’s request and found many worlds there. He also came to know that there is also neither beginning nor end in Vishnu’s stomach.

But Vishnu closed all his exits on his body and Brahma didn’t find any way to come out. Eventually, Brahma turned his body extremely small and came out from Vishnu’s navel. He climbed up the stem of the lotus and finally seated on the lotus flower.

Brahma was annoyed at Vishnu for his mischievous behavior. Vishu said that he was just playing with him and asked him to be friends. He also said that as a representation of their friendship, please give him the boon that henceforth Brahma will be known as his son. And Brahma happily agreed to Vishnu’s proposal.

Soon after that, Lord Shiva arrived there (Shiva was ten armed and fierce-looking). Vishu told Brahma that he is Shiva and they should bow down to him (Brahma was unable to recognize Shiva).

At first, Brahma refused to bow-down to Shiva. But as Vishnu was unhesitant to bow down to Lord Shiva, Brahma did the same.

Shiva said to Brahma, “What boon do you desire?”

Brahma said, “Please forgive me that I doubted you. And as a representation of your forgiveness, please give me the boon that you’ll be born as my son.”

Shiva gladly gave Brahma the desired boon.

This is the reason behind Shiva’s intricate reply.

Note: This event took place in some of the kalpas. What happened in the very first Kalpa is unknown.

Now, in case of finding the mother of Lord Shiva…

We need to debate further.

Mother of Lord Shiva

By going back to the aforementioned story of Lord Shiva and the saint…

The saint also asked Shiva lastly, “Who is your mother?”

Lord Shiva replied, “SHAKTI IS OUR MOTHER”.

Why all these confusions?

How a Devi or a female being can be the mother of all of these three gods?

See this:

Actually, Lord Shiva has not any parents!

He is called SWAYAMBHU (self-created). Meaning, he is created by his own-self.

And not only Shiva but also Brahma & Vishnu are also self-created.

They don’t need a biological Yoni or Womb to create themselves.

Astounding! Right?

But what shakti actually is?

By using the term SHAKTI Shiva is implying the infinite divine feminine energy KUNDALINI.

Note: Kundalini is the primordial spiritual energy resides in all living things (humans, animals, birds & fishes), that is resposible for our spiritual growth.

The Kundalini is inexplicable energy that can create & manifest any kind of thing according to one’s own will, whether it’s multi-dimensional divine energy or 3-Dimensional material energy…

…there’s no limitation!

And since he is Swayambhu (not born out of biological sexual energy), the Kundalini Energy is responsible for creating Shiva’s form or body. Hence, she’s the mother of him as well as of the other two deities (Brahma & Vishnu) of the Trimurti.

Apart from giving form to Shiva, there are also many forms of Kundalini Shakti in Shiva, which plays many different roles. But I’ll not talk about them in this article as they are not part of the discussion of this article.

So now you know that Shiva has no father and mother. And more accurately, his own-self is his both mother & father.

What do you think about Shiva’s origin?

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