Who Is Shiva? — Swami Bhaskarananda

Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on March 6, 2016.In this talk, Swami Bhaskarananda explores the meaning and significance of Shiva within the broader development of Hindu religious thought. Beginning with early human ideas about unseen powers and deities, he traces the evolution from belief in many gods to the Vedantic understanding of one divine reality appearing in many forms. Shiva is presented as the destroyer aspect of God within the Hindu trinity of creator, preserver, and dissolver, while remaining inseparable from the one underlying divinity described in the Upanishads as existence, consciousness, and bliss.Drawing from the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas, Swami Bhaskarananda explains how the Vedic deity Rudra gradually became known as Shiva in later Hindu tradition. He discusses the symbolic meaning behind Shiva’s imagery, including the third eye, blue throat, matted hair, and multiple arms, emphasizing that these are visual expressions of spiritual truths rather than literal descriptions. The lecture also includes stories from Hindu mythology, reflections on symbolism in religion, and an explanation of how mythological narratives convey philosophical ideas in an accessible and memorable form.