SIVA TATTVA

In Me the universe had its origin,
In Me alone the whole subsists;
In Me it is lost—Siva,
The Timeless, it is I Myself,
Sivoham! Sivoham! Sivoham!

Salutations to Lord Siva, the vanquisher of Cupid, the bestower of eternal bliss and
immortality, the protector of all beings, destroyer of sins, the Lord of the gods, who wears a
tiger-skin, the best among objects of worship, through whose matted hair the Ganga flows.
Lord Siva is the pure, changeless, attributeless, all-pervading transcendental consciousness.
He is the inactive (Nishkriya) Purusha. Prakriti is dancing on His breast and performing the
creative, preservative and destructive processes.

When there is neither light nor darkness, neither form nor energy, neither sound nor matter,
when there is no manifestation of phenomenal existence, Siva alone exists in Himself. He is
timeless, spaceless, birthless, deathless, decayless. He is beyond the pairs of opposites. He is the
Impersonal Absolute Brahman. He is untouched by pleasure and pain, good and evil. He cannot be
seen by the eyes but He can be realised within the heart through devotion and meditation.
Siva is also the Supreme personal God when He is identified with His power. He is then
omnipotent, omniscient active God. He dances in supreme joy and creates, sustains and destroys
with the rhythm of His dancing movements.

He destroys all bondage, limitation and sorrow of His devotees. He is the giver of Mukti or
the final emancipation. He is the universal Self. He is the true Self of all creatures. He is the dweller
in the cremation-ground, in the region of the dead, those who are dead to the world.
The Jivas and the world originate from Him, exist in Him, are sustained and rejected by Him
and are ultimately merged in Him. He is the support, source and substratum of the whole world. He
is an embodiment of Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Bliss. He is Satyam, Sivam, Subham, Sundaram,
Kantam.

He is the God of gods, Deva-Deva. He is the Great Deity—Mahadeva. He is the God of
manes (Prajapati). He is the most awe-inspiring and terrifying deity, Rudra, with Trisul or trident in
His hand. He is the most easily pleased (Asutosha). He is accessible to all. Even the untouchable
Chandalas and the illiterate rustics can approach Him.
He is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. He is an ideal Yogi and Muni. He is the ideal
head of an ideal family with Uma as His devoted wife, Lord Subrahmanya, the brave general of
strength and courage, Lord Ganesa, the remover of all obstacles.

Sitham Ellaam Enakku Siva Mayame

This is famous song about Lord Shiva from the movie Thiruvarutchelvar.

Lord Shiva - God Of All

Lord shiva is the Supreme, Which does not have any parents Which never takes birth Which is all alone without association with any of the creatures or creations enjoying in the Self. God is the only one Who is dependable for anybody / anything to surrender to as It is the only perennial Being. Hence God is the Lord of all creatures (lives/souls). For this reason the Lord is hailed as pashupati (Lord of living beings). Whether it is devas or asuras or humans or other creatures all are pashus. That being the case how could the Lord be partial to one section of pashus and withdrawing the Grace for the other ? So anybody who worships the Lord sincerely could get blessed with Its Grace irrespective of the caste, creed, race, power, status and qualities. 

It is in fact to be noted that Lord shiva is worshipped by the devas like viShNu, braHma, indra, by asuras like bANa, rAvaNa, tripura, sUrapadma, by humans like sha~Nkara bhagavatpAda, samban^dhar, appar, by other creatures like jaTAyu, sampAdi (eagles), vAli (monkey) and the list goes on and on. One finds in the purANas the variety of people of different backgrounds and qualities worship the Lord shiva. There are many histories of temples which talk of the cranes, bees, elephants, spiders, snakes worshipping the Lord and getting blessed. So the Lord as the Supreme blesses anyone who worships in sincere devotion. There is no discrimination on who the seeker is. The Lord is so merciful that He showers the boons one look for when there is a determination to seek Him. It is evident from the history of asura bANa who attained a great fame of his valor and got the place in the abode of Lord shiva all due to his determined worship of the Lord. 

But..., if the receiver of the boons does not use them in proper way and misuses to disturb others, in the Lord defined system of this universe they get punished for the misdeeds. A closer analysis would show that the devas are the divine elements of nature that are essential for all of us to survive (like air, sun, fire etc). Very often asuras are the one who disturb the nature as evident from purANas. So when the asuras misuse the boons got to disturb the other lives they get punished as evident from the histories of hiraNya, rAvaNa and others. When the misuse goes beyond a point by the powerful forces so as to question the existence of the whole system, the Lord the One Who is essential for all the essentials, Who has devised this whole Universe, takes the action to restore normalcy for example like tripura dahana. 

Lord shiva is the God of all. Like the mother He showers the grace for all the children, but the misusing children get punished. This Supreme Lord better than a mother does not withhold the grace, He is our beloved pashupati. 

Courtesy: Shaivam.org