Kunal Roy
Shiva is the Adipurush and Parvati, the Adishakti, popularly known as Para Shakti. And when the two unite, they give birth to a unique concept of union called #Ardhanarishwar. But what does it really signify? The union of the male and female energies or something beyond the orb of chaos!
According to Puranas, Shiva meditated for thousands of years to get the view of Para Shakti, using the beej mantra (root hymn) kleen! Adishakti appeared before him and agreed to join her for the expansion of the whole universe. Adishakti is primarily an embodiment of Satya, Rajas and Tama gunas. And when the sense of equilibrium between these gunas or qualities break, the seeds of the creative process are sown. Satya dictates birth, Rajas signifies the preservation and Tamas encompasses the act of finality or simply the death! However, the whole act began with Brahma who was born from the naval lotus of Lord Vishnu, prayed to the Goddess Adishakti in the form of Kalratri, sought her blessings to begin the creative process, Vishnu, the Vaikunthanath was entrusted with the onus of preservation and Shiva was to encourage in his cosmic dance to dissolute the whole creation to begin everything new! Shakti divided herself in three forms namely Saraswati, Laxmi and Parvati to assist in the work of Lords!
It is interesting to note that the Ardhnarishwar form can only be flaunted by Shiva and Parvati only to show that the entire process of birth, preservation and death begins from them and ends in them! Shiva is not the complete Purusha. His left hand side belongs to his divine consort Parvati. Shiva is incomplete without Shakti. They are not only eternal but also the inseparable entities of the whole cosmos! Even today a man’s left hand side belongs to his spouse to suggest that a woman is always born from the left hand side of a man. A woman is therefore called Vamangini in the holy texts and scriptures! Afterall it is the nature’s policy to sustain the sense of equality between a man and a woman to continue with the flow of this creation!!
Kunal Roy