Mahashivratri 2022: Know the stories behind Lord Shiva's third eye?

Maha Shivaratri 2022: The festival of Maha Shivaratri is celebrated on Falgun Krishna Chaturdashi. This special day of worship of Lord Shiva is falling this time on March 1. Worshipping Lord Shiva on the day of Maha Shivratri fulfils every wish. Lord Shiva has many avatars and forms. 

Lord Shiva’s appearance has often been depicted as a white body which has ashes of corpses smeared all over it, a blue coloured neck which depicts the poison that he holds in his throat, wears the Ganges River and a crescent moon as decorations in the hair and a snake around his neck as a garland. But one particular aspect of his appearance is the third eye on his forehead.

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What’s the story of Lord Shiva’s third eye? Well, it is considered as the symbol of divine vision. According to the scriptures, the third eye of Lord Shiva is his divine vision. It is said that nothing can remain hidden from his divine sight. Also, the third eye of Lord Shiva is like the eye of knowledge. With this third eye, he keeps an eye on the activities of the three worlds. Apart from this, the third eye of Lord Shiva is the centre of his power. It is believed that whenever his third eye will open, the whole creation will be destroyed.

Many stories have been mentioned in the scriptures about the third eye of Lord Shiva. One such story is that when Lord Shiva was engrossed in meditation, Goddess Parvati covered his eyes with both her palms, after which there was darkness in the world. It is said that so much power was ignited from the third eye of Lord Shiva, that the whole earth started burning. Then Goddess Parvati removed her hands from Lord Shiva's eyes, only after which everything returned to normal.

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According to another story mentioned in the scriptures, once Daksha Prajapati, father of Goddess Sati, organised a Yagya, in which Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati were also invited. But she could not bear the humiliation done to Lord Shiva and she committed self-immolation. It is said that Lord Shiva was so disturbed by this incident that he continued to yearn for years. Over time, Goddess Sati was reborn as Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya.

But Lord Shiva was so engrossed in his meditation that he was unaware of it. At the same time, the Gods wanted Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva to meet soon and all their efforts to make them meet, failed. In the end, the Gods sent Kamadeva to break Lord Shiva's penance, and he also failed in his attempts. After this, Kamadeva shot a flower arrow, which went straight to Lord Shiva's heart and Shiva's attention was disturbed. Due to the distraction, Lord Shiva became so angry that he consumed Kamadeva with his third eye. Kamadeva's wife pleaded with Lord Shiva to revive her husband to which he told her that in the Dwar Yuga, Kamadeva will reborn as the son of Lord Krishna.

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• Maha Shivratri 2022
• Shivratri
• Lord Shiva