Shiva and Chandra: Why did Lord Shiva place Chandra on his head.

Lord Shiva is also called Shashidhar.  Shashi means moon and dhar means wearer. The Moon is the hegemonic planet of the water . Lord Shiva has embellished the moon on his forehead.  Lord Shiva is also known as Chandrasekhar due to his special affection for the Moon.

Shivling is very ancient.  Actually the oldest.  Through the Shiva linga you go from figurative (real) to formless.

Lord Shiva is considered immense center of power.  For this reason, he has been worshiped in the world for ages.  Beyond life and death, Lord Shiva is revered as a destroyer in the world, while he is also considered a life-giver. In fact, there are many such stories in Shiva Mahapurana, from which we sees his different forms.  One such story is narrated in the Shiv Purana, in which the whole story is contains to protect the life of the moon by Shiva-Shambhoo in his jatas.

Bholenath is such a god who is pleased very soon. His costumes is different from all the gods and goddesses. He neither wear crown on the head nor receive delicious food. The secluded, deserted and wilderness areas are his habitat. On the body of Shiva, there are bhabhuta or bhashma (Ash), snakes and Rudraksha.  Shiva's personality is huge.  He is Mahakal beyond kaal. He is omnipresent and omnipotent. He is not just adorable to devotees but also for the gods and demons.

Monday (Somvar) is related to 'lunar planet', in fact 'Som' means 'mild' and 'mild' means 'Chandra', Som also has a meaning 'Shiva', so the measures taken on Monday are related to the 'lunar planet'.  Relieve from the pain of suffering, that is, provide mental happiness, not only is there a unique relationship between 'Chandra' and 'Shiva', have you ever wondered why 'Chandra' sits on Lord Shiva's head?  If not, then let us tell you the secret of it further today.

Shiva tattva is that element which is beyond the mind.  Moon signifies mind.  How can one express the nirgun(formless) state beyond the mind?  How can one understand this inexplicable situation?  It is necessary to use some intellect to understand, experience and express.  Some mind is required to express the latent, infinite, subconscious state in the visible world.  Therefore, to express the undefined , it is a thin moon on the crest of Shiva, which signifies the mind.

Brahmgyan is beyond the mind, but it requires a little intellect to express it - this is the symbol of Chandrasekhar.

By many names like Chandrama, Chaand, Chandra, Sudhakar, Sudhanshu, we know about a planet which appears closest to us after the Sun.  The brightest appears.  Even if he takes the light from the sun, but after tolerating the heat of the sun on his chest, he cooling and send to us that light and illuminates our nights with the milky moonlight.

☆ The mythological story of Chandra.

The story of the birth of the Chandra(moon) is also found in different Puranas.  According to the story of Agni Purana, when Lord Brahma thought of creating the creation, he first created Manas Putra(psychic progeny).  Rishi Atri was one of these manas putra.  Atri was married to Anusuiya, the daughter of Maharishi Kardam.  Goddess Anusuiya had three sons who came to be known as Durvasa, Dattatreya and Som.  It is believed that Som also one name of Chandra .

According to another Purana story, Brahma ji entrusted the work of expansion of the universe to his manas putra Atri. He started an ascetic called Anutara for this.  While doing penance, one day some very bright drops of water dripped from his eyes, all the directions took the form of a woman and took these bright drops in their womb to wish for a son, but for a long time the directions could not kept this in their womb and abandoned them.  Then this abandoned womb was given a male form by Brahma ji which got fame in the name of Chandradeva.  It is believed that many life-giving herbs originated on this earth by the glory of Chandra.  Brahma ji gave him the lordship of the constellations, vegetation, Brahmins, ascetics etc.

There is also a belief that when the gods and asuras together churned the sea, one of the 14 gems received during that time was the moon which Lord Shiva held on his forehead.  However, it is also believed that the presence of the moon as a planet preceded the churning.  Because when the auspicious time of the churning was try to knowing, then the auspicious situation of the moon and the guru was said.  Thus it is also believed that the different kala(in sense of quality) of the Moon were born at different times.

The moon is adorned on his head in every picture and idol of Lord Shiva.  Have you ever wondered what is the relation of Shiva with him? Bholenath has placed Chandra on his head, that is why he is also known as Shashidhar, Chandra adorns his yogi form.

Lord Shiva whose friends are ghosts and who wear garlands of heads around the neck.  Shivji is seen wearing a moon on the head.  Shiva is the symbol of destruction and the moon is of infinite coolness.  Both are opposite of each other.  Why did Mahadev, who is complete in himself, need to wear the moon on his head.  In this post we will explain why Mahadev Shiva wears a moon on his head.

In fact, there are two reasons for Shiva to wear the moon.

☆ Shiva, Daksha and Chandra.

An interesting story is also told about Lord Bholenath's wearing of the moon on the head.  According to the Shiv Purana, Daksha Prajapati married 27 of his daughters to the moon because the moon was very beautiful and these girls started loving him.  These girls are 27 nakshatras (constellations), these girls were extremely beautiful but Rohini's beauty was amazing among them.  That is why all the affection of the moon was always towards Rohini.  All of the other wives began to worried and they told their grief to the father.

Daksha Prajapati explained Chandra Dev in many ways for this.  But it had no effect on him.  Eventually Daksha got angry and cursed Chandradeva (moon) to decay.  Due to this curse, Chandradev immediately decayed and his body began to weak daily.  Chandradev tried hard to get rid of it but to no avail.

As soon as he was decayed, all their work of coolness-precipitation on the earth stopped.  There was a chaos in every place.  The deities went to the Lord Brahma for the salvation of Chandra Dev and told him the whole thing.  Then Brahmaji told the moon that worshiping Lord Shiva would only welfare him.  The Moon did severe penance to Lord Shiva.  Pleased with his austerity, Shivaji conferred the boon of immortality to the moon and placed it on his head.  It is believed that due to the curse of Daksh and the boon of Shiva, the moon keeps on decreasing and increasing.

After the boon of Lord Shiva, Chandra slowly started recovering and appeared as a full form on the full moon.  The place where the Moon did penance to Lord Shiva is called Somnath.

According to beliefs, even today, due to that curse of Daksha, the size of the moon keeps decreasing and increasing, but even today, on the full moon day, the moon is seen in its full size.

☆ Shiva, Chandra and the story of Samudra Manthan.

Another story is also said in this regard  when the sea was churned by the gods and asuras(demons), then 14 gems appeared from the churning.  The poison was first came from this sea churning.

According to the first mythology described in the Shiva Purana, Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha created leela to expand the earth and create a variety of life on it, and they used the power of Dev and his brother Asuras to churn the sea.  They first created reason for churning the sea. Durvasa Rishi cursed Devaraja Indra to be inferior to Sri (Lakshmi) due to his insult.  Lord Vishnu asked Indra to churn the sea with Asuras for curse salvation and lured the demons with nectar.  This is how the sea churning started.

When the gods and asuras started churning the sea, then Lord Vishnu took part in the churning with the Kachhap avatar.  He remained stationary in the middle of the sea and the Madaranchal Mountains were placed over him.  Then by making rope to Vasuki Nag, the gods from one side and the demons from the other side started churning the sea.

During this Amrit Manthan in Sagar, not only the nectar but also many other things came out of the sea, which were distributed equally among the gods and asuras.

Apart from nectar from the Samudra Manthan, Dhanvantari, Kalpavriksha, Kaustubh Mani, Divine Conch, Varuni or Madira(liqueur),Airavat, Parijat tree, Chandra(Moon), Apsara, Uchai Shrava Ashva(Horse), Hallahal or poison and Kamadhenu cow were also obtained.  But there was a war between the gods and the demons for Necter.

With the help of Lord Vishnu, the gods won this battle and eventually the gods were able to get the nectar. When the sea was churned, the poison also came out.  The poison was so severe that its effect was spreading on the whole creation, but it was not under the control of any deity or demon.  At this time, Lord Shiva drank that very poisonous poison to save the world.

[Lord Shiva put that Kalkuta poison in his throat to protect the world.  Due to the effect of poison, his throat became blue and for this reason Lord Shiva got a name Neelkanth.]

But after drinking the poison, his body started heating up due to the effect of the poison.  The moon we see in the sky today was born during the sea churning.  Seeing this, Chandradeva (the moon) prayed to Lord Shiva and told put me on the forehead and provide coolness to his body.  The effect of such poison will also be reduced.

For this,  Lord Shiva do not consider first, because the moon being white and cold, cannot bear the intensity of that poison.  But Shiva agreed to it after the request of other gods and he put the moon on his head.  Such is the popular belief that since then the Moon is seated on the forehead of Lord Shiva and is giving its coolness to the whole creation. By holding the moon, Shivji gives the message that your mind should always remain calm.

No matter how angry our nature is, but our mind should always be as cool as the moon.  Just as the moon provides coolness to us by taking heat from the sun, similarly we should also make our nature.