Rudra-Bhairava

शुक्लाम्बरधरम् विष्णुम् शशिवर्णम् चतुर्भुजम्|

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श्रीगुरुभ्योनमः

रुद्राणी दरहसितान्यस्माकम् संहरस्तु दुरितानि

येषामुदयो दिवसो भूषापीयूष किरणस्य।।

(उमाहसहस्रम् 9.7)

We have seen the symbolic interpretation of the divine event of Sati-devi giving up Her body after Daksha’s yajna and incarnating as a daughter of the mountain king Himavan.  The Supreme Consciousness at the Sahasrara chakra is symbolic of Parama-Siva, engrossed in deep penance, on the top of the spine/Meru and the sleeping kundalini at the Muladhara is representative of Parvati-devi. The Supreme Consciousness at the top of the Spine, Mahakala, is indicative of the static aspect of Lord Siva.  Let us try now to understand the dynamic aspect of Lord Siva.  

ततश्चिद्रूपमेवैकम् सर्वसत्तान्तरस्थितम्।

स्वानुभूतिमयम् शुद्धम् देवम्  रुद्रेश्वरम् विदुः।।

(योगवाशिष्ठम्-निर्वाणप्रकणम्-पूर्वार्थ्- 36.1)

Rudra is the personification of the Supreme Consciousness present in each and every entity of creation.

पापैः पापे क्रियमाणे हि चैल।

ततोरुद्रो जायते देव एषः।।

 (महाभारतम्-शान्तिपर्वम्-73.17)

Rudra is manifested as a result of the bad deeds by the wicked people.

आत्मो रुद्रो हृदये मानवानाम्।

स्वम्स्वम् देहम् परदेहम् च हन्ति।।(ibid 73.19)

Rudra in the form of soul of every human being, slays one self and others associated with them.  So, Rudra is the destructing aspect of Siva.

Kalasvarupa Siva

Paramatma, still and static, is the one who is beyond time.

Kala/Time is the first manifested deity of the creation with seven wheels, seven navels and with an immortal axis.  He governs entire creation (अथर्ववेद कालसूक्तम् -2)

समस्त सामान्यतया भीमः कालो महेश्वरः।

दृश्यसत्तमिमाम् सर्वाम् कवलीकर्तुमुद्यतः।।

(योगवाशिष्ठम् – वैराग्यप्रकरणम् -23.5)

The terrible Kala that devours the manifested creation is nothing but the alter ego of Lord Maheshvara. This supremacy (Mahesatvam) of Kala is also mentioned in Suta Samhita as सर्वेकाल पराधीना न कालःकस्यचिद्वशे everybody is under the sway of Kala but He is not under anyone.  At the time of Pralaya, the destroyer Rudra burns up the entire creation with His blazing fires, known as Kalagni. (महाभारतम् 13.14.348,349)

The description of Mahapralaya kalagni, according to the Kurma purana (Utharardha, 45^th Chapter) is as follows.

कालाग्नि भस्मसात्कर्तुम् चरते चाखिलम् जगत्।…। सहस्र नयनो देवः सहस्राक्ष इतीश्वरः। सहस्र हस्त चरणः सहस्रार्च्चिमहाभुजः। दंष्ट्राकरालवदनः प्रदीप्तानललोचनः। पीत्वातत्परमानन्दम् प्रभूतममृतम् स्वयम्। करोति ताण्डवम् देवीमालोक्य परमेश्वरः। ज्योतिःस्वभावम् भगवान्दग्ध्वा ब्रह्माण्डमण्डलम्।...।इत्येष भगवान्रुद्रः संहारम् कुरुते वशी।

Mahakala in static state and the Kala in the dynamic state, both are two different aspects of Lord Siva. Also, time and death are two synonyms for Kala.

कल्पेकल्पेखिलम् विश्वम् कालयेद्यः स्वलीलया।

तम् कालम् कलयित्वा यो महाकालो भवत्किलः।।

(काशीखण्डम् -7.91)

At the end of every kalpa, Kala merges with Mahakala, after engulfing the entire creation with conflagrant fires.

Since, Lord Narayana tells the demon Taraka कल्पेकल्पे सृजामिदम् ब्रह्मादि सकलम् जगत् “I manifest the entire creation along with Brahma, in every kalpa”, elsewhere in the same Skanda purana (Maheswara Khandam- Kaumari khandam 21.280), the kalpaanta referred to above, signifies Maha-pralaya or praakrutika pralaya but not the naimittika pralaya.

During Maha-pralaya, the entire time bound creation merges into the timelessness (kaalaatita) or in other words, the dynamic form of Lord Siva merges into the static form.

From a microscopic point of view,

आयोर्हि स्कम्भ उपमस्य नीले पथाम् विसर्गे धरुणेषु तस्थौ।।

(ऋग्वेदम् 10.5.6)

it can be inferred that Paramatma is reflecting in the form ayu (duration of one’s life), that is seen as the skambha/pillar (spinal cord/Meru danda) of mortal beings and He is still, on the top of the post.

आत्यन्तिकस्तु प्रळयो ज्ञानदेव स जायते।

तच्छ ज्ञानम् महेशस्य भक्तिलभ्यमिति शृतिः।।

(सौरपुराणम् 33.10-13)

To get relieved from the clutches of time, that drives the creation through mobile celestial planets and stars, is Atyantika pralaya.  One can achieve this only with the knowledge obtained with Siva Bhakti.

Bhairava

Bhairava worship is of great prominence in Kashmir Saivism.

भैरवः पूर्णरूपोहि शङ्करस्य परमात्मनः। (शिवमहापुराणम्-रुद्रसंहित-8.2)

Bhairava is the embodiment of Paramatma’s wisdom filled (jananamaya), pure Supreme Consciousness (suddha Chaitanya).

शिवम् तत्सच्चिवम् साक्षाल्लक्ष्यते भैरवाकृति

तथा स्थितो जगच्छान्तौ परमाकाश एव सः।

(य़ोगवाशिष्ठम्-निर्वाणप्रकरणम्-उत्तरार्धम्-81.5)

स भैरवश्चिदाकाशः शिव इत्यभिधीयते।

अनन्याम् तस्य ताम् विद्धि स्पन्दशक्तिम् मनोमयीम्।।

(ibid 84.3)

Bhairava in the form of Chidakasa is Lord ParamaSiva’s wisdom.  The Chidakasa sthana in our bodies is the ajna chakra (space between eyebrows).  The consort of Lord Siva here is Manomayi, the spandasakthi/pulsating energy.

प्राहिणोत्पुरुषम् कालम् भैरवम् लोकदाहकम् 

(शिवमहापुराणम्-2.31.29)

उद्यमो भैरवः (शिवसूत्रम् 5) शक्तिचक्रसंधाने विश्वसंहारः (ibid 6)

During Mahapralaya at the macroscopic level, Kalagni Rudra annihilates the creation and merges with Mahakala. At microscopic level, during Aatyantika pralaya, the annihilation of the universe takes place through activating the energy centers of the body.  Destruction of universe is destruction of time.  Since the knowledge personified Bhairava obliterates time with knowledge (fire at ajna chakra) and attains the timeless state/vimukti, He is called Kalabhairava. As a symbol of victory over the Kala, He rides on a dog, symbolic of time/Lord Yama (Mahabharatham-Vanaprastha parvam – 3^rd chapter).

According to Linga, Vamana, Siva, Skanda, Kurma puranas, Lord Bhairava emerged from the third eye (bhru-madhya) of Lord Siva, to punish the egoistic and lustful Brahma Deva who was claiming supremacy.  So, He is synonymous with the kalagni/jnanagni. After getting slained, since Brahma’s skull gets stuck in Bhairava’s left palm and Bhairava gets the name Kapala Bhairava. With an intent of getting rid of the skull stuck on His hand, Bhairava wandered around all of the three worlds and arrived at the Daruvana, forest of Devadaru trees of Himalaya range.

Kapala vimukti as per Siva purana

After reaching the Daruvana, Bhairava eliminates Vishvaksena, the door keeper of Vishnu’s abode and enters Vishnu loka. There, He gets Manoratha alms in the begging bowl (skull) from Vishnu’s consort Lakshmi devi and moves on to Varanasi as per the suggestion of Lord Narayana. He is relieved of the Kapala at Varanasi.

Daruvana episode as per Kurma purana (Uttarabhaga, 37^th Chapter)

After Sati’s obliteration, the lone Lord ParamaSiva/Lord Bhairava arrived at the Daruvana and was wandering as a nude, lunatic beggar with the Brahma kapala, the begging bowl.  He was bearing Vishnu maya on the left half of His body.  The sages there, aspiring for liberation, were performing austerities as ordained in the scriptures (pravrutti marga). Angered by the fact that their wives are fascinated by this beggar and failing to identify the disguised Lord Siva, they cursed Him to leave His linga/symbol there and vanish.  Lord Siva did so.  Learning later that, it was Lord Siva who was there, they prayed to Him. Then, Lord Bhairava appeared again and preached them the Nivrutti marga (Siva-tattva) that leads to liberation.  To those sages who got rid of their karmika-mala due to the Siva-tattva jnana, Girija-putri appeared like a garland of flames (jwala-malini) in the sky. Having had the darshan of Siva and Parvathi due to the awakening of janma-rahitya-jnanam, the Sages attained moksha.

Though these incidents are narrated to have been occurred in the divine plane, due to the similarities between microcosm (pindanda) and macrocosm (Brahmanda), we try to understand the implication of these events with regard to human beings.

Symbolism of Kapala vimochana

यत्कारणमव्यक्तम् नित्यम् सदसदात्मकम्। तद् विसृष्टःपुरुषो लोके ब्रह्मा-इतिकीर्त्यते।

(मनुस्मृति-1.11)

Brahma-deva is symbolic of Purusha/Jiva/soul.

Lord ParamaSiva has five heads, representative of the five acts (pancha krityas) and since Jivatma is a reflection of Paramatma/ParmaSiva, Brahma-deva too had five heads initially. While the fifth head of ParamaSiva is always in kalatita/turiyatita state, the fifth head of Brahma was indulging in egoistic/lustful behaviour.

Lord Bhairava manifested from the third eye of ParamaSiva and punished Brahma-Deva by relieving him of the fifth head. This skull of Brahma-deva got stuck to Bhairava’s palm, hence the name Kapala Bhairava.  Brahma kapala is indicative of an individual’s birth and the kapala stuck to Bhairava’s hand, is indicative of the Supreme Consciousness associated with that birth.  So, this event is representative of the births taken by the egoistic souls on this earth.  The garland of skulls, denotes the uncountable births each time bound soul takes.

According to Siva Samhita (2.25, 2.26, 5.133), the ida and pingala nadis are represented by Vaarana and Asi and space between the eyebrows where these nadis join, is symbolic of Vaaranaasi.  

Kapala Bhairava wanting to get rid of the skull stuck His palm, is symbolic of a moksha aspirant. Attaining the kalatita state after the granthi-bhedanas from this time bound world is the Atyantika pralaya or liberation. Kapala Bhairava reaching Vishnu loka after eliminating the door keeper Vishvaksena, and then to Vaaranaasi, as per the suggestion of Lord Vishnu, are symbolic of; cleaving of Brahma-granthi (Vishvaksena’s place - muladhara), Vishnu-granthi (abode of Vishnu - Manipuraka) and Rudra-granthi (Vaaranaasi-ajna chakra). After the Rudra-granthi bhedana, Lord Bhairava is relieved of the Kapala.  This means, no more births for that soul. So Kapala vimukti is indicative of viswa samhara through sakti chakra sandhana to attain Mahakala.

Symbolism behind Daaruvana incident

Siva (Supreme Consciousness) bereaved of Sati enters Daaruvana (muladhara) in the form of a nude, begging Bhairava. A soul’s birth on this earth according to its previous karma, is symbolic of Kapala Bhairava. It was said that, Bhairava accompanied by Vishnu maya on His left half.  This is indicative of the maya sakthi surrounding the creation. The sages following the pravrutti marga are the maya bound aspirants, indulging household practices. Liberation aspirants need to follow the ascetic path (nivrutti marga) in order to get rid of this cycle of births and deaths, with deep Siva bhakthi.  It is the Siva bhakthi that will make the knowledge of liberation, dawn upon us.  Knowledge/jnana, third eye, chidakasa, rudra-granthi bhedana are all synonymous.  Sages praying to Lord Bhairava (चैतन्यमेव आत्म) and attaing moksha with the darshan of Jwalamalini is symbolic of the following.  Seekers pray to Lord Siva with deep longing for moksha, get the fire of knowledge ignited.  This blazing jnagni of the seekers, results in the darshan of Girija putri in the form of garland of fires.  With the darshan of Siva and Parvathi, they attain mukti. 

This jwala-malini in the Chidakasa is the hidden treasure, Chidambara Rahasya of the Chidambara kshetram.  We will learn more about it later.

Kala bhairava, Nrusimha swami and Subrahmanya are three deities with the same tattva. The sahasranama stotra of Lord Narasimha, has got Subrahmanya and Bhairava namas. Since Lord Subrahmanya is manifested from the Lord Siva’s semen, He is similar in nature to that of Bhairava, who is the pure Supreme Consciousness.  Sage Vyasa in the Bhagavata purana, eulogised the kala-bhairava tattva of Narasimha in several occasions.  Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada also referred to Lord Subrahmanya as Nrusimhavaataram in the Subrahmanya Bhujanga stotra, भजेहम् कुमारम् भवानी कुमारम्.

Praying to the Bhairava’s consort Bhairavi,

श्रीमात्रेनमः