Shiva-tattva
Sambhu is worshiped by shaivas as the predominating deity, but he is the topmost vaisnava
Śambhu — the primal masculine divine generative function
For those who are not raised in Vedic culture, it might seem shockingly bizarre that Śiva is worshiped as lingam (male generative organ) in union with yoni (female generative organ). But these are symbolism of highly sophisticated philosophy.
Spiritual (cit) potency of Visnu is known as Ramādevī, the goddess of fortune (Lakshmi). Her reflection in the material world is Durga, whose impersonal potency is perceived as prakriti or material nature. The word Durga comes from root words dur (difficult) and gam (pass, go through). Thus she is in-charge of the fortress of material world that is ‘difficult to pass over’; she achieves this by providing the allurement of temporary illusory pleasures to the conditioned souls who are attempting to lord it over the material nature. Thus they are kept imprisoned here and they fail to achieve the spiritual abode.
Śambhu, the dislocated portion of Mahā-Viṣṇu, is the masculine generating principle who impregnates the rebellious souls into the material world, by his union with feminine generating principle — the provider of the required ingredients in the form of matter.
tamo-guna-avatara
Once the material world is created, incarnations of the modes of nature help manage different departments of universal affairs.
Brahmā who is responsible for secondary creation is called rajo-guṇa-avatāra, since creation is an activity in the mode of passion. While Brahmā is the creator, the material cause for creation (masculine generating principle) is Śambhu.
Viṣṇu is personally sattva-guṇa-avatāra , as maintaining anything is an activity that requires goodness.
Lord Śiva is tamo-guṇa-avatāra, and is responsible for annihilation of the material world, after which the conditioned souls take temporary refuge in the body of Viṣṇu until the inception of next creation; thus degeneration (reinstatement of souls in the body of Viṣṇu) and generation (impregnation of souls into material world) are two complementary functions of Śambhu — the masculine generating principle
Visnu and Shiva are compared to milk and yogurt respectively
kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt
sañjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ
yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiJust as milk is transformed into curd by the action of acids, but yet the effect curd is neither same as, nor different from, its cause, viz., milk, so I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whom the state of Śambhu is a transformation for the performance of the work of destruction.
Parama Vaisnava
nimna-gānāṁ yathā gaṅgā
devānām acyuto yathā
vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ
purāṇānām idam tathāJust as the Gaṅgā is the greatest of all rivers, Lord Acyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas.
Founder of Rudra sampradaya or pure monism (suddha-advaita-vada)
Śiva received spiritual knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, and passed it on in the disciplic succession known as Rudra sampradaya in which prominent acharyas such as Vishnuswami and Vallabhacharya appeared. The later formed the vaisnava sect of pushtimarg, whose primary object of worship in bala-gopala (baby Kṛṣṇa) and which is still prominent in present day Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The philosophical exegesis on Vedanta is known as pure monism (suddha-advaita-vada) as per which there is equality in the “essence” of the individual self with the God. There is no real difference between the two (like the analogy of sparks to fire). However, unlike Shankara’s advaita-vada, Vallabhacharya does not deny God as the whole and the individual as the part. The individual soul is not the Supreme (Satcitananda) and is clouded by the force of avidya, but is itself Brahman, with one attribute (ananda) rendered imperceptible. The soul is both a doer and enjoyer. It is atomic in size, but pervades the whole body (like sandalwood makes its presence felt through its scent even if sandalwood can’t be seen).
Propagator of exclusive monism (kevala-advaita-vada)
Śiva is the topmost vaisnava and founder of a vaisnava sampradaya in his own name. As a devotee of Visnu he is keen to execute the orders of Visnu and since he is tamo-guna-avatara (incarnation of mode of ignorance), he is an ideal candidate to execute missions that require causing destruction or confusion:
svāgamaiḥ kalpitais tvaṁ ca
janān mad-vimukhān kuru
māṁ ca gopaya yena syāt
sṛṣṭir eṣottarottarā“[Addressing Lord Śiva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead said:] ‘Please make the general populace averse to Me by imagining your own interpretation of the Vedas. Also, cover Me in such a way that people will take more interest in advancing material civilization just to propagate a population bereft of spiritual knowledge.’
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa (62.31)
Thus to separate pure vaisnavas from non-believers, Lord Śiva appeared as Adi-Sankaracharya, and propagated the atheistic philosophy of kevala-advaita-vada also known as maya-vada (since it says that everything including God’s form is an illusion). While buddhism openly presents atheism in their denial of existence of God, kevala-advaita-vada is covered atheism since it theoretically accepts God, but denies God’s form, name, qualities and paraphernalia. This is indirect way of presenting atheism.
Another reason why Lord Śiva propagated maya-vada is that Buddhism which rejected the Vedas had caused the society to give up their faith in Vedic literature. Since a significant change in worldview masses isn’t possible, Adi-Sankracharya (incarnation of Lord Śiva) in order to re-establish the faith in the Vedas had to present a philosophy that is not very different from atheism. He did so by quoting Vedas, but misrepresenting its real meaning.
māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁ
pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate
mayaiva vihitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā“[Lord Śiva informed goddess Durgā, the superintendent of the material world:] ‘In the Age of Kali I take the form of a brāhmaṇa and explain the Vedas through false scriptures in an atheistic way, similar to Buddhist philosophy.’ ”
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa (25.7)
Srila Prabhupada comments on the above verse in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, 6.182:
The word brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā in this verse-refers to the founder of Māyāvāda philosophy, Śaṅkarācārya, who was born in the Mālabara district of southern India. Māyāvāda philosophy states that the Supreme Lord, the living entities and the cosmic manifestation are all transformations of illusory energy. To support this atheistic theory, the Māyāvādīs cite false scriptures, which make people bereft of transcendental knowledge and addicted to fruitive activities and mental speculation.
Shaivas or Shaivites
Shaivas worship Śiva as the supreme God. But Śiva being a devotee of Visnu doesn’t rejoice such adoration that is actually worthy only for Visnu. Nevertheless, he is Bhūtanātha (lord of beings) and so he doesn’t reject devotees who approach him. Conditioned souls approach him for some material gain as he is asutosa (one who is easily pleased). Ravana, Banasura and many other demons pleased Śiva by their worship and received significant material benedictions. As seen in the pastime of Bhasmasura, Śiva is so merciful that he would grant material benedictions without any consideration of qualification; Bhasmasura would later attempt to use the power bestowed upon him to harm Lord Śiva.
As Bhūtanātha, he is specifically the lord of ghosts and is always interested in their well being:
Lord Śiva, or Rudra, is the king of the ghosts. Ghostly characters worship Lord Śiva to be gradually guided toward a path of self-realization. Māyāvādī philosophers are mostly worshipers of Lord Śiva, and Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Śiva for preaching godlessness to the Māyāvādī philosophers. Ghosts are bereft of a physical body because of their grievously sinful acts, such as suicide. The last resort of the ghostly characters in human society is to take shelter of suicide, either material or spiritual. Material suicide causes loss of the physical body, and spiritual suicide causes loss of the individual identity. Māyāvādī philosophers desire to lose their individuality and merge into the impersonal spiritual brahmajyoti existence. Lord Śiva, being very kind to the ghosts, sees that although they are condemned, they get physical bodies. He places them into the wombs of women who indulge in sexual intercourse regardless of the restrictions on time and circumstance. (purport, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.14.24)
Qualities of Śiva
Kṛṣṇa has unlimited potencies, but primarily He possesses sixty-four qualities. And amongst the living entities, the highest perfection is to be seen in the life of Brahmā, who is the chief living entity within this universe and has fifty of these sixty-four qualities. Similarly, Lord Śiva has got fifty-five. Lord Nārāyaṇa has got sixty. But Kṛṣṇa has got in full sixty-four — cent percent, hundred percent all the qualities.
Residence
Residence of Lord Śiva(Maheśa) is known as Maheśa-dhāma, and is beyond the material world (Devī-dhāma) — the jurisdiction of Durga.
goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya
devi maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu
te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmiLowest of all is located Devī-dhāma [mundane world], next above it is Maheśa-dhāma [abode of Maheśa]; above Maheśa-dhāma is placed Hari-dhāma [abode of Hari] and above them all is located Kṛṣṇa’s own realm named Goloka. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, who has allotted their respective authorities to the rulers of those graded realms.
Śrī brahma-saṁhitā 5.43
Origin
The origin of Śambhu is the glance of Maha-Visnu on pradhana (material nature or material energy in its un-manifested state) and as such he is the husband of Durga — the personification of material energy. Thus his position is higher than that of Brahma, the first living being in the creation. Yet, for the sake of facilitating the functions of universal affairs he apparently takes birth as Rudra from the forehead of Brahma, when the later expresses anger at disobedience of his sons, the four kumaras (having taken the vow of celibacy for spiritual realization, they reject the order of Brahma to help him in his service of expanding the population of the newly created universe).
External Appearance & Activities
Envious personalities like Daksa bewildered by external appearance and activities fail to understand the transcendental position of Śiva, and thus criticize him:
He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he śiva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader. (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.14.24)
Bhaktivedanta Purport: Those who do not regularly bathe are supposed to be in association with ghosts and crazy creatures. Lord Śiva appeared to be like that, but his name, Śiva, is actually fitting, for he is very kind to persons who are in the darkness of the mode of ignorance, such as unclean drunkards who do not regularly bathe. Lord Śiva is so kind that he gives shelter to such creatures and gradually elevates them to spiritual consciousness. Although it is very difficult to raise such creatures to spiritual understanding, Lord Śiva takes charge of them, and therefore, as stated in the Vedas, Lord Śiva is all-auspicious. Thus by his association even such fallen souls can be elevated. Sometimes it is seen that great personalities meet with fallen souls, not for any personal interest but for the benefit of those souls. In the creation of the Lord there are different kinds of living creatures. Some of them are in the mode of goodness, some are in the mode of passion, and some are in the mode of ignorance. Lord Viṣṇu takes charge of persons who are advanced Kṛṣṇa conscious Vaiṣṇavas, and Lord Brahmā takes charge of persons who are very much attached to material activities, but Lord Śiva is so kind that he takes charge of persons who are in gross ignorance and whose behavior is lower than that of the animals. Therefore Lord Śiva is especially called auspicious.
