PLEASURE ??

 

 Does nature yearn for pleasure? Is that why Kama, the god of desire, of kisses, of love and lust, is described in the Atharva Veda as the one who existed before all? He has nothing to do with fertility. He is all about irresponsible fun casual sex, with the risk of rejection and heartbreak.

Shiva sets him aflame. Smears his body with his ash. The Goddess is appalled. She-who-embodies-nature transforms into Kamakhya, and ensures the hermit is initiated in the art of lovemaking.

But Shiva is also Yogeshwara, known to withdraw from the Goddess, and isolate himself atop Mount Kailas, using his inward gaze to make upward movement of seed force (urdhva-retas). Thus in celibacy, he separates himself from nature, and forges the path to the unnatural or shall we say supernatural, the realm of siddhi, where rules of nature do not apply, where time and space are slaves, not masters.

Who is the Shiva we worship? The one who is initiated by the Goddess (Uma-pati) or the one who withdraws from the Goddess (Yogeshwara). Both are valid. But the former is part of society in the vibrant city of Kashi, the other is atop the faraway, lonely, snow-laden Himalayas.

Only in Kali yuga, do the celibates — much to Shiva’s dismay, I suspect — venture out of caves into cities and tell the devotees of the Goddess how they are supposed to behave. The Goddess laughs contemptuously and sticks out her tongue. She always wins.