Nowadays we look at Shiva as one of the trinity of Brahma Ji, Vishnu Ji and Shiva. This was not always the case. Having celebrated Shivaratri, let us understand what Shiva really is all about.

In the Vedic times, all worship did not have any murtis or images. Fire, sun, etc., were symbols; they didn't need any other human-like forms.

Then at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, towards the end of the Mahabharata, when the shift happened from Vedic worship to Puranic worship, initiated by sages like Vyasa who realised that in the Kali Yuga it would be difficult to keep the Vedic worship going, they started writing all the Puranas.

Even then, the first manifestation of Ishwara, the one and only God who is both the creator and the creation, was symbolised by the Linga. So, the Linga was the symbol for Ishwara, for Bhagawan.

That's why, even now, there are expressions like "Parameshvara, Devon ka Dev – Mahadev." All these indicate that Shiva was the Supreme Lord, Ishwara himself, and as Ishwara, he has to include everything in himself. That is why he is very often presented as a great yogi, tapasvi, as well as a grihastha, or a householder; one who is nothing but auspiciousness but whose lifestyle is inauspicious, in the sense that he lives on cremation grounds, smears ashes on his body, etc.

He is also looked upon as the source of all knowledge, not only spiritual wisdom available through Upanishads but also disciplines such as martial arts, dance, yoga, and music, because the only source of all knowledge can be only Ishwara.

Besides classical knowledge, even knowledge pertaining to subjects like physics, etc., has to come from Ishwara itself. That is why, in Bern, Switzerland, at the entrance of the physics building at CERN, the world's main centre of physics and cutting-edge research into particle physics, you have the image of the dancing Nataraja (Shiva as a Divine Cosmic Dancer), because in that cosmic dance, all particles fly out from reality.

Shiva is the content of Ishwara, which is nothing but limitless consciousness.