Shiva the Androgyne Hindu Deity

[EchelonHunt]

Hello, everyone!

I am not a very religious person by nature, however, during one of my long episodes of depression, I began searching Hindu deities on a whim. What I found fascinated me.

There are many Hindu deities who are gender ambiguous and some also have genitals of both sexes. For example, the Hindu deity Lord Shiva has a form where he is half man, half woman (his wife)... split down the middle. This form of Lord Shiva is also widely recognised as the most famous divine androgyne!!



"The portrayal of the god and goddess as one being denotes the inseparability of male and female, and signifies the duality of the created world." (Source: Shiva As Half Man and Half Woman

Isn't this wonderful? Since that episode of depression, I have felt a spiritual(?) connection to Lord Shiva and I feel very blessed.

The last time I have told anyone about my connection to Shiva (and back then, Vishnu), I was told (by a stranger online) that Vishnu would not feel comfortable with someone so selfish praying to him. I was amused because I thought, "Well, how do you know what Vishnu thinks? You are a stranger and you do not know me so your accusations of me being selfish are unfounded at the very least."

Ah, the people you talk to online, some of them can be truly arrogant. It is such a pity that they must bring someone else down in order to feel better about themselves. I can only hope that they learn to break free of this toxic pattern and look through life with a new pair of lens. It can be liberating to let go of the past and accept everything for what it is, including yourself.

[Deleted]

A good Native American friend of mine who was born on a reservation in the Southwest portion of the United States and whose forbears most probably come from the Mayan culture told me that in the old days if I had been a member of that tribe I would have automatically been selected and set out as special having both a male and female persona and would be considered a spiritual conduit to the creation deity and a spokesperson for the tribe concerning spiritual matters. I think this is consistent within a lot of ethnicities in more ancient times. The influence of the modernization brought on by the western world has darkened and glossed over so much that as my friend insists that some of what we refer to as our sixth senses are gone from lack of use and necessity to the extent that our awareness to these things as a society is practically non-existent.

[Ayla]

To me the most evolved folk are those that can access the full range of human qualities and attributes, those gendered male and those gendered female. As a NB this is my objective and my life goal.

Safe travels

Aisla

[Whisper]

i've liked merged duality of gender in deities. i have noticed the vast amount of dual nature deities that have existed since the beginning of records. only a few are merged. i also know there is Ardhanarishvara in hindu which seems similar. i do identify more with non-gender or mixed gender gods.

[Deleted]

OK this may sound crazy, but not really coming from me.  But I think most Dieties other than the ones that solidified as teachers in a human form like Buddha, Jesus, and many others are neither male nor female in Spirit but both. I think in a paternal society that gods will be percieved as more male and in a maternal society that godesses will be more percieved. In a balanced society between male and female I think both genders will be percieved.

I truly believe or feel that in Spirit we have both male and female aspects and being in a physical body usually means displaying one or the other trough sexual characteristics in a material world. And being in a material world with our minds, souls, spirits or our consciousness limited to a physical brain limits our perceptions of gender to sexual characteristics.

I know everyone gets tired of hearing me say this but I think it is way more complicated than we can ever imagine. It's like one great big puzzle and we only have a few peices. But it seems like we are tied to the cosmos and cosmic cycles and those cycles effect our Spritual perceptions on a deep conscious level. Maybe way deeper than the the subconscious mind even.

It may not seem like it but I think we are all truly special because we have broken the bondage of mind and brain and our minds aren't as limited to the physical brain as some people's are. I mean we may even be the people that are the next rung on the evolutionary ladder. But change especially when it comes to mankind is painful sometimes for the people that are the change. Old ideas and perceptions never change easily or fast.

Tald ya'll it would sound crazy.