lord siva

QUESTIONS

In which yuga did lord Shiva live?

*Satya-Yuga

*Treta-Yuga

*Dwapara-Yuga

*Kali-Yuga

asked by Rajesh Jason, Chennai

ANS -

Lord Shiva can be viewed in two senses. I dont know which one you are referring, so Im gonna tell both.
First of all, Hinduism teaches monotheism, the absolute Nirakara Rupa Parabrahma being classified into different forms or avatars like waves in the ocean. Lord Shiva is one of it.  Therefore, he can supposed to be a personification of a form of energy required for act of destruction, scientifically speaking. Lord Shiva is then part of the absolute, you cannot tell which yuga he lived because he is always living. It's like asking in which year did kinetic energy exist?.
If you are asking in the context of Puranas, then, Lord Shiva didnt die to be said 'lived'. Unlike Gods such as Sri Ram, Krishna etc who are avatars or human forms of God, some superior Gods such as BrahmaDev, Vishnu and Shiva live forever until the cycle of life ends and they get reborn. I will give you his time span. Lord Shiva lives upto 400 BrahmaDev Years. And how long is 1 year of Brahma, u may ask...

4,320,000,000 human years = 1 Chatur Yuga of Devas

1000 Chatur Yugas = 1 Maha Yuga
1 Maha Yuga is also collection of the four Yugas - Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.

1 Maha Yuga = 1 day(excluding night) of Brahma

In 1 day(1 Maha Yuga) of Brahma, he does the divine job of creation with the help of 14 Manus one by one. By this calculation, in the present, 6 Manus have done their job. Right now, the seventh Manu called Vaivaswadan is helping Brahma for creation. Everything that Brahma created a day will be destroyed at the time of dusk.

Brahma has a life span of 100 years. Once he dies, a new Brahma will be born. It is said that millions of Brahma has already born and died earlier.

It is also said that 14 Indras will born and die one by one in each Brahma’s life.

Currently, we are all in the 1^st day of the 51^st year of Brahma and 6 Manus have done their job.

So, Shiva is actually above the yugas. Yugas are timescale of our world and Lord Shiva is beyond that

The Evolution of the Universe

In the beginning, the Universe was covered with darkness, the universe was filled with darkness, the universe was only darkness. There were no sun,no moon ,no stars nor anything at that time. No little patch of fire, air, water, ether existed at that time. There was only emptiness. Emptiness everywhere. At that time 'sath' existed. Sath had no shape, no color, no personality. It was neither big nor small. Briefly, Sath is Satyam(the truth). It is the knowledge, happiness and other emotions.

The shapeless Brahma evolved according to the wishes. It turned into a Jyothirlingam. This Lingam was known as the Brahmandam(the Universe). This andam split and then began the nemesis of the nondestructive 'Virat Pursh'. He/she was the only thing existed at that time. He/she existed everywhere. He/she had many faces and eyes in every direction. He/she could see without eyes and hear without ears. It was impossible to see him/her in full form.

This NirakaraRupa(formless) ParaBrahma, after many yugas, wished for something else. He/she wished for the evolution of millions from one. At that moment, he/she decided to be in a form by using his/her own powers. That idol was with all greatness, all knowledge and was a Godfigure for everyone. Parabrahma without a body-and that idol is Lord 'SadaSiva'.
At one time, Siva and ParaSakti became close as husband and wife. Being happy, they wished for something. To create someone to do the job of 'Creation'. With these thoughts Siva with Sakti applied Amritam on the ten organs of the left side of his own body. After sometime, from that part, born a person who is handsome of all three worlds and with the goodness of million suns.

That great man worn a crown of gold. The beauty of his body was challenging to all ruby and emeralds. Covered with jewelery and ornaments,he worn a robe made up of gold. He has strong hands and eyes resembling to lotus. He existed everywhere, therefore he came to be known as Vishnu.

At the time of creation, nature entered Vishnu. Greatness was made and pride evolved from it. Pride split into Emotions, Brilliance and Anger. From the anger, sky was evolved, from the sky air was evolved, from the air fire was evolved and from the fire water was evolved. Vishnu brought consciousness to the five elements. Vishnu's vigor was thrown out in water. This vigor is known to be the 'Life'.

From the pride brilliance evolved all sensesand from pride emotions evolved ten emotional Devas and the eleventh sense the mind.

The Vigor which was thrown out by Vishnu evolved and became an andam. That andam gave the birth of BrahmaDev. Vishnu broke that andam into two. He made one part as Heaven and the other as Earth.

After that, Lord Vishnu meditated for a very long time. Because of the impact of the mediation, fountains were started to appear in different parts of his body.

That water filled the empty sky. At that time, being tired, Lord Vishnu fell asleep. He slept there for very long time, satisfied. Because of sleeping in water(Nara), Lord Vishnu got the name 'Narayan'.

At that time, there were no elements in nature except Narayan. While he was sleeping on water, a lotus began to grow from his navel. The lotus was full of beautiful petals and appeared as bright as the sun.

After that, Maheswar created BrahmaDev from the left side of his body. By the wishes of illusion BrahmaDev sat on the lotus which came from the navel of Lord Vishnu. BrahmaDev meditated and earned power. BrahmaDev, with his power continued the creation process and life began on the Universe.