शिव
Shiva
(śiva)The auspicious one — god of transformation, meditation, and cosmic dissolution
Full Meaning
Śiva means "auspicious, benevolent, kind." He is one of the three principal deities of Hinduism (the Trimurti): Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (transformer/destroyer). Shiva's destruction is not malevolent — it is the necessary dissolution that makes renewal possible. He is the supreme yogi, meditating eternally in the Himalayas.
Etymology
From the root śiv (शिव्) — to be auspicious, to be benevolent. Śiva is "the auspicious one."
Usage in Sanskrit Texts
Shiva is worshipped in the form of the liṅga (the formless Absolute in symbolic form), and as Natarāja — the cosmic dancer whose dance sustains and destroys the universe.
शिवाय नमः — Salutation to Shiva. The mantra that has been chanted for thousands of years.
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