If you are curious to know what is
the name of the snake around Shiva's neck; and
why Shiva has a giant snake on his
neck. This post is for you.
In this post, we are
answering the name of the Lord Shiva snake and attributes associated with that snake.
Let's get started.
Vasuki is the name of the snake around Shiva's neck.
Shiva's snake, Vasuki is regarded as the king of the serpent community.
- Vasuki is believed to be thousand headed giant snake who can
choose any number of heads according to his wish.
- Vasuki is an adherent devotee of Shiva; he has received many boons from
Lord Shiva.
- Vasuki has a precious gem on his head. The shine of the pearl is sparkling that it can light the whole place
even in the darkness of night.
- In Mahabharata, Snake Vasuki awarded the strength of 10, 000 elephants to Bhima.
Out of many
great devotees of Shiva,
snake Vasuki holds a major significance. Ever
time a snake is seen around Shiva Lingam. In that very moment that venomous creature becomes sacred for a large segment of humanity.
Snake becomes one of
the attributes of
Lord Shiva and Snake on the Lingam
represent the Kundalini Shakti of Lord Shiva as we all know Shiva is
Hiranyagarbha in
himself which means the cosmic seed of the universe.
Therefore snake is worshipped when it coils around Shiva Lingam.
Samudra Manthan time
snake Vasuki was used
as a rope for the crunching of the sheer Sagar.
When the cosmic Halahal came out from that process, everyone requested
Shiva, and
Mahadev swallowed Halahal in order to protect the
whole cosmos from its adverse effect.
Shiva's throat turned blue due to consumption of it, but
Goddess Parvati stopped its inflow at Shiva's throat so that it could not
reach to the Shiva's heart where Narayan lives.
At that moment Vasuki with his fellow snakes and
Shiva's bull Nandi consumed few drops of Halahal accompanying Shiva. Everyone
was amazed by seeing Halahal not harming Vasuki and Nandi.
Shiva gave the blessing to both of them that they have given
their contribution in maintaining the balance of the world.
Therefore,
Nandi and Vasuki togetherly worshipped at the
Shivalaya.
- The three coils of
Vasuki on Shiva's neck represent all three dimension of time, Past, Present, and Future. That defines why Shiva is known as
Mahakaal .
- The three coils of Vasuki also reflect that Shiva
is beyond the fundamental nature of existence which is Rajas, Tamasic, and Satva.
- The coil of Vasuki around Shiva's neck also
symbolizes that Shiva is beyond of cycle of birth death and rebirth.
- The Coil of the snake Vasuki on the neck of Shiva
represents that Shiva resides within every individual in the form of dormant inner consciousness.
That consciousness is the Kundalini Shakti within every individual.
- You can invoke dormant inner consciousness through meditation and Yoga Kriya stored in the coil form of Cobra Vasuki inside your Nadi's.
- Snake usually
represents darkness & ego. Shiva wears Snake Vasuki around his neck. The head is on the right side signifying that man must follow the
path of righteousness and drawbacks can be wear as ornaments.
- Snake Vasuki on Shiva's neck means who so ever take refugee of
Shiva, gets liberation from their wickedness.
It is the Lord Shiva snake story which reveals the kindness of Shiva. The story describes the war between Snake
and eagle community.
At the beginning of the
creation, Lord Brahma assigned the lowest realm Patal Loka to the snakes.
They were not allowed to come on the
surface of the earth whereas Snakes were restless inside the Patal Loka.
Goddess Shakti Separation with Shiva turned Bholenath into supreme
Vairagi. As a result, Shiva detached
himself from the worldly interference.
Shiva dispassion created a certain kind of imbalance in the world. Lord Brahma and
Lord Vishnu were concerned about the irregularity of the world.
Shiva is the
Aradhya of serpent community.
By taking benefit of the situation,
snakes
Chanted Shiva mantra and started
coming on earth surface.
Brahma noticed Snakes appearance on the earth surface and complained about it with Lord Vishnu.
After understanding the issue, Lord Vishnu ordered his vehicle Garuda (Eagle) to attack the entire snake community.
Garuda starts attacking snakes and killing them. Lord Vishnu's vehicle Garuda was strong that snake seeks help from their king
Vasuki.
Vasuki comes on the earth surface and orders Garuda to stop the cruelty of killing snakes.
Consequently,
Garuda informs Vasuki that he is following Lord Vishnu's command.
A fierce battle gets started between Vasuki
and Garuda.
Vasuki was the king of the serpents, and Garuda was the king of the Eagle community. A devastating war gets
started between eagle and snake community.
Garuda's were strong than Snakes; they started killing snakes one by one.
The
strength of the snakes getting down in the war and
Vasuki seeks refuge to Shiva.
Entire snake community was
requesting Shiva to protect them from the attacks of Garudas.
Finally, Shiva appears there to protect his devotee
Vasuki. By seeing Shiva, Garuda gets afraid.
Garudas realize that now they have no chances for their survival. They seek
help from Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu appears there to protect his devotee Garuda.
Now Shiva was protecting his devotee
Vasuki, and Lord Vishnu was protecting his devotee Garuda.
Lord Vishnu praises
the simplicity of Shiva as Bholenath. Rudra accepts the warm wishes of Lord
Vishnu.
Seeing Shiva taking interesting in the worldly phenomena, Lord Vishnu gets delighted. Lord Vishnu convince Shiva
that Garuda will not attack snakes further.
Shiva gives regards to Lord Vishnu. As
Ram Naamresides in Shiva's heart, and Lord Vishnu is too dear to
Shiva.
Vasuki was hurt and in pain; therefore, Shiva gives shelter to Vasuki on the
Mount Kailash.
As we known temperature of the Kailash is cold,
snake Vasuki explains to Shiva that coldness of
Kailash
Parvat is unendurable for him.
Therefore
Shiva gives shelter to Snake Vasuki around his neck.
Conclusion
In this post, we have answered the name of
the snake around Shiva's neck.
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