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Shiva - The Ultimate Outlaw

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Breaking the laws of physical nature is spiritual process. In this sense, we are outlaws, and Shiva is the ultimate outlaw. You cannot worship Shiva, but you may join the Gang.- Sadhguru
 CONTENTS
Ultimate Outlaw 


There is a beautiful incident that happened when Shiva and Parvati were to be married. Theirs was to be the greatest marriage ever. Shiva – the most intense human being that anyone could think of – was taking another being as a part of his life. Everyone who was someone and everyone who was no one turned up.
All of the devas and divine beings were present, but so were all the asuras or demons. Usually, if the devas came, the asuras would refuse to come, and vice versa. They just could not get along with each other. But since it was Shiva’s wedding, they decided to put aside their differences and sit together this one time. And because Shiva is Pashupati, the Lord of all creatures, all the animals, worms, insects and every other living creature showed up for the wedding. Even the goblins, ghosts and demented beings arrived as guests.
As it was a royal wedding – the wedding of a princess – it was preceded by an important ceremony: the bride and groom would each have their ancestral lineage announced. For a king, his lineage is the most important thing, the pride of his life. So with great pomp, Parvati’s lineage was announced. This went on for quite a while, and when they finally finished recounting all the details, they turned towards where the groom, Shiva, was sitting.
All the guests waited for someone to rise and speak about the glory of Shiva’s lineage, but no one said a word. The family of the bride wondered, “Isn’t there someone in his clan who can stand up and talk about the greatness of his lineage?” But there was no one. No parents, relatives or family of the groom had arrived because he had none. He had just come with his companions, the ganas, who looked like distorted beings. They could not even speak human language and made a strange cacophony of noises. They all seemed to be drunk and in all kinds of different states.
Parvati’s father, Parvat Raj, then requested Shiva, “Please tell us your antecedents.” 
Shiva just sat there silently, with a faraway look, neither looking at the bride nor excited about the wedding. He simply sat surrounded by his ganas, staring into nothingness. Repeatedly they asked him, because nobody would give their daughter in marriage to a man without knowing his ancestry. And they were in a great hurry because the auspicious time set for the wedding was quickly passing. But Shiva remained silent.
People of the society, the highborn kings and priests, looked at Shiva in great disdain and the gossip mill began to churn: “What is his lineage? Why is he not speaking up? Maybe he comes from some shameful, low-caste background.”
Then, sage Narada, who was present in the assembly, saw the turn that events were taking, picked up his veena and started plucking at a single string of the instrument. He kept playing the same note – “toing, toing, toing.” Irritated by this, Parvati’s father, Parvat Raj, lost his temper: “What is this nonsense? We want to hear the lineage of the groom, but he just ignores us. Am I supposed to marry my daughter to a man like this? And why are you making that annoying noise? Is that supposed to be an answer?”
Narada replied, “This one does not have parents.”
The King asked, “Do you mean to say he does not know who his parents are?”
“No. This one has no parentage. This one has no heritage. This one has no gotra. This one has nothing. All he has is himself.” 
The assembly was confused. Parvat Raj said, “We know people who don’t know who their father or mother is. Such unfortunate situations can happen. But everyone is born of someone. How can he not have a father or mother?” 
Narada replied, “Because he is swayambhu, the self-created. He has neither father nor mother. He has neither lineage nor parentage. He belongs to no tradition and does not have a kingdom to back him. He has neither gotra nor nakshatra, and no lucky star watches over him. He is beyond all that. He is a yogi who has embraced the existence as a part of himself. For him, there is only one lineage – sound. The primordial, non-existent nature, when it began to find existence, the first thing that came into existence was sound. His first manifestation is in the form of a single sound. Before that he was nothing. That is why I am plucking the string.”

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