Fear or detachment? After all, why does Mahadev sit among the dead wrapped in ashes? Revealing the biggest truth of the universe.

News India Live, Digital Desk: There would hardly be anyone in the world who is not afraid of the name ‘death’ or ‘cremation’. We all run away from that place which is called the last stage of life. But just think, why did the one whom we call ‘Mahadev, the God of Gods’, who is the master of the entire creation, leave the pleasures of heaven and choose that dreadful ash and desolate cremation ground to live?

As simple as this question sounds, its answer is equally deep and soul touching. Let us try to understand this from a simple and human perspective.

1. A place to face the truth
We keep running after comforts, relationships and egoism our whole life. But the crematorium is the only place where all the masks of a human being are removed. There is neither rich nor poor there. Shiva’s stay in the crematorium reminds us that this body is ‘mortal’ and in the end everyone has to turn into dust (ashes) here. Shiva prefers to live with the bitter but eternal truth that the world ignores.

2. Shiva’s love for ‘Bhasma’
Mahadev wraps the ashes of the pyre (Bhasma) on his entire body. It has a very big meaning. Fire burns everything, but what remains in the end is the ‘essence’—that is, ash. Bhasma symbolizes that when the vices, desires and ego within you are burnt, then you become completely pure and close to Shiva.

3. End social discrimination
We often draw walls between ‘auspicious’ and ‘inauspicious’. Temple is auspicious and crematorium is inauspicious. But Shiva is complete. There is no difference for them. They also provide shelter to those ghosts and spirits whom the society rejects. Living in the crematorium also means that God is present even in that place which we have abandoned.

4. Peace and ultimate renunciation
The noise of the world often makes our mind restless. Shiva is the ultimate yogi, he loves peace and void. The crematorium is a place where there is silence, where all illusions come to an end. It is in this emptiness that the path to meditation and salvation opens. Mahadev teaches us that unless you ‘eliminate’ the old identity, a new consciousness will not be ‘born’.