महादेव
ॐ नमः शिवाय
The Great God. The Auspicious One. Destroyer of ignorance, lord of yogis, stillness at the heart of the cosmic dance.
Welcome, Seeker
Mahadev — “the Great God” — is the name by which devotees call Lord Shiva, the third of the Trimurti, the supreme consciousness of the Shaiva tradition, and the beloved Bholenath who is moved by the simplest sincere offering. He is the ascetic on Mount Kailash and the cosmic dancer Nataraja; the fierce destroyer of evil and the gentlest of householders beside Mata Parvati. This site is a small offering at his feet: his stories, his mantras, his sacred abodes and his festivals.
कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसारसारं भुजगेन्द्रहारम् ।
सदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानीसहितं नमामि ॥
“White as camphor, the embodiment of compassion, the essence of the world — I bow to Bhava, with Bhavani, who ever dwells in the lotus of the heart.”
Karpura Gauram — traditional aarti shloka
One Lord, Infinite Faces
Every name of Shiva opens a different door to the same boundless truth.
आदियोगी
Adiyogi
The first yogi and the first guru, who poured the science of yoga into the Saptarishis on the banks of lake Kantisarovar.
नटराज
Nataraja
Lord of the Dance, whose tandava is the rhythm of creation, preservation and dissolution — the universe itself kept in motion.
भोलेनाथ
Bholenath
The innocent, easily-pleased Lord. A leaf of bilva, a handful of water, one heartfelt “Namah Shivaya” — and he is won.
नीलकण्ठ
Neelakantha
The blue-throated one, who drank the halahala poison of the churning ocean to save all creation, holding it in his throat.
Kailash — The Still Centre of the World
Rising 6,638 metres over the Tibetan plateau, Mount Kailash is revered as the earthly seat of Mahadev and Mata Parvati. Unclimbed and held inviolable, it is circumambulated by pilgrims of four faiths, for whom a single parikrama of its 52 kilometres is said to dissolve the sins of a lifetime.
Near its base lies Manasarovar, the lake born of Brahma's mind — its waters, like the Lord who dwells above them, perfectly still.
Read His StoriesBegin With One Mantra
Five syllables — Na‑Mah‑Shi‑Va‑Ya — carry the whole of him. Learn the great mantras of Shiva with word-by-word meaning, and keep count with the japa mala.
Open the Mantras