Ashtamurtis and the Universal Form

In ancient Vedic Shaivism, we find two important concepts – the Panchabrahma and the Ashtamurti. The Panchabrahma concept remains very important through into modern Shaivism, whereas the Ashtamurti doctrine somewhat falls into the background, now largely forgotten and not understood.

The Panchabrahma explains the nature of Ishvara, the Lord, who is ever active in performing the panchakritya, the five acts of creation, sustenance, dissolution, concealment and revealing of His immanent nature. Sadashiva, the Lord, is, therefore, known through the five syllables: na, ma, shi, va, and ya; and His divine body is said to be made of the five Panchabrahma mantras. Panchabrahma explains the nature of Shiva beyond the field of Maya, beyond the phenomenal world, as its Overlord.

On the other hand, the Ashtamurti explains divine immanence – how the phenomenal world is also made up of and pervaded by Shiva. We have previously examined how the Ashtamurti forms rule over the phenomenal world, which is envisioned as composed of the eight elements – earth, water, air, fire and space (the five great elements, mahabhutas), the individual knower (known variously as jivatman, kshetrajna, anu, pashu or purusha), the Moon and the Sun (luminaries). The Ashtamurtis and their association with these elements inform us of two important doctrines of Shaivism: (1) the oneness of Shiva with the so-called elemental Gods of the Vedas; and (2) Divine immanence – the doctrine that Shiva not only pervades all of creation, but is also the pervaded, the very material of creation itself.

The oneness of Shiva with the so-called elemental Devas of the Veda is affirmed by association of the Ashtamurtis with the very elements they rule over. Sharva rules over earth, Bhava over water, Ugra over air, Rudra over fire, Bhima over space, Pashupati over the individual knower, Mahadeva over the Moon, and Ishana over the Sun, which correspond to Prithivi, Varuna, Vayu, Agni, Indra, Prajapati, Soma and Surya, respectively. Shiva is, therefore, the Lord praised by these very names in the Veda as the principal Deities therein. In the Veda, the so-called elemental Devas represent not only the elements themselves as well as the Deities of those elements, but also the higher psychic-spiritual principles as we equate the human body with the cosmos, the pinda with the brahmanda. Therefore, Shiva is not just the elements and the Ruler over these elements, but He is, as reaffirmed in later yogic language, the psychic-spiritual principles they present as well. Shiva is Vayu, representing prana; Shiva is Agni, representing consciousness, Shiva is Surya, representing enlightenment, Shiva is Soma, representing kundalini, etc. The ekam sat of the Veda, which is an idea that the Deities are an organic whole, is what we call Shiva. The Ashtamurtis are the vishvarupa, the universal form of Shiva, His divine immanence understood through the eight elements. Shiva is indeed all this!

All this (manifest creation) in ancient understanding is made up of the 5 mahabhutas – earth, water, air, fire and space. In modern parlance, we may understand this as matter in its three forms – solid, liquid and gas, plus energy and space. Beyond matter, energy and space, there is also the element of time. Time is represented by the Moon and the Sun because we use these celestial bodies to measure time – the Moon defines our conception of month, and the Sun defines the day, the seasons and year. The Sun, Moon and fire may together also be understood to represent light, which is not different than energy in our modern understanding. All these principles together make up the kshetra, the field of knowledge. Apart from this, there is the knower of the field, the kshetrajna, also known as purusha, jivatman, anu, or pashu, the knowing consciousness, which represents us individual beings. Indeed, these are the eight forms or Ashtamurtis of Shiva.

On a grosser level yet, the ancients understood the manifest universe to comprise of the three worlds – the physical, the subtle and the causal, or in Vedic terminology: prithivi, dhyaus and antariksha. The Ashtamurtis also cover this. Shiva as Sharva is indeed prithivi, Shiva as Bhima or Indra is indeed dhyaus, Shiva as Ishana or Surya is indeed antariksha.

The same doctrine seen here explaining Shiva as both the subjective and objective reality is further developed in the Shaiva Tantras using the terminology of shad-adhva. Although the terminology changes with the development of Sankhya and Tantric Shaivism and the early doctrine of the Ashtamurtis falls into the background, the base idea never does: Shiva is indeed all this! Sarvam Shivamayam Jagat ~ सर्वं शिवमयं जगत् |  

Aum Namah Shivaya.
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