(BY UMESH CHANDRA CHAKRAVARTY)

From time immemorial the Hindus are worshipping God Siva who is master of truth, beauty and bliss. From the highest Himalayas on the north down to Rameswar in the south and from Chandranath hill on the east to Dwarka on the west the whole of India is filled up with Siva-temples here and there. So it is quite needless to give any acquaintance of God Siva to the Indians whom they are ever-familiar with. Their ins and outs are ever-filled up with the attributes of Siva and hearts ever spring with joy in His very worship! This Siva-worship is not only an object of outward form of Hindu-worship, but the Greatest Saint Acharya Sankara who perfectly realised within himself the true meaning of Indian worship of God Siva, declared quite clearly in one of the hymns called "Nirvana Shatkam" as follows:--"I am beyond all imaginations and forms, I do not obey any sense but all senses obey Me; there is nothing without Me, I am Siva Himself in the very Shape of Soul and Joy. This is the real description of Siva, the worshippers who proceed in their way with this true acquaintance of the worshipped

are surely blessed. His worship required no particular arrangement,--He is ever satisfied with two little prayers and offerings,--a drop of water, a leaf of bel and cheek-slap sounds only please Him the most. We have no second thing to offer to Him, the Atman or Soul is the only object of His offer. In His well-known hymn of salutation we find the following expression:--'We bow Thee down O God, full of infinite and calmness and the root cause of all the three worlds. I offer my soul unto Thee. Thou God of gods and Goal of all." Surrendering of the Self is His only mode of worship, which transform an earthly being to Divine being full of heavenly bliss. Hence a blessed holy person sing most loudly the highly esteemed song "Am Siva Himself am Siva Himself in the very shape of Soul and Joy!"