IS HANUMAN AN AVTARA OF SHIVA?

IS HANUMAN AN AVTARA OF SHIVA?



Firstly, It is important to understand that Shiva on a Philosophical level is the whole universe. He exists in every particle. He is all that you see and all that you do not see. Thus, be it you, me, an ant, a dog, Ram, Krishna or Hanuman. Every thing and everyone has the Shiva tattva.
Coming to mythology and religion. It is important for you to understand the difference between “AVTAR” and “ROOPA”.
AVTAR-
  1. Avtars like rama, krishna, narsimha etc are dependent in origin. They are born to someone and cant create themselves
  2. Avtars come in every yuga for a specific purpose as per will of lord.
  3. Avtars have karmas
  4. Because Avtars have karmas, they are prone to birth, death, pain, pleasure and rebirth
  5. Despite being superhuman, Avtars are limited in power (refer to Ramayan where Ram had to pray to parthiv linga to cross the ocean or to Mahabharata where Krishna had to pray to Shiva in order to get a son)
ROOPA-
  1. A roop is “Swayambhu” or it is manifestation of lord at his own will. A roopa is not dependent on origin. It doesn’t need a mother or father to be born
  2. Roopa is not limited by time or yuga and it can appear as and when lord wishes
  3. Roopa has no karma as God is free from karma.
  4. Since Roopa has no karmas, it is beyond birth, death, pain, misery and need not live like human and Avtars.
  5. Roopa is all powerfull and not dependent on anything.
It is now important for you to know that as per scriptures Shiva has no avtar. All Shiva texts prohibit avtarhood because Shiva has no karma that he should be born or should die as a human/ avtar. However, at various times Shiva has assumed various Roopas to set the universal maya in motion (Maya must not be confused as something negative. Maya and Shakti are tools of Shiva through which he sets the universal order)
According to Shaiva granthas , Shiva has taken 9 forms. The below mentioned 9 forms, depict the 3 states of Shiva -formless, formless-form and with form. The first 4 states are formless and the source of creation. The 5th state is the most popular state which is known as “SHIVA LINGA”, it is partially visible and partially invisible and the visible forms are the last 4:
  1. Shiva
  2. Shakti
  3. Naad
  4. Bindu
  5. Sada Shiva
  6. Rudra
  7. Maheshwara
  8. Brahma
  9. Vishnu
Thus, if you see Shiva has no roopa that is dependent in origin. A lot of people ask questions like “Veerbhadra, Bhairava, Pashupati etc are also his Avtars?” The answer is that these are various names mentioned in the Shiva Sahastranama, each name depicts a certain quality of Lord but doesn’t limit him to those qualities These are names of Shiva but not his Avtars or roopas.For eg: Bholaynath-he who is pleased easily, Bhujgendra-he who wears the serpent as a garland, Pashupatinath-Lord of animals, Guru-Teacher and many other.
COMING TO YOUR QUESTION SPECIFICALLY:
Out of the 1000 names of Shiva, the following are also his names
Vishwakarta, Vishwam, kala
(These are also the same names of hanuman in 108 names of hanuman)
Shiva is also known as the following in 100 names of him:
Hari, sanatan, vasu
(These names you will find in vishnu sahastranaaam also and vishnu is refered to as hara in it)
These are only examples that I have given…..there are various other names of Shiva. This simply means that “Rama, Krishna, Hanuman are merely various names given to Shiva”. Similarly, you and me are also not different……….we just have been given diff names.
Rama and hanuman or even ravan and sita are nothing else but variations of Shiva…..they all had Shiva tattva in them but they were not completely Shiva. This is called Bheda-Abheda. For eg:- you have ur fathers tattva in u but u are not your father. Thus, You can consider hanuman,krishna, rama, tarkasur, ravan, sita or anyone as a part of the supreme ass they all have divine tattva in them but they cant be Shiva……….when they get mukti they become like shiva but are still not Shiva coz Shiva is karmaless.

Diya Vandana Sharma
PhD Scholar-Advait Vedanta
Department Of Philosophy
Annamalai University

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