Śiva Aṣṭa-Mūrti

Śiva Aṣṭa-Mūrti is the teaching that Bhagavān Śiva, also called Mahādeva, fills the whole world through eight bodies (tanus). The eight bodies are Sūrya (the sun), Jala (water), Pṛthvī (earth), Vāyu (wind), Agni (fire), Ākāśa (sky), the Dīkṣita Brāhmaṇa (the consecrated yajamāna) and Soma (the moon).

Each body has its own name of Śiva. Each is joined with a wife and has a son. Each has its own niyamas (rules) for how a person must behave towards it. This is told in the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 10.

How the eight names were given

At the start of this kalpa (age of creation), Nīlalohita was born from the lap of Brahmā. The newborn child wept. Brahmā comforted him and asked: “Why do you weep?” The child said: “O Pitāmaha, first give me a name.” Brahmā said: “You are Rudra, Soma’s companion.” The child wept again. Brahmā gave a second name: “You are Bhava.” Again the child wept. So it went on through eight namings. Each time he wept, Brahmā gave him another name. At the eighth, “You are Mahādeva”, the child stopped crying.

Then Nīlalohita said: “Give a place (sthāna) and a body (tanu) to each of these names.” Brahmā gave eight places to the eight names: Sūrya, Jala, Pṛthvī, Vāyu, Agni, Ākāśa, the Dīkṣita Brāhmaṇa and Soma. From that moment the whole world was filled by Śiva in these eight forms. Each form has its own name and is joined with a wife, and through each a son was born for the world.

The eight bodies in a table

The eight bodies and their rules

Rudra and Sūrya

Brahmā said: “Rudra is your first name. Sūrya is your first body.” As he spoke, the tejas (radiance) of the body of Śiva shone as a single eye and entered the sun. For this reason Sūrya is known as Rudra.

Rules. Do not look straight at the rising or the setting sun. A person who wants long life (āyuṣkāma) must never look at the sun at those times. The brāhmaṇa must honour the sun at the two saṃdhyās (junctions of the day), reciting hymns of the Ṛk, Yajus and Sāman. The sun rests in the Ṛk hymns at dawn and in the Yajus hymns at noon, and at the western hour Rudra rests in the late rays. Never pass water facing the sun. Rudra does not trouble those who keep these rules.

Bhava and Jala

Brahmā said: “Bhava is your second name. Jala (water) is your second body.” As he spoke, the fluid essence (rasa) entered the body of Śiva and became his form. All beings are born from him, and he lives in all beings through water. So he is called Bhava, from the root bhū, “to become” or “to be”.

Rules. Do not pass water or stool in water. Do not spit in water. Do not bathe without clothes. Do not have intercourse (mithuna) in water. Do not stop flowing water from its course. Do not speak ill of water. Avoid water that is salty, foul-smelling, coloured or too little. Water that reaches the ocean is made pure and becomes amṛta (the drink of immortality). Bhava does not trouble those who honour water.

Śarva and Pṛthvī

Brahmā said: “Śarva is your third name. Bhūmi (earth) is your third body.” As he spoke, the firm, steady bones (asthi) of the body of Śiva entered the earth. For this reason the earth carries the name Śarva.

Rules. Do not pass water or stool on ploughed land, under trees, on the road or in your own shadow. Cover your head with a cloth and cover the ground with grass before you relieve yourself. Śarva does not trouble those who honour the earth in this way.

Īśāna and Vāyu

Brahmā said: “Īśāna is your fourth name. Vāyu (wind) is your fourth body.” As he spoke, the prāṇa (life-breath), which lives in the body of Śiva in five forms, entered the wind. For this reason the wind is called Īśāna.

Rules. Do not speak ill of the wind. Do not face against the wind, that is, keep the wind at your back. Honour the wind through the rules of yajña. Maheśāna, who fills the wind, makes it blow fiercely against a person who acts wrongly. Īśāna does not trouble those who keep the rules of the wind.

Paśupati and Agni

Brahmā said: “Paśupati is your fifth name. Agni (fire) is your fifth body.” As he spoke, the burning tejas of the body of Śiva entered fire. Agni is called Paśupati because fire is itself a paśu (a living being that is consumed), and Śiva protects the paśus through fire.

Rules. Do not burn unclean things (amedhya) in fire. Do not warm your feet straight at the fire. Do not put fire below your feet. Do not step over fire. Do not spit in fire. Paśupati does not trouble those who keep these rules of fire.

Bhīma and Ākāśa

Brahmā said: “Bhīma is your sixth name. Ākāśa (sky or space) is your sixth body.” As he spoke, the open hollow (suṣira) of the body of Śiva, the very space inside the body, entered the sky. So the sky is the body of Bhīma, and Śiva is remembered as filling the sky.

Rules. Do not leave stool or urine uncovered, that is, without cloth over the lap. Do not eat, drink or have intercourse without a proper covering. Do not throw away leftover food (ucchiṣṭa) uncovered. Bhīma does not trouble those who behave with such decency.

Ugra and the Dīkṣita Brāhmaṇa

Brahmā said: “Ugra is your seventh name. The Dīkṣita Brāhmaṇa, the consecrated yajamāna, is your seventh body.” As he spoke, the caitanya (consciousness) of the body of Śiva entered the brāhmaṇa who has taken dīkṣā (consecration) and is performing a soma yajña. As long as a brāhmaṇa is dīkṣita and busy as a somayājī (one who offers the soma), he is Ugra, a form of Śiva himself.

Rules. Never insult, argue with or speak ill of a dīkṣita brāhmaṇa. Never stand against him. Those who speak ill of a consecrated yajamāna are destroyed. Ugra does not trouble those who honour the dīkṣita.

Mahādeva and Soma

Brahmā said: “Mahādeva is your eighth name. Soma (the moon) is your eighth body.” As he spoke, the mind (manas) of Śiva, full of saṃkalpa (resolve) and dhyāna (meditation), entered the moon. So Candra is called Mahādeva. Because Soma carries the rabbit, Mahādeva is also called Śaśī. Candra is the mind of all beings. He grows and shrinks, and he is navo navo bhavati, ever new.

Rules. On amāvāsyā (the new-moon day) do not cut trees, bushes or healing plants (oṣadhīs). Mahādeva fills the moon, and Soma is the ātmā (soul) of all plants. So cutting plants on amāvāsyā is to wound Śiva himself. Do yoga-kriyā on the night of amāvāsyā. Mahādeva does not trouble those who keep these rules.

What the eight bodies are within a being

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa explains the eight bodies as the inner make-up of a living being and of the cosmos:

• Rudra and Sūrya are the eye of the sun, the bright tejas outside.
• Bhava and Jala are the rasa, the fluid on which all life rests.
• Śarva and Pṛthvī are the bony, steady part, the firm base.
• Īśāna and Vāyu are the prāṇa, the fivefold breath, the life-wind.
• Paśupati and Agni are the digestive fire that cooks the food eaten, the heat of the body (pācaka).
• Bhīma and Ākāśa are the hollows and openings of the body through which the vāyu moves freely.
• Ugra and the Dīkṣita are the caitanya of the consecrated sacrificer, the conscious body of ritual.
• Mahādeva and Soma are the mind (saṃkalpa and dhyāna) that is in all beings.

The text says:

This whole visible world is filled by Rudra through these bodies and names. One who knows Parameśvara through these names and bodies becomes prājāvat (rich in children and descendants) and reaches sāyujya (union) with Bhava.

The name Mahādeva

The chapter tells why Rudra alone is called Mahādeva. It says that by his tejas he rose above all the devas, and the lords among the ṛṣis and among the asuras. By jñāna (knowledge) he rose above all the munis. By yoga he rose above all beings (bhūtas). So in all the worlds Mahādeva alone is greeted with honour.

He is Sthāṇu, the Immovable One. When Brahmā asked him to go on with creation, he said sthito’smi, “I stand firm”, as a brahmacārin (one who keeps celibacy). He stayed ūrdhvaretas (with his seed held steady) until pralaya (the dissolution), and he handed the rest of creation to others.

The accounts of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and the Vāyu Purāṇa

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapters 47 and 49) and the Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 27) both give the same eight names and places in much the same order. They name different wives for two of the forms.

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Pūrva Bhāga, Chapter 10
• Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Chapters 47 and 49
• Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 27