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The Story of Shiva's Third Eye and Its Hidden Symbolism

1. The story explains that Shiva opened his third eye and burned the god of love and lust, Kama, to ashes for disturbing Shiva's meditation with an arrow. 2. The yogic dimension of the story is that by opening his third eye, Shiva was able to perceive within himself that which is beyond the physical, allowing all compulsions of the physical to drop away. 3. The third eye refers symbolically to seeing beyond the physical world through inward perception, free from the distortions of karma and past memories. It provides a clarity of vision no external situation can disturb.

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134 views4 pages

The Story of Shiva's Third Eye and Its Hidden Symbolism

1. The story explains that Shiva opened his third eye and burned the god of love and lust, Kama, to ashes for disturbing Shiva's meditation with an arrow. 2. The yogic dimension of the story is that by opening his third eye, Shiva was able to perceive within himself that which is beyond the physical, allowing all compulsions of the physical to drop away. 3. The third eye refers symbolically to seeing beyond the physical world through inward perception, free from the distortions of karma and past memories. It provides a clarity of vision no external situation can disturb.

Uploaded by

gullapalli123
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Story of Shiva’s Third Eye

and Its Hidden Symbolism


Article Stories Of Shiva

Sadhguru explains the symbolism of Shiva’s third eye and how clarity and
perception arise when the third eye opens up. He also narrates a story
related to how Shiva burnt Kama with his third eye.
When Shiva Opened His Third Eye
There is a story about how Shiva opened his third eye. In India, there is a god
of love and lust called Kamadeva. Kama means lust. Lust is something that
most people do not like to face head on. You want some aesthetics around it,
so you make it love! The story goes that Kama hid behind a tree and shot an
arrow at Shiva’s heart. Shiva got a little disturbed. So he opened his third eye,
which is a fiery eye, and burnt Kama to ashes. This is the story that is
generally told to everyone.

But please ask yourself, does your lust arise within you or behind a tree? It
arises within you, of course. Lust is not just about the opposite sex. Every
desire is lust, whether it is for sexuality, power or position. Lust essentially
means there is a sense of incompleteness within you, a longing for
something that makes you feel, “If I don’t have that, I am not complete.”

Shiva’s Third Eye: The Yogic Dimension


Based on this, the story of Shiva and Kama has a yogic dimension to it. Shiva
was working towards Yoga, which means he was not just working towards
being complete, but towards being limitless. Shiva opened his third eye and
saw Kama, his own lust, coming up and burnt it. Ash slowly oozed out of his
body, showing that everything within was laid to rest for good. By opening up
the third eye, he perceived a dimension within himself which is beyond the
physical, and all the compulsions of the physical dropped away.

What is Shiva’s Third Eye?


The third eye refers to an eye which can see that which is not physical. If you
look at your hand, you can see it because it stops and reflects light. You
cannot see the air because it does not stop light. But if there was a little
smoke in the air, you would be able to see it because you can see only that
which stops light. You cannot see anything that allows light to pass through.
This is the nature of the two sensory eyes.
The sensory eyes can grasp that which is physical. When you want to see
something that is not physical in nature, the only way to look is inward. When
we refer to the “third eye”, we are symbolically talking about seeing
something that the two sensory eyes cannot see.

The sensory eyes are outward-oriented. The third eye is to see your
interiority – the nature of yourself and your existence. It is not some extra
appendage or crack in your forehead. That dimension of perception through
which one can perceive that which is beyond the physical is referred to as the
third eye.

Looking At Life Through The Third Eye


Another aspect is that the sensory eyes are deeply contaminated by karma.
Karma means the residual memory of past actions. Everything that you see is
influenced by this karmic memory. You cannot help it. If you look at
someone, you will think, “He is nice, he is not nice, he is good, he is bad.” You
will not be able to see anything the way it is because the karmic memory
influences this vision and your ability to see. It will only show you everything
the way your karma is, the way your past memories are.

To be able to see everything just the way it is, an eye of deeper penetration –
which is unsullied by memory – has to be opened up. Traditionally in India,
knowing does not mean reading books, listening to someone’s talks or
gathering information. Knowing means to open up a new vision or insight
into life. No amount of thinking and philosophizing can bring clarity to your
mind. The logical clarity that you create can easily be distorted. Difficult
situations can throw it completely into turmoil.

Perfect clarity arises only when your inner vision opens up. No situation or
person in the world can distort this clarity within you. For true knowing to
arise, your third eye has to open up.

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