Shiva Is Not to Be Worshipped — He Is to Be Recognized in You
Shiva Is Not to Be Worshipped — He Is to Be Recognized in You The Story: Beyond the Idol, Into the Infinite Abhinavagupta never asked anyone to worship Shiva. He asked them to recognize Him. For the mystic of Kashmir Shaivism, Shiva was not an object of devotion — He was the subject of everything. Shiva wasn’t a deity sitting in some distant Kailasa; He was the very awareness seeing through your eyes, breathing through your lungs, and pulsing in your veins. When you bow before a Shiva linga, it’s not stone you worship — it’s the symbol of your own consciousness. The still center surrounded by movement. The eternal witnessing the temporary. The formless hidden in every form. To Abhinavagupta, enlightenment wasn’t about finding Shiva; it was about remembering you were never apart. The Illusion of Distance Most of us pray as if God were missing — as if the Divine were a goal, not our ground. We light lamps, chant names, and perform rituals hoping to “reach” Shiva. But...
