There is a story that Brahma and Vishnu both share with great humility. It is a story that neither of them likes to tell but both know is true. And it is the story behind the most powerful title Shiva carries — Parameshwara, the Supreme Lord above all.
One day in the earliest ages of creation Brahma and Vishnu found themselves in a dispute. Both were immensely powerful. Brahma was the creator of all worlds. Vishnu was the protector of all life. Each believed himself to be the greatest among the gods. The dispute grew heated. The three worlds trembled at the argument between these two magnificent beings.
Then something extraordinary happened. A pillar of blazing light appeared between them. It had no beginning and no end. It stretched upward beyond the highest heaven and downward beyond the deepest region of existence. Neither Brahma nor Vishnu had ever seen anything like it.
Brahma said — I will fly upward and find the top of this pillar. He transformed into a swan and flew upward for thousands of years. He found nothing. There was no top. Vishnu said — I will dive downward and find the bottom. He became a great boar and dug downward for thousands of years. He found nothing. There was no bottom.
The two gods returned, exhausted and humbled. As they stood before the endless pillar of light it split open. And inside was Shiva. Mahadev stood there in quiet stillness, neither proud nor angry. He simply was. He said to Brahma and Vishnu with infinite gentleness — I am the beginning you cannot reach. I am the end you cannot find. I am Parameshwara. Not above you as a ruler above subjects. Above you as the sky is above the earth. Not competing. Simply containing everything.
Brahma and Vishnu bowed. The dispute was over. Not because they were defeated. But because they understood at last that there is something beyond the greatest. Something that does not need to compete or argue or prove. Something that simply is.
This is the meaning of Om Parameshwaray Namah. Param means supreme, the highest, the greatest. Ishwara means the Lord who governs. Parameshwara is the Lord above all lords. The god above all gods. The reality that contains Brahma’s creation and Vishnu’s protection and Shiva’s dissolution all within Itself, the way the sky contains clouds without becoming them.
When you carry your heaviest burdens — when your problems feel too large for any human solution, when you have knocked on every door and found them all closed — this is the mantra. Om Parameshwaray Namah. I bow to the One above all others. I surrender my problem to the only authority that truly has no limit. Not as an act of desperation. But as an act of the deepest wisdom.
Because if the pillar of light had no top and no bottom, then whatever you are carrying — however enormous it feels — is still contained within what Shiva is. He is not struggling with your problem from outside. He is the space within which your problem exists. And within that space, nothing is truly beyond resolution.
Chant Om Parameshwaray Namah 108 times today. Bow to the One who is above all. And feel the relief that comes when you stop trying to be your own god and surrender to the One who actually is. Har Har Mahadev! 🙏
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