Who Lord Shiva is
Shiva is one of the three principal deities of the Hindu trimurti — the dissolver in the Brahma–Vishnu–Shiva schema — and in the Shaiva tradition he is the supreme reality from which the cosmos arises and into which it returns. His names — Mahadeva (the great god), Mahesha, Bholenath (the simple-hearted lord), Neelkantha (the blue-throated), Nataraja (lord of the dance), Pashupati (lord of beasts) — each carry a story, a region, a way of approach.
He is depicted as both ascetic and householder. As ascetic he sits in deep meditation on Mount Kailash, smeared with ash, his hair matted, the Ganga descending through his locks, the crescent moon at his brow, the serpent Vasuki around his neck. As householder he is the husband of Parvati and father of Ganesh and Kartikeya. Both portraits are held simultaneously in the tradition; neither is more authoritative than the other.
The lingam
The most distinctive object of Shiva worship is the lingam — a vertical, often cylindrical form placed in a yoni base. In Shaiva theology the lingam is anaadi anantam — without beginning or end — the formless reality made available to the senses for the purpose of devotion. It is not, as is sometimes claimed in colonial-era writing, a phallic symbol in the modern psychological sense; it is the mark (the literal meaning of linga) of the unmanifest absolute.
Festivals and worship days
Maha Shivaratri — the great night of Shiva — falls on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight of Phalguna (February–March) and is observed with night-long fasts, vigils, and recitations. Sawan (the lunar month of Shravana, July–August) is a month of intensified Shiva worship, particularly through the Kanwar Yatra — pilgrims walking with pots of Ganga water to pour on Shiva lingams.
Monday is the conventional weekly day for Shiva worship; the Mondays of Sawan are particularly important.
What devotees seek
Shiva is invoked for the dissolution of what no longer serves — accumulated grief, stuck patterns, attachments that have outlived their usefulness — and for the deep stillness that makes that dissolution survivable. He is the patron of yogis, ascetics, householders in difficulty, and those who find their lives at a turning point.
The Shiva Chalisa collected here is one of the widely recited compositions for daily and Shivaratri practice. The Mahamrityunjaya mantra, the Rudra Suktam, and the Shiva Tandava Stotram are other classic Shiva texts that will be added in subsequent passes.