Know how Lord Shiva got the name Neelkanth, and how the effect of Lord Shiva’s poison was worked. –Neelkanth Mahadev
Neelkanth Mahadev Lord Shiva is called by many names by his devotees. Some call him Bholenath and some call him Mahadev and Mahesh. Shiva is also called Bhole because he does not differentiate between his devotees and to please him, he does not have to offer expensive or rare things like other gods and goddesses. Neelkanth is one of the many names of Lord Shiva. Bholenath is also known by his devotees as Neelkanth. Neelkanth Mahadev
How Lord Shiva got his name Neelkanth
According to Guru Maa Nidhi Ji Shrimali, there was once a churning of the ocean for nectar between the gods and the demons. This churning took place in the ocean of milk (Kshirsagar). Out of this, 14 gems emerged out of Lakshmi, Shankh, Kaustubhamani, Airavat, Parijat, Uchchaishrava, Kamdhenu, Kalkut, Rambha, Varuni Madira, Moon, Dhanvantari, Amrit and Kalpavriksha. With their cleverness, the gods succeeded in taking nectar from them. But poison came out along with them. This poison was so dangerous that one drop of it had the power to destroy the whole world. Knowing this, the gods and demons got scared and reached to Lord Shiva to find a solution. Lord Shiva found a solution for this that he himself would drink the whole pitcher of this poison. Shiv ji picked up that pitcher and he filled the terrible poison in his palms and drank it remembering Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu takes away the troubles of his devotees. He stopped that poison in the throat of Lord Shiva and ended its effect. Lord Shiva’s throat turned blue due to the poison and he became famous in the world as Nilankath. At the time when Lord Shiva was drinking poison, a few drops of poison fell down. Which were accepted by creatures like scorpions, snakes and some plants. Because of this poison, they became poisonous. After the effect of poison ended, all the deities started hailing Lord Shiva. Neelkanth Mahadev
Key was fed to Lord Shiva to get relief from the effects of poison.
Guru Maa Nidhi Ji Shrimali has told that Lord Shiva took Halahal poison in his throat to save the universe. Due to the effect of poison, his throat became blue and his whole body became very hot. The effect of poison did not remain only on his body, but because of it the surrounding environment also started heating up. The deities took out the solution to cool it in the form of belpatra. They knew that Belpatra reduces the effect of poison, so Shivaji was started feeding Belpatra. Water was also offered to Bholenath to keep him cool. With the effect of belpatra and water, the heat of Bholenath’s body slowly started to calm down. It is said that since then the practice of offering water and belpatra to Lord Shiva started. Neelkanth Mahadev
Milk of Gaumata Kamdhenu reduced the effect of poison.
When the mother cow Kamdhenu incarnated from the churning of the ocean, all the gods requested Lord Shiva to take the milk of Kamdhenu cow. But due to his nature of concern for mere living beings, Lord Shiva asked the milk to be accepted by him. Soft and pure milk by nature immediately accepted this humble request of Lord Shiva.
Shivji took milk, which reduced the intensity of the poison to a great extent, but his throat remained blue forever. It is believed that because milk tolerated the intensity of poison by going into Lord Shiva’s stomach to help the living beings of the world in difficult times without worrying about itself, therefore milk is very dear to Lord Shiva. Neelkanth Mahadev
Why is the moon sitting on the head of Shiva
The deadly effect of the poison began to fall on Lord Shiva and on Goddess Ganga sitting in Lord Shiva’s hair. In such a situation, even the coolness of the water was not enough to calm Shivji’s anxiety. It is said that in order to keep his head cool at the time of such distraction, Lord Shiva had decorated the moon on his hair. Neelkanth Mahadev
Why does the snake necklace remain around the neck of Lord Shiva?
The few drops of poison that had fallen here and there while Shiva was drinking poison were absorbed by some creatures like snakes and scorpions and stopped those drops of poison from spreading on the earth. That’s why snakes are also very dear to Shivji because snakes had absorbed the intensity of poison in themselves to reduce the effect of poison, therefore most of the snakes are poisonous. Neelkanth Mahadev
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