By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik - Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
Shiva is called the destroyer because he destroys our desire — Kama, and he destroys death itself — Yama. Kama is associated with life, and Yama with death. Shiva destroys both the desire for life and the fear of death and thus he is the God of Liberation or ‘Moksha’. Imagine a world where we don’t have to do anything, and we don’t want anything, where there are no aspirations or obligations. Then we create Kailash, abode of Shiva, a world without wants or needs. When we live like Shiva without any wants and needs, we have no desire for wealth or power or success or staff.
