Nandi (Vrushabha)

  Nandi is the first icon that we see when we enter a Shiva temple. It is significant that Shiva rides the Bull, 'nandi', rather, nandi carries Shiva on his back. The first mention of nandi is also there i the Vedic texts. It is 'vrushabha. Incidentally, Vrushabha is also said to be the first Vardhamana of the Jains and they worship him. Now, it is intriguing what is the significance of nandi, rather, vrushabha!

   Nandi is symbol of strength, stability, potency, seed of creation. There is more to understand here about nandi from the Vedic texts. The first to emanate from the Sun is the sunrays. The sunrays traveled in all directions. the sunrays had the inherent qualities of light, heat, creative power and, this energy penetrated the entire realm of their influence. This is called the male and the female components- 'yam' and 'yim' ('ying' and 'yang').Incidentally, 'yam' is the seed-letter (bijakshara) of Fire Principle (agni tattva) and includes Time (kala- 'ya' and 'ma'). The seed letter 'yim' is its creative power (kriya shakti). The companions started the dialogue and 'ying' asked yang to unite with her. Yang refused saying that they are the siblings and cannot unite. But Ying was in no mood to hear this and turned herself into a cow and Yang to a bull. The cow invited the bull and went into the hiding and came out with the bull and a calf! In reality, there is neither a cow, bull or a calf.  This suffices for the history of creation! It is significant that the bull and the cow are significant in creation. Cow ('gou') stands for Light, the galaxy of Stars ksheer patha, or akash ganga (gou loka), It also stands for Knowledge (jnyan). The Bull is the seedof creation, creative power!