In ancient times, long after creation had begun but before the illusion of separateness had taken over, a profound question arose among the celestial beings and sages:

Who is greater—Shiva or Shakti?

Some believed it was Shiva, the formless consciousness, the eternal ascetic, detached and still. Others insisted it was Shakti, the dynamic force behind creation, the mother of all movement and life.

The question stirred debate across the realms, creating confusion and duality even in the most enlightened minds. To resolve this, the rishis and devas approached Lord Shiva on Mount Kailash. With folded hands, they offered prayers and humbly asked him to reveal the truth.

Shiva, seated in deep meditation, heard their plea. A gentle smile appeared on his lips. Without a word, he closed his eyes once again.

In that moment, a powerful energy enveloped the space, and the skies shimmered with radiance. What the sages and devas saw next was beyond imagination—a form that defied all division and dissolved all doubt.

From the meditative glow of Shiva emerged a divine being: half-male, half-female. The right side of the form was Shiva himself—calm, ash-smeared, serpent-adorned, with the crescent moon in his hair and a trident in his hand. The left side was Parvati—resplendent, adorned with bangles, flowers, and red silks, her eyes filled with motherly grace and creative power.

The entire cosmos paused in reverence. The being spoke—not in thunder, but in a voice that resonated like the sound of AUM itself: “I am Ardhanarishvara. I am not two—I am one. Shiva and Shakti are not separate. Without Shakti, I am still, silent, and inert. Without Shiva, Shakti is wild, ungrounded, and without purpose. Together, we are the source, the movement, the end, and the beginning of all that is.”

The sages and devas bowed with tears in their eyes. All distinctions between male and female, doer and witness, ceased to matter. They saw not two gods, but one reality. That day, duality was dissolved by the divine vision of unity.

Thus, Ardhanarishvara became the eternal symbol of balance and oneness, showing that masculine and feminine, power and peace, form and formlessness are not opposites—they are one essence appearing as two. Those who worship Shiva without Shakti, or Shakti without Shiva, worship incompletely. But those who see them as one, see the truth.

Even today, when a seeker closes their eyes in true meditation, beyond name and form, what shines within is the same Ardhanarishvara—pure union, eternal oneness, the dance of stillness and motion, the absolute truth of existence.