"Vision of Pure Knowledge"

 

Parameshwara is described in the Shiva Purana as three-eyed. The Self, the Pure Consciousness, not only illumines through the vehicles of the world as perceived by us in our present state of consciousness, but also has a vision of its own, which can be experienced by us only when we transcend the vehicles. Lord Shiva is thus pictured as having not only the fleshy eyes of the mortal, but also a 'third eye' on His forehead - the Eye of Intuition, the Vision of Pure Knowledge. It is described in the Shiva Purana that in His ecstasy of joy, dancing in His meditation seat, when He opens His third eye, the entire world of names and forms around Him gets burnt down. This is one of the incomparable mystic pictures that signify the mighty one, who, on waking up to God Consciousness, transcends the limited vision of the world of names and forms and comes to live the Universal Oneness.

~Swami Chinmayananda