Bhairava

Shiva in one of his most fearsome, terrifying aspects. In this aspect, He is said to destroy the false self.

When referring to the nondifferentiated essential form of Bhairava or the nondifferentiated Self, Tantric writers are emphasizing the utterly transcendent, uncreated aspect of God. In this aspect God cannot be known intellectually. He is the eternal, witnessing Subject that can never be an object of thought. Although He is the source of those attributes which characterize created objects, He himself cannot be characterized.

The word, Bhairava, can be derived etymologically in two different ways:

1. The syllables of the name represent the initial syllables of the Sanskrit words for projecting, maintaining, and withdrawing. In other words, the name Bhairava characterizes God's relationship with the created universe. First He projects it, then He maintains it, and finally He withdraws it back into Himself.

    

2. Alternatively, the name may also derive from two Sanskrit words which have been joined together, i.e. the Sanskrit words for light and comprehends. According to Jaideva Singh, this derivation suggests that Bhairava is the Light of consciousness which comprehends the entire universe in His very Self.