Since Lord Siva is the greatest soul among the living entities within this material world, his name, Siva, is very auspicious for persons who identify the body with the soul. If such persons take shelter of Lord Siva, gradually they will understand that they are not the material body but are spirit soul. Siva means mangala, or auspicious. Within the body the soul is auspicious. : I am Brahman. This realization is auspicious. As long as one does not realize his identity as the soul, whatever he does is inauspicious. Siva means auspicious, and devotees of Lord Siva gradually come to the platform of spiritual identification, but that is not all. Auspicious life begins from the point of spiritual identification. But there are still more dutiesone has to understand ones relationship with the Supreme Soul. If one is actually a devotee of Lord Siva, he comes to the platform of spiritual realization, but if he is not intelligent enough, then he stops at that point, only realizing that he is spirit soul (). If he is intelligent enough, however, he should continue to act in the way of Lord Siva, for Lord Siva is always absorbed in the thought of Vasudeva. As previously explained, sattvam visuddham vasudeva-sabditam: Lord Siva is always in meditation on the lotus feet of Vasudeva, Sri Krsna. Thus the auspicious position of Lord Siva is realized if one takes to the worship of Visnu, because Lord Siva says in the Siva Purana that the topmost worship is worship of Lord Visnu. Lord Siva is worshiped because he is the greatest devotee of Lord Visnu. One should not, however, make the mistake of considering Lord Siva and Lord Visnu to be on the same level. That is also an atheistic idea. It is also enjoined in the Vaisnaviya Purana that Visnu, or Narayana, is the exalted Supreme Personality of Godhead, and no one should be compared to Him as equal, even Lord Siva or Lord Brahma, not to speak of other demigods.