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Shiva: God of Transformation
(click highlighted links to see images of Shiva)
Shiva is head of a family
of deities including various consorts (Kali, Durga) and sons (e.g., Ganesha).
Shiva appears in various forms such as Shiva Nataraj, "Lord of the
Dance" of life and of this world.
Learn
more about Shiva as Nataraj
See
Shiva do his dance of creation
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Embodies the power of
"constructive destruction" - for anything to come into being
something else must be transformed. Nothing in Samsara lasts forever. It is
in the purview of Shiva that things fade away.
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Shiva and his feminine
consorts are the destroyers of evil
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Shiva is also
associated with regenerative sexual power and reproduction, often symbolized
by the Lingam (male procreative organ) and Yoni (female
procreative organ). The Linga stone also represents the formless nature of
divinity. Like a lump of clay, it has potential to take any form or no form
in particular. (Hinduism encompasses all range of expressing and
understanding the nature of divinity.)
Learn
more about the Shiva Linga
Visit
the on-line galley of Shiva images
Relationship between
members of the Trimurti:
("Trimurti" refers to the "three-form" nature
of divinity)
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Brahma can be
understood as the static balance between the creative/preserving activity of
Vishnu and the destructive/transformative activity of Shiva.
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Brahma can be be seen
as the coin while Vishnu and Shiva are as its two sides, its
"heads" and "tails".
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Perhaps it is this less
active aspect of Brahma which gives him little focus of worship (in all of
India there is only one temple devoted especially to Brahma)
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