SHIVA AND SHAKTI Hindu Deities
The Shiva Purana says that the entire universe was created by SHIVA and SHAKTI. They symbolize two polar opposites, two absolutes and eternal: the Masculine and the Feminine, by their union give rise to the entire event.
The Hindu pantheon is populated by gods, and almost all have a party because you believe that any higher principle can exist only through a combination of masculine and feminine. Consequently, every male deity is conceived as inseparable from an Energy contrary feminine or Shakti. SHIVA is Pure Existence, the Divine Principle immortal. Shiva is pure consciousness, unconditional and transcendent. Shiva is the deity of the mind, the Lord of Yoga, the Master of the three worlds and the victor over death.
SHIVA is the principle of centrifugal force by which every life, every form, every cosmic system dissolves in the infinite immensity of the divine. Everything has its origin in Him that He is the expansion force of the world, is the energy source of existence, the principle of life, but also the principle of dissolution and transformation.
The transcendental force of SHIVA is a door that leads beyond the earthly things, ranging from the mundane to the metaphysical and raises understanding of the true nature of existence. And 'the penetrating power of pure consciousness is not separate, is ecstatic about the transcendent quality of evolution. Heaven and earth are in SHIVA their synthesis, since he is also in the world, nature, animals, the same thirst of life of every living being. SHIVA means Benigno and from this point of view is the beneficial aspect of divinity, and the ugly, is represented by Rudra or "Flaming", one who makes the tears flow.
The duality positive / negative increasingly characterizes the figure of Shiva. These parts are seemingly contradictory but actually refer to different aspects of appearance of the deity. In fact, his hypostases are numerous (1008) and each has some specific characteristics that are peculiar. Since everything vibrates, everything has a rhythm, Lord Shiva is also the rhythm and dance, and as such it gives rise to the world of forms. Its most important artistic representation is precisely known and Nataraja, Lord Shiva's Dance. The dance, considered a kind of magic, as it frees the supernatural forces of the dancer, Shiva is in a real creative act. As already mentioned, SHIVA can not be conceived without its female half, the SHAKTI.
He can become active only when the energy of Shakti gives him strength. Without Shakti, Shiva becomes Shava, ie a lifeless body. In Hinduism, Shakti is promoted to the rank of Mother of God, which feeds both the universe and all its creatures as so many manifestations of the gods. In what appears a kind of rediscovery of the religious mystery of the woman, because every woman is an incarnation of Shakti.
It symbolizes the irreducibility of the sacred and the divine, the elusive essence of ultimate reality. The Woman at the same time embodies the mystery of creation and the mystery of Being, of all that is and becomes, who dies and is reborn in an incomprehensible way. SHAKTI: from the root shak means being able to do, have the strength to do, to act, essentially it means power. It is the universal principle of energy, power and creativity. Shakti is inseparable from him who possesses it - Shaktiman, male principle, or the Universal Father. The universe is the product of this pair of opposites: a static (Shaktiman) the other dynamic (SHAKTI).
The exterior of everything is the creative aspect of the dynamic force, and within every creature dynamic is the static force, which is the core of phenomenal existence. SHIVA and SHAKTI are the opposition of the constitutive principles of the universe, the first is the spirit, the cosmic man (Purusha), the second is the energy of the world (Prakriti). The entire event is the product of the energy that comes from the power of their union that generates bliss that is the result of the joy and pleasure. The union of Shiva and Shakti symbolizes the impetus to bring together "being", the knowledge and power, energy, the transcendent and the immanent aspect aspect.
A SHIVA is the very being, the immutability, the nature of atma or conscious principle, Shakti is just to hand movement, change, it is the origin of each production, generation, and quickening. SHAKTI is what there is to be in a power not yet implemented in the form of SHIVA, SHIVA is hand in it that there is a unified and transmuted, the reunited with himself, a clear and bright. In particular, the first is all that is matter, body and mind, according to the conscious principle, and both occur in Tantrism thus only two ways to look like a single principle, a single reality.
Their ultimate synthesis is comparable to a flame that has consumed all matter and is now only itself, as pure energy or pure act. It is said that to sustain the universe and all its creatures, SHIVA, as absolute neutral, it is divided into two complementary parts. The union of the God and Goddess forms every living thing.
Mystical union of the couple goes the whole universe in its aspects of both static and stable, and dynamic, both in form and immaterial conscious and unconscious is immaterial. The elements active / passive, masculine / feminine, which appear only in their opposition, are really one.
Hindu iconography that thought is represented by an androgynous figure, half male and half female, which encompasses all aspects and summarizes the characteristics of the two polarities: Ardhanarishvara. Shakti exudes a genuine sweetness that inebriates the spell of his divine Shiva, is able to convey a deep happiness and transform life into a wonderful bliss. With its power charmer existence becomes a work in heaven who reveals secrets and mystical ecstasy that makes seeing the pace of the harmonies of the power of creation.