The Five Faces of Shiva.

[Guest guest]

The last 10 weeks I've been in India.. and for the most part I

explored the five elemental shrines of Shiva... now how do I begin to

explain the motivation for all this...

 

For those who know little of Hinduism, it is the oldest of

religions -

in relatable terms only to Paganism where the depth of its age is

concerned - And within Hinduism is the three modes of existence:

Creation. Preservation. Destruction.

 

Now, I have to clear a common misconception. People know of Hinduism

as the religion with more than a million Gods. This is not a

dissolution of faiths as much as it is an opportunity for

integration.

Because each God is merely the representation of the different faces

of a Supreme Oneness of things.

 

There are two main factions in Hinduism at the moment, the

secular " Vaishnavites " - or devotees of the God Vishnu. The God of

Preservation. And there is the " Shaivites " - devotees of Shiva, God

of

Destruction. These two for the most part segregate from each other

and

stand firmly opposed, one thinking themselves to be greater than the

other. But this sort of segregation is seen everywhere.

 

" Divide and conquer " as the term goes.

 

Yet it is written in the Vedas (The Spiritual Texts that outline the

crux of Hinduism) that those " who see Shiva and Vishnu as seperate

are

fools, akin to dust, for Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same. "

 

That preservation and destruction is essentially one and the same. To

recognise this beyond its conceptualisation - is to attain spiritual

wisdom.

 

The paradoxes are many - the metaphors ravishing and beautiful.

 

" One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; His life has 54,000 Indras. One day

of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The Lifetime of Vishnu is one

day

of Siva. "

 

Yet both Shiva and Vishnu are engaged in utter devotion to each

other -

like Master and Slave, Guru and Disciple, Teacher and Student - each

in multiple forms. They do this to emphasise the importance of this

devotion in order to attain truths.

 

The multiplicity of their forms only exists to always express that

the

supreme oneness has become a multitude of seperation now for no other

reason than to devote itself to all its seperate parts.

 

That's not so difficult to understand is it? In such a devotion is

oneness regained, and with it, a deep realisation that didn't exist

before.

 

Vishnu in more than one context stands as the eternal devotee of

Shiva. And Shiva, more than once, came to worship Vishnu. When Vishnu

incarnated as Rama from the Ramayana, Shiva came as Hanuman to pay

him

homage.

 

And so, they play this divine game with one intention - for us to see

the depth in it.

 

(As an of-note, if anyone doesn't get any part of what I've quickly

summarised so far, please do ask and I'll elaborate)

 

Shiva - is the supreme Brahman - the supreme oneness. He is the lord

of dance, the very dance of existence. And that lead me to want to

discover every aspect of him - or as much as I could - in the small

10

weeks that I had. And one thing I knew was that in hinduism

everything

is symbolic for a very practical and applicable truth.

 

Every ritual has a practicality to it. Of course, these things can be

quickly made into superstition and unjust crimes of social

intollerance when people perform these things without thought or

foresight - but that doesn't speak much for their real meaning.

 

So when I saw that Shiva has five faces - I wanted to know the very

meaning of it. Of each face. And then I find that he represents the

five elements. And each element is represented by a special temple, I

decided to make this my goal.

 

To visit each of the five elemental temples of Shiva... not to see

the

statues, or see the idols... but to feel the very energy of the

place.. for if there is any spiritual energy there at all.. it will

shed light into my soul.

 

(Another note - I've taken tons of pics, will post them soon as I

have

arranged them all)

 

I've always wanted to make a film about Shiva.... and this is a true

challenge, because it's not really about telling a lifestory of a

superhero, or a human.. but a God.

 

And people always seem to get this wrong, because they tell it like a

bedtime story... I don't want to do that... so I eagerly soaked in

every ounce of what each of his five faces represented... because I

wanted that underlying symbolism, that very symmetry to penetrate

every moment of the film.

 

.... When I post the pictures of each temple I'll go into detail about

each one.

 

Until then,

Speak soon.