Why is Shiva shown in some pictures with multiple faces?

Dear friends and Shiva bhakts, we often see pictures and paintings which show Lord Shiva with multiple faces, like the one i have chosen here for you. What does this mean really?
While the traditional meaning is that the Lord is Omnipresent, He is everywhere, North South, East, West etc. And as the Panchamukhi ( Five faced one) He is known briefly as :

Sadyojata ( The Revealer) West

Sadyojata shows the creative aspect of lord Shiva. As a being exists in this world through his birth, this aspect of Lord Shiva is worshiped first. It represents our mind and our tastes and pleasures life.

Vamadeva ( The Concealer) North

The term Vama means left . When we stand facing the east direction, the north is to our left.  If we stand facing east, north direction is again to our left. So, in this aspect Shiva is the north faced lord  worshiped as Vamadeva. In this aspect Shiva grants wishes and protection.

Aghora (The destroyer) South

This aspect is also known as Rudra. In Aghora – ghora means the dreaded. So in this aspect Shiva has raw powers and his main function is destruction. He enforces law and gives justice.  Those who worship the aghora form of Shiva are called as Aghoris. Their main belief is that there is no such thing called “inauspicious” in this world because all that exists if Shiva himself.

Tatpurusha (The Cosmic being) East

In Tatpurusha, the word ‘Tat’ means Supreme Consciuosness.This form of Shiva is always in meditation and gives blessings to all. This form represents the power of bliss. Also since it  represents our focusing power.

Ishana (The Lord) Skyward

Ishana is derived from the word ‘Ishvara’ which is a combination of ‘Isha’ and ‘Aishwarya. Hence this form of Shiva represents him as the lord or Ishana of all the Universe. In this form the face of Shiva is towards the sky. This fifth face of Shiva represents the creation – balance – annihilation energies and control and chaos energies. It indicates the total encompassing energy of Lord Shiva. In humans it represents the power of their consciousness to realize universal consciousness.

~ Source Temple Purohit

 

BUT IT ALSO DENOTES THIS :

The lessons with Shiva were endless. They had to be. His talk was profound, but so was His silence.
“You seem to be talking to me even when you are silent. Is it true or am I just too madly in love with you?”She asked.
“Silence is a language only a few understand,” said Shiva. “Those special moments when silence speaks, when stillness gives wings,” He whispered.
Even His smile was profound. Everything about Him was the embodiment of wisdom. Sati noticed that there were traces of this wisdom even when He joked.
~ From the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller. by Shail Gulhati
Available on Amazon :http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017ECI6CU
and for INDIA exclusively:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B017ECI6CU

SHIVA, THE LORD OF TANTRA

Shiva was the Lord of Tantra, a unique system of weaving together God’s science of manifestation. He often taught His ganas the tantra, saying, “All of science is merely a notation of God’s art. From the beginning of time! Just like a musician plays his music from a notation, so too, whatever the scientific man discovers, has in fact, already been artistically painted by Mother Nature into the world.”

And then, with a nostalgic tone he would add, “You see, from the very beginning of the world, there was an interplay of Shiva and Shakti. I , a Poet, and She, an Artist. Whatever I sang in divine verse, She painted on the canvas of the world. And life began. Whatever you see around you, has been given by your mother. All things have come from the same origin, with the intention of love and togetherness and sharing; Thus too, my friends of Kailash, you will form the Ganatantra, the republic of all friends of God, in the spirit of sharing.” He would declare with a leader’s authority.

Shiva, who loved His fellow men and the elementals, would never ever allow them to cast servile titles on themselves. He insisted they were ‘ganas’, the friends. Despite their devout feelings for Him, He always regarded His followers as that—Friends. And loved them with the passion of a fellow in arms; and in so doing, ushering in a vibrant camaraderie.

So many times, when any of them went overboard with their emotion and actually asked for an eternal enslavement at His feet, as was in vogue with other Gods and their worship, He asked them to see Him as a friend instead.“You are my ganas,” He would always insist. He repeated this to them till the time they began to love the word gana for themselves, till the time they completely imbibed it, and each one declared proudly, “I am a Shiv Gana.” which was very much what Shiva wanted.

So too, it was that the council functioned as a Republic, a totally consensus based machinery. “Conference and consensus with all parts are the essence of Ganatantra,” He told them.

“Ganatantra?” asked the Elementals with eyes wide in awe, much in the childlike spirit that Shiva loved.

“Yes, the circle of the friends and co-wayfarers,” He said. “People sometimes have such ambitious ideas about Republics…” He looked skywards. “That they forget the simplest laws of all. Our weave in this universe begins with our own childhood playmates, our neighbours, our village brothers, kinsmen, and tribe. It is only after we tend to those who are right here in our own reality that we may then talk of bigger things. Ultimately, we can only come to understand Niyati, the lofty cosmostatic balance, when we learn to love the minute details of our own near ones. For what is here, is everywhere, what is not here, is nowhere. It is how it should be,” He would say with the same divine authority.“One who has any knowing of the interplay of love will know that it does not allow for servility.”

So it came to be, that the ganas loved their uncrowned King as their best friend.

~ From
SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
by Shail Gulhati Available on Amazon as an E book
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017ECI6CU
and for INDIA exclusively:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B017ECI6CU