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 MAHAPURANA

“Tell us about Shiva, the mountain God, respected Sutji,” Shaunaka would implore the master.

“There was a time when Shiva Himself told His story to the forest dwellers, and Vyasa, the bard, used his prolific skill to record the self-revelations of the Divine One." Replied rishi Suta.

"Oh i see, the revelations of shiva in his meditations?"asked Shaunaka

"When He sat alone, He was in deepest oneness, always. When He closed His eyes in self-repose, a most enigmatic dance presented itself to Him; a dance of Time; where the past and the future got animated as players and themselves entertained Him , like performers in a carnival. It had dawned on Him that He was an eternal witness, and thus too, the realisation that the story of all life, was actually His own story."

" I see Master" said Shaunaka.

" Yes, and this is how  Shiva would tell the rishis of his own previous incidents. Through generations of the rishi's children and the forest dwellers, the constant retelling of these narratives of the great forester came to be called the Shiva Mahapurana. The delight of the young bhaktas  in the hearing of the stories remained ever the same, ever fresh and ever in wonderment, and who was to say, perhaps,  somewhere in His snowy abode, The great mountain God too, smiled in approval." Replied rishi suta.

"Oh. That is interesting, Master"

"And then, true to His trademark humility, Shiva receded into the background. But perhaps, wishing secretly that we would all remember Him, we would all know His legend, always"
( From the book SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller. by author Shail Gulhati )

Available on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017ECI6CU
and for INDIA exclusively:
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B017ECI6CU

Silence is a language only a few understand

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.
“Tell me you love me,” She said one day. “Prove it with your poems and clever words.”
“Oh, but I do love you,” He said.“And it’s when you specifically ask me to say that I love you, I find myself speechless; such are your charms and magic,” Shiva laughed.
“Really?” Sati was pleased. “So go on, tell me more.”
“Before I met you, I had no wants. I was okay with everything that already was, but now…”
“Now?”
“Now it’s all changed, it’s all different”
“How?”
“Now you have spoiled the poor yogi,” He laughed.
“Spoiled the yogi?” Sati looked at Him with a twinkle in Her eye.
“I mean, you have spoilt my timings for yoga, when i am with you, i don't know how fast the time flies by...”
“Oh, really? But you are aloof for days on end…and I thought it’s me for whom you don’t have any time…”
“That’s only when some very technical thought comes to me. Then I can’t let go until I see it to its logical culmination,” He looked at Her.
“Yes, I know. I know, and I understand, Chintan,” She said.
“But then, when I see you, and I see us together in this world, it all takes on a whole new meaning! The world is such a great place to be, with you by my side. I never thought I would want anything so much as your company.”

~ SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
Available on Amazon E books :https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07HVY1PPS  ( India) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HVY1PPS ( USA)

Art by Q Arlene Kumar

Shiv Shakti Ki Maya !

ANUGRAHA ( Shiva's Grace, in lifting the veil of Maya)

I had an amusing thought on seeing this pic: After actually creating the entire Universe, Shiva and Ma Shakti take cover. Not that they are hiding from anything, but by concealing their own identity, they are adding to the great mystery of the play.

Now, in the understanding of the Rishis of Kashmir, among His several attributes, Shiva has 5 principal powers along with His inseparable Shakti that pertain to rolling the great drama of the Universe:

Sristi : Creation (of the world )
Sthiti : Sustenance ( of this created world )
Samhara : The dissolution of the world back into themselves.

These 3 processes normally attributed to Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh ( Shiva) constitute pretty much the processes of time cycles, or the age of the Universe itself, spanning endless Yugas in a cosmic continuum of birth and re-birth. But in Shaivite understanding ,it is Shiva and Shakti who do it all.

And then there are the two powers that take all this to the realm of spiritual seeing..:

Vilaya : We cannot 'see' clearly enough the role of Shivashakti in the functioning of the world, because there is a veil on our mortal eyes.We know this as 'Maya" . So 'on stage' is the drama of our own lives in this world, but we do not know who it is being supported by ..!

Anugraha : When, after lifetimes of devotion and meditation, Shiva graces us by lifting the spiritual veil, or draws the curtain to let us understand what is being done "back stage' we suddenly see it all as it actually is in its full reality!'
That, is the amazing Lila of Shiva Shakti.

Now a special mention about the word Samhara:
After creation ( Brahma) and preservation ( Vishnu)
Samhara, the role of Shiva has always been thought of, as 'destruction' and we all know Shiva as the God of destruction, do we not? But the Shaivite rishi knows dissolution as something completely different from the destruction of the world: He, devotedly understands it to be the destruction of this cloud of Maya between us and God, so he actually prays for this destruction, and the gifting of spiritual eyes to see that he is , in fact in the vicinity of his Lord in Sivalok, once and for all.
The meaning of Sam- Hara also means simply that: In the vicinity of Hara, Shiva. 
I wonder again, are Shiva Parvati taking cover, or slipping the blanket off the eyes of the Universe .
Aum ShivaShakti Namaye.
Shail Gulhati is the author of the books :

SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.
The Yogi and the snake
Shiva Poetry
NAAM ROOP- A Tribute to the Divine
And Life Said.
Available on Amazon E books :
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07HVY1PPS  ( India) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HVY1PPS ( USA)