Shivashakti- The symbol of consciousness and energy

According to Hinduism, both Shiva and Shakti are living in every men and women of the world. It is said that Shakti lives in our left side and Shiva on our right side. Shiva and Shakti hold the whole world. They are the masculine and feminine aspects. Shiva symbolizes consciousness whereas Shakti symbolizes the activating power or energy.

  

Shiva and Shakti are the presentation of the all in one supreme consciousness. It is like the different sides of the same coin. These two primal powers are drawn in many pictures. The left side is the supreme mother Parvati and on the right side represents Shiva the consciousness is shown in the same image. In tantric spiritual path ,one seeks to develop a perfect balance between masculine aspect and feminine aspect. The whole universe comes from Shiva and through the power of Shakti everything becomes individual, yet the Shiva remains same. So the eternal wonder and the mystery is that Shiva and Shakti are same.

The concept of Shiva and Shakti is by no means confined to India. In Plato’s “Phaedrus” a book of ancient Greeks he states what is on earth is merely the resemblance and shadow of something that is in a higher sphere, a resplendent thing which remains in an unchangeable condition.”One of the Gnostic mystics ,Simon the Magus, is reputed to have said, “the universal eons consist of two branches, without beginning or end ,which spring from one root….the invisible power and the unknowable silence. One of these branches is manifested from above and is the universal consciousness ordering all things and is designated in male. The other branch is female and the producer of all things.

This is the meaning of Shiva and Shakti, which may always take care ,guide and protect the human in their infinite love lead to the cosmic consciousness.