Shiva Shakti Statue

8" statue, Ganges clay handpainted. Lotus Yab Yum Shiva-Shakti. Yoni-lingam. Sacred union. The enlightened ones gaze upon each other with pure devotion, unaffected by earthly desires. The union of god and goddess expresses the balance of male and female, creation and energy. Sacred Hindu texts include sexual imagery, which scholars believe is meant to be taken as metaphor; a dialog between the goddess and the god. The intent of the deities in the yab yum pose is the same as the yoni-lingam forms worshiped in every Shiva temple in India. For some modern Hindu Tantra practitioners, the union of Shiva and Shakti expresses the sacredness of sexuality as a path to spiritual union. As the Lord of Pleasure in the Buddhist Tantra tradition (Maharya-nandikesvara) he is a Brahmin god named Ganapati, saved from evil by his conversion to Buddhism. The goddess is called either Kuan Yin Bodhisattva or Shakti. He is also known as Vajrasatta in the Buddhist tradition and she as Dhantapani. Shiva-Shakti, the Sacred Marriage of Lady and Lord, depicts a condition of enlightenment where male and female human principles, anima and animus, yin and yang, are perfectly combined in a balanced way. [modern image derived from yoni-lingam stones, sacred Hindu texts, and Indian temple carvings 1,000 C.E.]