Sadasiva Paintings

In 2011 Himalayan Academy commissioned the Dutch artist Pieter Weltevrede to do a series of canvases on Sadasiva, the five-faced form of Siva as the Eternally Auspicious God. Pieter worked for months in Amsterdam to execute the series and in 2012 his art was showcased in a 16-page Insight educational feature in Hinduism Today magazine. It is a philosophically important collection, for it speaks of the profound esoterics of Saiva Siddhanta which understands God in ways difficult to grasp. Pieter painted each of the five forms of Siva and a sixth work with all five faces. Lord Siva is commonly thought of as the god of destruction, one Divinity among a divine trinity, along with Brahma, Lord of Creation, and Vishnu, Lord of Preservation. This theological perspective, especially espoused in Smarta Hinduism, is based in the Puranas, Hindu folk narratives containing ethical and cosmological teachings about Gods, man and the world. But other denominations, including Saiva Hinduism, which is based on the Saiva Agamas, hold a different view. In these revealed scriptures the three great cosmic actions are all performed by God Siva. In addition to creation, preservation and destruction, Siva performs two more actions which relate specifically to the soul. With the fourth, called obscuration, He veils Himself from us, the embodied souls, purposefully limiting our awareness, keeping us ensconced in the world–oblivious to our true nature, our past and future lives and karmas–thus allowing us to evolve. This beguiling force is called veiling or concealing grace, tirodhana shakti. With His fifth action or power, called revelation, anugraha shakti, Lord Siva frees us from the illusion of separateness from Him, granting us realization of our true identity. The Raurava Agama proclaims: “The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the soul’s obscuration and liberation are the five acts of His dance.”