Siva the Divine Manifestation

The photo of Sadasiva you see here is not a photo at all. It is a 3-D digital image, part of a remarkable process that has been happening for over a year. So remarkable, auspicious and miraculous, in fact, that it has been awarded the 2018 Monks' Superlative Achievement Award for Amazing and Awesome Accomplishments. Not an award we give lightly.

In sum, this image was scanned from a small, 14" tall sculpture lovingly envisioned and crafted by two long-term supporters of Gurudeva's work and the monastery and its magical spaces. The small statue is called a maquette in the art world, a diminutive version of what will eventually be a larger work.

The miniature (which has as you see astounding detail for its size) was scanned with state-of-the-art technology as the slideshow reveals. It will be scaled up to 54" tall and then a 3-D printer will slowly build the sculpture at the final size. That will be fine-tuned by the artist and a mold made for casting the sculpture in bronze. It takes dozens of skilled artisans to bring such a master work into manifestation.



It is to be a gift to Siva's Sacred Garden and will ultimately be shipped to the monastery for installation and for all future pilgrims to encounter this most mystical and mysterious form of the Divine. Indeed, there may be no image of God with such profound meanings.

If you want to explore the full depth of Sadasiva, you can find it here at the Hinduism Today website where we did a major story on this traditional form.

The highly-illustrated PDF with all the amazing art and charts can be downloaded here

Meanwhile, join us in putting our palms together in gratitude to the couple who is creating it, and enjoy more about Sadasiva in the following slideshow. Aum Namasivaya!

Sadasiva with five heads and ten arms seated on a lotus flower, creating, preserving, dissolving, concealing and revealing the many universes. Remember this is a computer file!

Here we see the scanning process. That camera is walked around all sides, taking thousands of photos (using a rapid-fire strobe light) which are stitched together on the computer in real time. Every shape is captured from every angle and a giant file is finally completed.

This team was flown in from a distant city, since this kind of expertise exists in only a few places.

This is a B&W photo of the maquette before it was scanned.

And another in color.

The back side is Tatpurusha. This is Siva\

s power to veil the soul\'s inherent nature (of Pure Consciousness and its infinite power of knowledge and action). He veils so we may evolve to our inherent perfection. It is said that the entire Vedas and the Agamas (and the fullness of Saiva Siddhanta) are revealed through the five faces of Sadasiva.'

From above we see His ten arms wielding the divine potencies.

His left side.

And the right.

Artists in and around Chidambaram depict Sadasiva sweetly, with real gold and gems.

And our own Pieter Veltevrede in Amsterdam painted this. It is one of seven works of art he did for Hinduism Today. You can find them all in the PDF file above. Aum Namasivaya!

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