Shiva is the destroyer of worlds. In Tantric texts, he is considered the immobile principal, the formless substance. The luminous foundation of everything. Infinity incarnate. His sister and wife Shakti is the world as power or manifestation. She is the principal of movement, or energy. As shakti plays with shiva, she sees her reflection in him, and becomes lost in it. As she falls deeper in love with her image, she forgets her lovers presence, and manifests layer after layer of herself. This continues until a terminal point is reached (with mankind, anyway). At this point she begins to vaguely remember Shiva and yearn for him, although she has fallen so far into herself that it is almost impossible to find him. This is where the infinite latent power of manifestation rests, inside man. Thus those who wish to return seek to unite the lovers at every level of their being. As shiva mates or unites with shakti, he consumes that material level of existance back into boundlessness. The reunion of Shiva and Shakti before the first level of manifestation is beyond dualities.
