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I N T A N T R I S M part 1 PART 1 | PART 2 
In the Hindu pantheon,
Shiva is one of gods in the Divine trinity composed of Brahma, Vishnu and
Himself, each representing one of the three aspects of the Divine, that is The
Creator, The Sustainer and respectively The Destroyer of the Universe. Shiva is
said to live in Svarloka, the realm of gods and demi-gods ruled by Indra, the
greatest among them.Shiva, as distinguished from Parama-Shiva, corresponds to that aspect of the ultimate Reality which is pure consciousness, pure subject, pure I, without even the slightest notion of "I am" or "I am this" or "I am here". In his Tantra - Loka, Abhinava Gupta refers to Shiva as "the Mother and the Father of the Universe". Shiva is the seed, or origin of the multidimensional universe, giving rise to all other ontological categories. Yet, there is no duality in Shiva because he is still completely immersed in blissful union with Shakti. However, in order to properly understand this fundamental concept of Tantrism, which is the masculine principle - Shiva, we should look back towards the roots of Tantra. Tantrism enjoys an immense popularity among philosophers and teologicians as well as among "practitioners" (yoghis, etc.) All great Hindu religions have thus assimilated Tantra in one form or another.This process had actually begun thousands of years beforehand, during the Arian civilization and during the blending of the different co-existing traditions (Dravidian, etc). 
Legend says that during these inflaming times a great man was born,
named Sadashiva. His name means "the one who dedicated his life to the
well-being of his fellows". Sadashiva, known as Shiva, was an outstanding
spiritual teacher or Guru. He was the one who first offered humanity the
systematic presentation of sheer spiritual thought. As the legend goes, he is
the one to set the basis of spiritual dance and music in India and is therefore
also known as NATARAJA, The God of the Cosmic Dance. Furthermore, the real founder of Hindu traditional medicine and also the provider of a system and knowledge in this field (bearing the name Vadyak Shastra) is none other than Shiva. Shiva played an extremely important role in the social area as well. He is the creator of marriage system, in which both partners accept equal responsibilities, disregarding caste or community. Shiva himself came from a mixed family and through his marriage to an Arian princess helped a lot in unifying the warring factions in India at that time. The Hindu sage Sri Shankar, expert in studies and research on Tantrism, considers Shiva to be the real father of the human civilization. However, Shiva's most important contribution to the development of a truly spiritual civilization represents the concept of DHARMA. DHARMA is a Sanskrit word translated literally as "innate characteristic". Which is the innate characteristic of a human being? Shiva explained that human beings seek and yearn for happiness, after that and because of that came the satisfaction of the senses. The indisputable aim of all human beings, whether aware of this or not, is to obtain absolute peace and freedom, infinite knowledge and spiritual bliss. Shiva's ideas were transmitted orally at first, then in written form. His wife Parvati, used to ask him questions on topics raised by the spiritual practice he taught. The tantra-s (texts or writings which present the tantric philosophy and practice) are in fact the dialogues between Shiva and his wife Parvati, dialogues in which Parvati asks questions on spiritual matters and Shiva gives divine answers. 
The tantra-s are divided into two great categories: 1. The theoretic principles of the tantric system. Tantric philosophy and conceptions on different matters are to be found in the writings named NIGAMA. 2. The practices through which the proposed aims may be attained; the different methods, techniques and procedures are to be found in the texts named AGAMA . Many of these antique manuscripts were lost for good, others were damaged by time, and others are still unreadable by the mundane mind because of their coded text, meant to hide the tantric secrets from the eyes of the uninitiated. This is also one reason for which the conceptions and fundamental aspects of Tantra have not been completely decoded even now. Part of Shiva's original teachings were lost, other parts were spread over large areas, being assimilated in different ways and under different forms in the traditions and local schools. Each Hindu believer followed his own path, according to their inner aspirations, choosing one spiritual current which implied the adoration of one of these three gods. Thus, Tantrism and Yoga are specially oriented towards the adoration of Shiva and are therefore called Shivaits, and this spiritual current is named Shaiva. Others have turned towards the cult of Vishnu, named Vaishnava. 
Nonetheless, we should carefully
distinguish between different spiritual currents and opposing spiritual
currents, which is not the case of Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Some western
studies have committed the error of sustaining the idea that there were
antithesis, competitions and even fighting between the two spiritual currents.
The Western seeker should properly understand that for the Hindu, Shiva and
Vishnu represent two complementary aspects of Brahma, The Creator. The first of
these two gods, Shiva represents the destructive, transforming and reiterating
principle of infinite Creation, while the latter - the animating,
conservative principle, which maintains creation in its current form.
Unfortunately, nowadays, Tantra appears to most people as a tenebrous, unbreakable and controversial mystery owing to a multitude of misunderstandings and misconceptions that occured in the minds of some of the "reputed" Western researchers of Tantra. The Tantrics (that is the practitioners of Tantra) and the Yoghis (the practitioners of Yoga) belong to the Shaivist current. The aspect of the Ultimate Reality in the form of the Transformer, the renewer of an eternally vivacious, effervescent Creation best suited to their spiritual quest and ardor. Shaivism presents Shiva as endowed with all the attributes of the Supreme Divinity, and therefore He is the Supreme Creator. His symbolic representation while performing the magic dance of creation is an iconographic theme quite rich in symbolism and offers us an idea about the rhythm of life of the whole creation, and of its destruction. We will discuss these aspects in detail later on. The name Shiva signifies "the good and the kind". Paradoxically, He is designated as the God of destruction, but this must not be understood as the destroyer of human beings, but the destroyer of ignorance and corruption in human nature. Thus, He is an infinitely benevolent force as He rapidly casts away the restraining chains ignorance and allows human beings to contemplate His magnificence. 
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