The Rising Pillar of Shiva
These five forms were also linked to the five element and their related sensation. This ramified, outspread form mapped a varied spiritual terrain with more than adequate sign-posting. In one of Vishnu's visions of Sadashiva in the Linga Purana, he constructs a mental icon that puts all five together vertically, identifying them with the body of Shiva. This helps to uplift the spiritual aspirant and direct him, form by rising form, to the higher realms of contemplation. Vishnu recalls, 'Shiva had Ishana for his crown, Tatpurusha for his face, Aghora for his heart, Vamadeva for his sex organs, Sadyojata for his feet. The metaphor had been gathered in and compacted, pressed into service as a manageable symbol. It was the classic transformation of sound as mantra into form as icon. Shiva was fat gaining round as an essential part of the triad. He was not just necessary, he was vital, he made a difference. And he was just necessary, he was vital, he made a difference. And he was different.

Shiva Incarnates
Shiva did not incarnate in the way that Vishnu did - as towering, monolithic figures who either dominated the scene or single-handedly extricated the universe from the clutches of a particular person or situation. Vishnu was a rescure, a saviour, a preserver.

Shiva entered the scene when things were beyond repair. He was a destroyer and his function was to end an aeon when it wound down and, to keep the spiritual fires burning through the ages.

For that, he needed to appear in the company of enlightened souls and gurus who would, by precept and example, spread knowledge, mainly of Shiva. Shiva incarnated twenty-eight times in succession along with illustrious sons, pupils, sages and seers. They were all, adepts at yoga, specially the Maheshwara Yoga, one of the Shaivite cults. This cult could be the Pashupata Yoga attributed to Lakuli, a teacher who lived probably around the second century B.C. the twenty-eighth incarnation, as mentioned in the Puranas, was Lakuli, led up to by twenty-seven others, each with his own caucus of learned beings.