LORD SHIVA IN MEDITATION FORM:

Lord Shiva always appears in a meditation form. He is the master of yoga. Yogic science emerges only from Lord shiva. Dakshinamurthy is form of yoga murti.

He has matted hair which holds Ganga and crescent moon, he wears snake as a garland. He holds Trishul in hands, and have ash all over his body. Lord represent victory over demonic activity. His vehicle is Nandi.

Why is shiva called as Nelakanta. What is Pradosha?

Devas and asuras have united in their efforts to churn the Kshera Sagaram,  For obtaining Amritam. The snake Vasuki was tied to the mountain Mandara. Vishnu assumed Kurma avatara one among Dasa Avatara To prevent mountain from sinking in the ocean. Goddess Laxmi emerged from the Kshera Sagaram and Lord Vishnu married her. Moon emerged from the Kshera Sagaram, Lord Shiva kept the moon on his head, that is the reason we call him Chandra Shekara. After churning further then came the Kaalakoota (poision) which emitted fumes from that, which made all devas and asuras terror .

All devas and asuras prayed Lord Shiva to release them that terror. Shiva drank the Kaalakootam. Goddess Parvathi Retained it in his throat, and his Throat became blue, That is the reason for calling him as Nelakantishwara which means Blue throat or Vishaapaharana Murthy.

The occasion of Lord Shiva saving devas from Kaalakoota  is called Pradosha.

Pradosha puja is auspicious for lord Shiva. Which is celebrated as Kumbh mela.

There are various name for Shiva, for devotees he is Bakthavatshala  which means dear to devotees, with demons and evil doers His name is Rudra.

On consumption of Kaalakoota  he is Nelakantishwara.

He is a cosmic dancer. So he is Nataraja. He have three eyes so he is called Trinethra.

The meanings of various names of shiva are decribed latter.

Why do we call Lord Shiva as Trinethra.

Lord shiva has three eyes ,

one eye is Sun.

Second eye is Moon.

The third eye is Fire.

There is a story regarding the Third nethra of shiva. Once Mother Parvathi From the backside of shiva closed his two eyes, the entire world became dark, all the creatures in universe suffered a lot, and suddenly fire came from his forehead to give lighting to the world, from that time third eye appeared in his forehead.

Since that consist of fire the third eye will always be closed, if Shiva opens his third eye then every thing will be destroyed by fire.

when the Lord opens His eyes, a new cycle of creation emerges and when He closes them, the universe dissolves for creation of the next cycle. The half-open eyes convey the idea that creation is going through cyclic process, with no beginning and no end. Lord Shiva is the Master of Yoga, as He uses His yogic power to project the universe from Himself. The half-open eyes also symbolize His yogic posture.