The Hindu Trinity

The Hindu Trinity
The Hindu Trinity comprises of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Siva the destroyer. Brahma creates the worlds and the beings. He is the creative intelligence of the manifest worlds. Saraswathi, the goddess of learning is his consort. He is generally shown with four heads standing for the four yugas and the four quarters of the universe. Hamsa, the swan, is his vehicle. He is known by several other names such as Visvakarma, Pitamaha, Lokesa, Nabhija and so on.
Vishnu is the preserver. He is the solar God, the very sun, who brings sunshine into the worlds and lives of every one and assists the survival of every being. Blue in color, he is referred with many names and attributes by his devotees. Some of his popular names include, Mahavishnu, Narayana, Anantasayana, Chakradhari, Srinivasa, Padmanabha, Varadaraja, Panduranga, Venkatesa and so on. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth is his consort. He rides Garuda, the big bird. The mace (gada) and the fiery disc (chakra) are his weapons with which he destroys evil and protects the weak and the good. He is also credited with many incarnations, the most important among them being 10 in number. He incarnates on earth from time to time to restore order and destroy evil. Nine of his principal incarnations have already taken place, which include the incarnations of Rama, Krishna and the Buddha. The incarnation of Kalki, the tenth and the last one in this cycle of creation, is yet to come.
Lord Siva is the third god of Hindu trinity. He is the destroyer of the worlds. He in fact destroys all that is evil and unwanted in order to enable the divinity to enter the world and replace the ordinary human consciousness characterized by evil passions and animal instincts. Siva is known by many names. His most popular names include, Rudra, Jatadhara, Shankara, Iswara, Maheswara, Pasupathinath, Nilakanteswara, Dakshinamurthy and so on. He dwells among the snow clad Himalayan mountains and rules his world known as Kailas. He is prone to fits of anger and sometimes hurts those who annoy Him. He spends most of his time in deep meditation. He possesses the third eye, the eye of wisdom. Undoubtedly he is one of the most popular and powerful gods of Hinduism and inspires people to indulge in acts of courage, devotion and spiritual wisdom.
The Trident
The trident is the weapon of Siva with which he destroys evils and restores order. The trident stands for the triple qualities of nature, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas. Siva is the master of maya and thereby master of these three qualities with which he controls the worlds.
The trident symbolically represents the fact that Siva is the controller of the worlds and controller of all illusion. The trident also represents the three aspects of time, the past, the present and the future.
Siva is mater of Time, Kal Bhairav, who determines the progress of the worlds according to his will. The trident represents the three paths to self-realization, namely the path of knowledge, the path of action and the path of devotion.
With these three paths, Siva transforms his devotees and destroys the evil in them. The trident stands for the three primary evils which need to destroyed in order to make progress towards the divine. They are the evil of anger, the evil of lust and the evil of pride