The Hindu deity Shiva revealed in the linga

Here a huge linga, a phallus-like pillar that is the emblem of the Hindu deity Shiva, opens to reveal Shiva in human form. The deity Brahma in the form of a wild goose, the bird he usually rides, flies up from the lower left, and the deity Vishnu in his boar-headed form dives downwards.
Vishnu describes what is happening:
Long ago glorious Brahma came to me and said, “Why are you here? I am the creator of the worlds.” I replied, “It is I who am creator and destroyer of these worlds time and time again!” While the argument was going on like this, there appeared by illusion a matchless linga whose self was Shiva. It was bright as the fire of Doomsday, without beginning, middle, or end. Brahma said to me, “Quickly go downwards; I will go upwards. Let us discover the limits of this.” But for a hundred years we could find no end to it. Amazed and frightened, we praised Shiva. Thus spake the great god, “Now see that I am the greatest god and fear no more.*
Thus, Shiva, revealing himself in the limitless linga, or phallic emblem here conceived as a fiery pillar, shows his superiority over the other gods. The story is told by those who believe Shiva is, in fact, the supreme deity. Other Hindus, who hold other deities as supreme, would not accept its lesson.
*Adapted from Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen, eds. and trans., Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas, 1978.