Linga and its significance

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Linga and its significance

 

 

Linga Represents The Formless Siva

 

Siva-Linga speaks to you in unmistakable language of silence: " I am

one without a second. I am formless. " Pure, pious souls only can

understand this language. A curious, passionate, impure foreigner of

little understanding or intelligence says sarcastically: " Oh! The

Hindus worship the phallus or sex-organ. They are ignorant people.

They have no philosophy. " When a foreigner tries to learn the Tamil

or Hindi language, he first tries to pick up some vulgar words. This

is his curiosity-nature. Even so, the curious foreigner tries to find

out some defect in the worship of symbols. Linga is only the outward

symbol of the formless being, Lord Siva, who is the indivisible, all-

pervading, eternal, auspicious, ever-pure, immortal essence of this

vast universe, who is the undying soul seated in the chambers of your

heart, who is your Indweller, innermost Self or Atman and who is

identical with the Supreme Brahman.

 

Sphatikalinga—A Symbol Of The Nirguna Brahman

 

Sphatikalinga is also a symbol of Lord Siva. This is prescribed for

Aradhana or worship of Lord Siva. It is made up of quartz. It has no

colour of its own, but takes on the colour of the substances which

come in contact with it. It represents the Nirguna Brahman or the

attribute-less Supreme Self, or the formless and attributeless Siva.

 

The Mystic Shakti In The Block Of Stone

 

For a sincere devotee, the Linga is not a block of stone. It is all

radiant Tejas (energy) or Chaitanya (consciousness). The Linga talks

to him, makes him shed profuse tears, produces horripilation and

melting of heart, raises him above body-consciousness, and helps to

commune with the Lord and attain Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Lord Rama

worshipped the Siva-Linga at Ramesvar. Ravana, a learned scholar,

worshipped the golden Linga. What a lot of mystic Shakti there should

be in the Linga!May you all attain the formless Siva through the

worship of the Linga, the symbol of Lord Siva which helps

concentration of mind and which serves as a prop for the mind to lean

upon, in the beginning, for the neophytes.

 

The Shivalingam denotes the primeval energy of the Creator.It is

believed that at the end of all creation, during the great deluge,

all of the different aspects of God find a resting place in the

Lingam; Brahma is absorbed into the right, Vishnu to the left and

Gayatri into the heart. The Shivalingam is also a representation of

the infinite Cosmic Column of fire, whose origins, Vishnu and Brahma

were unable to trace.

 

Legend has it that Parvati fashioned a Shivalingam with a fistful of

sand at Kanchipuram and worshipped Shiva; this lingam is known as the

Prithvilingam, denoting the primordial element earth. Shivalingams in

several temples are swayambus, or that which appeared on their own,

or that which is untouched by a chisel. On the other hand, there are

temples where the Shivalingam is carved out of stone and installed.

The highly polished Shivalingams of the Pallava period bear several

stripes, as in the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram.

 

The bottom of the pedestal [named Avudaiyar in Tamil] represents

Brahma, the octogonal middle represents Vishnu and the upper circular

portion represents Shiva. The upper portion of the Shivalingam may be

of various shapes, cylindrical, elliptical, umbrella shaped. Images

may also be (rarely) carved on a Shivalingam.

 

Nandi, the bull is depicted facing the sanctum in all Saivite

temples, symbolizing the human soul Jeevatma yearning for realizing

its oneness with Paramatma, the ultimate reality.

 

The stones are made of crypto crystalline quartz and legend has it

that they formed when a meteorite fell to earth several million years

ago. The natural movement of the river is believed to help create the

egg or oval shape of the stones. They're only gathered on one day

each year and are hand polished to give them a smooth and gleaming

surface.

 

Shiva Lingam's are said to have one of the highest frequency

vibration rates of all the stones on earth. As such, the vibration is

said to be perfect for purification purposes, whether at home, work

or in an area of sacred space.

 

The Story about the Bana Lingams

 

(http://www.salagram.net/sstp-Bana-lingas.html)

 

There is a story narrated in Aparajita-pariprchchha (205, 1-26) about

the origin of the bana-lingas and their association with the Narmada

river. Siva wanted to destroy the `tri-pura', which had been

obtained as a boon by the arrogant demon Banasura, and he let go a

fiery dart from his great bow `pinaka'. The dart broke the

three `puras' into tiny bits, which fell on three spots: 1, on the

hills in Sri-kshetra (of unknown identity), 2, on the peaks of

Amarakantaka in the Vindhya ranges, and 3, on the banks of the holy

river Narmada. The bits that fell in these places soon multiplied

into crores,. each bit becoming a linga. As they formed part of the

possession of Banasura, they were called Bana-Lingas. Amarakantaka,

the peak in Madhya Pradesh, is in close proximity to the source of

the river Narmada, which according to the puranas, originated in the

Vindhya mountains and flowed in the Kalinga country. Padma-purana

says that there are along this river as many as sixty crore and sixty

thousand holy ghats, all of which are associated with bana-lingas and

raudra-lingas.

 

Linga Purana underlines that prakriti is a source of the

manifestation of the linga. It explains that of the Trinity, Brahma

represents the seed or bija, Vishnu the receptacle or yoni and Rudra

the seedless or nirbija (from which the seed has emerged without a

cause), but is the cause of the Universe ( bija). Thus the personal

forms of deities belong to the realm of the linga. Above the linga

and the alinga and all the manifest forms, Siva is the

ultimate.Sankhya philosophy states that the linga signifies both

prakriti and vikriti According to the various Puranas and the

Saivagams, the linga symbolises the Supreme Being which stands for

god himself and is the seat of entire creation and its dissolution.

 

According to the Linga Purana, lingas are made of different

materials. It is believed that they were made by Viswakarma and

offered to many gods. However, the six main kinds of lingas are those

made of stone or rock or the sailaja linga, those made from jewels or

the ratnaja linga, ones made from metal or dhatuja, made of wood or

the daruja linga, the mntika linga made of clay and finally the

ksanika linga which is made on the spot from any material. Each of

these six kinds are further subdivided and when all are calculated

the total amounts to forty-four types of lingas.

 

Worship of different types of lingas yields different results. The

ratnaja linga yields prosperity and gives glory, the sailaja linga

the achievement of perfection, sarvasiddhi. The dhatuja linga helps

to accumulate wealth, the daruja linga yields enjoyment, while the

lingas made from earth help in acquiring all perfection.

 

The linga thus symbolises transcendental power which is identified as

Brahman, and is the centre of Saivite philosophy. Siva is represented

in beautifully sculptured forms as well as by the symbolic linga. The

linga thus has many dimensions and interpretations. Yet it remains a

unique spiritual symbol which does not restrict itself to any one

religious order, but is a part of the Hindu way of life.

 

 

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