The Symbolism of Shiva Lingam

Shivaling (of Shivalingam, likewise Shiva Lingam) addresses Shiva (and Shakti) in all possible structures from the most elevated to the least. "Shiv" signifies unadulterated and propitious. "Lingam" signifies the inconspicuous body. We have expressed somewhere else that Shiva is definitely not a simple tamasic god. His part as destroyer of the world is one of his angles or signs in particular. Shiva is the most perfect, everything being equal. Consequently, his tone is neither blue nor dark, yet white, which signifies his immaculateness or sattvic nature. 

Since Shiva Lingam addresses the immaculateness of Shiva, his sign as Isvara and his indistinguishable association with Shakti, his dynamic perspective,, its love (lingarchana) is the most famous type of love in Shaivism just as in standard Hinduism. In certain orders, the Lingam is additionally utilized as a special necklace and worn on the body. The actual presence of Shiva Lingam is said to have valuable impacts upon everybody nearby. By loving it, one is scrubbed of all past sins. The Tantric writings contain itemized data on the best way to love the Lingam for best outcomes. 

History 

The historical backdrop of Shiva Lingam returns to ancient occasions. Numerous items that are like it were found in the unearthings at different Indus destinations. (In any case, a few students of history disagree that they address the later day Shiva Lingams). A huge number of sanctuaries all over India are solely committed to the love of Shiva in this structure. Of them, some are called Jyotirlingas (lingams implanted with light) and considered the most holy. 

The Jyotirlinga sanctuaries just as the Shakti sanctuaries are dissipated all over India. Each has its own spiritualist, profound and memorable importance. In view of their sacredness and accuracy, every year they draw in huge number of enthusiasts from distant spots. The majority of them are situated on the banks of consecrated waterways or close to water bodies or high in the Himalayas, meaning Shiva's association with water, snow, mending and purging. The most established Shiva Lingam to date is found in the Parashurameshwara sanctuary, close to Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh which is accepted to be in presence since the third Century BC.

Kinds of Shiva Lingams 

Shiva Lingams are of various sorts, contingent on the material with which they are made. The Pancha Bhuta Lingams, every one of which is made of one of the five components (earth, sky, water, fire and air) are situated at Kanchi, Chidambaram, Tirchinapalli, Tiruvannamalai, and Sri Kalahasti separately. They are likewise frequently connected with the sun and the moon,. For instance, the sanctuary at Konark, close to Jagannath Puri sanctuary is known as Surya Lingam and the one in Bangladesh close to Chittagong is known as the Chandra lingam. 

The Lingams might be made of wood, stone, valuable stones, gold, silver, amalgams (dhatus), glass, plastic, earth, rice, flour and mud. Numerous round and cleaned stones which are normally found in the stream beds of some consecrated waterways, for example, the Narmada are additionally utilized as Shiva Lingams. Shiva Lingams are frequently found by some coincidence. Where they are found are normally viewed as hallowed. Some of them might be old memorable destinations. Numerous sanctuaries were brought up in the past where Shiva Lingams were uncovered during unearthings, burrowing or furrowing.

The Mahaparinirvana Tantra pronounces that introducing Shiva Lingam in a sanctuary or in a house in itself is profoundly advantageous, which is equivalent to performing 10,000 pony forfeits or diving a water tank in a bone-dry locale. The individuals who take part in it are purified of all transgressions. Every one of the gods, including Brahma and Vishnu dwell in the space where it is introduced. The individuals who live in its area are likewise cleansed of all transgressions which they submitted somewhere else. 

In any case, enthusiasts are exhorted not to mistreat Shiva Lingams. They are required to carry on with highminded and devout lives when they are close to Shiva Lingams, or when they introduce them in their homes. On account of the holiness connected to them, they are not intended to be utilized for fancy and vain purposes or as a hotshot. It is said that while they scrub the admirers of their past sins, any wrongdoings which are perpetrated nearby a Shiva Lingam, be it a sanctuary or a house, adhere to the miscreants and hit them with the power of a thunderclap. Henceforth, one of the mainstream views is that one ought not keep a Shiva Lingam in the house except if one needs to adore it as per set up methods and have an idealistic existence. Another conviction is that one ought not love a messed up Shiva Lingam or a wrecked picture of Shiva. 

Imagery 

Shiva Lingam has a ton of emblematic importance. As depicted previously, the Lingam is the emblematic portrayal of Shiva in his unobtrusive and shapeless angle as Isvara, in relationship with Prakriti, his dynamic power. The Shiva Lingam addresses their everlasting and indivisible association, from which shows everything. Linga in Sanskrit implies, unobtrusive. Subsequently, the exacting significance of Shiva Lingam is the amorphous, unobtrusive group of Shiva in ideal association with Shakti. As the Bhagavadgita announces, creation happens when Purusha gets set up in Prakriti. 

The Shiva Lingam addresses that state. Since they are always joined together, it addresses both the duality and nonduality of presence. Shiva and Shakti are undefined in their most flawless and most elevated perspective, however become separated in the lower planes of creation to make conceivable the coherence of life through death and resurrection. A definitive the truth is nondualistic, however the obvious the truth is dualistic because of the hallucination or dream brought about by the force of Maya or Shakti.

At the end of the day, in spite of the fact that Shiva and Shakti apparently appear to address changed real factors, at the most significant level they address yet one, extreme reality. The Shiva Lingam generalizes their interminable association as well as their unitary viewpoint, other than avowing the Advaita Vedantic (nondualistic) conviction that despite the fact that Shiva and Shakti appear to be obviously changed, at the subtlest level they are nevertheless one. By venerating it, an aficionado all the while reveres both the gods. 

The endowments of both Shiva and Shakti are required for freedom. In spite of the fact that Shiva's elegance (anugraha) is fundamental to accomplish freedom, the purging and arrangement is finished by Shakti as it were. Henceforth, Sri Aurobindo used to prompt his adherents that one needed to appease both, yet give up to the Mother and let her do the cleaning. Self-change ought not be a vain exertion. It needs to occur with help from above for which one needs to look for divine assistance. The Shiva Lingams offer us the most effortless approach to love them both simultaneously and acquire their beauty. 

Since the Shiva Lingam represents the shapeless Shiva containing inside himself the powerful Shakti, researchers consider the love of Shiva Lingam not equivalent to icon love. In symbol love you love the pictures or icons (murthis) of a divinity though when you love the Shiva Lingam, you love the nebulous (amurtha) Shiva and Shakti. Consequently, loving Shiva Lingam is viewed as better than any custom love where pictures and symbols are utilized. The Mahabharata agrees with this assessment. The legends and Puranas express that even divinities, for example, Rama, Krishna, Parvathi and Ganesha revered Lingams to appease Shiva.

As indicated by the Shiva Purana, the Shiva Lingam contains in itself the sky and the earth. The upper part addresses the paradise or the sky, and the lower one (the base), the earth. Since it is essentially hard for people to love the sky and the earth, one can achieve something very similar by emblematically venerating the Shiva Lingam. The Skandapurana states that the Shiva Lingam is everlasting and uncreated. It was unblemished during the final days, and was additionally seen by Brahma and Vishnu in the start of creation as previous. The Shiva Purana additionally expresses that Aum is the substance of the Shiva Lingam (pranavatma), and venerating it like reciting Aum. 

The commonest emblematic understanding of Shiva Lingam is that it addresses the joining among Shiva and Shakti from the most noteworthy plane to the least. Everything in the universe, from the most noteworthy to the least, owes its reality to their association. The lower part (linga vedi) addresses Shakti and the upper part (lingam), Shiva. At the unpretentious level, the upper part addresses Shiva as awareness and the lower one Shiva as Shakti or energy. Together, the Shiva Lingam typifies the association of Purusha and Prakriti as chit-shakti (awareness mixed with energy). 

In a living being or exemplified soul (jiva), the Shiva Lingam addresses the association of Shiv and Shakti as the brain and body or the spirit and body or prana and apana or information and obliviousness or virtue and pollutant, etc. The spirit is Shiva, and the body is Shakti. The inconspicuous body is Shiva and the gross body is Shakti. Subsequently, each living being, particularly a person, is a mobile and breathing Shiva Lingam. As the round object and the seat of cognizance, the head is Shiva, and as its help or base, the actual body is Shakti. 

Is it a phallic image? 

In mainstream custom and general assessment, Shiva Lingam is a conceptive image or an image of ripeness, addressing the sexual joining among Shiva and Parvathi. The upper part addresses the male sexual organ and the lower part, female sexual organ. This translation is upheld by both archeological and scholarly proof. In probably the most seasoned sanctuaries, as demonstrated in the picture above, Shiva Lingam are cut looking like a penis. Nonetheless, it is silly to reason that Shiva Lingam is only a phallic image. The imagery combined with a portion of the problematic acts of Tantra have frequently been utilized by pundits to mock Hinduism. Truly the sexual part of Shiva Lingam is one of the numerous translations. It is famous on the grounds that it is more clear and impeccably addresses the utilitarian and fundamental parts of Shiva and Shakti as the spouse (pati) and wife (patni)of creation. 

Shiva and Shakti are not only sexual articles. Their association doesn't create sexual delight as it were. They are the most elevated and extreme real factors which are covered up in the entire presence and everything. As the preeminent all inclusive gods, they have many gross and unpretentious angles. They are intrinsically and all around present on the whole. The Shiva Lingam impeccably addresses their huge, outward variety and covered up, internal solidarity in all parts of creation. In fact, each item in presence is a Shiva Lingam. It doesn't need to be round. It doesn't need to have life or awareness. It very well may be any item or marvels wherein Nature has its quality as issue and energy, with Shiva as the inescapable and supporting reality. 

Everything in presence is hallowed in light of the fact that everything is Shiva and Shakti or Shiva Lingam. Creation itself is an enormous Shiva Lingam, which is made conceivable by the association of Shiva and Shakti as it were. Thus, Shiva lingam can measure up to each part of creation. For instance, you may think about the upper piece of Shiva Lingam to the sun, sky, breath (prana), insight and brain, while the lower part to the human world, natural world, materiality, net body, and so on

The imagery of the lower and upper pieces of Shiva Lingam is appeared in the accompanying table. A portion of the understandings depend on the creator's instinctive information. You may not discover them in any Saiva text or sacred writing. Further, some Shakta customs may not acknowledge a large part of the imagery which is examined here, since they hold various convictions about Shiva and Shakti. For instance, some of them view Shiva as a part of Shakti and imagine her as the incomparable being. They may likewise view her both as unadulterated cognizance and energy consolidated, and Shiva as a uninvolved observer in a subordinate and immaterial job, serving nearly as a post or a stake in the conciliatory custom of life. For instance, the Yogini-hridaya-tantra lauds Shakti in this manner, "Respect to Her who is unadulterated Sachhidananda (being, awareness and rapture), who as Shakti (force or power) exists as Time and Space and all that is in that, and who is the brilliant illuminator in all creatures."

Symbolism

Upper Part	Lower Part
Shiva (God)	Shakti (God power)
Nirguna Shiva	Adi Shakti (primal Nature)
The sky	The earth
Heaven	Earth
Higher worlds (lokas)	Lower worlds (talas)
Consciousness	Matter or energy
Subtle body	Gross body
Purusha	Prakriti
Pure Consciousness	Purest (suddha) Sattva
Upper body	Lower Body
Breath	Nadis or breath channels
Mind	Ego
Knowledge	Perception
Intelligence	Intellect (buddhi)
Atma (Soul)	Atma Shakti
Penis	Vagina
Day	Night
Light	Darkness
Nirguna	Triguna
Immortality	Mortality
Birth	Death
Fetus	Womb
Awakening	Practice (Sadhana)
Liberation	Bondage
Samadhi	Sambhog (sexual union)
Speech	Organ of speech
Nada (divine sound)	Hearing
Sound	Space
Aum	Im, Hrim
Pure light	Impure light
Subject	Object
Bliss	Pleasure
Sacrificial Fire (Yagagni)	Sacrificial pit (Yajnakund)
Reality (sat)	Illusion (Maya)
Sruthi	Smriti
Dakshinamurthy (World teacher)	Jangama (Guru)
Yogi	Yogini
Deva	Devi
Silence	Sound
Awareness	Ignorance
Vidya	Avidya
Apara (transcendental)	Para-apara
Sarvam (all)	Idam (here)
That (asmi)	This (etat)
Isvara	Aham