It was really cool to see a set of comments of all kinds are coming up and i can answer each one of u one by one...
Well first about SHIVALING,
Some translate "Linga" as penis which is Wrong and this myth is spread wide on the net.
But i would like this opportunity to explain and i am proud to present it to the QL's
The Linga has different meanings - shapeless, without organs.
Penis is called linga by some people due to its shape...the actual word for penis is "Shishna" in sanskrit
Shiva Linga here means, Shiva without form... it is like when we die our soul is called "Linga Sharira"
Shiva being worshipped as Linga means the Consciousness in its primodal form...where Consciousness is entering into the Eternal Energy (Shakti).
Thus shivalinga is the state of god, just before the manifestation of Universe, a little before bag bang.
Shiva is worshipped as Linga...because that is the highest of all manifested gods, formless, attribute less.... simple Consciousness and Energy (shiva and shakti)
Now let me explain more Ql's,
Everybody who worships Siva, the great god of Hindus, or those who have seen Siva-worship, known what Siva-lingam is Shiva lingam, also called as Pindi, is composed of two parts.
A central oval mass standing like a pillar is ‘Bana’ and around this Bana, there is an oval or oblong ‘Salunka’ or ‘Vedi’. By looking at this Lingam no sensible person can imagine a sexual union.
But unfortunately the Western scholars wrongly associated this lingam with the phallus, a male sexual organ, and saw obscenity in this worship. They say that Bana is the penis and Salunka is the vagina a female sex organ; and thus copulation is represented in the Siva-lingam. By any stretch of imagination, I cannot see the two organs in the lingam.
The Bana appears to have come out / upwards through the Salunka; it is not penetrating down into salunka to think of sexual symbolism.
Some Scholars say that the conception of phallism occurred to the primitive people and they started this Siva-worship. It is an established fact that the Philosophy of Upanisadas have made the thinkers of the modern world almost blind by its dazzling light of knowledge.
The people who attained such a high quality of wisdom and philosophy cannot be condemned as primitive. Those philosophers were worshipping Siva lingam. Can that be sexual symbolism? Can a man who has got his own sex organ, ever go to a temple to see the same thing there?
QL's its Impossible.
Those who say of Siva lingam as sexual symbol are themselves primitive, because they cannot see anything else but sexuality.
Ql's, i do go to church to worship LORD JESUS, The comparison i am going to make is just to be taken as an explaination and not to hurt any one feeling or the religion. please!!.
I hope no one will make the below text an argument.. We are just sharing information and knowledge.... please
If we stretch our imagination to that extent, we can also say that Cross of Christians is also a symbol of sexual union. The horizontal small bar representing vagina of the female and the vertical bar piercing through that the penis.
If Siva lingam is a symbol of sexual union, the cross is also equally the same symbol; the only difference between the two is of art. Siva-lingam is quite artistic while there is no art in the cross. Being primitive they are represented only by lines.
Why do this sense of phallism arise? It is because those people took wrong meaning of the word ‘Lingam’. Lingam is, now, taken as a word suggesting sex, but its original meaning is ‘sign’ or ‘symbol’.
For example, Sir Winston Churchill was recognized by his cheroot while Sir N. Chamberlain by his umbrella. Cheroot & Umbrella were the signs or symbols of Churchill and Chamberlain respectively.
In Sanskrit we would say Cheroot is the lingam of Churchill while umbrella is the lingam of Chamberlain. Similarly lingam of Gandhiji is Charkha. Formerly it was said the lingam of Indra was Vajra, lingam of Brahmadeva was lotus.
Thus ‘linga means a sign or symbol by which a particular person is recognized. This is the basic meaning the word lingam and this basic sense Kathopanisd 2/3/8 says that " The Purusa which is superior to unmanifested Brahma has no "lingam". Later on, with the same basic meaning the word lingam was applied to the organ by which male and female are distinguished; and that meaning later became more popular.
Well by know a clean picture can be drawn about SHIVALING.
Sorry for the long text...because not every thing can be expressed in two lines like the INDIAN -THIRUKURAL.
I will come up with more answers to Amigo, Mir, PM and the rest after this week end...
"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition." I am a PROUD INDIAN.
Dear QL's,
It was really cool to see a set of comments of all kinds are coming up and i can answer each one of u one by one...
Well first about SHIVALING,
Some translate "Linga" as penis which is Wrong and this myth is spread wide on the net.
But i would like this opportunity to explain and i am proud to present it to the QL's
The Linga has different meanings - shapeless, without organs.
Penis is called linga by some people due to its shape...the actual word for penis is "Shishna" in sanskrit
Shiva Linga here means, Shiva without form... it is like when we die our soul is called "Linga Sharira"
Shiva being worshipped as Linga means the Consciousness in its primodal form...where Consciousness is entering into the Eternal Energy (Shakti).
Thus shivalinga is the state of god, just before the manifestation of Universe, a little before bag bang.
Shiva is worshipped as Linga...because that is the highest of all manifested gods, formless, attribute less.... simple Consciousness and Energy (shiva and shakti)
Now let me explain more Ql's,
Everybody who worships Siva, the great god of Hindus, or those who have seen Siva-worship, known what Siva-lingam is Shiva lingam, also called as Pindi, is composed of two parts.
A central oval mass standing like a pillar is ‘Bana’ and around this Bana, there is an oval or oblong ‘Salunka’ or ‘Vedi’. By looking at this Lingam no sensible person can imagine a sexual union.
But unfortunately the Western scholars wrongly associated this lingam with the phallus, a male sexual organ, and saw obscenity in this worship. They say that Bana is the penis and Salunka is the vagina a female sex organ; and thus copulation is represented in the Siva-lingam. By any stretch of imagination, I cannot see the two organs in the lingam.
The Bana appears to have come out / upwards through the Salunka; it is not penetrating down into salunka to think of sexual symbolism.
Some Scholars say that the conception of phallism occurred to the primitive people and they started this Siva-worship. It is an established fact that the Philosophy of Upanisadas have made the thinkers of the modern world almost blind by its dazzling light of knowledge.
The people who attained such a high quality of wisdom and philosophy cannot be condemned as primitive. Those philosophers were worshipping Siva lingam. Can that be sexual symbolism? Can a man who has got his own sex organ, ever go to a temple to see the same thing there?
QL's its Impossible.
Those who say of Siva lingam as sexual symbol are themselves primitive, because they cannot see anything else but sexuality.
Ql's, i do go to church to worship LORD JESUS, The comparison i am going to make is just to be taken as an explaination and not to hurt any one feeling or the religion. please!!.
I hope no one will make the below text an argument.. We are just sharing information and knowledge.... please
If we stretch our imagination to that extent, we can also say that Cross of Christians is also a symbol of sexual union. The horizontal small bar representing vagina of the female and the vertical bar piercing through that the penis.
If Siva lingam is a symbol of sexual union, the cross is also equally the same symbol; the only difference between the two is of art. Siva-lingam is quite artistic while there is no art in the cross. Being primitive they are represented only by lines.
Why do this sense of phallism arise? It is because those people took wrong meaning of the word ‘Lingam’. Lingam is, now, taken as a word suggesting sex, but its original meaning is ‘sign’ or ‘symbol’.
For example, Sir Winston Churchill was recognized by his cheroot while Sir N. Chamberlain by his umbrella. Cheroot & Umbrella were the signs or symbols of Churchill and Chamberlain respectively.
In Sanskrit we would say Cheroot is the lingam of Churchill while umbrella is the lingam of Chamberlain. Similarly lingam of Gandhiji is Charkha. Formerly it was said the lingam of Indra was Vajra, lingam of Brahmadeva was lotus.
Thus ‘linga means a sign or symbol by which a particular person is recognized. This is the basic meaning the word lingam and this basic sense Kathopanisd 2/3/8 says that " The Purusa which is superior to unmanifested Brahma has no "lingam". Later on, with the same basic meaning the word lingam was applied to the organ by which male and female are distinguished; and that meaning later became more popular.
Well by know a clean picture can be drawn about SHIVALING.
Sorry for the long text...because not every thing can be expressed in two lines like the INDIAN -THIRUKURAL.
I will come up with more answers to Amigo, Mir, PM and the rest after this week end...
Have a nice week end pals....Good Night.
Cheers
_+LORD+_
====================================================
"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition." I am a PROUD INDIAN.