shiva lingam - A Glorious Worship

October 26, 2005

shiva lingam is the holy symbol of Lord shiva that is considered

quite sacred and worshipped with devotion by the devotees. The

sanskrit word li.ngam means symbol, so shiva lingam means symbol of

shiva. It is considered the foremost sacred symbol for shaivaites and

has been worshiped for ages. The purANas like shiva mahA purANam

discuss about the superiority of li.nga worship. (1) (The Indus

valley excavation is an example for the presence of this worship in

olden times.)

Once the god of creation brahma and the god of protection mahA vishNu

entered in an argument on deciding who is greater. When those two

great gods were fighting between themselves, the Greatest of all Lord

shiva who is formless and transcends everything appeared as a pillar

of flame. God told brahma and vishNu that whoever finds the head or

the foot of His flame form would be considered greater. brahmA took

the form of swan ( ha.msam ) and set out to reach the top of the

Fire. vishNu became a wild pig to see the foot of the Fire. Where are

the limits for the infinite God ? They could not succeed in spite of

their heavy effort. They realized their mistake and the peerless

greatness of Lord shiva. The God who can never be reached by ego

appears as the form of love to those who surrender to Him. Lord shiva

appeared in the form of shiva li.ngam (which is the shape of flame)

for their benefit. They worshiped that oldest form of Him and got

blessed. The God who came to bless them from the Flame, from the

li.ngam is known as li.ngodbhava (2). This incident is depicted in

shiva mahA purANam (1) and many other scriptures.

As the God stood as pillar of flame, the natural adornment for the

Lord is Holy Ash. (As ash would be found on the surface of the fire).

As the God stood as the Luminat Flame that stood up the shiva

sahasranAma hails God as Urdva retas and the shiva aShtottara as

hiraNya retas. The hymn that starts nidhana pataye namaH, refers to

many similarities of Flame and shivalinga.

God is formless, attributeless and omnipresent. This state is called

arUpa (formless). For the benefit of the pashus, He took the form of

shiva li.ngam which is neither form nor formless but is a symbol.

This symbol of Him is called arUparUpam (formless form). He took many

forms out of His mercy to bless all, which are called rUpams. (2).

shaivam worships the God in all these three states. The oldest form

that the formless God took namely the shiva li.ngam is called

sadAshiva mUrtam and is worshipped in the altar of His abodes

(temples). The forms that He later took which are called mAhEshwara

mUrtam are worshipped in the outer circles in a temple.

This shiva li.nga worship is superior because it makes the worship

simple because of the form while maintaining the truth that God is

not having any definite form. There are a lot more marvelous

principles behind the shiva li.nga worship which could be found in

detail in standard scriptures.