674--Q&A WITH SWAMIJI- Cleaning Shiva Lingam

[Guest guest]

Question from Henny:When during puja, the Shiva Lingam on my altar gets decorated with perfume and powders and flowers etc. He stays that way the whole day, and then in the evening I remove everything and 'put Him to bed' by hiding the Lingam under a (artificial) heap of flowers, which I take away in the morning before starting puja. The tricky thing is how and when to remove the powders and clean the Lingam. It is separate from the base (it is a very small stone lingam in a copper base), and some of the powder sometimes falls in between Lingam and base and this gets messy. Can I remove the Lingam from the base in order to clean both? Or should the Lingam stay in the same position always and would it be better to offer the powders on a flower? thank you.Similar question from Devi:I clean up and put the lingam to bed and cover it with the cloth. But I leave the face painted on. The milk, ghee and such are collected in a bowl each day and after offering the five mixed He is washed with it on a piece of paper towel and then after Ganga (bath water) He is rinsed with that on a paper towel then dried and then offering continues till He is dressed and then undressed in evening and all begins again. I also lift him up on occation to wash His feet during puja with purified water. But also wonder if this is correct. Would love some information on how this should be done. Swamiji's response:You can remove the lingam from the yoni and thoroughly cleanse both, and put them to bed.Question from Henny:If the lingam plus base (or any murti) is installed on an asan, how do we clean them? Can we lift them up and put them back? Or do we manoeuver around them? Thank youSwamiji's response:If they are small enough, you can lift them up and clean under and around them. Otherwise, clean around them and leave them in place.