Life and Beyond: Shivling the symbol of the formless God

Article last updated on 30th september 2016

Shivling’s were worshipped worldwide.

Below is the photo of the Siva Lingam which was dug-up from Vatican City and is now exhibited in Gregorian Etruscan Museum Vatican City.

Siva Lingam which was dug-up from Vatican City is exhibited in Gregorian Etruscan Museum Vatican City.

One of the meanings of the word Linga in Sanskrit is a symbol. Thus Sivaling is the Symbol of the God without a form residing over the entire universe.

Swami Vivekananda described Shiva Lingam as the symbol of the Eternal Brahman, that the worship of Shiva Lingam – a description of the beginning less and endless of the Eternal Brahman

(Brahman means the totality of the cosmos / the ultimate God who can never be defined / the one with no beginning or end)

There are various types of Shivling which are made from different materials like meteorite stone, crystal etc.

Meteorite stone Shivling

Shivling’s made from meteorite stone are oval (egg) shaped.

They represent the cosmic egg “Brahmanda” signifying the egg from which the Universe was born.

Now, why would someone want to worship an egg shaped Meteorite stone; simply because it is the egg from which life originated on Earth. In short it brought our DNA on earth.

In 2011 NASA proved this, below quote from the NASA’s website:

“NASA-funded researchers have evidence that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts assisted the origin of life.” (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

One such black meteorite in a silver frame in the eastern corner of the Kaaba at Mecca

The black meteorite stone; it has been broken into a number of fragments and is now cemented into a silver frame in the eastern corner of the Kaaba at Mecca

Crystal Shivling

Adi shankaracharya was a reformer he travelled India wide establishing Maṭhas (monasteries) and reestablishing ancient temples and propagating the Advaita philosophy, he is said to have presented Spatik (crystal) Ling’s to the 4 monasteries he established in the 4 corners of India and to other temples mainly in south India.

When I visited the Chidambaram Nataraj temple in Tamilnadu I had the good fortune of having a darshan (auspicious sight) of the crystal ling

Some believe that Spatik (Quartz crystal) to be Ice which is compressed under pressure for centuries and hence turns into a crystal

Reference note: Theophrastus, the pupil and successor of Aristotle, in his book on stones mentions a stone called crystal (Kp~o'raAAo~). This name, apparently, is derived from Kpgo~--icy cold, and ar contract. It would seem from this that the ancient Greeks, as implied by Pliny, believed crystal (modern quartz) to be a variety of supercooled ice'.

The centuries old Spatika Lingam held in Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai had developed cracks and hence a new six inch tall Spatik Shivling with the right specification has been brought from Himalayas in 2012; The dimensions and design of these ancient Shivlings are authentic and they must be taken as a reference unlike the new age Gurus / Godmen who built all shapes and dimension Shivlings to impress people.

Crystal (Spatik) ling

Worship of the Crystal (Spatik) ling

Mercury (Parad) Shivling

I have no reference to any ancient Vedic temple having a mercury Shivling.

Of late some new age gurus have made huge mercury Shivling’s, I have visited one such ashram in Haridwar, various others can be viewed on the Internet; But they all have a totally different shape, that means that they are not made as per the Vedic specifications.

Also sites who sell this product list a lot of benefits for the mercury Shivling, to promote their sales /business.

One such Dhyanalinga (huge Shivling with a solidified mercury core) has been built by a self-styled godman at Coimbatore in India, he has even built a Theerthakund (a pool of water, visitors have to first take a dip / bath in this theerthakung before entering the place where the Dhyanalinga is kept)

A 680 kgs mercury lingam is kept immersed in the Theerthakund and people take a dip / bath in the mercury water and enter the Dhyanalinga area without wiping their bodies.

I am sure that the flamboyant new age gurus know nothing about ancient Vedic science of solidifying mercury or removing the toxic effects of mercury.

On the very website of the Dhyanalinga, in the theerthakund section this godman has written; I quote directly from his site... “…. And mercury is the heaviest substance on the planet…..” he is wrong; mercury is not the heaviest substance on the planet, even gold is much heavier than mercury.

People who take a dip here may be at a risk of mercury poisoning

Narmadeshwar Shivling

It is said that the Narmadeshwar Shivling’s were created millions of years ago when a meteorite collided with the earth at what is now the source of the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh, India

The tremendous heat of the collision caused a fusion of the ambient rock and the meteoric material. Over the ages a river began to flow through this area and the combination of these factors produced the unique condition in which pieces of the fused matter, revolving in the river bed over thousands of years took on the distinct ovoid form. The oval form is markedly different from the flatter, thinner rocks normally appearing in the river bed.

Once a year, after a long dry season and just before the beginning of the monsoon, when the river is at its lowest, the villagers, working with oxen and rope, go out onto the river bed and pull the stones from the water. The stones are then hand polished.

I have a wish to go to this place and get a Narmadeshwar Shivling.

Narmadeshwar Shivling’s

Wrong interpretation of the form of Shivling

Lingam in Sanskrit means sign/ mark/ inference/ symbol/ an emblem / The image of a god, an idol / gender/ time scale / The effect or product (that which is evolved out of a primary cause and itself becomes a producer) / a proof/ evidence.
And it is wrong when people interpret the Shivling as the male organ of shiva; as shiva is without any form then how can he be represented with an organ

The Shiv Shilla at Kedarnath

Below is the photo of the Shiv Shilla at Kedarnath.

The Kedarnath temple does not have a Shivling it has a huge rock called the Shiv shilla