WHY SHIVA IS WORSHIPPED AS LINGA?
According to the Puranas, once Brahma and Vishnu
were fighting to prove each others’ prowesses. To make
them realize the futility of their fight, Lord Shiva
intervened by taking the form of a flaming Linga (pillar
of fire) in between Brahma and Vishnu and challenged
them both to measure the Gigantic Linga.
Brahma and Vishnu
Seeing the magnitude of the Linga, Brahma and Vishnu
decided to find the beginning and the endpoint. Both
searched for thousands of miles but couldn’t find the
beginning endpoints.
On his journey upward, Brahma came across Ketaki
flower. Exhausted and bewildered with his search to find
the uppermost limit of a fiery column, Brahma made
Ketaki assent to lie that he had seen the top of the
the column where the flower had previously resided.
Accompanied by his accomplice, Brahma confronted
Vishnu and asserted that he had indeed discovered the
origin of the cosmic column.
At this point, the central part of the pillar split open and
Shiva revealed himself in his full glory. Overawed, both
Brahma and Vishnu bowed before him accepted the lord
Shiva’s supremacy. Lord Shiva also explained to Brahma
and Vishnu that both of them were born out of him and
that the three were then separated out into three
different aspects of divinity.
Lord Shiva's Anger
However, Lord Shiva was angry with Brahma for making
a false claim. The Lord cursed Brahma that no one
would ever pray to him. (This legend explains why there
is hardly any Brahma temple of significance in India.)
Lord Shiva also punished the Ketaki flower for testifying
falsely and banned her from being used as an offering
for any worship.
Since it was on the 14th day in the dark fortnight of the
the month of Phalguna that Shiva first manifested himself in
the form of a Linga, the day is extremely auspicious and
is celebrated as Mahashivaratri - the grand night of
Shiva.
Significance of Shiva Linga
Linga means identification, a symbol through which you
can identify what the truth is. What is not visible but yet
can be identified by one thing; that is Linga. When a
baby is born, only through one part of the body can you identify whether the baby is a boy or a girl.
That’s why
the genital is also called linga. Since the Creator has no
form, so the sign, by which you identify both the male
and female forms, combining them both to form one
single symbol to identify the Lord who has no form or
identity; who is all-pervading in this entire Brahmanda
(Creation), is Shiva Linga. Shiva Linga is ancient. From
the form, one goes to the formless, through the Shiva
Linga. It is a symbol that is the representation of the
cosmos and the creator of the cosmos, as one. It is the
Shiva and the Shakti, the two principles in Creation.
The
silent unmanifest and the dynamic manifestation
together are represented as Shiva Linga, which is not
just Shiva, but the completion of total Supreme
Consciousness.
According to the Linga Purana,
the Linga is a complete symbolic representation of the formless Universe Bearer
– the oval-shaped stone is the symbol of the Universe,
and the bottom base called Yoni represents the
Supreme Power that holds the entire Universe in it.
A similar interpretation is also found in the Skanda
Purana: "The endless sky (that great void which
contains the entire universe) is the Linga, the Earth is
its base. At the end of time, the entire universe and all
the Gods finally merge in the Linga itself."
In yogic lore,
the linga is considered the first form to arise when
creation occurs, and also the last form before the
dissolution of creation. It is therefore seen as an access
to Shiva or that which lies beyond physical creation.
A Shiva Linga has three distinct parts, namely Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva.
The lowermost part represents
Brahma, the middle part on top of which the Yoni rests
is represented as Vishnu, and the uppermost part which
is resting on Yoni is represented as Shiva. Thus the
Shiva Linga represents all three power of the universe in
one as the Para Brahma or the Supreme Consciousness.
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