THE LINGAM

The Shivalingam is the mark or sign of Lord Shiva. It is the most common icon of Shiva and is found in most Shiva temples. On the special night of Mahashivaratri (the great night of auspiciousness), a number of Lingams manifest from the body of Swami Premananda. Through this spiritual phenomenon, it is as if the tremendous power of formless Divinity is brought forth into the world. This is known as Lingodbhava.

THE LINGAM FORCE

Swamiji says: "You are all good people but it is my duty to make you better human beings. When I take the Lingams out at Shivaratri, the force is so great it will change you all into good people in one stroke! The Lingams benefit all the devotees who are thinking of Shiva and the Lingodhbhava on Mahashivaratri. These Lingams have life. They are animate and living. When they emerge from my body they are soft and pulsating with life. You can see the vibration. Within one day they harden. Over the last quarter century they have come as granite, crystal, vibhuti and as gemstones. Every single one is different and has its own quality. When I give them to devotees who care for them with devotion, the potent and latent power in them will come out. By the "birth" of the lingams there is regeneration in the world."

LINGAM AS A SYMBOL

Seekers explore a multitude of possibilities in their search of the sacred. They try to find it in their day-to-day existence, in their natural surroundings, in the sky and space beyond, in the inner sanctum of a temple, or within their own body and mind. The mind is the main medium for this search, and mostly, the mind can contemplate the Divine only if it has a form. Therefore, even those who have attained the experience of transcendental Truth are bound to express it through a symbol that can be recognized and understood by others. Images of fire, such as a candle flame, the cross and complex mandalas are dialects of the sacred language of spiritual symbolism. However, all of these symbols carry at least some religious connotation and accordingly may not be equally meaningful in all cultures and in all times and places. The symbol of the lingam, on the other hand, is relatively free from cultural associations insofar as it is a form found in nature. The lingam can be understood from three different perspectives: as a material object in the external world, as a means of moving from the external to the internal, and as the Light itself. Thus, the lingam can serve as a sacred symbol of the Divine for those seeking spiritual revelation in the external world - just as other symbols do. But the yogis, who have no interest in the material form of the lingam, devote themselves to attaining union with the inner lingam - the light of transcendental Truth. For them the lingam is not a symbol; it is an experience.

Most of us are somewhere between the laity and the yogis. We are searching for a spiritual meaning in the inner world but have not yet freed ourselves from an attraction to and belief in symbols and sacred images. For us, meditation on the lingam as a symbol can be a means of transcending the limitations of mind and senses in order to enter the realm which lies beyond all symbols and images.