"The Lord is within you" is an old saying that makes us want to believe that the supernatural force governing all life, exists within us as well. There is no disputing this fact, but how and in what form does IT exist in, is worth a discussion. Shaivism has possibly attempted to depict this "not so easily achievable" phenomenon in a more grounded reality with plenty of mysticism thrown in. These are concepts beyond the realm of science and that's probably why they are that much more difficult to explain or understand and are left to our experience to realize them. Simply said, Hinduism in some form attempts to realistically paint the super truth by picking very select material items that would not just represent but would also aid the Sadhaka in achieving their goal.
Kundalini Tantra takes the help of traditional symbology to make various references of the potential experience of the divine Shiva Linga, when a Sadhaka crosses one chakra after the other in their attempt to experience super consciousness. In the Mooladhara the Shiva Linga is represented as a Swayambhu Linga or Dhumra Linga, which is smoky grey in color. The Kundalini Shakti in three and a half coils around this Linga, her luster being as bright and piercing as that of lightening. Could this in reality be a representation of the Parada Linga which is grey in color and made of mercury? Does the worship of the Parada Linga in specific help cross the hurdle of the Mooladhara and cleanse the mind of its instinctive ignorance?
The existence of the Kundalini echoes in almost all temples across India. The three and half serpent coil is what is most often seen within the Garbha Griha of the main shrine, bringing the whole vision of the supreme into these houses of stone that represent our womb, the location where this chakra originates. Does it take divine light and consciousness represented by the brightness of fire to have a glimpse of this reality through the art of arti performed at the shrine?
At the Ajna Chakra the supreme consciousness is represented as a black Linga. This is called the Itarakhya Linga. In this state of consciousness the representation of awareness is a more pronounced version of "What I am". Most Shiva temples represent the form of the Linga in black granite. Were the ancients trying to remind us of our original goal having taken birth in this universe by echoing it across monuments of stone systematically across the land, the root purpose of our life being the realization of Who I Am?
The experience at the Anahata Chakra is that of the inverted triangle of Shakti in burning Akhanda Jyoti, the unflickering eternal flame which is essentially the awareness of the jivatma. In the Tantrik texts this Linga is represented as the Bana Linga. It is believed that the Banalingas in reality are the essence of Shiva and do not require any pranapratishta for their worship. These are superior Linga stones are not are easy to procure.
The Bindu Visarga brings with it the cool experience of the moonlit night with the crescent moon shining in the night sky. The crescent moon represents the drop of ambrosia acquired which elevates the Sadhaka's state to that where material sustenance ceases to exist, they completely disconnect from our world. At this point the cosmic sound of OM is heard within the being of the Sadhaka.
Last and by far the most supreme, is that of the luminous Linga experienced at the Sahasrara Chakra. This is represented by the Jyothir Linga which is formless. This is the state of the void, the nothingness where the Sadhaka ceases to exist in relation to "I". Could this in reality be represented by the Spatika Linga which is transparent, and yet almost invisible?
It amazes me that each Linga experienced in the spiritual journey has possibly been represented in material form through natural stones/metals available in nature. How far deep does this search go, how far beyond is the truth and how much closer can it be if its within me to realize?
Kundalini Tantra takes the help of traditional symbology to make various references of the potential experience of the divine Shiva Linga, when a Sadhaka crosses one chakra after the other in their attempt to experience super consciousness. In the Mooladhara the Shiva Linga is represented as a Swayambhu Linga or Dhumra Linga, which is smoky grey in color. The Kundalini Shakti in three and a half coils around this Linga, her luster being as bright and piercing as that of lightening. Could this in reality be a representation of the Parada Linga which is grey in color and made of mercury? Does the worship of the Parada Linga in specific help cross the hurdle of the Mooladhara and cleanse the mind of its instinctive ignorance?
The existence of the Kundalini echoes in almost all temples across India. The three and half serpent coil is what is most often seen within the Garbha Griha of the main shrine, bringing the whole vision of the supreme into these houses of stone that represent our womb, the location where this chakra originates. Does it take divine light and consciousness represented by the brightness of fire to have a glimpse of this reality through the art of arti performed at the shrine?
At the Ajna Chakra the supreme consciousness is represented as a black Linga. This is called the Itarakhya Linga. In this state of consciousness the representation of awareness is a more pronounced version of "What I am". Most Shiva temples represent the form of the Linga in black granite. Were the ancients trying to remind us of our original goal having taken birth in this universe by echoing it across monuments of stone systematically across the land, the root purpose of our life being the realization of Who I Am?
The experience at the Anahata Chakra is that of the inverted triangle of Shakti in burning Akhanda Jyoti, the unflickering eternal flame which is essentially the awareness of the jivatma. In the Tantrik texts this Linga is represented as the Bana Linga. It is believed that the Banalingas in reality are the essence of Shiva and do not require any pranapratishta for their worship. These are superior Linga stones are not are easy to procure.
The Bindu Visarga brings with it the cool experience of the moonlit night with the crescent moon shining in the night sky. The crescent moon represents the drop of ambrosia acquired which elevates the Sadhaka's state to that where material sustenance ceases to exist, they completely disconnect from our world. At this point the cosmic sound of OM is heard within the being of the Sadhaka.
Last and by far the most supreme, is that of the luminous Linga experienced at the Sahasrara Chakra. This is represented by the Jyothir Linga which is formless. This is the state of the void, the nothingness where the Sadhaka ceases to exist in relation to "I". Could this in reality be represented by the Spatika Linga which is transparent, and yet almost invisible?
It amazes me that each Linga experienced in the spiritual journey has possibly been represented in material form through natural stones/metals available in nature. How far deep does this search go, how far beyond is the truth and how much closer can it be if its within me to realize?
13 comments:
Let's see if 'we' could bring abstract into the realm of 'science'?
Shiva (शिव) conveys eternity or iimmortality as, phonetically, it is opposite of poison (विष), the apparent cause of mortality in animals,,,and God, or Shiva, is believed related with zero (time and space) and in a state of 'eternal bliss' (thus relating bliss with zero time!)...
And, one knows 'happiness is a state of mind', which unfortunately is not under human control...Also, one might come to realise that happy days appear to pass much more rapidly than when one is unhappy (say, due to some chronic illness),,,thus happy time tends to zero, while unhappy ones to infinity (hard rocks, as used in shivlingas, withstand the vagaries of Nature better and, therefore, last longer)!
However, 'I' still cannot express in words the relative difference, say, between the sweetness of mangoes and bananas, or between one mango and another (one man and another also!)...
As 'I' had earlier also indicated elsewhere, the four stages of the 'kshir-sagar manthan' or 'churning of milky-ocean' (representing four yugas from sa to kali) needs to be visualised as indicating our MILKY WAY GALAXY as the most evolved among the variety of innumerable galaxies that fill the infinite void (anant shunya, believed to have started from a point) of the balloon-like universe that's believed to be ever enlarging since the Big Bang or 'Brahmnad' (represented by sound energy, 'OM')...
In 'my' opinion, 'Bindu visarg' at the top, ie, 'sahasrara chakra' in the head (where essence of moon is housed) represents the formless, the Mohini form of Vishnu', as the ultimate goal of 'kundalini jagaran', ie, lifting energy to this level from different parts of energy housed in the lower 7 chkras, 'the three and a half serpent coil', (with earth-moon as the last set of eight planets, or 'grahas') whose essences are believably housed within the human form at different levels from 'mooladhar chakra' that normally remains held tightly: like an elephant's leg between the powerful jaws of a crocodile (MAGARMACHHA as the first incarnation of Vishnu) that needs to be released and move upwards as the cobra raises its hood, to make enlightenment possible,,, as the major part of energy is locked up here, and is thus indicated by a 'dhumr linga', smoke that enevelops the big chunk of knowledge held within the chakra...
'Hinduism' is basically about trying to reach the formless Creator, Zero, through alphanumeric symbols, say as through words and graphics, but which, perhaps as per design, has a tendency to go outwards towards infinity, and not towards the essence (as expressed in Satyam Shivam Sunderam, for example)...
The formless, or the one in energy form, is symbolically represented by stone lingams, maybe soft, (like sedimentary rocks, say soapstone, or from sand grains on the seashore), or hard, (like metamorphic rocks, say marble or granite), which on the whole can perhaps be vislualised as symbolically representing time from zero to infinity (Himalayan peaks, viz. Mount Everst or Kailash etc. stand for long because of hard rocks underneath these)...And the Creator's triple functions of creation, sustenance, and transformation (expressed as destruction) are indicated as being divided between Brahma (Sun), Vishnu (the centre of heavenly bodies where gravitational energy is concentrated and is responsible for the particular defined shapes they have), and Mahesh, say the material earth that supports innumerable life-forms as we know them, but each specis having different life-spans...
'I' am glad no one is reading comments seriously otherwise someone might by now have pointed out that soapstone is a metamorphic rock! Sorry for the mistake.
Kavita ji, you can console me. Ilost my wife. How should I take it.
I dont know, I have not lost anyone that close, but I am aware of the emptiness.
Detachment is the only logical conclusion but this is from an inexperienced person.
Its the only time you can withdraw from the world. The value of life suddenly falls, the need to want to do anything dies, the basic question "who am i and what am i doing" echoes... hence the only option is mental detachment from all the chaos around us. The world simply doesnt make sense anymore.
Its mental resignation to the constant fight we put up, and now all we possibly have is that breath we continue to have... that life... that we still own and the limited time we have to make the best of it.
Shri Subramanian ji, 'I' wondered if it was a mere coincidence that 'we' met through blog writings? And gradually came to realise how 'we' both were connected to Jagdalpur, Longitude near 82.5 degree, which also can be visualised as the universal zero, since time immemorial considered by 'Hindus', for this Big or original Zero passes through all three locations related with Shiva: Amarkantak in the Narmada Valley, Varanasi in the Ganga-Yamuna Valley, and Mt. Kailash in Tibet!
And, could it be just coincidental that 'my wife' also suffered from Arthritis, had her leg fractured and operated upon, etc,,, in short both she and your wife suffered for long phsically?
Maybe, one would like to know the 'Truth', expressed by 'wise Hindus' as in "Satyam Shivam Sunderam"...
As usual a nice post.Long time since i commented.
'I' could also add from my own experience that one might like to perhaps attempt seeing through the eyes of our 'wiser' ancestors, who apparently were advanced astronomers and astrologers, palmists etc too,,, for one might generally get to observe from the external world how human behaviour appears to go from bad to worse with passage of time and our myths indicate wiser or advanced people to have existed in this very land we call 'India' (originally 'Jambudweep') in the past when Himalayas hadn't emerged from the bowels of earth (where Ma Kali/ Sati resided, in the heart of Shiva, who appeared as Parvati or moon, ie, 'Indu' subsequently ?),,,and 'Hindus' (for they used lunar cycle for reckoning time) indicated time to move in cycles from Satyug the age of perfection to Kaliyuga the Dark Age of ignorance from where the evolutin of physical forms had started...('Tamaso ma jyotirgamaya...' or "Lead the kindly light")...
Although 'I' have already indicated it elsewhere earlier also, 'I' am to indicate the essence in brief the following, in Hindi:
इसे कोई दार्शनिक दृष्टिकोण कहे अथवा सत्य, यदि विभिन्न 'हिन्दू' मान्यताओं के आधार पर देखा जाए, तब शायद कोई अनुमान लगा सकता है कि प्राचीन योगियों के अनुसार, (जिन्होंने अपने जीवन-काल में भूख-प्यास पर भी नियंत्रण हासिल किया), (पंचभूतों में से एक तत्व*) पानी का एक फव्वारा मानव जीवन के काल-चक्र को समझाने में सहायक हो सकता है,,, {जिस से लगभग एक बिंदु (मूलाधार) से जल बाहर निकल, कई धाराओं में बंट, ऊपर पहुँच (सहस्रार) विभिन्न 'शहस्त्र' धाराओं में फिर नीचे गिरता प्रतीत होता हो},,, जो निरंतर बहता आ रहा हो और जिसका सर्वोच्च स्तर चार चरणों में, पहले १००% से घट ७५%, फिर ७५% से ५०%, फिर ५०% से २५%, और अंत में २५% से लगभग ०% पहुँच फिर से १०० % पहुँच जाए,,,और फिर उसी प्रकार चार चरणों में लगभग शून्य तक पहुँच यही कहानी दोहराए, एक चक्र में कुल १०८० बार,,, और जिस सम्पूर्ण चक्र को पूरा होने में लगभग साढ़े चार अरब वर्ष निकल जाएँ, (जो 'ब्रह्मा का एक दिन' कहलाता है,,,जबकि हमारा औसतन १२ घंटे का ही होता है!),,,और उसके पश्चात फिर उतनी ही लम्बी रात आ जाती है (जैसे कि आधुनिक वैज्ञानिकों के अनुसार हमारे सौर-मंडल की अनुमानित आयु आज हो गयी है, और वर्तमान में पर्यावरण शास्त्री पृथ्वी की सेहत के लिए चिंतित हैं)...
आम आदमी अपने छोटे से जीवन-काल में सम्पूर्ण फव्वारे का आनंद उसे दूर से देख उठाता है,,, किन्तु अपने जीवन में केवल अपने से ऊपर चढ़ती बूंदों समान व्यक्तियों को ही देख रहा होता है, अपना लक्ष्य मान, अथवा अधिकतर नीचे गिरती धाराओं समान नीचे जाते अपने को पाता है - …
[* अथवा 'अग्नि' रूप में भले ही कुछ समय के लिए ही प्रज्वलित ज्वालामुखी और मानव द्वारा निर्मित दीवाली का अनार भी, उसके एक प्रतिरूप समान]
I was going to send you those old b/w photos of the Devi there, but see you have them already & Yoginis.
I signed the guest book in '07.
beautiful different architecture and scary Devis!
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