Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKAand formless) since He is identical with theSupreme Brahman.He is also Sakala as He has an embodiedform. He is both Sakala and Nishkala. It isin His Nishkala aspect that the Linga isappropriate.In the Sakala aspect, the worship of Hisembodied form is appropriate. Since He hasthe Sakala and Nishkala aspects, He isworshipped both in the linga form and inthe embodied form by the people and iscalled the Highest Brahman. Other deities,not being Brahman, have no Nishkalaaspect anywhere.To treat the Linga worship as a phallic cultis nothing but a misunderstanding. Phalliccults might have existed among manyprehistoric tribes, but the linga may havebeen in origin no more than just as a symbolof Siva, as the Salagrama is of Vishnu. Inlater days, legends came to be inventedof the origin of worship of the linga as thephallus of Siva.Explaining the feature of the manifestationof the phallic aspect of Siva, theSivapurana, a later mythological book, saysthat long, long ago, in the famous firstKalpa, the noble souls, Brahm and Vishnu,fought with each other. In order toeradicate their arrogance, LordParameswara showed his un embodiedNishkala form in the form of a column intheir midst. He showed his phallus emblemseparate, evolved out of the column, witha desire to bless the worlds. The word‘Linga’ has a philosophical connotation.‘Linga’ means that in which this Jagath(universe) attains Laya (dissolution), thatinto which this Jagath goes-gamyathe. Thethree gunas are represented by the threetieredPeetha. The Linga above symbolisesTEMPLE INDIAthe goal of life. Linga means a symbol, thesymbol of creation, the result of theactivity of the three gunas and of theBrahman which permeates it and gives ita meaning and value. When we worshipthe Linga, we must do it with faith in thissymbolic significance.Saiva AgamasSaivagamas are the texts written inSanskrit on the Saiva religion andphilosophy. The Saivites regard these ashaving equal spiritual authority with theVedas. The word ‘Agama’ means that whichcame and logically it is concluded that allthe Agamas have come from god. Thereare twenty-eight main Saivagamas. Theyare said to constitute the body of theformless Siva. Temples are built andworshipped according to the injunctions inthese Agama-shastras. A flexible buteffectively restraining code is essential fortemple worship and that has been providedin the Kriya and Charya Padas ofSaivagamas. The Vidya Pada of the Agamasdeal with the Saiva philosophy. It speaksabout the five functions of Pati symbolisedas the pancha-kritya dance of Nataraja.Saiva-SiddhantaUmapati Sivacharya says that the threewords, ‘Pasu’, ‘Pati’ and ‘Pasa’, sum up theessence of the Vedas. According to SaivaSiddhanta, Pati is none else but Siva, whois also called as Rudra. Siva is the SupremeBeing, who evolves, sustains and involvesthe phenomenal universe. The wholeuniverse, constituted of all beings, maleand female; and those which are without200