The Shivlinga , A most esoteric symbol, conveys different understandings at different levels.
It is worshipped equally popularly as the Image of Shiva Himself ,and in abundance, with some variance, the world over.
The paramount understanding being that the transcendent godhood , unfathomable in its Pristine realm of infinity ,is however, knowable in the finite world it creates and pervades.
The Linga, (upper columnic portion) is transcendence,The lower receptacle is Yoni, cosmic womb. Altogether the Shivlinga means to convey that the transcendent pervades the manifest world as immanence.
This also gives us some insight into “why does god create the world?”
Finitude,serves by contrast, the purpose of the infinite light to focus, on itself.The shivlinga therefore tells us that God creates this world, and then enters it Himself, in order to know Himself, explore Himself, and this is His great Leela.
Thus the shivlinga is a symbol of god’s creativity,immanence ,as also His transcendence.It also represents the perfect balance of Yin and Yang, potential and kinetic, male and female energy, and so, shiva and shakti itself.
Because its ‘made’ form ,devoid of any complicated sculpting, represents God in a simple, straightforward way, the shivlinga is a favourite symbol.
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