Shivalingams

[Bhadr]

Hi
Do you have a Shivalingam(s) in your puja altar/home?Where did you get it?

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Vanakkam,

I have a very simple, white stone one. I brought it from the Siddhivinayaka mandir in Mumbai

Aum Namah Shivaya

 

[DeviChaaya]

Hi
Do you have a Shivalingam(s) in your puja altar/home?Where did you get it?

I too have a small, white stone shivalingam. Today I bought a yoni base for for a ling am I plan on buying in the future. We're not meant to keep the one piece lingam-yoni in our homes but it's okay to keep lings like the banalingam although it should have have a yoni.

 

[Vinayaka]

We have a smaller brass one, and I got it from Himalayan Academy gift shop. We also have a few narmada lingams, sans yoni, in waiting.

 

[StarryNightshade]

I have a small one that I got form an Indian grocery store. One day I would like to have a stone or brass one.

 

[Jainarayan]

I have a small black jade lingam, and a small green jade Nandi. I have on occasion put the lingam on a small terracotta base and poured a spoonful of water over it saying om shri shiva snanam samarpayami.

 

[Aupmanyav]

If the Lord has not objected till now, I think it is OK. Otherwise I read the following "Snānīyam Samarpayāmi" from websites. I do not know how that is arrived at (it is similar to 'āchamanīyam samarpayāmi'), but my own formula will be 'Snānārtham Jalam Samarpayāmi' (offer water for your bath).

My wife worships a small black (I think granite) half an inch/2 cm lingam in a silver yoni which she has inherited from my maternal grandmother (also a similar size metal 'Balagopala' around which she wraps a cm broad strip of cloth as his clothes). Both are together on a small silver 'Simhasana' (throne) which is in the center of our puja (you can check it in my albums). Funny people. I have not looked closely at that in recent times.
Shivaya namah, Krishnaya namah.

 

[Aupmanyav]

One more thing. When you are offering a bucket of water to Shiva for his bath, you are in direct his presence. He has been invoked, he has accepted your request, is already there, and you have greeted him on his arrival. Though it is suggested in various websites to offer 'namaskaram' at each step of puja, I do not think that is really necessary. When we meet a person we greet him only once. We do not greet him in every sentence that we utter. So, IMHO, just saying 'Samarpayami' probably is enough.

 

[Bhadr]

I too have a small, white stone shivalingam. Today I bought a yoni base for for a ling am I plan on buying in the future. We're not meant to keep the one piece lingam-yoni in our homes but it's okay to keep lings like the banalingam although it should have have a yoni.

Apart from brass and stone ones,nowadays,lingams of some POP type material are more common.I haven't seen Banalingams in our local stores.Are you getting a Narmada lingam or a different material one?

We also have a few narmada lingams, sans yoni, in waiting.

Were the lingams gifted to you?Did you put all of them in your home mandira along with the other murties?

I have a small black jade lingam, and a small green jade Nandi.

Oh!I assumed jade is always green-ish.

My wife worships a small black (I think granite) half an inch/2 cm lingam in a silver yoni which she has inherited from my maternal grandmother. Both are together on a small silver 'Simhasana' (throne) which is in the center of our puja (you can check it in my albums). Funny people. I have not looked closely at that in recent times.
Shivaya namah

Nice altar.Its like a miniature temple.
Some stone vendor shops sell carved marbled mandirs.I don't think marble is found in the south,we say Rajasthani marble (or Italian).

A relative's family has an old Shivalingam,nodbody knows how old.It was found in a river by their great grandmother,a religious and good lady,during pilgrimage.They consider it lucky and its like a heirloom.

My uncle inherited a spatika lingam from his elder brother.He worships this lingam.

On a site note,so far I haven't seen the word 'Yoni' in the scriptures or in spoken language.It has various meanings depending on the context,so it is not used in discussions.The portion on which the lingam is installed is usually called as Pitha or Vedi in the scriptures as.Vedi is also the altar on which homas are done.A Veda verse says that, "Yajna is Shiva and Uma is Vedi.Shiva is Agni and Devi represents the mantras uttered when offering oblations".

 

[Vinayaka]

Were the lingams gifted to you?Did you put all of them in your home mandira along with the other murties?

The new age crystal shops have discovered narmada lingams, and I presume the people who recover them see it as a market. They have been rebranded as 'healing stones' and can be found in rock shops or crystal stores all over. You can order them bulk from various suppliers.

There is debate in the Hindu community about this, as some people see it as Shiva becoming more widespread, and others see it as misuse of a sacred item of Hindus. No doubt some will get tossed or lost. As 'healing stones' they usually stay horizontal, not in the upright position we know for lingams. (On a personal note, I won't judge such stuff, and just watch.)

A few years back I bought a larger one and gifted it to a new temple. So that one has a Hindu place, and is a highlight for that temple. I have a few now because as a woodworking hobby I'm making some wooden bases for them. Not sure what the agamas would say about wood as a material, but certainly the finished ones appear to be more authentically Hindu than than any lying around as a healing stone.

 

[DeviChaaya]

Apart from brass and stone ones,nowadays,lingams of some POP type material are more common.I haven't seen Banalingams in our local stores.Are you getting a Narmada lingam or a different material one?

Please forgive me for any spelling þmistakes I may make. I am writing from my phone. It is indeed a Narmada lingam that I will be purchasing. It is calling strongly to me. I am actually purchasing it from from a new age/wiccan/witch craft store. I saw it lying on its side as @Vinayaka mentioned he has seen them and immediately informed the store people that the must provide a base for these lingams!

I did not know that the yoni is also called the Vedi and Pitha although it makes sense and I will endeavour to use that phrase from now on as it cleanly removes the sexual connotations that colonialism has placed on the yoni and lingam.

 

[Bhadr]

The new age crystal shops have discovered narmada lingams, and I presume the people who recover them see it as a market. They have been rebranded as 'healing stones' and can be found in rock shops or crystal stores all over. You can order them bulk from various suppliers.

There is debate in the Hindu community about this, as some people see it as Shiva becoming more widespread, and others see it as misuse of a sacred item of Hindus. No doubt some will get tossed or lost. As 'healing stones' they usually stay horizontal, not in the upright position we know for lingams. (On a personal note, I won't judge such stuff, and just watch.)

It is unfortunate that this thing is happening.

A few years back I bought a larger one and gifted it to a new temple. So that one has a Hindu place, and is a highlight for that temple.

It is a meritorious thing to donate a lingam,especially a Narmadeshwara.Few people have the opportunity to do so.
Does the temple have website for virtual darshan?

I have a few now because as a woodworking hobby I'm making some wooden bases for them. Not sure what the agamas would say about wood as a material, but certainly the finished ones appear to be more authentically Hindu than than any lying around as a healing stone.

I don't know the exact Agamic prescriptions.From what I observed,stone based vedi is most common for fixed lingams and movable smaller ones tend to have silver,panchaloha or brass pithas.A Lingam is in contact with liquids regularly,so from a practical point of view using those four materials makes the base more durable.But I don't know whether wood is used or not,Shivacharyas might know about this.

 

[Vinayaka]

It is a meritorious thing to donate a lingam,especially a Narmadeshwara.Few people have the opportunity to do so.
Does the temple have website for virtual darshan?

I don't know the exact Agamic prescriptions.From what I observed,stone based vedi is most common for fixed lingams and movable smaller ones tend to have silver,panchaloha or brass pithas.A Lingam is in contact with liquids regularly,so from a practical point of view using those four materials makes the base more durable.But I don't know whether wood is used or not,Shivacharyas might know about this.

Here is the facebook page of the temple i gave it to. https://www.facebook.com/gphindutemple/ I couldn't find a picture of it.

For the more 'decorative' lingams, not intended to be used every day for abhishekham, wood is fine I think. My local priest (a Sivacharya) asked me to make him one for a Narmada he bought.

 

[Bhadr]

It is indeed a Narmada lingam that I will be purchasing. It is calling strongly to me.

I too like Banalingams.

I did not know that the yoni is also called the Vedi and Pitha although it makes sense and I will endeavour to use that phrase from now on as it cleanly removes the sexual connotations that colonialism has placed on the yoni and lingam.

Some people,especially the tantra oriented ones may look at the Shivalingam as a regenerative symbol but for majority Hindus,who form the mainstream, such interpretation is unknown.

For the Shaivas,Sri Lingodbhava Murthi is Tejas, not a phallus.

Has no form and is not describable by words, sportively assumed forms for the sake of devotees to enable them to contemplate. - Srimat Paushkara Agama

Ananthakoti brahmanda Nayakaya Paramatmane Parashivaya Namaha

 

[Aupmanyav]

.. that colonialism has placed on the yoni and lingam.

Don't put the blame squarely on the colonial people, we are equally to blame. Yoni may have many meanings. I will check; and we are not Victorians. Yoni also means species - 'I will be born in Cockroach yoni'.

source, origin, descent, vagina, vulva, nest, spring, caste, seat, womb, mine, stable, fountain, form of existence or station fixed by birth, abode, uterus, copper, family, place of rest, seed, home, female organs of generation, water, race, repository, grain, lair, place of birth, regent of the 'nakshatra' (asterism) of Purva Phalguni, stock, receptacle, particular part of a fire-pit
http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=yoni&script=&direction=SE&link=yes

 

[Aupmanyav]

Crystal Shiva Lingam Found Hidden Inside Jar In Ancient Hindu Temple In Indonesia
15th Century, Java.

http://topyaps.com/crystal-shiva-lingam-indonesia

 

[Jainarayan]

Oh!I assumed jade is always green-ish.

It comes in all different colors, from black to red, green, brownish/gold, very pretty.

 

[DeviChaaya]

Don't put the blame squarely on the colonial people, we are equally to blame. Yoni may have many meanings. I will check; and we are not Victorians. Yoni also means species - 'I will be born in Cockroach yoni'.

source, origin, descent, vagina, vulva, nest, spring, caste, seat, womb, mine, stable, fountain, form of existence or station fixed by birth, abode, uterus, copper, family, place of rest, seed, home, female organs of generation, water, race, repository, grain, lair, place of birth, regent of the 'nakshatra' (asterism) of Purva Phalguni, stock, receptacle, particular part of a fire-pit
http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?tinput=yoni&script=&direction=SE&link=yes

I find it beautiful that the very first two meanings of yoni are 'source' and 'origin'. After all, it is the source upon which the lingam rests, the thing from which it originates! Place of rest, too! Lair! Abode! Beautiful meanings for a beautiful word! Just as linga has many meanings, so too does yoni!

 

[Aupmanyav]

BTW, I checked today. My wife and six small idols on the 'simhasana'. (1, 2 and 3) Our own Ganesha, Balagopala and Durga; and (4, 5 and 6) Ganesha, Balagopala and Shiva lingam bequeathed to her by my maternal grandmother. This is apart from the various (quite a number of) idols and framed images in our Puja. There is a metal Rama Darbar idol which a person from Ayodhya gave me. Then there is a Rama Darbar framed image that my office gave me at the time of my retirement.

 

[RebornHindu]

I have a Shivalingam on my altar yes. I ordered mine online. I use it for daily puja, 2 times a day. Its a small one, but I hope to get a large one, maybe brass someday.