A few days ago, somebody showed the curiosity to know about “Shiv Linga” but I don’t understand why the message has been deleted from the forum.
Being a Hindu, I can explain all the description and defination about our religious terminology and symbolism.
It might be a co-incidence that the person who raised that point was “Bhola”!
Jai Bholey!
Being a Hindu, I can explain all the description and defination about our religious terminology and symbolism.
You mean Shiv's linga represents something other than his linga? That's interesting...what does his butt represent then?
mundayaa wrote:
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not that i dont want you to worship them.... but it will help everyone understand WHY u do it. thanks.
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why do you believe in Allah? and why do you believe in the Quran? isnt it a bit odd that you worship something that has no proof of existance (lets face it, God is a questionable entity), but bitch about others worshipping animals that interact with humans and affect their livelyhood in a very direct way?
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while u r at it explain how playboy is different than kamasutra?
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kamasutra is a sex manual from ancient india. it is not a holy text, unless you think arabian nights and qawwali are holy. and what's so bad about a treatise on sex?
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Originally posted by Sushma Kapoor:
**A few days ago, somebody showed the curiosity to know about "Shiv Linga" but I don't understand why the message has been deleted from the forum.
Being a Hindu, I can explain all the description and defination about our religious terminology and symbolism.
It might be a co-incidence that the person who raised that point was "Bhola"!
Jai Bholey!**
[/quote]
Shushma,i guess thats why there are 40 million prostitutes in india as a result 4 million diagnosed AID & another 16 million suspected but not proved b/c they are poor to have doctors.
As the story indicates for women (indian hindu)-not talking about you u r canadian/or american,they teach men shiv lingham just as well you plan to do AND THEMSELVES EARN SCHOLORSHIP FOR HIGHER LITERACY AMONG INDIANS!!congratulation ,!!
TOO HIGH A PRICE FOR TUITION FEES
BY DEEPANKAR GANGULY
Calcutta, Aug.21
She studies by day and earns her living by night.
But 18-year-old Nayana Sen (not her real name) cannot tell her friends
in junior college, where she is studying to clear her Higher Secondary
exams, what she does after classes get over.
Every evening, Nayana rushes off from college to room 409 at Sonagachhi.
Here, she entertains five customers till midnight, before sitting down
to study.
A torrid twist of fate has landed Nayana in the labyrinthine lanes and
bylanes of Sonagachhi, the city’s most populous red-light area.
Her father, a police officer with Golabari thana, died in 1990. Elder
brother Sunil left for the lure of the greenbacks and never looked back.
Nayana and her mother could barely make both ends meet with her deceased
father’s meagre pension. Then, her mother was afflicted with leukaemia.
“We fought the curse with all we had for six long years,” recalls
Nayana, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her mother lost the protracted
battle with blood cancer and she her last remaining hope, last
September. The pension stopped with the death of Nayana’s mother.
Then, a distant relative, who was also a neighbour, dangled a lifeline
in front of the hapless teenager.
Before she could realise what was happening, a dazed Nayana landed up at
the doorstep of Sandhya, the madam of one of the innumerable brothels
that dot Sonagachhi.
Confronted by the brutal fact that she would have to “sell her body to
survive”, Nayana fled Sonagachhi, only to return a week later,
reconciled to the fact that if she had to sustain her studies, and pave
the path to a future, she would have to earn her tuition fees.
Initially, Nayana became one of Benarasi’s girls. She made Rs 90 from
her first customer, the rest going to the madam as “cut money”.
Today, Nayana entertains five customers, for Rs 110 each, every day from
4 pm till midnight.
“I can barely have a bath after rushing back from college, when the
first visitor knocks on the door,” says Nayana.
“None of my friends in college knows. How can I tell them this is what I
do for a living? How will they understand? Their tuition fees are
provided by their parents. My case is so different,” she sobs.
But even in Nayana’s dark existence, she now finds a ray of hope.
Unlike those before him, her present landlord, Narayanda, allows her to
study.
Once the last visitor leaves Room 409, Nayana gets back to her books and
her dreams of breaking free, “some day soon”.
“I have already saved Rs 15,000 in the last eight months and if things
go all right, I hope to get out of this hell-hole in a year’s time,” she
smiles.
Will Nayana fulfil her dream of starting her own business in a year,
shutting the doors on a sordid past and moving towards a better
tomorrow?
One can never be sure. But she surely won’t give up without a fight.
sanam meri sanam,
what in the article makes you link HIV in india with hinduism? there are muslim countries in africa that have their entire working populations wiped out, thanks to AIDS. AIDS aint got any religion, sweetie, same as me.. ;-)
kasam teri kasam..
Queer, are you an atheist? I guess atheist isn't quite the right word; rather, are an all-religion believer person?
kohal,
i am an atheist, but i believe it is none of my business to ridicule other folks' beliefs. and i do believe in the common good of all religions, which is nothing other than humanity. er.. atleast, that is what i think i do.. :)
Re: The Phallus
At the Paris Congress on the History of Religions, Swami Vivekananda said that the worship of Shiv-Linga originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva Veda Samhita sung in the praise of 'Yupa Stambha' the Sacrificial Post. In that hymn a description is found of the beginningless and endless" Stambha or 'Skambha' and it is shown that the said Skambha is put, in place of the Eternal Brahman.
Afterwards, the Yajna(the sacred fire)and its flames gave place to the conception of the brightness of Shiva's body. The Yajna's smoke was symbolised as Shiva's dark matted hair, the soma PLANT used in the Yajna was symbolised as Shiva's Blue Throat(Neelakantan)the ashes of the Yajna became the ashes applied to Shiva's body and the ox that used to carry on its back, the wood for the Yajna, was conceptualised as the carrier(Nandi)the Vahana of Shiva. Just so, the Yupa Skambha in time was symbolised as the Shiva-Linga and was deified to the high Deva -hood of Shri Shankara.
In the Atharva Veda Samhita, even the sacrificial cakes, are also extolled along with the attributes of the Brahman.
In the Linga Purana, the SAME hymn from the Atharva Veda Samhita, is expanded in the shape of stories meant to establish the glory of "beginningless and endless" nature of the Skambha, and the superiority of Mahadeva.
The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Mayawati Memorial Edition, Advaita Ashram Publication, Calcutta. 5th reprint vol 4, 1992 pp 422-425.
Literally, in Samskrit, Shiva means Auspiciousness and Linga means a symbol. Shiva also means one in whom the whole creation sleeps, after dissolution and Linga also means exactly the same thing. Thus Shiva(and Linga) is, what is there after the destruction of all the creation,(Pralayam) and before the beginning of the next cycle of creation. Hence it is a symbol of Auspiciousness and of 'that' which is beginningless and endless, the GOD Himself.
Symbolism in Hinduism ed.R.S. Nathan. Central Chinmaya Mission Trust Publication, Mumbai 1989 pp 74-75.