one of the greatest gods of Hinduism, also called Mahadeva. The “horned god” and phallic worship of the Indus valley civilization may have been a prototype of Shiva worship or Shaivism. Shaivism is mentioned as early as the Upanishads and the Mahabharata (500–200 B.C.). Shiva is identified with the fierce Vedic god Rudra and, in his terrible aspect, is the god of destruction and cosmic dissolution.** He is commonly worshipped in the form of the lingam, or symbolic phallus.** His other main forms are the great yogi, or ascetic, and Nataraja, Lord of the Cosmic Dance. As a yogi he is depicted as seated deep in meditation in the Himalayas, holding a trident, a snake coiled around his neck, his body smeared with ashes, and his hair long and matted. As Nataraja, he is shown four-armed, bearing various emblems, and dancing on one foot on a prostrate demon. Shiva’s mount is the bull Nandi, and his consort is the goddess Uma, Parvati, Durga, or Kali.
phallic worship of the Indus valley civilization may have been a prototype of Shiva worship or Shaivism.<<
By worshipping the creation you are worshipping the creator who created it. Similarly by praising the painting you are praising the artist. It should be noted that religion Indus valley habitants followed allowed them to reach to great heights of civilization, develop qualities such as peaceful co-existence and cooperation, at a time, when most of the other parts of world were still living in dark ages.
Mr Xtreme....>>In that case you need to start worshipping me Rani, because He also created me<<
If you sacrifies your self for the good of humanity, you will be worshipped like Mahatama Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In Hindu methology Shiva is as a killer of evil therefore worthy of worship.
Eastern religions believe that God (soul) resides in all of us and all human beings are children of God and worthy of being worshipped. The following verse from Guru Granth Sahib explains the concept very well.
Awal Allah noor oow payaa, Kudrat de sub bundyaa,
EK noor tai sub jag upjay kaown Bhalay Kaown Manday.
(All human beings are children of one creator, One creator(light) created the whole universe, therefore no one superior and inferior.)
Goodness of all human beings and worshipping the creator by respecting or even in some instances worshipping the creation I think are too deep concepts for you to comprehend. You are used to being dictated every action and evey move.
[This message has been edited by Rani (edited January 23, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Rani (edited January 23, 2000).]
I don't get this, there were/are a lot of religions that prescribe to worship trees, clouds, fire, and even things that nobody has seen. So in Hinduism, they worship a symbolic phallus... so what?
And if you look at it, a phallus is a pretty useful organ. It performs both reproductive functions (saves our species from extinction and essential for creation of another human being) and is also used for urination.
Rani,
By worshipping the creation you are worshipping the creator who created it
I don't get this one either. I can see how admiring the creation you are admiring the creator but worshiping it is to achieve the state of worshiping the creator is something that does not make any religious sense. If you can directly worship the creator, why indirectly worship the creation? Admiration and respect would do just fine if peace and cooperation is desired.
My point is that I personally don't think that your explaination makes any logical sense in a religious context. Now if you were to say that since phallus is fundamental in bringing a new life or giving birth to a sould then that would make sense in the context of its worshiping among its believers.
I believe in Sikhism and I worship God directly plus also believe the creator and the creation is one and same and there is God in form of soul in all of us.
According Sikhism being a good person is more important than following any particular religion. I personally do not worship trees stones or any objects but I can understand the motive of the worshipper who deos so. By placing a flowers near a tree they are actually paying homage to power which created the tree.
Your explaination of Linga worship is pretty acurate.
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(All human beings are children of one creator, One creator(light) created the whole universe
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That is actually the meaning of la illa ha il Allah (there is only one God - not 3million) Good to see that you agree with the message of the Qur~an.
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Goodness of all human beings and worshipping the creator by respecting or even in some instances worshipping the creation I think are too deep concepts for you to comprehend. You are used to being dictated every action and evey move.
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I still don't see you worshipping me, the creation of your Lord. By doing so you will prove your point. In your next post say something like:
"Mr Xtreme is creation of God so he is worthy of poojah just the same as Shivalingum. I offer my respects to the thoughts of Mr Xtreme as it is the same as worshipping his Creator."
We don't need to go into anything deep, just keep it nice and simple like above. If you can say the above and prove your point then we can worry about deeper issues later.
Please read my post before repeating yourself. The concept of sprituality are deep and need understanding which I don't think you possess.
It is interesting to note that you have only selectively picked up the lines which you agree with and ignored the ones you have trouble with. I do believe in one God at the same time also believe that all human beings are equal regardless of the religion they follow. The concept of believer and non-believer(Kaffir) is aganist Sikhism. As a result Sikh Gurudawaras are open to followers of all religions. Sikhism believes that God can be reached in many ways, what you do (Karm) matters more than who you are.
For starts, Please show respect for all human beings regardless of their religion, if you want others to repect you and your religion.
[This message has been edited by Rani (edited January 24, 2000).]
If you believe in Sikh religion then fine. There are sikh temples in Pakistan and there are still some sikhs living there.
I believe in freedom of worship so I don't have a problem with what Sikhs want to believe. If they don't believe in kafirs that is up to them. Similarly if in islam there is a term kafir what has it got to do with you? A sikh once told me that the worst type of meat for them to eat was halal meat because of the way it is slaughtered. So what? That is their belief and they are entitled to it.
You seem to accept that worshipping the creation is not necessarily a good idea as you (quite rightly) refuse to worship me. Good for you.
According Sikhism being a good person is more important than following any particular religion.
I can see that but now we need to decide what is a good person?
Hmm, should we form our own concept as far as how "God" should be worshipped?
Or should we refer to God's revelation and see how He wants us to worshiop him?
My personal opinion is that we're in no position to define the relationship between us and God. It would only make sense that God defines the relationship.
So we have to refer back to His literature and see how He wants us to worshiop him.