The phallus (linga ) worship related to Siva - as envisaged by the Author - (page 11 etc ) has been disputed by some of our Scholars -
drawing attention to the facts that
PARA BRAHMA - PARA VISHNU - PARA SIVA & PARA SAKTHI -
and thus all the forms of Brahma - Vishnu - Siva - Sakthi have been identified in the LINGA itself and thus identifying the same w.r.to the phallus form - is disagreeable - according to them.
A RESPECTABLE MEMBER NOTIFIED THAT LINGA DOES DEPICT CLOSELY TO PHALLUS FORM OF WORSHIP - WITH A PHOTOGRAPH..
This query I did put to the Scholars.
They clarified ::
Like there are Lingas with Parabrahma - Paravishnu - parasiva - parasakthi, there are other Lingas too - which do not contain Parabrama or both parabrahama - vishnu or in some cases Parasakthi " thathva" might not have been included...
Thus there are varying forms of Lingas.
Phallus type worshippable form also there which was ONE SUCH among the Several others..
AND that DOES NOT MEAN ALL THE LINGAS DEPICT PHALLUS FORM OF WORSHIP...
We at least must stop calling linga worship as phallus worship. The primary meaning of 'ling' is - mark, sign, symbol, emblem - in Sanskrit, the three genders are - pulling, striling and napumsahaling for masculine, feminine and neuter genders.Sampath
In sanskrit, the meaning, in many cases, depends on the context; in good dictionaries, a meaning given is supported by quotes from veda, smiritis, ithihasas, kavyas, nitisastras, sringara literature etc. Loose use of a word in a different context is not recommended.I must read 'Deivathin Kural' again to check what Kanchi periyavar says. Sampath
not only in sanskrit, all languages have words with differing meaning according to the context it is used..
in legal terminology (interpretation of statues) this is called "rule of Internal construction or Literal construction".
here the basic question to be asked is "what is the natural or ordinary meaning of that word or phrase in its context in the statute".. we can substitute statute here with the literature....
so when one uses the word "lingam" in certain context as in erotic literature, the general meaning is phallus...
so it does not preclude that lingam cannot mean phallus.. as u said, it all depends upon context.. but óne of the lingam's synonym is phallus
Sampath sir need not refer deivathin kural The one i sent is the essence of swami's view on the subject ( where else you will get such authoritative info?)
Dear Friends, If the ShivaLinga rests in the Yoni, how can they not be seen as Male/Female union, so reproductive symbols? The procreative force of the universe, what's offensive about that? I am hoping to hear. . . kathie