| Listen to the sound of Ohm Namah Shivaya - Click
and drag a Bilva leaf from the bunch (on the right) in the
picture and offer it to
the Linga form of Lord Shiva with lots of love.
You may do this 11 times or 21 times.
God is omnipresent and all - pervasive. Which means God is
present everywhere, in everything, all the time. Because of
this He cannot have any form. He is, therefore, formless…not
born. He has always been here, there and everywhere. Story
read on...
Many temples of Lord Shiva have a Shivalinga, an egg shaped
round stone found on the banks of river Narmada, as an idol,
a symbol of formless, omnipresent God. This formless Ishwara
decided to become the many to fulfill His innumerable
functions. One such form is Nataraja. The Lord who performs
the illuminating dance appears in the form of Lingodbhavamutri
on Mahasivaratri day to shower His grace upon us.
Lingodbhavamurti is a form that emerges out of a linga. We
cannot see either the top half of the head nor the bottom half
of the legs of that form. All the other attributes of Lord
Shiva, like the deerskin and trident, are sculptured. Also
depicted on the linga is a swan in flight at the top and a
boar burrowing the earth at the bottom. According to
tradition, Brahmaji took the form of a swan to find the crown
of Shiva's head - and failed. Similarly, Vishnu took the form of
a boar and burrowed deep into the bowels of the earth to
locate the feet of Shiva - and also failed. Thus, in the
Lingodbhavamurti we have a combination of Brahma, Vishnu, and
Mahesh, telling us that God is one and all-pervasive.
In big Shiva temples in India, we find a niche in the outer
wall of the sanctorum, exactly behind the spot where the deity
is installed. In this niche we find a Lingodbhavamurti.
Traditionally, people fast on Shivaratri day, and worship
Him at midnight, with at least one leaf of the bilva tree.
|
