Why worship shivling

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Omkareshwar or better known as Mandhata Omkareshwar is one of the foremost of the 12 Joytirlingas or it is luminous physical self-presentation of Lord Shiva of the Hindus. Omkareshwar, the Shri Kedarnath is one of the best known Shivasthalams in India and is considered to be one of the most sacred pilgrimage centers of the country, located in the lofty Himalayas Shri Bhimashankar in Maharashtra is an ancient shrine, enshrining Bhimashankara one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva.

Bhimashankar is located in the village of Bhorgiri 50 km north west of Sign In or Create an Account. Call us: Devshoppe gmail. Deity Idols. In Hindu Mythology, at the time of creation, the Brahman [Force which runs through all of us and the Great energy which created everything in the universe] manifested itself into the form of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma.

They worked together and everything was fine with the universe. However once Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma had a fight with each other. The fight was threatening to go out of hand, when the other Gods went to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva told the Gods that he would take care of this and asked the Gods to be in peace.

He then installed himself on the seaside at Dwarka as Nageshwar jyotirlinga. He is the lord of all serpents naga. Rameshwaram jyotirlinga is located near the southern tip of India in Tamil Nadu. This linga was installed by Lord Rama himself, seeking the blessings of Lord Shiva in his battle against Ravana. He is the Lord revered by Rama.

Grishneshwar jyotirlinga is situated in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. Kusuma was a very pious woman devoted to Lord Shiva.

She used to worship her Lord everyday by immersing the shiva linga in a pond, as part of the daily ritual. Her husband had another wife who became jealous of Kusuma due to her increasing reputation in the society.

Kusuma became really depressed on hearing that her son had been murdered, but continued to offer worship to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was immensely pleased by her equanimous devotion and as soon as Kusuma immersed the shivalinga in water, her son came back to life.

Lord Shiva then showed himself to Kusuma and the villagers. The people of India speak different languages. If in Kashi, people speak one language, people in Rameshwaram speak another. In ancient times, people were asked to first visit Rameshwaram, and from there, they had to go on a pilgrimage to Kashi and bathe in the holy Ganga. After that they had to bring back the holy water of the Ganga from Kashi to Rameshwaram and offer it to the jyotirlinga there. And after that, they were told to take the offering back to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

The intention behind doing this in ancient times was to bring a sense of national unity by making people visit these holy shrines situated in different parts of the country. When people undertake pilgrimages together to different parts of the country, they establish bonds of friendship with one another.

That is why all the 12 jyotirlingas were never kept in one place or one state. Some were in the North, some in the South, some in the West — they were distributed all over. And in those days, these locations of jyotirlingas were not easy to travel to. It used to be very difficult to get there.

One had to pass through dense forests, dangerous valleys, city ruins or snow capped mountains, to reach these shrines. For example, Kedarnath is situated high in the Himalayan range. In this way, by establishing sacred shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva in different parts of the country, the holy sages and saints of those days built a unified nation.

Now that you know about the significance of the jyotirlingas and the story behind each one of them, are you planning to go on a pilgrimage of the jyotirlingas? Are you a little confused on how to plan your journey? No worries, as we have a sequence for you based on where you are situated. If you are living in the North, Kedarnath in Uttarakhand will be your first destination.

Subsequently, you move eastwards to Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar in Uttar Pradesh. Now, travel to Nageshwar and Somnath in Gujarat. From thereon, move on to Maharashtra where you visit Grishneshwar, Bhimashankar, and Trimbakeshwar in that order. After this, make your way to Mallikarjuna in Andhra Pradesh and finally to Rameshwarm in Tamil Nadu, where your pilgrimage ends.

For those living in the South, Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu will be your first destination. From here, you move on to Mallikarujuna in Andhra Pradesh. Now, move westwards to Maharashtra, which has three jyotirlingas. Bhimashankar will be your first destination here, followed by Grishneshwar and Trimbakeshwar. Subsequently, you travel to Madhya Pradesh, which is home to Omkareshwar and Mahakaleshwar.

The relationship of Uma and Maheswara is like that of word and meaning. The beloved of Shiva Uma is in the form of words. The moon crested Lord Maheswara is in the form of meaning of those words. So, just as meaning is formless and it gets manifested through words. In the similar way formless Shiva gets manifested through Shakti.

The same chapter also states:. There is mutual dependence between Shakti and Shaktiman. There is no Shakti without Shiva and no Shiva without Shakti. The inseparable relationship of Shiva and Shakti is also shown by image or idol form of ArdhaNarishwara.

However Linga form is the only form which establishes the word-meaning relationship. It is because formless Shiva gets manifested in Linga form through the base of Shakti. It is shown in Linga Purana [part 2 chapter 47]:. The Devotee shall clean Linga along with the pedestal and then devoutly install it. It shows that Nirguna Shiva gets manifested as the base of Shakti.

So as it represents the Nirguna aspect, Shiva Purana [Videysavara samhita chapter 5] states:. He is also Sakala as he has an embodied form. It is in his Niskala aspect that the Linga is appropriate as it represents formless aspect. So, Lord Shiva is primarily worshipped in Linga form because it is the only form which establishes the inseparable relationship of Shiva-Shakti, it represents the manifestation of Nirguna in Saguna form and Linga is identical with the Universe itself and it represents infinity too.

Thus it is best to worship Lord Shiva in Linga form. Oh, how is it that Vibhisana seeing the Linga of Shiva, called Ramesvara and installed by me, is bound with chains. The Rishis, the Gods, the Gandharvas and Apsaras, always worship the Linga form which is supposed to stand upright. When the mind is clear and is without prejudices, we will realize that the Linga form of Shiva is the most innocent form of Brahman that our ancestors had realized.

It is pure and they got it from pure nature. He who adoreth Linga form of that high souled God, always obtained prosperity by that act.