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Re: Significance of Siva Linga
vswamy@Phoenix.kent.edu (Swamy Venkat ) wrote:
>Can you give me where exactly this story appears ? There are tons of
>"Karna paramapara " stuff with no basis of any sort floating
>around. I have heard your story from other sources but no one was able
>to tell me which scripture contains it. For all practical purposes,
I guess you are referring to Mr Rama Rao's response here. The story of bhR^igu
giving a curse etc. is found in the bhaagavatam. I can't give the exact canto
numbers etc, but it is definitely in the bhaagavatam. (I have read only a prose
version).
The various puraaNas do not agree with each other in all these details. Another
famous example is the story of how vishhNu got the sudarshana chakra. The
shaivite puraaNas claim that he got it by his devotion to shiva. The story is
that he offered one of his eyes instead of a lotus, when one of the 1008
lotuses he had was missing. The vaishnavites I am sure have a different story.
Actually I remember appar quoting this story in one of his songs.
In the vaishnavite puraaNas they dismiss shaivite puraaNas as tamasic etc and in
the shaivite puraaNas they dismiss vaishnavite puraaNas. Actually in the
brahmaaNDa puraaNa, it's claimed that kR^ishhNa was an incarnation of devi and
raadha an incarnation of Shiva :-). It's the usual Indian method of praising
deities, make all other deities servants of the deity you want to praise.
>the response from Ramakrishnan seems to be appealing and convincing.
>To substantiate Ramakrishnan's, the saint Appar in his Devaaram prays
>to Lord Siva as the Pancha Bootha, the Flesh, the soul, the presence
>and the absence, the king, "Vaanagi Mannagi Valiyaagi Oliyaagi......".
>The one with no form can be worshipped in any form. The same theory is
>substantiated by Thaayumanavar also.
Yes, many of the shaivite saints clearly endorsed advaita (esp.
thaayumaanavar).
Ramakrishnan.
--
Two monks were arguing about a flag. One said, "The flag is moving." The other
said, "The wind is moving." The sixth patriarch happened to be passing by. He
told them, "Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving." - The Gateless Gate
http://yake.ecn.purdue.edu/~rbalasub/
