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Re: ARTICLE : Swami Vivekanand on origins of Shiva Lingam
Vivek Sadananda Pai <vivek@cs.rice.edu> wrote in article
<ghenDxBv3n.4D3@netcom.com>...
> In article <5077uu$rer@news.ececs.uc.edu>, S. Desai <vsraj@ibm.COM>
wrote:
> >however is unfounded. Here are Swami Vivekanand's thoughts on the origin
> >of Shiva Lingam. If these posters or Reuters claim to know more about
> >Hinduism than him, then I have no argument.
> [...]
>
> With all due respect, that's just one explanation and I don't think
> it's the commonly accepted one. I'm aware of the story where Shiva is
> cursed by Bhrigu Muni, I believe. Someone else can do the full
> retelling, but it basically ends up with the Muni cursing Shiva to be
> worshipped in lingam form only because Shiva did not properly receive
> his guest and was instead engaged in lovemaking. I've also mentioned
> the Indus Valley seals and the ithyphallic entity depicted on those in
> another post.
Well, I don't think he was so crass as to be engaged in the actual act of
lovemaking. I think he was cursed simply for looking at his wife with
feelings of desire -- and thus failing to receive the muni properly.
Although this story is told in the Bhaagavatam, the parts where Bhrigu Muni
cursed Lords Brahma and Shiva appears to have been left out. It may be that
those are covered in other Puraanas, but I'm not sure which ones. I would
like to know, though.
