Sathya Sai Baba Lingodhbhavam and his views on Shiva Linga worship
The Lingams (Lingas) that Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba would create/manifest were ellipsoid in shape (photograph links given below), different from the traditional pillar shape of shiva lingams in Shiva temples.
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Lingodbhavam
http://sathyasaibaba.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/sathya-sai-lingodbhava-mystery-of-the-shiva-lingam/ quotes Shri Kasturi, first editor of Sanathana Sarathi, on the phenomenon of Lingodbhavam in/by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as follows:
“Until 1956, the Shivaratri all-night vigil and Bhajan could be held in the Prayer Hall itself. Sai Baba sat on the silver chair placed on over a tiger skin on a low platform. When the slower hand of the clock hovered near eight, the Linga or Lingas indicated the desire to emerge and Baba showed signs of physical struggle to smoothen their way out. Year after year, I have stood on His left, holding silver jug of water. Seshagiri Rao stood on the right with a silver plate to receive the Linga as it fell out. At predetermined moments, proceeding through the gullet, the Linga presented itself for public view and personal use. One year eleven Lingas emerged in a row, one behind the other. Another year, there were nine. He has given me one of the nine. It is worshipped with Mantras prescribed in the scriptures. The Linga miracle does happen annually on every Shivaratri day wherever Baba happens to be.” (Prof Kasturi, SS, 3/99, p.81)
--- end quote ---
The same link above has some wonderful photographs of the Lingams created/manifested by/in Swami:
a) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingam-1.jpg
b) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingams-2.jpg
c) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingams-3.jpg
The official Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust website has the following on Lingodbhavam, http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/devotees_experiences/Divine_The_Sacred_Lingodbhavam.htm:
During the festival of Maha Shivaratri, the festival dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva, Baba usually performs the sacred miracle of Lingodbhavam, the emergence of the Linga (an ellipsoid object symbolizing divinity) from Him. Howard Murphet, who had the privilege of witnessing the event from close quarters, gives a detailed account of this awe-inspiring miracle in his book “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles” thus:
I had been told that every year, one or more Shivalingams have materialised in Baba's body at this sacred period of Shivaratri. He ejects the lingams through His mouth for all to observe. They are always hard, being made of crystal clear or coloured stone and sometimes of metals like gold or silver.
At six o'clock Sai Baba, accompanied by a small group of disciples, came onto the Shanti Vedika and soon after that the speeches began. It was about eight-thirty, powerful electric lights illuminating the group on the platform, when Sai Baba rose to His feet. First He sang a sacred song in His sweet celestial voice that touches the heart. Then He began His discourse speaking, as He always does on such public occasions, in the Telugu tongue.
On the platform Mr. Kasturi was busy making notes of the address which would be published later in both Telugu and English. Sai Baba's eloquence had been flowing in a steady stream for some half-hour when suddenly His voice broke. He tried again but only a husky squeak came. Bhajan leaders among the devotees, knowing what was happening, immediately gave voice to a well-known bhajan and then the great crowd joined in.
Baba sat down and drank from a flask of water. Several times He tried to sing, but it was impossible. Now He began to show signs of real pain. He twisted and turned, placed His hand on His chest, buried His head in His hands, plucked at His hair. Then He sipped some more water and tried to smile reassuringly at the crowd.
Some men around me were weeping unashamedly and I myself felt a flow of tenderness towards the being suffering there before us. I could not grasp the full significance of the event that caused the agony, nor perhaps could most of the great crowd watching, but to understand a thing with the mind is one matter and to feel its meaning in the bones and blood is another. Inwardly I felt that I was sitting at the very heart of something profoundly significant to mankind.
So, instead of blurring my eyes with the tears of sympathy, I kept them fixed on Baba's mouth; my whole attention was glued to that point so that I would not miss the exit of the lingam.
After about twenty minutes, I was rewarded. I saw a flash of green light shoot from His mouth and with it an object, which He caught in His hands cupped below. Immediately, He held the object high between His thumb and forefinger so that all could see it.
A breath of profound joy passed through the crowd. It was a beautiful green lingam, and certainly much bigger than any ordinary man could bring up through his throat. Sai Baba placed it on the top of a large torch so that the light shone through its glowing emerald-like translucency. Then, leaving it there, He retired from the scene.
Mr. Kasturi, who had been present on the platform of the Shanti Vedika when it was produced, described it thus later, in print: "An emerald lingam, three inches high and fixed on a pedestal five inches broad that had formed itself in Him (Baba), emerged from his mouth to the unspeakable joy and relief of the huge gathering."
Reference: “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles” by Mr. Howard Murphet. Page: 43-49 (Paperback Edition). Published by Macmillan India Ltd, 1972.
--- end extract from Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust website link ---
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Lingam and Lingam worship
http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_02/04Feb15/03_Spiritual_Blossoms/01_Sathya_Sai_Speaks/sai_speaks.htm gives excerpts from a 1974 Shivarathri discourse of Bhagawan. An extract from that:
The manifestation of the Lingam is a part of My Nature. Spiritual Scholars explain it as reminiscent of an epochal event in the past when Shiva challenged Brahma and Vishnu to gauge the height and depth of the Lingam Form He assumed. The two Gods failed and had to accept defeat – that is the usual folklore. Truly speaking, however, the Lingam emerges as a result of prayer by devotees and Divine Grace. You have to recognise in this event a glimpse of Divinity and a sign of Infinite Grace. Just as Om is the sound symbol of God, the Lingam is the Form symbol or the visible symbol of God, the most meaningful, the simplest and the least endowed with the appendages of attributes.
Lingam means That in which this merges or dissolves. Eventually, all Forms have to merge in the Formless. Shiva is the Principle of the Dissolution of all Names and Forms, of all entities and individuals. Thus, the Lingam is the simplest sign or symbol of Emergence and Mergence.
[Ravi: Simple but superb explanation of the spiritual & religious significance of the Lingam, IMHO. I loved the conclusion, "Thus, the Lingam is the simplest sign or symbol of Emergence and Mergence." As simple as that!]
--- end 1974 Shivarathri discourse extract ---
From a spiritual shopping website:
‘The Lingam’ is just a symbol, a sign, an illustration of the beginingless, the endless, the limitless – for it has no limbs, face, feet, front or back ,no beginning or end. Its shape is like the picture one imagines of the ‘Nirankara’ (Formless) to be.’ Quote Sathya Sai Baba, Prasanti Nilayam on 23 February 1971.
--- end extract ---
From http://www.saidarshan.org/baba/docs/saieesh.html, which is by Late Shri G.V. Subba Rao ("a distinguished diplomat who retired as the Head of the Energy Division in the United Nations", http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/devotees_experiences/Lord_Sacred_Treasures.htm):
This is the story of an extraordinary materialization by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba of an unusual picture signifying the true form of Shree Sathya Sai.
On one Shankara Jayanthi day Swami asked my late revered father, Sri Ghandikota Subrahmanya Shasthri, to address a large gathering of devotees in the spacious Poornachandra Auditorium. My father, a master of Vedhic learning and practice, dwelt at length on the divine qualities and powers of Swami. He compared the divine glory of Baba with several Vedhic divinities e.g. Gayathree, Datthaathreya, Vishnu. By a slip of memory, my father forgot to mention the Shiva aspect of Baba, although Shiva happened to be his Ishta Devatha or favorite form of Divinity. All through the rest of the day he regretted this omission.
BABA's TRUE FORM
The next morning, after the regular bhajan was over, Baba called us inside and graced us with a memorable interview. The discussion centered on the triple Vedhic paths of, Karma, Bhakthi and Jnaana (Work, Worship, and Wisdom) and the triple divinities: Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudhra. At the end, Baba led us into the Bhajan Hall and showed us around the new decorative installations in the Bhajan Mandir. Baba then stopped in front of the Shiridi Baba painting and lovingly materialized an unusual color picture (shown below), declaring to my father: "Idhi naa nija svaroopam " (This is My True Form). This electrified my revered father and also astounded me.
[Ravi: The photo link is http://www.saidarshan.org/baba/images/sayeshva.jpg. Swami's image is shown within a pillar lingam.]
The first astounding feature of this created picture is that Baba's bust image is at the heart of the Linga form of Maheshvara. Saayeeshvara is thus Lingeshvara, the force pervading the universe. Sadhashiva Linga represents the ever auspicious Aatma beyond all duality. The Lingam is the symbol of creation and the Godhead.
--- end G.V. Subba Rao account extracts ---
Ravi: I would like to add that I was greatly blessed to observe, from a distance of around fifty to hundred feet (I don't recall the distance very clearly) almost straight in front of him (in the students & staff block), the emergence of lingam from Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's mouth during a Shivarathri maybe in 2003 (I don't recall the year clearly so it could be one or two years later). My experience of that Shivarathri Lingodbhavam (and later ones too though I viewed the later Lingodbhavams from the side and from a greater distance, sometimes on closed-circuit TV put up in the packed and overflowing Sai Kulwant darshan hall) was similar to Mr. Howard Murphet's description (book published in 1972) - the physical discomfort and strain that Swami exhibited prior to Lingam emergence, him sipping water frequently, devotees (including me) feeling sad at Swami's discomfort and strain, the Bhajans picking up tempo (with fast-paced Shiva bhajans and the percussion instruments like tabla as well as the crowd singing in chorus, including me, getting into a great excitement kind of mode) as the bhajan leaders and the crowd spotted these signs of imminent lingam emergence, the devotees' eyes (those who could see Swami directly) focused on Bhagawan's face and mouth, the joy and celebration when the linga emerged (I clearly saw the emergence and felt that I had witnessed a great holy event), and, very importantly, the happiness of Bhagawan with the lingodbhavam and the resultant triumphant and celebratory joy of his devotees.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Readers may also want to view this post of mine, Harvard Prof. Diana Eck on Shiva Linga worship, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2014/10/harvard-prof-diana-eck-on-shiva-linga.html.
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Lingodbhavam
http://sathyasaibaba.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/sathya-sai-lingodbhava-mystery-of-the-shiva-lingam/ quotes Shri Kasturi, first editor of Sanathana Sarathi, on the phenomenon of Lingodbhavam in/by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as follows:
“Until 1956, the Shivaratri all-night vigil and Bhajan could be held in the Prayer Hall itself. Sai Baba sat on the silver chair placed on over a tiger skin on a low platform. When the slower hand of the clock hovered near eight, the Linga or Lingas indicated the desire to emerge and Baba showed signs of physical struggle to smoothen their way out. Year after year, I have stood on His left, holding silver jug of water. Seshagiri Rao stood on the right with a silver plate to receive the Linga as it fell out. At predetermined moments, proceeding through the gullet, the Linga presented itself for public view and personal use. One year eleven Lingas emerged in a row, one behind the other. Another year, there were nine. He has given me one of the nine. It is worshipped with Mantras prescribed in the scriptures. The Linga miracle does happen annually on every Shivaratri day wherever Baba happens to be.” (Prof Kasturi, SS, 3/99, p.81)
--- end quote ---
The same link above has some wonderful photographs of the Lingams created/manifested by/in Swami:
a) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingam-1.jpg
b) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingams-2.jpg
c) http://sathyasaibaba.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shiva-lingams-3.jpg
The official Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust website has the following on Lingodbhavam, http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/devotees_experiences/Divine_The_Sacred_Lingodbhavam.htm:
The Sacred ‘Lingodbhavam’ Wonder
How Baba materializes and brings forth Lingas from His mouth
During the festival of Maha Shivaratri, the festival dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva, Baba usually performs the sacred miracle of Lingodbhavam, the emergence of the Linga (an ellipsoid object symbolizing divinity) from Him. Howard Murphet, who had the privilege of witnessing the event from close quarters, gives a detailed account of this awe-inspiring miracle in his book “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles” thus:
I had been told that every year, one or more Shivalingams have materialised in Baba's body at this sacred period of Shivaratri. He ejects the lingams through His mouth for all to observe. They are always hard, being made of crystal clear or coloured stone and sometimes of metals like gold or silver.
At six o'clock Sai Baba, accompanied by a small group of disciples, came onto the Shanti Vedika and soon after that the speeches began. It was about eight-thirty, powerful electric lights illuminating the group on the platform, when Sai Baba rose to His feet. First He sang a sacred song in His sweet celestial voice that touches the heart. Then He began His discourse speaking, as He always does on such public occasions, in the Telugu tongue.
On the platform Mr. Kasturi was busy making notes of the address which would be published later in both Telugu and English. Sai Baba's eloquence had been flowing in a steady stream for some half-hour when suddenly His voice broke. He tried again but only a husky squeak came. Bhajan leaders among the devotees, knowing what was happening, immediately gave voice to a well-known bhajan and then the great crowd joined in.
Baba sat down and drank from a flask of water. Several times He tried to sing, but it was impossible. Now He began to show signs of real pain. He twisted and turned, placed His hand on His chest, buried His head in His hands, plucked at His hair. Then He sipped some more water and tried to smile reassuringly at the crowd.
Some men around me were weeping unashamedly and I myself felt a flow of tenderness towards the being suffering there before us. I could not grasp the full significance of the event that caused the agony, nor perhaps could most of the great crowd watching, but to understand a thing with the mind is one matter and to feel its meaning in the bones and blood is another. Inwardly I felt that I was sitting at the very heart of something profoundly significant to mankind.
So, instead of blurring my eyes with the tears of sympathy, I kept them fixed on Baba's mouth; my whole attention was glued to that point so that I would not miss the exit of the lingam.
After about twenty minutes, I was rewarded. I saw a flash of green light shoot from His mouth and with it an object, which He caught in His hands cupped below. Immediately, He held the object high between His thumb and forefinger so that all could see it.
A breath of profound joy passed through the crowd. It was a beautiful green lingam, and certainly much bigger than any ordinary man could bring up through his throat. Sai Baba placed it on the top of a large torch so that the light shone through its glowing emerald-like translucency. Then, leaving it there, He retired from the scene.
Mr. Kasturi, who had been present on the platform of the Shanti Vedika when it was produced, described it thus later, in print: "An emerald lingam, three inches high and fixed on a pedestal five inches broad that had formed itself in Him (Baba), emerged from his mouth to the unspeakable joy and relief of the huge gathering."
Reference: “Sai Baba: Man of Miracles” by Mr. Howard Murphet. Page: 43-49 (Paperback Edition). Published by Macmillan India Ltd, 1972.
--- end extract from Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust website link ---
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Lingam and Lingam worship
http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_02/04Feb15/03_Spiritual_Blossoms/01_Sathya_Sai_Speaks/sai_speaks.htm gives excerpts from a 1974 Shivarathri discourse of Bhagawan. An extract from that:
The manifestation of the Lingam is a part of My Nature. Spiritual Scholars explain it as reminiscent of an epochal event in the past when Shiva challenged Brahma and Vishnu to gauge the height and depth of the Lingam Form He assumed. The two Gods failed and had to accept defeat – that is the usual folklore. Truly speaking, however, the Lingam emerges as a result of prayer by devotees and Divine Grace. You have to recognise in this event a glimpse of Divinity and a sign of Infinite Grace. Just as Om is the sound symbol of God, the Lingam is the Form symbol or the visible symbol of God, the most meaningful, the simplest and the least endowed with the appendages of attributes.
Lingam means That in which this merges or dissolves. Eventually, all Forms have to merge in the Formless. Shiva is the Principle of the Dissolution of all Names and Forms, of all entities and individuals. Thus, the Lingam is the simplest sign or symbol of Emergence and Mergence.
[Ravi: Simple but superb explanation of the spiritual & religious significance of the Lingam, IMHO. I loved the conclusion, "Thus, the Lingam is the simplest sign or symbol of Emergence and Mergence." As simple as that!]
--- end 1974 Shivarathri discourse extract ---
From a spiritual shopping website:
‘The Lingam’ is just a symbol, a sign, an illustration of the beginingless, the endless, the limitless – for it has no limbs, face, feet, front or back ,no beginning or end. Its shape is like the picture one imagines of the ‘Nirankara’ (Formless) to be.’ Quote Sathya Sai Baba, Prasanti Nilayam on 23 February 1971.
--- end extract ---
From http://www.saidarshan.org/baba/docs/saieesh.html, which is by Late Shri G.V. Subba Rao ("a distinguished diplomat who retired as the Head of the Energy Division in the United Nations", http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/devotees_experiences/Lord_Sacred_Treasures.htm):
This is the story of an extraordinary materialization by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba of an unusual picture signifying the true form of Shree Sathya Sai.
On one Shankara Jayanthi day Swami asked my late revered father, Sri Ghandikota Subrahmanya Shasthri, to address a large gathering of devotees in the spacious Poornachandra Auditorium. My father, a master of Vedhic learning and practice, dwelt at length on the divine qualities and powers of Swami. He compared the divine glory of Baba with several Vedhic divinities e.g. Gayathree, Datthaathreya, Vishnu. By a slip of memory, my father forgot to mention the Shiva aspect of Baba, although Shiva happened to be his Ishta Devatha or favorite form of Divinity. All through the rest of the day he regretted this omission.
BABA's TRUE FORM
The next morning, after the regular bhajan was over, Baba called us inside and graced us with a memorable interview. The discussion centered on the triple Vedhic paths of, Karma, Bhakthi and Jnaana (Work, Worship, and Wisdom) and the triple divinities: Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudhra. At the end, Baba led us into the Bhajan Hall and showed us around the new decorative installations in the Bhajan Mandir. Baba then stopped in front of the Shiridi Baba painting and lovingly materialized an unusual color picture (shown below), declaring to my father: "Idhi naa nija svaroopam " (This is My True Form). This electrified my revered father and also astounded me.
[Ravi: The photo link is http://www.saidarshan.org/baba/images/sayeshva.jpg. Swami's image is shown within a pillar lingam.]
The first astounding feature of this created picture is that Baba's bust image is at the heart of the Linga form of Maheshvara. Saayeeshvara is thus Lingeshvara, the force pervading the universe. Sadhashiva Linga represents the ever auspicious Aatma beyond all duality. The Lingam is the symbol of creation and the Godhead.
--- end G.V. Subba Rao account extracts ---
Ravi: I would like to add that I was greatly blessed to observe, from a distance of around fifty to hundred feet (I don't recall the distance very clearly) almost straight in front of him (in the students & staff block), the emergence of lingam from Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's mouth during a Shivarathri maybe in 2003 (I don't recall the year clearly so it could be one or two years later). My experience of that Shivarathri Lingodbhavam (and later ones too though I viewed the later Lingodbhavams from the side and from a greater distance, sometimes on closed-circuit TV put up in the packed and overflowing Sai Kulwant darshan hall) was similar to Mr. Howard Murphet's description (book published in 1972) - the physical discomfort and strain that Swami exhibited prior to Lingam emergence, him sipping water frequently, devotees (including me) feeling sad at Swami's discomfort and strain, the Bhajans picking up tempo (with fast-paced Shiva bhajans and the percussion instruments like tabla as well as the crowd singing in chorus, including me, getting into a great excitement kind of mode) as the bhajan leaders and the crowd spotted these signs of imminent lingam emergence, the devotees' eyes (those who could see Swami directly) focused on Bhagawan's face and mouth, the joy and celebration when the linga emerged (I clearly saw the emergence and felt that I had witnessed a great holy event), and, very importantly, the happiness of Bhagawan with the lingodbhavam and the resultant triumphant and celebratory joy of his devotees.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Readers may also want to view this post of mine, Harvard Prof. Diana Eck on Shiva Linga worship, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2014/10/harvard-prof-diana-eck-on-shiva-linga.html.
I am a retired radiation physicist with 40 years on my back. I agree with the science finding that the universe is egg shaped it is scintillating with trillions of stars,with trillions of galaxies, all moving constantly. It is ellipsoid in shape, 100%. So what corresponds to the universe seen should also be identical in the iconic form of Linga which is what Swami materialises as solid egg shaped crystal, or quartz, clear, colored, silver or gold, shape is the same. This the most economical and effective construction of nature, all eggs are ellipsoid shape. Our religion somehow distorted this shape by cylinder and also giving eyes, ears, head etc. This is a serious problem for the inquiring mind and our western elites delight our conception it is actually penis Hindus are worshipping. We must go to change. org and collectively sign a petition to change this representation and align with Swami Sai Baba's manifestation. It is about time?
ReplyDeleteI think change.org may not be that effective for such misrepresentation. One has to go to the portals of academic research into Hinduism and challenge such notions there, which is what people like Rajiv Malhotra seem to be doing.
DeleteNote that the academic research into Hinduism field seems to be dominated by Western academics.
Delete