Shiva linga and sensuality

A person just happened to send me a question about "Shiva linga"?. His question was, "Why Shiva linga has the explicit image of a men's penis and women's vagina like that of a picture shown in the above given picture. Does the explicit image reflect the sensual aspect of the religion?

To answer some of the inquisition of the person, I should first tell my readers that the explicit use of the penis and vagina in Shiva Linga has nothing to do with sensuality. If any person relates it to sensuality then the person has sinned on the spot. Tantra is secretive, if you don't understand tantra prima facie, you would be fooled by tantra. Tantra is not what it looks or seems like. Tantra is way beyond that. One needs a tantric mind to discern or infer the facts from the tantra.

Tantra uses symbols to explain phenomena. It heavily uses representation or symbols to do the upasana of gods and goddess and rituals. For instance, Maharishi Daitya guru Shukracharya lost his one eye because of Kusha grass, so the Kusha grass is exclusively used in tantra for warding off evil spirits. Now, the evil spirits are more stronger then the Kusha grass but our beliefs are attached to the Kusha grass and when it is powered by emotions, emotions powered by mantras, it harnesses the power of mind and mantra into it. It is the power of ones own mind and belief which wards off the evil spirit, the kusha grass merely serves as a catalyst or a trigger.

Similarly, the penis and vagina as shown in the picture represents masculine and feminine aspect of creation, i.e Shiva and Shakti respectively. Shiva doesn't mean the primitive Rudra alone, Shiva also means the masculine aspect of the whole creation that is the witness of every phenomena while as the Shakti is the dynamic energy which helps in the creation of anything in this universe. Alone the Shakti cannot function and alone the Shiva cannot function. Ultimately, Shiva and Shakti are equal and same but separate.

Inside every person there is masculinity and femininity. The male have more masculinity in them and less of femininity and females have more femininity and less masculinity in them. A person is only complete when he/she balances both the aspect inside themselves. The balancing act is not an easy task, it takes a rigorous practice.

The ultimate Shiva is Ardhanarishwara i.e half man half women. It is just like a chickpeas  broken into two. When it is broken into two, one equal half is Shiva and the other equal half is Shakti. We started our existence from  the very concept of Shiva and Shakti, the seed of our father is the Shiva while as the ovum of the mother is the Shakti, both fused to give a new life i.e us. Our life itself started from the Shiva and Shakti concept.

This Shiva and Shakti principle has a diverse use. It is also used in grammars, tantra, yoga, medicine etc. One similar utility of this principle is also used in Shiva linga worship.

The penis and the vagina in the Shiva linga represent the masculine and feminine aspect respectively. The penis is represented or symbolized as masculine aspect and the vagina is the feminine aspect. Now to symbolically represent the balance and oneness of the Shiva and Shakti, the penis is shown inserted inside the vagina. It is oneness. It is the oneness and fusion point of masculinity and femininity.

Therefore, the Shiva linga represents the balance of Shiva and Shakti, masculinity and femininity. It represents the oneness between Shiva and Shakti. The only problem in the whole thing is our own perception towards it.

We have a negative and pessimistic minds in us, the whole perception of understanding subtle elements of our religion is washed away by the sensual aspect of their brain. There is no sensual part in Shiva linga. It is our minds that extracts symbols as per our own discretion. The mind interprets the Shiva linga to be sensual and a spiritual person would interpret Shiva Linga as the union and balance of masculinity and femininity inside a person which will make them Shiva.

Unlike most people out there who makes criticizes the Shiva linga, you should remember that the Shiv linga represents you. The phallus represents the universal males. All males are masculine part of the creation. All females are represented by the yoni. All females are the feminine part of the creation. Every person is either male or a female, so the use of yoni and linga shouldn't be any problem to a spiritual seeker.

Furthermore, if you were to look from the Kundalini aspect of penance, the Shakti resides in the Muladhara Chakra or the base chakra of any person. Shiva resides in the Shiva bindu inside the Sahasrar Chakra at the forehead. The union of Shiva and Shakti means the dormant Shakti is raised from the Muladhara Chakra to unite with the Shiva in Shiv bindu. That is the end of the whole spiritualism. The person who has united the Shiva and Shakti inside them and has reached the Shiva bindu, the person becomes a siddha. He has two choices either to be a siddha and to live in this world or to pursue the goal further of Moksha.

Therefore the whole of Kundalini has been represented in a kind of a figure. One who has got the tantric mind knows how to interpret the symbols, one who knows not thinks it to be a "penis" and "vagina" and laughs. Little do they know, it is the laugh on their own stupidity.