The Lingam

 

"People ask, "Why does Swami produce the Lingam (Formless Form of God) from within himself on this day?" But, let Me tell you, it is impossible for you to understand the attributes of the Divine and to measure its potentialities, or, to gauge the significance of the manifestation of Divinity. It is agamya (unreachable) and agochara (invisible, mysterious). Therefore, in order to bear witness to the fact that the Divinity is amidst you, it becomes necessary to express this attribute. Or else, the atmosphere of hatred, greed, cruelty, violence and irreverence will overwhelm the good, the humble and the pious.

The Linga is just a symbol, a sign, an illustration, of the beginningless, the endless, the limitless- ―for it has no limbs, no face, no feet, no front or back, no beginning or end. Its shape is like the picture one imagines the Niraakaara (Formless) to be. As a matter of fact, Linga means―leeyathe (that in which all forms and names merge) and gamyathe (that towards which all names and forms are proceeding, to attain fulfilment). 

It is the fittest symbol of the All-pervasive, the All-knowing, the All-powerful. Everything is subsumed in it; everything starts from it; from the Lingam arises Jangam (Universe), from the Jangam arises sangam (association, attachment, activity) and as a result of the sangam, one realises the Lingam (attributeless Atma). Thus, the circle is completed―from the beginningless to the Beginningless. 

This is the lesson that Lingobdhavam (emergence of the Linga) teaches. The lingashareera (the physical body) that is inhabited by the Atma is but a vesture worn for this particular sojourn! Many a vesture has this soul worn, though its reality is eternal!"

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

(Divine Discourse - 23.2.1971)