Shiv Linga

what is Shivalinga? and
since how long /old it is in centre stages of majority of HINDU TEMPLES ?

Shivlinga symbolizes the generative principle of existence and is fused with Parvatiyoni, symbolizing the reproductive principle of existence - together, they symbolize the dual cohabitation within existence that manifests the multiplicity of life’s expressions.

thanks , is it represent reproductive organ of Shiva ? ,


I think it would be misleading if we restrict the symbol of Shivling to the reproductive organ of Shiva as in the reproductive organ of man. Everything that comes to us through the medium of language is but an attempt by the best of humans to have fellow-humans grasp principles that are beyond comprehension so long as we are in the dual mode. It would at best give us the direction towards which we may tread till finally we reach the realm of non-duality where symbols become redundant and we are one with existence. Therefore words have to be used as stepping stones to the truth and are not truths in themselves.

Islam, fastest growing?

Wrin
Muslims 1/4 of World Population: US Survey
We Are Muslims http://weare-muslims.blogspot.com
Our Ask http://ourask.blogspot.com
Join in ‘We Are Muslims’ http://www.orkut.com/Main#Community?rl=cpn&cmm=94298332
Muslims make up around one fourth of the world’s population and are mostly concentrated in Asia, according to a new study by an American fact tank that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world through public opinion polling. “There are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today,” the Pew Research Center concluded in its study, “Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population.”
It found that Muslims make up 23 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people, the sweeping majority of them Sunnis.
“Of the total Muslim population, 10-13% are Shiite Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims.”
According to the study, based on data from 232 countries and territories, Asia is home to nearly 20 percent of the global Muslim population.
Size, Distribution of World's Muslims (Document). More>> http://islami-news.blogspot.com

Venu
This is no doubt a cause for Muslims to be proud and happy. But it must also be acknowledged that Christianity still continues to have the largest number of followers. Recently, the same folks who conducted the pew survey said that 76% of Church-goers in USA have acknowledged Hindu influences in their belief system. It appears that the most influential religious personalities in the world are Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha and Krishna. It is unlikely any single person’s influence will be supplanted by any other person. All will continue influencing mankind, sometimes in contradiction but mostly as complementary forces for the spiritualization of mankind.

The world an illusion?

Venu
The declaration that the world is an illusion is only a pointing out by realized souls the human potential. The world we live in is very much a reality but if we go deep into the matter we would realize that the world is as it is only because we are as we are. Do we have any option to change the world? The masters say that we can change the world (at least with regard to our own experience) if we change ourselves. And by “changing ourselves” is meant increasing the depth of our consciousness. The masters go to the extent of saying that all existence is consciousness and the consciousness that we humans have has the potential to evolve into the total consciousness of all existence. So the illusion thing is simply a labeling of our experiences at the less conscious level as we go deeper into the world of consciousness. To call our experiences at whatever level as illusion is not to invalidate such experiences, but to goad us to see what we have seen, more comprehensively. The dream world, if we go deep into it, may be more real than our awakened world approached shallowly. The whole call is to see and see deeply till we elevate ourselves to the level of a Seer or Rishi.

The Gita

Krishna tries to teach us in the Gita that He is everything and we are Him.

Allah and idol worship

Venu:
Dear Mr. Juzair, Thanks for writing to me directly. First of all let me tell you that I am not arguing or questioning what Allah is. I definitely accept He could be beyond any of our conception. But what about man? He has his limits and he necessarily has to bring the ultimate to his level of understanding. He has to restrict himself in the realm of sound and words. The masters say that the realm of silence is the highest but only few can reach that level in any generation. Therefore if we say that Allah is outside us, he remains an object to our subject. Worship of an object, whatever the nature of the object, is idol worship. When worship ends and the worshipper recognizes himself as the worshiped, the object of worship no longer exists and only the subject exists, thus ending idol worship or any worship. This freedom from worship is conceived of only in the vision of Advaita or non-duality.

Original verses in the Quran

Dear De Aquiline, Islam may be everything positive that you claim to be, but to consider that Islam alone has the truth would be missing the point. While truth cannot become untruth and vice-versa, truth does not deny that it can be expressed in many ways. Putting a cap on the expression of truth is tantamount to painting truth in a single hue. Truth/life is not mono-chrome - it is multi-coloured.

How many verses in the Quran can you quote that is original and has never been expressed in a different way elsewhere? You may at best quote a few verses. This would mean that the rest of the verses in the Quran are but a different expression of the same truths that have been discovered/revealed before. This would indicate that the discovery/revelation of truth is not reserved for any one book nor do they end at a particular point in history. Otherwise all achievements of mankind since the middle ages would not have occurred. (I am sure you would not deny that man has added to his corpus of knowledge since the time of Mohammad.)

Sufism in Islam

If you cleave the heart of one drop of water, A hundred pure oceans emerges from it.

Fantastic. Only the Sufis can come up with sayings of such deep insight.

Bro Venugopal, we need to seek God Bro, we have got no choice, if we want to live and die in a peaceful state....And one says " They ask thee about the Soul, Soul is the command (amr) of the Lord thy God".Take it easy bro

Are you afraid of God?

I have read in a book that if you are praying think the God is looking at you and if not looking at you He is listening to you.I did that and with fear and respect I couldn't continue cause my legs were trembling, Imagine you are facing your Creator, I just trembled like a leaf man.

But shouldn't God be evoking love rather than fear?