Jyotirlinga- An Introduction(Part 1)

We all are aware of the 12 shrines or the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva.These are the places where Lord Shiva resides in some form or the other protecting and blessing his devotees. Originally it was believed that there are 64 Jyotirligas but there are only 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva which are considered to be the purest/ perfect manifestations of Lord Shiva. This will be a series of 13 articles, first one being the introduction and the rest 12 about the story of each jyotirlinga.

The word Jyotirlinga is made up of two words “Jyoti” and “Linga”. ‘Jyoti’ means Light and ‘Linga’ means the representation of Shiva. Here I want to clear a point that the word Lingam has nothing to do with the union of phallus (male sex organ) and the yoni (the female sex organ), it is simply the form/symbol in which Lord Shiva is worshipped. To make things more clear here is the story which will tell you why Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Lingam.

When Lord Brahma emerged from the Lotus, which emerged from the belly button of Lord Vishnu, he started the process of creation. He began with the creation of the sun, the planets, stars and created everything that we see in today’s world. One day, Lord Shiva decided to see the creation done by Brahma……….

Want to know more? Head on to the link below. You will find many things apart from this:

https://thelegendsofshiva.blogspot.com/2020/02/what-are-jyotirlingas.html