Question:

Ekta Ji, I have listened to your podcast on “I am That.” I recently came across this. Please help explain what this means – ‘I AM’ is the greatest Lingam. That which covers it from all around is Maya (illusion), and that which is seen vertically is Ishwara (God). The perception of the world is all Maya – Sri Nisargadutta Maharaj.

Answer:

Nisargadutta Maharaj is referring to Shiva Lingam as the ‘I AM’. To understand this, let us become familiar with the form of Shiva Lingam. Here is a picture.

The Shiva Lingam has a vertical part and a horizontal circular portion.

The vertical portion of the Shiva Lingam depicts Ishwara or God or the ‘I’.  Maharaj says, ‘There is no other God or Ishwara other than the ‘I’’.

This ‘I’ arises as the first form from the formless nothingness of deep sleep. It projects the Dream Character in the Dream World followed by the manifestation of the Waking Character in the Waking World.

When the ‘I’ is done with the manifestation, it dissolves the something of the Waking projection into the Dream and the Dream into the nothingness of Deep Sleep.

As the ‘I’ manifests, maintains, and evaporates somethingness into nothingness, the ‘I’ is Ishwara or God. Only God has the power to create, preserve, and destroy, hence there is no other than ‘I’ that can be addressed as God.

The circular portion of the Shiva Lingam depicts Maaya or illusion. It has two powers – veiling and projection.

The illusory projection of the World surrounds the ‘I’. The veiling power engulfs the ‘I’ such that it gets confused and assumes its projected illusory World to be real.

In short, Maharaj is urging the spiritual seeker to avoid seeking a real Shiva. The form of Shiva is simply a symbol for depicting Consciousness as a whole. Maharaj emphasizes again and again in the scripture, ‘I AM THAT’ that there is only ‘I’. There is no God out there separate from the ‘I’ that will bestow blessings or punish for wrongdoing.

Don’t believe blindly. You can realize the truth in your own Swapna Nidra Gnyana Sadhana [Wisdom of Dream and Sleep Sadhana], that you are Shiva itself. Wake up and see the truth, my dear!

Image Credits: Pixabay and Freepik.