yeah i was asked that question by one of my females classmates on our religion class........man that was a funny question...... everybody had a good laugh.......and also lot of ppl tell me abt that carving of sex positions in our temple.....interesting huh?

Lets have some fun.....give some comment on this topic.....it will be fun.......just write anything

होसियार हिन्दू धर्म को वीरओध मा कुरा नगरौ ,

i had a cousin who simply refused to believe that shiva linga represented the phallus (is that the correct spelling). she thought that would be gross and disgusting re. it was kind of annoying to see a person failing to understand thier own culture and religion.
as for your question, young, just tell them that hinduism is a very sexually liberated religon, although for some reason, our soceity is not.

i think shiva linga represents sexuality. i am not sure though/.

I agree with lfc123..... Religion is the most abused concept, esp in countries like ours where education is not prevalent.... I'm not sure if we do this in Nepal, but it's not just Shiv linga that Hindus worship; vagina is also worshipped as a manifestation of God in Hinduism (I forgot the particular name for it though)....

mokshya
i dont' the particular name either, but i do know that guyeshowri is the place wehre parbati's vagina or ass fell off as shiva carried her corpse and taraveled. "gu" -> ass i think. so we sure worship sexuality.
even in mahabarata and our anicent texts, there are constant referneces to sexuality. for example, kunti was impregnated by the sun before her marriage,
religion is misunderstood, not abused i think. look at all the shit happening in middle east. they are misunderstaning the message of religion. thier prophet would have been devastated if he saw this happening right now.
please continue the thread.

Along with misunderstanding comes abuse.... You talked about Islam so I am giving my two pennies to it.... In middle east, majority of the people have misunderstood the religion, but groups like Al-Qaeda who influence and brainwash thousands of youth have abused it for their own benefit... So I don't think it will be completely wrong to say that religions are abused as well......

and yeah lfc123, thanks for the guheyshwori example.... For me, religion is not just about God's divine powe, it's about respecting humanity too and I'm more than proud to be a part of such a religion that teaches me to respect everything around me as a part of that supreme divinity- be it a linga or a vagina..........

this thread is kind of disperging from teh original question, but what the hell.
mokshya u said extremist muslim groups are brainwashing youths for their benefits. can you tell me waht benefits they personally stand to receive from suicide bombings and mass killings?? no pressure, but i am just intersted.
have you heard this quote from yeats " the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity". al-quada and other terrorist groups' mebers are extremely passionate about their religion. they are passionate about thier false intepretations, which is creating most of the problmes.
and i don't think majority have misunderstood religion in middle east. the disturbing stuff we see in the news is a very small proportion of islamic extremists. the remaining are just like you and me who have faith in God and who wish to live peacefully.

Afghan on trial for Christianity

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4823874.stm

are you responding to my quote ss: "the remaining are just like you and me who have faith in God and who wish to live peacefully."

guys lets not fight here.......we all are here to have a good time.....and lets talk abt the main topic.....how do u define a shiva linga......

young.
where did you sense that we were fighting???
we were merely having a discussion yarr!!

you said, "religion is misunderstood, not abused i think. look at all the shit happening in middle east. they are misunderstaning the message of religion."

lfc123 I didn't want to bring middle east to the discussion, I just responded to this point of yours..

What seems to be 'a passion for religion' to you seems to me an abuse of religion for some personal benefits... These groups like Al-Qaeda enjoy killings innocents and terrorising the world... To me that's not a passion for religion, that's the hunger for recognition and power....

youngzg, nobody's fighting here... We are simply discussing and healthy discussion never hurts anyone.. what say!!!1

thkai chha bro haru......srry abt that...have fun hai

Shiva linga " SHRISTI KO SWARUP HO", Its the openess of our religion to be able to aknowledge that fact even in the ancient times.

By the way i think it is good to be open and liberal rather than preaching about abstinence of sex as a mode of contraception (how ridiculous is that) and molesting kids when ever they get a chance.

About Hindu Religion concept:

An ancient time, Nepal actually named Mahabharat while King Maha Bharat ruled in ancient time.

Shiva or Mahadev was a chief of native tribal of Nepal. Shiva has super power to control Nature, Life, Time and magical war skill. so south indian people pray him as a super god.

They created a concept of human life origination from shiva linga and prabati yoni.

When Hindu religion created by south indian.... they started to pray in a idol of shiva linga. It is nothing about sex but it is related with symbol human origination.

I am a Christian but I was grew up as a Hindu, so as far as I know, Shiva Linga or the phallic symbol is the symbol of fertility and "srishti". Like kalkc said, I don't think there is anything sexual about it except for the concept of procreation.

The phallus worship or symbolism was present in many other cultures that was contemporary to ancient vedic culture of india, like northern europe, roman, greek, egyptian cultures etc. Today only Hindu culture survives among those ancient cultures, and with it, survives the phallus worhip.

mann ma mero nepal wrote:

"By the way i think it is good to be open and liberal rather than preaching about abstinence of sex as a mode of contraception (how ridiculous is that) and molesting kids when ever they get a chance."


Well, abstinence is nothing new to Hindu culture as well. And as far as sexual offences on part of religious ministers, there are some bad apples in every sack. In Hindu culture, there have been many allegations of sadhu babas who claimed "aatmik gyan" often succumbing to carnal desire and have been caught engaging in sexual acts with "bhaktinis". So the catholics cannot be singled out because some of them have been child molestors.

what I am trying to say that lets not brand a particular religion because some people. like some Catholic sex offenders and some Hindu "pakhandi" sadhus, have turned bad.

P.S. I am not a Catholic, and I am not defending the child molestors.

एक समय महादेव सत्यवती बिहिन भइ नवदेवीको खोजीमा ब्यग्रभै संसार भौंतारिदै हिडिरहेका थिए। यौनाभाव ग्रस्त महादेव एक समुन्द्रतटमा आइपुगे, त्यहाँ सप्तऋषिहरु यज्ञ गरिरहेका थिए, र ऋषिपत्नीहरु चाहिं स्नान गरिवरी वस्त्र बदल्दै थिए। तव महादेवलाई कुचेष्टा भयो र ऋषिपत्नीहरुमा मोहभाव फैलाउन लागे। फलस्वरुप ऋषिपत्नीहरु महादेवको पछिपछि लाग्दै हिड्नथाले। संयोगवश सप्तऋषिहरुको आँखा उनीहरुमा पर्नगयो र के भएको रहेछ भनी हेर्न जाँदा उनीहरुले महादेवलाई देखे र पछि सबैकुरा थाह पाए।
देवाधिदेव भएपनि महादेवको यो निर्लज र यौनग्रस्त कुकृत्य सहन नसकि, ऋषिहरुले उनलाई श्राप दिए। तहाँउप्रान्त आजसम्म महादेवको लिङ्गमात्र पुजिन्छ। महादेवको मुर्ति कहिंपनि पुजिदैन।
श्रोत: स्कन्द पुराण।