Lord Shiva has no form, he is formless and yet all forms are His forms. He is worshipped in the form of the Linga. Linga means ‘symbol’ or ‘sign’. It represents the unmanifest form of the Lord It represents the one God, "God is one’ and there is no other God."

The Linga is referred to as “Vaykta-Avaykta” meaning it is neither of the manifest world nor is it totaly unmanifest. Known as “Rupa-Arupa” meaning with form and without form. The perfect balance for a man to worship. The Shiva Linga is the perfect balance between the two, being neither of this world nor that. To worship an idol with all regular parts belongs to this world and to worship the totally unmanifest God takes time.

The Shiva Linga is elliptical in shape, only half the ellipse is visible to us, showing that this created world is only a part of God and there is much more to Him beyond this created world. An ellipse is but another form of a circle, when the centre of the circle separates into two. When a circle becomes bifocal an ellipsiod is formed. It can then be said that when the perfect circle is split into two an ellipsiod is formed yet retaining some of the perfection of the circle.
A circle is the most appropriate geometrical representation of God.

The circle neither has a beginning nor end . The distance from the centre of the circle to the surface is always the same. therefore the split circle or the ellipse represents the Shiva-Shakti tattva. Shiva Linga stands as a sign of this. If you see a flame in the lamp, it is similar to the Linga form, Shiva is that light without a beginning or end. He is that glorious eternal light and a Linga represents that.

A ‘Sphatika’ (crystal) Linga has no light of its own but perfectly reflects what ever light falls on it . Shiva is that formless, colourless, unmanifest who contains everything in Him. On a larger scale, if you see the sky, it forms a giant Shiva Linga, the whole universe is in a giant Shiva Linga. The earth’s horizon, looks like the shiva Linga. Our planets and even comets move in ellipses and even the electrons in atoms move in ellipses around the nucleus which is positively charged. Thus this positivity and negativity exist everywhere. A seed of any given, fruit, flower or vegetable is in the form of a Shiva Linga. It is from this seed that the great tree grows. Shiva contains the whole universe in Him which sprung from Him.

A Sri-Chakra, the dot in the centre represents Bindu, and Bindu stands for Shiva where as Nada stands for Shakti. Sri Chakra speaks of the union between Nada and Bindu. Shiva being the Bindu, the first triangle enclosing the Bindu and the Bindu itself forms the Shiva Linga. The Love, energy that flow from it is what we gather at the time of Abhisek of the Shiva Linga . The three sides of the triangle are the Iccha Shakti, Gyana Shakti and Kriya Shakti which are used to start creation.

Shiva Loves Abhishek for it cools His third eye. There are Shiva Lingas made of different matter, like clay, precious stone, Sandalwood, Gold and Bhasm. Each has its own value and is worshipped for different reasons. Interestingly, all the temples in India dedicated to the nine planets and the 27 stars all have Shiva Lingas as the main deity. Everything is contained in Him and all planets can be appeased by appeasing Shiva. The greatest of all Abhishek is the Abhishek of love to Shiva seating Him in the lotus of your heart.