After having told you the story why Hindus worship Shiva’s penis and joking a bit about this penis worship yesterday, I today would like to get a bit more serious and tell you why I actually think it is not right. Depending on how much you know me or have read of my writings, you may be surprised by the reason.
I don’t think it is good to worship Shiva Lingam, the penis of a god, not because of the fact that it is a penis. No, because I think it doesn’t make sense to worship anything! I truly believe that you shouldn’t worship any statue, any part of god or any god. No ceremony or ritual will help you anything.
Let’s stay with the example of Shiva’s genitals. In Hinduism, unmarried girls are encouraged to worship the Shiva Lingam. It sounds bizarre, right? The religion that puts such an emphasis on the purity of girls, wanting them to stay chaste and away from boys, asks them to worship a penis. What is that supposed to give them? You would never guess: a good husband. Every Monday unmarried girls fast and worship Shiva Lingam for this purpose: to get an even better version of it for the rest of their lives!
Once they are married however, most Hindus believe that women should worship but not touch Shiva Lingam anymore. They should not anymore drink the milk which they had poured over it and which is then considered as blessed.
Trust me, dear ladies, neither will rubbing a penis-shaped stone with milk help you find a good husband nor will it bring you more wedding offers if you don’t eat on Mondays. And it will really not harm your marriage if you touch this penis after your wedding either.
It is just crazy to think that religion really makes people believe these things. Seeing it from a distance, it makes you wonder very much. I know from own experience that you don’t question such worship if you are doing it. You should however, when you are reading these words, start thinking about it seriously.
How much milk was wasted once more, day before yesterday on Shivaratri. Thousands of liters of milk in one temple, how many temples in each city and how many cities in India! Poured over a stone penis and then thrown into the gutter, flowing down the sewage lines, past hungry children who starve because they don’t get even one glass of milk in a day!
I tell you, it would make you much happier to give the milk to a poor mother and her children instead of bathing a stone penis in it.