INDIA 360 | AMARNATH SHIVA LINGAM
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India 360: Melting Shiva lingam shatters faith?
Published on Tue, Jul 03, 2007 at 02:47, Updated on Tue, Jul 03, 2007 at 14:48 in India section
Tags: Amarnath, Shivalingam
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The naturally formed ice Shiva lingam at the holy cave shrine of Amarnath has completely melted, that too on the very first day when the Amarnath yatra finally began.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, Arun Kumar, confirmed the melting. The lingam has apparently melted down owing to the rise in temperature.
Two other ice lingams, representing Ganesh and Parvati, have reportedly not melted, though their size has reduced.
Mahant Giri the head priest at the shrine said that too many visitors and human activities coupled with global warming have resulted in early melting of the Shiv linga.
On CNN-IBN show India 360, Sagarika Ghose brought up the question: What can we do to save the Amarnath Shiva lingam?
On the panel to discuss the question was geologist, Dr V K Raina, CEO of Amarnath Shrine Board, Arun Kumar and CNN-IBN correspondent Shamim Meraj joined in from Jammu.
What was the cause for the lingam to have melted?
Dr Dr V K Raina was of the opinion that it was only due to the allowing of commercialisation that resulted in the melting of the lingam. “About 1,000 people are allowed darshan of the lingam who offer flowers, milk and sindoor. The people are interfere with the environment that is conducive for the preservation of the lingam,” Dr Raina said.
So what steps should be taken to try and preserve the remains of the shrine?
Riddled by Dr Raina’s comment that there has been a strong commercialisation of the lingam, Arun Kumar in his defence said that the Shrine Board was not a commercial body. It consisted of nine members with the Governor as the Chairman. He confirmed saying, “There is absolutely no commercial element involved in our functioning. We are basically facilitators,” Sharma said.
He further added the yatra was only confined to the day of the raksha bandhan 10 years ago, which made it impossible for the yatris to have darshan of the lingam. So it was decided that the yatra be extended. The duration of the yatra was extended only to enable the yatris to have a darshan of the lingam in which there was no involvement of commercialisation.
Has the melting lingam shattered faith?
However the question that many were asking is what would happen to faith when the object of worship would disappear? Had the faith been shaken by such a phenomenon?
CNN-IBN correspondent Shamim Meraj asked a devotee, Saurabh whether an artificial limgam was the answer to the melting lingam?
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URBANEYE
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it is not the question of shattering of faith, it is the question of testing of faith.If we protect it
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Let the things take their natural course. As far faith is concerned, as the saying goes the sinners don't get
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