Om or Aum is considered the primordial sound in the Sanatan culture. The modern representation of that sound (ॐ) is just the calligraphically shortened version of the proper Om alphabetically written in Devanagari script.
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The Swastika is one of the menageries of holy symbols in Sanatan culture (Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism). In the West, it is more widely known as the badge of the Nazi movement. In classical Sanskrit the word Swastika comes from two words 'su', meaning 'well', and 'asti', meaning 'to be'. In Gujarati it is called Sathio (સાથિઓ). The Sathio (Swastika) is used by traders to mark opening pages of their account books, on thresholds, doors of houses, on temple walls, etc.
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We have seen in an earlier article how the Swastika symbol was derived from the representation of the sun. The sun representation in our prehistory also took another path to arrive at a different final configuration. This configuration took a slightly different form to accommodate the sun representation on the rectangular space available on a human forehead.
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We have been told for centuries that the Shivalinga represents Lord Shiva's genitals. It represents the aspect of the Supreme Being that continuously dissolves to recreate the cyclic process of creation, preservation, dissolution of the universe. Lord Shiva is the foremost of the Sanatan Trinity to represent the last of the above aspect of cyclic process, the other two being Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu.
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We have narrated in an earlier article the Shivalinga as we know it from Puranic sources. In this article we will see the rational development of the Shivalinga. In Gujarati it is also called Shiva's Pendi (શિવની પેંડી - શિવજીની પેંડી). In the Northwest China where Tocharian languages (Indo-European languages) were spoken have several names like Tarim Pendi and Junggar Pendi which means Tarim Mountain and Junggar Mountain. Thus, Pendi means mountain.
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