17. The sky-clad Indus ascetics
Most Indologists have reported that they did not find Indus temples and Indus gods. In fact in early times the concept of ‘god’ was not that of a creator, but of the spirituality within humans themselves, to inculcate virtues in order to guide the community to live in peace. In Nature, only human being began to live with artificial means for their own comforts and safety; but their spiritual leaders preferred to live as they were born without possessions and without selfish desires. Several seals display Indus sky-clad ascetics and kayotsargi Indus god. The only problem was that scholars could not recognize ascetics and the god of their own belief in the Indus culture and religion; hence, failed to see the worshiped god of Indus folk. That does not mean that Indus people were nude. They were a highly cultured folk and had agriculture, use of the wheel for transportation, cotton spinning, they wove cloth, kept records, and they had weights and measures, they traded by land and by sea, they had yachts, docks and ports, furnaces for metal recovery, utensils, ornaments and jewelry, they had astrology and leaders to guide them to live peacefully. The householders were very well dressed. They were vegetarians, caring for every creature around where they lived. It appears as if they worshiped Jina. The whole of India then worshiped the linga. The word linga means identity. Indus seals show the lingam not only as a male organ, but as the base of vital energy which if reserved
for spirituality lead by a tension free life, in order to support penance. If that energy is lost in physical pleasures it enhances the world with progeny and thus not only causes suffering to living beings, but it also makes one lose the path of salvation. Indus linga is a virtuous linga shown with spiritual elevation hence, segmented as seen above. The Shiva lingam in the shape of a phallus is procreative and not seen in any Indus seal text, though some Indus scholars have mistaken the symbols of pestle and mortar, a tool for house holders for a Shiva linga. No Indus seal presents a Shiva linga. Moreover, no single character of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata has been found in either the Indus texts or the pictographs.
Next issue: 18. Importance of dravya and bhava linga in Indus culture