- Fire
The Siva Lingam is a pillar of fire.
Fire has two qualities - heat and energy.
By pouring water on the Lingam, the devotee removes the heat aspect from the fire and keeps only the energy aspect.
- Desire
Visualise the ocean - it is Brahman - God.
Immerse a cloth bag-open-into it; it fills with water.
The water in it is
(1) Jiva when there is the possibility of the bag being lifted out of the water,
(2) Atman when it is just there.
What constitutes the possibility of this lifting? Karma and Desire.
- Yoga
As we live in a house, so must we live in a mansion of Yoga.
- Right knowledge
The Self is entirely independent and exists without the need for anything or anybody else.
Let wrong knowledge go by turning on the light of right knowledge.
Chase foolish thoughts away by looking within; when desire, attachment and clinging infatuation go, fear and anger go too.
Only if we have a guilty conscience need we have frar in our heart.
And if you are not depending upon God but upon yourself, then there is also fear.
- God's Will
The only way to know the Will of God is to pray and purify the heart.
Prayer itself purifies the heart.
It is not quite correct to say that - as the heart is getting purer and purer, one can know the Will of God more and more. It is like tuning the radio receiving set.
If you want 50 meters - till you get very close to it, say 48 or up, you will hear nothing. It is as good as zero. When you get to 47, 48, or 49, you will begin to hear something, and at 50 it will be perfect.
Till that point is reached, you will have to go on, depending on Guru and scriptures.