Lingam means

Expressions researched:
"Lingam means"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Liṅgam means "signs," "symptom."

Lecture on SB 1.16.4 -- Los Angeles, January 1, 1974:

Therefore it is said here nṛpa-liṅga-dharaṁ śūdram. Nṛpa-liṅga-dharam. Liṅga means, real meaning is gender. Just the masculine gender, feminine gender. And the other meaning is sign. Just like there are signs, certain signs, we can understand here is a male, here is a female. By the signs. So liṅgam means "signs," "symptom." So nṛpa-liṅga-dharam. Śūdra, actually he was a śūdra, but he dressed like a king. Just like if a woman dresses like a man, that is artificial. Or a man dresses like woman, that is also artificial. So everyone has his original dress and position. There, because a śūdra took the dress of a king, therefore it is called nṛpa-liṅga-dharam. Artificially, he was dressed like a king. That is the position of Kali-yuga. Now the government men, they are elected by votes. People do not consider whether he's a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya or vaiśya or śūdra. As he likes... People are śūdras. Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga everyone is a śūdra. Therefore naturally he will elect one śūdra. The śūdra is not fit for government management. As such we find so many difficulties in the government because the head or the head man, they are all śūdras. They have dressed like administrator, but they are śūdras. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. There is no brāhmaṇa, there is no kṣatriya, there is no vaiśyas. Maybe a few vaiśyas, and all śūdras. A brāhmaṇa means the good quality, first-class quality. That is very, very rare to be found.

Liṅgam means the form.

Lecture on SB 6.1.51 -- Detroit, August 4, 1975:

So these are our knowledge-gathering senses, and there are working senses, just like hand, leg, the stomach, the rectum, the genital. These are working senses. In this way, ten senses and five sense objects. We have got eyes, so there must be object of seeing. Pañca-tanmātrā, rūpa, rasa. With eyes we can see the form. With tongue we can taste. Rūpa, rasa, śabda. With the ear we can hear the sound. In this way, five sense objects of three, five, means fifteen, and the mind. The mind is the center of directing the senses. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ. The senses are there, sense objects are there, but without mind it cannot work. Therefore the mind is the sixteenth item. And everything is being used by whom? By the soul. Therefore seventeenth. And in this gross body there are five elements and three subtle elements. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca (BG 7.4). In this way there are twenty-four elements which is covering the twenty-fifth, living entity, and he is packed up in this way.

Then tad etat ṣoḍaśa-kalam liṅgam. Liṅgam means the form. Liṅgaṁ śakti-trayaṁ mahat. Just like we have got this microphone, so the machine is made of these elements. That is analyzed. Then how it is working? Śakti-traya. The sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, mahat-tattva, the material elements... In this way the living entity is under the full control of material nature. And everything is coming out swiftly by our desire. These desires are also being generated from the soul, but by the infection of three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So just try to understand how the nature's law is working very finely and immediately. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). And above all these things, the nature's working, there is Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). The prakṛti, nature... Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Everything is being done. Just like the big airship is floating in the sky, but the pilot is pushing the button, similarly, the whole cosmic manifestation is working, but the button-pusher is Kṛṣṇa. Parasya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate. His knowledge is so perfect, and He has made this machine so perfect. A man can make so nice perfect machine, so what to speak about God? So mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).

Liṅgam means symptom.

Lecture on SB 12.2.1 -- San Francisco, March 18, 1968:

Liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv anyonyāpatti-kāraṇam. Liṅgam. Liṅgam means symptom. According to Vedic literature, there are different dress. A girl unmarried, her dress is different. A girl married, her dress is different. A girl widow, her dress is different. A girl prostitute, her dress is different. A men sannyāsī, his dress is different. A brahmacārī, his dress is different. So by the dress one can understand that who is who. That is the system. So that dress is offered by the spiritual master after qualified. Just like if a girl is married, then his (her) dress is offered during the marriage ceremony. One of the symptoms of married girl is some red powder between the two divisions of the hair. So one can understand that "This girl is not..." So similarly, there are different dresses according to qualification, according to the situation. But in the Kali-yuga, that, anyone can take any dress without any regulation, without any formality. Simply by dress. Suppose... Just like sannyāsī. Because a sannyāsī has to dress himself in these saffron-color garments, so sannyāsī has the privilege, if he goes to a householder's house, he is very respectfully received, and if he wants something, the householder gives him. That is the system. Now, if somebody sees that "It is a very cheap process of earning money, so let me dress in this saffron color and beg from door to door. What is the use of laboring so hard...?" So that will go on. Misuse of dress. Misuse of dress. Liṅgam eva āśrama-khyātāu. Āśrama, a gṛhastha. Āśrama means... There are four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsī. They have got different dresses. But they have got different duties also. But in the Kali-yuga, simply by dress one should be known that either he is a sannyāsī or a brahmacārī or gṛhastha.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Liṅgam means the external feature.

Room Conversation and Reading from Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 1 and 12 -- June 25, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Vipratve sūtram eva hi. And there is a brāhmaṇa. What is the proof that he is a brāhmaṇa? He has got a sacred thread, that's all. Or thread. It may not be sacred; purchased on the market. So at least we try to give a sacred thread by ceremony. But anyone can purchase a thread from the market, two-paisa worth or one-cent worth, and become a brāhmaṇa. "You are a brāhmaṇa?" "Yes, you see my sacred thread?" (laughter) Finished. "What you are doing?" "Never mind." Don't be such brāhmaṇas, at least in our camp. You must follow the rules and regulations. Don't show that "I am now doubly initiated, sacred thread." Don't cheat in that way. Vipratve sūtram eva hi. Then?

Pradyumna: Liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv.

Prabhupāda: Liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv. There are āśramas, brahmacārī, sannyāsī, gṛhastha. So they have got different dresses. So Kali-yuga, simply by dress, he becomes a brahmacārī, he become a gṛhastha, he becomes a sannyāsī, simply by dress. What he is acting, nobody cares, that's all. Then?

Pradyumna: Liṅgam, eva.

Prabhupāda: Liṅgam means the external feature. This is the dress of a sannyāsī, this is the dress of a gṛhastha. Just like daṇḍa. Daṇḍa is the symptom that he is a sannyāsī. Then?

Pradyumna: Liṅgam evāśrama-khyātāv anyonyāpatti-kāraṇam.

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Then?

Pradyumna: Avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyam.

Prabhupāda: Avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyam. If you have no money, then you cannot get justice. First of all you have to pay government so many percentage of money. Suppose somebody owes to you some money and he's not giving you. So if you have to go to the court, first of all you have to spend so much money, and if you have no money, then you cannot get your money back. You have to pay this lawyer's fee, the stand duty, and so on, so on. But if you say "I have no money," then forget justice. That's all. Avṛttyā nyāya-daurbalyam.