Nataraja नटराज | The Lingam — Formless Lord at Rest | Museum Poster

Sometimes, child, the Lord has no face at all. This is the Lingam — Shiva without form, the dark stone marked with the three white lines and the small red bindu, standing at the heart of the sanctum. The great serpent Sheshnag opens his hood above to shelter it. Marigolds and rudraksha, the small flame in the oil-lamp, the white lotus on the floor. Through the door, the snow of Kailash. People come for a thousand years to pour milk on this stone. The stone does not change. That is the lesson. Some truths do not need a face.