The lowest part, the base, symbolically represents the creator who provides the stable basis upon which creation emerges. The middle part is the preserving consciousness that provides order and balance to the cosmos, hence the name of Vishnu. The top part, pointing upwards, represents the destruction but also the transformation taking place through the destruction. Basically, destruction here is the prelude to the new creation.
These are images in the Shiva Purana and need not be taken as absolute truths. The stories and symbols of the Puranas are largely symbolic and representative, based on the sage who conceived it. There could be other ways to represent these three aspects of Truth, creation, preservation, destruction.
However, we should not take all these images as gospel truth. There are different ways of looking at the One Reality, but sometimes too much detail makes one lose the sight of the forest in counting the trees. Richness of details sometimes does the same. Focus on the one thing needful: that there is one fundamental Divine Reality that expresses itself in many ways. It is in each one of us, in creation as well as beyond creation. The gods, even the greatest gods, are only aspects of that One Supreme Reality, Sacchidananda.
Affectionately,
Alok da
(Follow-up Question:)
Many thanks, dear bhaiya. I just wanted to know the deeper meaning behind the Shivlingam so that I can truly understand the form and tell those ppl who talk rubbish about our religion.
Yes. Very true. Men bring into profound things their own pettiness and see great truths with the distorted lens of their morbid imagination. Thus they convert the story of Radha and Krishna, one of the most beautiful stories of what true divine love can be when it manifests upon earth, into the usual vital romantic tale, which is our limited and distorted human version of love.
Affectionately,
Alok da
