Jyotirlinga within

There are 12 jyotirlinga temples in India. The word jyoti means fire. I was thinking about why the fire element, why the name jyotirlinga...why only in 12 temples? What is the difference between a normal shiva temple and jyotirlinga?

So in these temples, the presence of earth element in the form of linga, water element in the form of abhisheka and fire in an unseen form are present. Together, they represent the bottom three chakras.

Earth, water and fire cover 1,2 and 3 chakras within the self. The top to bottom being the creation and bottom to top, the dissolution.

As the jyoti is activated, the energy moves up, to the next subtle element, which is air, in the chakra 4 and then space in chakra 5.

In jyotirlinga temples, the design is to move the energy up rapidly. The same is possible with shiv manaspuja within.

Here the lingam in is the chakra 1, water in chakra 2, fire in chakra 3, the air that supports fire in chakra 4.

Ultimately manaspuja happens in the heart chakra, the seat of love, where the bottom three chakras dissolve.

This is the jyotirlinga within.