You can identify the Shaivities by the three lines each lines of ash running horizontally across their foreheads. Or by the lingam ( a small conical stone) many of them wear around their necks. While the Vaishnava holy men usually have shaved heads, the Shaivities have a full head or hair, sometimes matted and wrapped around their skulls like a turban.
Even if you've never met a Hindu in your life, you still have heard friends of yours come home from their yoga classes repeating the most sacred Shaivite mantra, "Om namah Shivaya". " With loving reverence, I bow to the Supreme Consciousness". In this tradition, the Supreme Being is called Lord Shiva.
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