There are four expressions, viz., (1) the Linga, (2) the Yoni, (3) the Gutham (4) the Panchamakram which are greatly misunderstood. This misunderstanding has taken people off the track of real knowledge. The lingam is understood as the phallus, the yoni as the female organ, the Gutham as anus and the Panchamakaram as eating gram, fish and flesh and indulging in wine and women. This perverted understanding of the above mentioned expressions is unfortunate. This perversion has brought into ridicule and contempt certain sections of the Hindu community. We have now to understand the correct meaning of these expressions.

Linga is the creative principle. Yoni is the matrix which energises the creative principles. Linga and Yoni are the male and female principles of life embedded in all its manifestations. Even in inanimate manifestations of matter, these principles can be traced as positive and negative forces.

Gutham is that which throws out 'Gao'. Gao is not cow; nor is it a cow Goddess. Harivamsa says that Gao stands for sound. Sage Aurobindo interprets Gao as light. Amarkosa says that the word indicates sound, light and earth. We may accept all these interpretations and declare that Gutham is not anus as popularly understood. Taking the meaning of the word gao as sound, the word gutham may approximate only with the voice box in the throat, with its reasoning spaces like sinuses nose, mouth, wind pipe and lungs, and not with rectum even by any stretch of imagination. Gutham is a sublime word. The title 'Gaothum' adopted by the great Rishis and also by Buddha is a pointer to the sublimity of this word. It is because of the lack of proper understanding of the psychic terms like these, people went wrong and degenerated themselves in eroticism of the Vama marga and other abominable practices and ceremonies.

Panchamakaram is another expression which is very much misunderstood. It is a secret mnemonic expression meant as a guide line for the worship of sakti (the supreme mother), in the course of the practice of yoga by the followers of the sakta cult. Panchamakaram denotes five steps in aid, the names of which begin with letter 'M' viz.,