There are twelve most holy Sivalingas known as Jyotir-Lingas, the manifestations of Siva in the form of emblems representing light. In the Dakshineswar temple also, twelve temples of Siva have been constructed in a row by Rani Rasmani, who perhaps had in mind the twelve Jyotirlingas. Sri Ramakrishna himself was a living Jyotirlinga of Siva as he was the embodiment of divine light which arose out of Jugi's Siva Temple of Kamarpukur. Thus it is no wonder that Thakur was much devoted to the twelve 'Jyotir Lingas' or Siva installed at Dakshineswar.
Sri Ramakrishna could not worship for long the twelve Sivalingas in the Dakshineswar temple which are called Yogeswar, Jatneswar, Jatileswar, Nakuleswar, Nakeswar, Nirjareswar, Nareswar, Nandiswar, Nageswar, Jagadiswar, Jaleswar and Yajneswar. Among these twe1ve Sivas, Jagadiswar (literally, Lord of the world) seems to be especially important, as the real name of the Kali at the Dakshineswar temple is 'Sri Sri Jagadiswari Mahakali.' Sri Ramakrishna himself was Jagadiswar-Siva who actually realised that the Jagad (world) itself is Iswara (Siva). He said "One day while worshipping Siva I was about to place a betle- leaf on the head of the image, when it was revealed to me that this Virat, this Universe, itself is Siva. After that my worship of Siva through the image came to an end." But he used to send his young disciples to the twelve Siva temples for meditation.
