Hari!Om!
The festival of Maha Shivaratri is
celebrated in India and some parts in rest of the World on the 14th
day of lunar month (Phalgun month) or the day before New Moon during the February – March period every
year, before Summer.
Marked with “Night long waking” , fasting
and chanting “Om Namah Shivaiah”,the purpose is to develop virtues of self restrain, forgiveness,
honesty etc in us.
On this night, the Northern Hemisphere of
our Planet is positioned such that there is a natural upsurge of energy in us
to our spiritual peak and powerfully benefit us
The fourteenth day of every lunar month or a day before the New Moon is Shivaratri. In a calendar year there are 12 shivaratris occurring. The Shivaratri occurring during February-March period of every year is very significant and is called “Maha Shivaratri” or “The Grand Night of Shiva”.
Only a minute part of the Universe is mass and the rest of the Vastness is Empty, ie. “Shiva”. This emptiness which holds the minute mass is unnoticed by us, who are part of the minute mass. The Vastness is what, is all pervading. Divinity is talked in terms of Light. But the light is limited with a source, beginning and end. When the light dissolves in the darkness or emptiness you see darkness everywhere with no beginning or end. That is “Shiva” , Mahadeva or “the Great Lord”.
The Maha Shivaratri festival was
established with this tradition.
Shivaratri is the darkest day of the month. “ Shiva”, literally means
that “which is not”. “That which is” is,
creation and existence.
We see a lot of creations, which are relatively small things. If our vision is big then we see the vastness, beyond the small things, that is “Shiva”, the emptiness or nothingness.
Symbolically, the festival reminds us of winning over darkness and ignorance. And the significance is during the wakeful night we experience the interval between destruction of all creation and regeneration. In contemplation, we can experience the Shiva’s dance of creation, preservation and destruction and regeneration. We are awakened to the Super Consciousness(4th state of consciousness or Turiya) with no objective experience and our mind transcends, in a state of meditation.
The traditional belief is, during the Churning of the Ocean, when the poison came up, Lord Shiva drank up the Poison and retained in the throat for ever to sustain the creation.
The festival marks with a lot of celebration in India & little bit elsewhere. Visiting Shiva Temples, Offerings to the Shiva Lingams, abishekams, meditation, chanting etc.
See the all pervading Shiva in us eradicate
the evil in us, encourage growth of virtues and see the same Shiva in everyone
of us, is the message.
