Mahashivratri
The festival of Mahashivratri (literally means the ‘Grand Night dedicated for the worship of Lord Shiva’). is looked upon with greatest reverence & respect by the devotees of Lord Shiva. This festival is celebrated every year on the 13/14th day in the Krishna Paksha (waning moon fortnight, just before the new moon) of the month of Phalgun. As per the English calendar this is somewhere around Feb or March.
This day and more so the night is dedicated by the devotees of Lord Shiva for his worship, practice of various austerities & meditation. All the Shiva Temples are fully decorated and there are hordes of devotees queuing up to get darshan of Lord & offer their obeisance’s at the feet of Lord Shiva on this special day.
One myth associated with Shivatri is during Samudra Manthan by the gods and demons, a highly toxic poison came out of the ocean. As per the advice of Lord Vishnu, gods approached Lord Shiva and prayed him to protect life by consuming this poison. Pleased with their prayers, out of compassion for living beings, Lord Shiva drank this poison and held it in his throat by binding it with a snake. The throat became blue due to the poison (Thus Lord Shiva is also know as Neelakantha) and Shiva remained unharmed. The wise men advised gods to keep Lord Shiva awake during the night. To keep him awake, the gods took turn performing various dances and playing music. A vigil was thus kept by the gods in contemplation of Shiva. As the day broke out, Shiva, pleased with their devotion blessed them all, and also said that whosoever worshipped & contemplated on him on this day shall be blessed with the fulfillment of his or her wishes. Since then, on this day and night – devotees fast, keep vigil, sing glories of Lord and meditate.
Maha is the Big One, Shiv means auspiciousness, and Ratri means night; this is a day when we awake to the most auspicious truth within ourself. Night stands for darkness i.e. ignorance, in which all beings sleep & then dream. Our present transmigratory existence and limited individuality is nothing but a big dream. Freedom is never by some unique or scintillating experiences in this dreamy realm of existence, but only by waking up to that which is not a product of mind. That which is not a product of mind is the Self, the Atma. Mandukya Upanishad calls that non-relative truth of Self as Shiva. That is referred to as the fourth state of the Self, the Turiya. It is the most auspicious one, knowing which one truly wakes up and gets ‘as though’ liberated. One who knows the Atma as Brahman alone is a liberated one.
The other three states apart from the Turiya are the waking, dream and the deep sleep states – when we turn extrovert and try to get experiences from the things around, revel in our imaginary worlds, or just switch off and rest, respectively. The fact that the special sadhana of this day has been kept for night implies that we need to simulate deep sleep, i.e. no flights of mind as in waking or dream states. Turn away from all experiences, physical or mental and just become quiet. No responsibilities, no desires, no burden to achieve anything, no roles to play, no regrets, no aspirations – just as in deep sleep but all consciously. When all relative roles and their corresponding thoughts are kept aside and the mind is quiet, then that which remains is that which is not a product of our minds – the Shiv tattva, the turiya, the auspicious one. Let us awake to that and realize it to be our real Self, thereafter, let this free and awakened mind respond to any situation around, there will be just the fragrance of auspiciousness in everything. That will be the real celebration of Mahashivrati.
We should realize the significance and uthis day to bring to your mind the infinite ways your life has been blessed. In our obsession with thinking on what all I dont have we fail to see the infinite ways in which we are so positively blessed. The fact that you can read right now is a great blessing, ask someone who cannot see. Feel truly blessed and gratified and express your thanks and devotion at the feet of Lord by chanting the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ as many times as you can.
Wherever you may be, the Lord shall surely hear your prayers when you recite it with fervour.