Maha Shivaratri
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Maha Shivaratri |
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| Hinduism as a faith and way of life. It is
many sided, bound by a common search for truth and has a large pantheon of gods and
goddesses. Hinduism grew by a process of acceptance and assimilation. Hinduism is a
mono-theistic religion, believing in the Supreme Being from whom emanates everything. The
various manifestations of this Being are worshipped in visible forms to enable people to
concentrate on the abstract Being. Swami Vivekanand also laid emphasis on the fact that
for the purpose of concentration and worship the presence of a physical form is an
absolute necessity. On the 14th day of the dark half of Magh the great night of Shiva is celebrated. On this day the devotees of Shiva observe fast. Once a hunter set out for a hunt. He came near a pond, and for the purpose of hunting he climbed a "bel" tree (sacred to Shiva). Sitting on a branch he waited for game. But since the leaves obstructed his vision, he began to pluck a few leaves, which by chance fell on a Shiva Linga ("pindi"), which happened to be under that tree. Then a herd of deer came to drink water. The hunter took aim at a hind (female deer). But as she noticed the movement of the hunter, she cried out, "Please, wait a moment, before you shoot let me go home and meet my young ones for the last time. Afterwards you may take my life at your pleasure." The hunter gave the hind permission to go home, and re-mained sitting on the tree waiting for her to return. Waiting the whole night he was forced to observe fast. On the Shiva Linga he had inadvertently offered the "bel" leaves. With his mouth he uttered the name of Shiva, thus he fulfilled the conditions needed for the observance of the Maha Shiva Ratra vow. So without knowing how, his heart was changed and he was filled with sentiments of mercy.Before dawn the mother deer came back with the entire herd. "Now you may take my life at your pleasure" she said. Seeing the hind’s honesty the hunter’s heart was further softened, and he completely gave up his thought of killing the hind. Shankar was so pleased that immediately making all of them sit in a plane he took them to heaven. Both the hind and the hunter can be seen at night in the sky among the stars in the constellation of Orion ("Mrugshirsh nakshatra"). Shiva the "Great God" "It is probable that, long before the arrival of the Aryans, the ‘great god’ (‘Mahadeva’ or ‘Maheshvara’) was wor-shipped in India." Mount Kailas in the Himalayas is the abode of Shiva. "The Ganges came down from the heavens because Shiva bore on the matted locks of his head the forceful impact of her falling torrents." "He creates and destroys, he sustains the world, he at times obscures by his power of illusion (maya), or offers grace to the suffering world. These are the fivefold activities of Siva, symbolised by the five faces of the god (Pancanana). He sees the past, the present and the future by means of his three eyes (Trilocana). To save the earth, he drank the poison and his throat became dark-blue (Nilakantha). A moon’s crescent round or above his central eye (Candrasekhara), clad like an ascetic with a tiger-skin, he holds a trident (Pinaka) in his hand; he rides the bull Nandi. Some of his images represent him as a four-armed person-age, two of the hands holding a battle-axe (khadga) and a deer, the two other hands in poses signifying assurance of safety and liberality; in some other representations, he carries a bow, a thunderbolt, an axe, a skull-capped staff, a drum." |
| Male and
Female "In the full figure of Siva the male and female principles are united, and he himself is said to be half man and half woman. The emblem under which he particularly delights to be worshipped is the lingam or phallus, which is always erect. Lingam and yoni (the female organ) represent the totality of his nature and the totality of all created exist-ence." "Despite the fact that he (Siva) was later to inspire the tender love among his devotees, he remains a mysterium tremendum et fascinosum: he terrifies and he fascinates. Unlike Vishnu and his incarnations there is little that is human about him; he transcends humanity, and the vio-lence of the contradictions that he subsumes into himself gives him a sublimity and a mystery that no purely anthro-pomorphic figure could evoke. The Saktas of a later time sought to realize in themselves the perfect union of the male and female principles in the one by combining the strictest control of the senses with the sexual act itself. A man and a woman, representing Siva and his Sakti, would be in close embrace but with the senses under such perfect control that no seminal discharge took place.Thus, it was claimed, the complete fusion of the male and female principles of Purusha and Prakrti, |
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| was realized in the One and indivis-ible Siva who, though ever chaste. In this close embrace which imitates the inseparable unity of Siva and Sakti, there is no distinction between liberation and creativity, between moksha and samsara, because the opposites are felt to have been transcended. The close union of the sexes is thus the most perfect representation in the sansaric world of the divine transcendence of all oppo-sites." |
| Shiva Linga The stone in its spherical form untouched by the sculptor, is the form nearest to the formless. And the sexual union of male and female is the farthest the human mind can reach to express the creative action of God. This action, as God Himself, remains a mystery to man. All that man can do is to look at nature and see how a new being comes into existence. Since nature is the work of God, it is logical to conclude that both the male and the female principles must be found in God Himself, the sexes being only a manifestation of God’s nature. At the level of symbolism, the Shiva Linga or the stone with the semi-spherical top, makes a positive contribution in man’s effort to express the Divine Mystery. |
| Nilakantha The demons and the celestials agreed to churn the ocean of milk. Mount Sumeru was the churning staff, the snake Vasuki the churning rope. They wanted to get ambrosia. But when they were about to get the desired nectar, poison came from the mouth of the snake. Frightened the gods and the demons ran away. They had recourse to Shiva, the Great God. Shiva out of compassion swal-lowed the |
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| deadly poison, which remained as a blue stain on his throat. Hence the name Nilakantha. Saved from the danger the Devas and Asuras resumed churning the ocean and shared the ambrosia that was obtained. |
 Shiv - the word meaning auspicious - is one of the
Hindu Trinity, comprising of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the Preserver and Shiv or
Mahesh, the Destroyer and Re-Producer of life. Time is invisible and formless. Therefore
Mahakal Shiv, as per the Vedas, manifested himself as "LINGUM" to make mankind
aware of the presence of Eternal Time. That day when Shiv manifested himself in the form
of "Lingum" was the fourteenth day of the dark night in the month of Magh i.e.
February-March. This is confirmed by Rishi Markendeya in the sloka :- "That night, when the many-splendoured Shiv-Lingum dazzled the world with its appearance, was the night of the Mahashivratri- the night of the great Shiv". This Mahashivratri festival continues to be celebrated for ever and ever. Maharshi Narad advised mankind to fast on this day and pray to the All-Powerful Shiv so that in all His kindness He pardons all the sins that are committed in the past three lives. |
| Lord Shiv is portrayed as an ascetic,
sitting on a tiger skin, a bunch of poisonous snakes coiled round his blue neck, his hair
and his body. He received the waters of the sacred river Ganga that rushed down from
heaven with an unimaginable force and ferocity in the coil of his hair on his head to save
the world from total annihilation and released the water slowly on the plains to flow.
Lord Shiv has a third eye in the centre of his forehead along with a crescent moon. His
most powerful weapon is the Trishul, the trident. His favourite mount is the sacred bull,
Nandi who is also worshipped. His abode is on the high majestic Kailash mountain where he
resides with his celestial consort goddess Parvati.
Thus this Mahashivratri festival is in honour of Lord Shiv. Devotees observe fast the whole day and keep vigil throughout the night. After fasting the whole day devotees bathe with the water that is boiled with black sesame seeds to wash away bodily impurities. Then putting on new clothes they wash the Lingum with milk and perform religious rites, put haldi-kumkum on the lingum and a garland of white and pink lotus flowers. Bel leaves are placed in front of the Lingum and "aarthi" and "bhajans" are sung to invoke his blessings. The aroma of the lighted agarbattis seem to float in the air and from temples are heard the chinning of the bells and the sound of melodious devotional songs. All this surely must reach Mount Kailash and wake Him up from his deep meditation to bless mankind. Our ancient religious scriptures specially `Linga Puran', abound with stories of Lord Shiv's kindness and large-heartedness in giving boons to His devotees. |
 This festival of Maha Shivratri is held in great esteem in
most of the regions in India but especially in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. In Ujjain in the
famous temple of Mahakaleshwar Shiv's Lingum is worshipped with the performance of all the
religious rites and rituals. The story goes that a powerful demon who lived on Ratnamal
mountain attacked Avanti - the name of the present-day Ujjain in those days - and killed a
Brahmin sage by putting him in fire. The angry Lord Shiv opened his third eye and burnt
the demon to ashes. On that very spot of land where Lord Shiv opened his third eye and
killed the demon appeared the Shiv-Lingum. A majestic temple was built on that ground. The
mention of this temple is found in `Adi-Brahma Puran' and its detailed description in the
`Gyan-Samhita'. The illustrious king Vikramaditya during the time he was the ruler of Ujjaini, visited the MahaKaleshwar temple every morning, after his bath. He bowed before the Shiv-Lingum in all humility and prayed to Lord Shiv to mercifully grant prosperity and happiness to his subjects and peace to the land over which he ruled. He placed one hundred and eleven Bel leaves one by one on the Shiv lingum and while placing each leaf he praised Lord Shanker by reciting the following shlok. |
 Lord Shiv is known by many
names like Shanker, Mahesh, Bholenath, Neelakanth, Shambhu Kailasheshwar, Umanath, Nataraj
and others. He is the most sought-after deity amongst the Hindus and pray to him as the
god of immense large-heartedness who they believe grant all their wishes. Around him are
weaved many interesting stories that reveal His magnanimous heart. Not only this, but
these stories and legends also enrich the Indian culture and art. |
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Lord Shiv is worshipped in the form of `Shiv-Lingum'
which symbolises the power behind the creation. As Nataraj, the master of the art of
dancing, he is depicted in sculptures in bronze and images in metal. In fact, the entire
world of art revolves round Lord Shiv and goddess Parvati.