Significance of Maha Sivarathri

Maha Sivarathri is one of the biggest festival celebrated by Hindus with profound devotion. Maha Sivarathri means grand night dedicated to Lord Shiva. On this day devotees worship Lord Shiva with great reverence and respect. They keep vigil all night. The Shiva Lingam is worshipped throughout the night by doing Abhishekam with milk, curd, honey, rose water, etc., whilst the chanting of the Mantra Om Namah Shivaya continues. Offerings of bael leaves are made to the Lingam. Bael leaves are very sacred as it is said Goddess Lakshmi resides in them. Hymns in praise of Lord Shiva are sung with devotion. He who utters the names of Lord Shiva during Sivarathri, with perfect devotion and concentration, is freed from all sins. He reaches the abode of Shiva and lives there happily. He is liberated from the wheel of births and deaths.

The day when Chaturdashi tithi prevails the entire night during Krishna Paksha (waning moon fortnight) in the month of Masi is known as Maha Sivarathri. According to English calendar this falls somewhere around February and March.

Significance of Sivarathri

There are several stories which tells the reason to celebrate this festival.

• There is a reference in one of the Puranas, where Lord Shiva himself tells Parvati Devi [the Divine Mother] that this day (Sivarathri) is particularly dear to him, and that those who perform the prescribed austerities on this day will be freed from all sins.
• Lord Shiva married Goddess Parvati on this auspicious day. Shiva became complete with reunion of Shakti. That is why in many temples they do Gowri kalyanm on Sivarathri day.
• When Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu fought between themselves as “who is the greatest”, Lord Shiva appeared before them as a pillar of fire. They were not able to find the starting and end of that pillar. Then Brahma and MahaVshnu repented for their mistake and prayed to Lord Shiva for forgiving their sin worshiping the Shivalingam which is the form of the flame. In the night of Sivarathri Lord Shiva appeared before them and blessed them.

Greatness of Sivarathri

The story of King Chitrabhanu not only glorifies the importance of penance & fasting on Sivarathri but also revealed its spiritual significance. On Sivarathri day, King Chitrabhanu & his wife were observing penance and fasting. Sage Ashtavakra, who is an enlightened Guru came to visit the king. He inquired the king about the reason for fasting on Sivarathri day. In response, King Chitrabhanu narrated the following story. In his previous birth, he was born as a hunter, Suswara. One day while hunting in a deep forest; he captured a deer. It became too dark and he was unable to return home so he decided to spend the night in the forest. His family was starving and was eagerly awaiting Suswara’s return to consume food. Looking for shelter in the forest, the hunter climbed a tree (which happened to be a Vilwa or Bael tree) after tying the deer to the tree. He shed tears thinking about his family. This kept him awake and he engaged himself in plucking the Vilwa leaves and dropping them as a way to overcome hunger, thirst and thoughts of his family. Next day morning he returned home, sold the deer and brought some food. On his way home, he served a beggar who came begging for food. Later he went home & shared the food with his family. Years later when Suswara died, he saw messengers of Lord Shiva waiting to take him to abode of Lord Shiva. From the messengers he learnt about the great merit he had earned by his unconscious worship on Sivarathri through fasting, staying awake (i.e. thoughtless, dreamless) and meditating on Lord Shiva. The messengers told him that there had been Shiva Lingam at the bottom of the tree and he had worshipped Lord Shiva with his tears and Vilwa leaves. Because of the good merit he earned on Sivarathri day, Suswara lived in the abode of Lord Shiva for ages & later was re-born as a King. Thus King Chitrabhanu concluded the story by glorifying the importance of penance & fasting on Sivarathri day.

As always with a story of such significance; there is an inner spiritual meaning. In the story, the animals that the hunter fought & captured are the lust, greed and anger. The forest is the multi-fold mind. It is in the mind that these animals roam about freely. They must be captured & killed. The hunter by doing that personified a Yogi. The tree refers to the Spine and climbing of tree signifies awakening or rising of Kundalini energy. The Vilwa leaves are threefold. Here it refers to the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna nadis or the centers of Sun, Moon & Fire. The Yogi was in waking state when he began in meditation. His family is nothing but the world. A Yogi must become an embodiment of love. His tears are symbolical of his universal love. He tied the deer to the tree signifying that he fully conquered his thoughts and rendered them inactive. By plucking and dropping vilwa leaves his activities were confined to the three nadis. He was in the second state of mind, the dream state before he passed into the deep sleep state by keeping vigil the whole night. The dawning of day symbolizes the entrance into fourth state called Turiya or Superconsciousness which is complete liberation or enlightenment. Thus it is possible to reach the Turiya state by following and practicing the story. Of all the nights, Sivarathri is a special night where the Divine energy descends so much on earth that it is possible to attain Turiya state.

Spiritual Significance of Sivarathri

Sivarathri is an auspicious night. Generally night symbolizes ignorance and darkness of mind. And Lord Shiva is the symbol of sacred light or Jyothi.  By chanting his holy name whole night with pure heart one can come out of ignorance or darkness. According to scriptures, moon is presiding deity of the mind. Sivarathri falls on 13^th day of dark fortnight (2 days before New moon) when the moon is almost absent. The Mind which is ruled by Moon will be drastically reduced on that day of month. When that night is devoted to vigilant adoration of God, mind can be controlled and ignorance will be destroyed. Devotees who observe Maha Sivarathri with firm faith and clean heart will get the blessings of Lord Shiva and will go to Shivaloka after death.

OM NAMA SHIVAYA