Mahashivaratri - The Great Night of Shiva - Part I

The Hindu calendar follows the lunar month which consists of twenty-eight days. Each month has two fortnights. The dark fortnight or “krishna paksha” starts the day after the full moon or pournami and the bright fortnight “shukla paksha” starts on the first day after amavasya or new moon. The 13th night of each fortnight of every lunar month is known as “pradosham” and is a small Shivaratri or night of Shiva. The word “pradosham” means that which removes all sins.” The time for pradosham lies between one and a half hours before and one a half hours after sunset. At this time, it is said that the sun and moon are in a horizontal line. There are certain vibrations during this time which help to remove our negative karmas. Thus, we find that there are twelve and sometimes thirteen small shivaratris in a year. However, the 13th night of the dark fortnight in the month of Magha/Phalguna (February/March) is known as Mahashivaratri or the Great Night of Shiva. This is a festival which is celebrated all over Bharat. The month of Magha is Shiva’s month and throughout this month devotees perform many rituals to him culminating in the Mahashivaratri.

Hindu festivals are strongly influenced by our calendar, which is created by analysing the movements of the planetary system. We are children of this earth and our existence here is influenced by the planets, which are always revolving like potter's wheels. Hence, we are impacted by whatever happens in the solar system. The axis of our planet does not simply spin; rather, it wobbles, and this wobble results in a particular condition on the planet. There is an increase in energy on the day of Mahashivratri, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, which influences all our bodily fluids. On the night of Mahashivaratri, the planet is tilted at exactly the right angle, for people living in the northern hemisphere of the world, to feel an upsurge of energy. This energy can either be directed towards spiritual activities or be dissipated in commonplace actions. After the winter solstice in December, the planetary configuration is such that it causes a natural upsurge of energy on this night in a massive way; if you lie down on this day, you will be blocking it. This means that you are not only losing the benefit, but you may also harming yourself in a very subtle way.

The Hindu tradition never lost any opportunity to give a push to the individual to accelerate his move towards the divine. Therefore, the festival of Mahashivaratri was established to make use of this spurt of energy and give it a thrust in the right direction. This is the day when nature is pushing us towards our spiritual peak. It is to make use of this, that the rishis established this night-long vigil. This is the reason why we are asked to keep awake during the night and remain with our spinal cord erect so as to facilitate the movement of the energy upwards. Spiritual energy always goes upwards through the spinal column.

If you want to harness this energy for a healthy life, you must sit up straight and keep your back in an upright position to encourage the energy to ascend even higher and awaken your kundalini. So all the stories connected with Mahashivaratri encourage us to keep awake during this night with erect spine.

The rishis wove stories around deep spiritual truths in order to make them more palatable to the common man. Their desire was to turn everyone into a yogi and bring out the deep, hidden divine potential in every human being. The esoteric meaning behind Mahashivaratri is camouflaged in the famous story in the Puranas known as the “Churning of the Milky Ocean.”

Once it is said that the devas or gods became very weak and lost their youth due to the curse of the rishi called Durvasa. The asuras or demons took this opportunity to oust the gods and grab the heavens for themselves. The miserable gods went with their tale of woe to Vishnu who comforted them and told them that they would get back their youth and strength by imbibing the “Amrit” or nectar of immortality which could be got by churning the Milky Ocean on which he himself was resting. Of course, the devas were totally incapable of taking on such a herculean task. They were forced to ask for help from their bitter enemies, the asuras. The asuras agreed provided they were given half the nectar, to which the devas were forced to assent.

In olden days people used to make butter by churning yogurt. They tied a rope round a pillar and wound the rope round the wooden churn and kept on churning manually until the butter rose to the top. Using this principle, the devas used the Mandara Mountain as a churn and the snake on which Vishnu was lying, as a rope. The devas caught the tail of the snake and the asuras the head and they churned merrily for some days. After some time, the snake started getting a bit sick of the whole affair and started to vomit the most virulent poison called “Halahala”. Had the poison fallen to the ground, everything on the earth would surely have perished. Both the gods and the demons were in a panic and prayed to Lord Shiva to come to their help. Shiva, the compassionate one, came immediately and caught the poison in his palms and drank it.

But his wife Parvati, forgetting his greatness, was terrified that it would kill him and caught his throat so that the poison congealed on his neck and made it blue. This is how he got the name “Neelakanda” or the blue-necked one. Thus, Shiva became the “Saviour of the World.” It is common knowledge that one who has been bitten by a snake or taken poison should not be allowed to sleep, so it is said that the devas and the asuras as well as all the sages who had assembled there, kept vigil the whole night extolling Lord Shiva and chanting his names. This, was the night of Mahashivaratri. This is the story told to people in order to encourage them to keep a fast and stay awake the whole night with spine erect.

It is also said that after the death of his first wife Sati, Shiva went into a deep samadhi from which nobody could shake him. Later Sati reincarnated as Parvati. She performed severe tapas in order to get Shiva as her consort. Finally Shiva consented and they got married on Mahashivratri day. This night is supposed to be the night of the convergence of Shiva and Shakti, which in essence mean the masculine and feminine energies that balance the world.

Many other stories are also told to encourage people to keep the fast and stay awake the whole night.

There is a famous story about a man called Lubdhaka who was a poor tribal man and a devout worshipper of Lord Shiva. Once he went into the jungle to collect firewood. As darkness engulfed the forest, Lubdhaka lost his way and could not return to his house. He could hear the roars and growls of tigers and other wild animals coming closer and closer and was terrified. In despair he hastily climbed the nearest tree which happened to be a bel tree. He could see the tigers prowling beneath the tree and was terrified that he might doze off and fall off the tree. To keep himself awake, Lubdhaka plucked one leaf after another from the bel tree and dropped them down while chanting the Shiva mantra (Aum Namashivaya). Unknown to him there was a small Shiva Linga beneath the tree so all the bel leaves were being dropped on top of it. This happened to be the 13th night of the dark phase of the moon in the month of Phalguna – Mahashivaratri. Unknowingly he had actually performed the Mahashivaratri puja which specifies that we have to keep awake the whole night and chant the names of Lord Shiva. It is said that Lubdhaka was blessed by Shiva and given liberation or moksha. From this arose the custom of offering bel leaves to Shiva.

Another story is about a king called Sundaresan who was hunting in the forest on his horse. He was separated from his retinue and by the end of the day he was totally exhausted since he had not eaten anything the whole day. Without knowing he spent the night near a pond where there was a Shivalinga. The whole night he kept chanting the Shiva mantra. In the morning, he saw the Shivalinga and cleaned the leaves on top of it and poured water over it and worshipped it. This happened to be the night of Mahashivaratri. When he died, the attendants of Yama, the king of death, tied him with a rope and were all set to take him to the nether world. However, the ganas or attendants of Shiva forestalled them and told them that he was a great devotee of Shiva and thus he could not be taken to the abode of Death but would be escorted by them to Shiva’s celestial abode.

These stories are told to people in order to encourage them to keep vigil on this night. Even though people may not have been aware of the esoteric reasons behind the practice, they would still be able attain a high state of spiritual awakening if they followed the instructions. Thus, everyone was exhorted to keep up the practice of fasting and keeping awake on Mahashivaratri -The Great Night of Shiva!

On this night Shiva’s destructive power is invoked in order to destroy the negative tendencies that we have accumulated during the year. It gives us an opportunity to experience that vastness or unlimited energy that Shiva signifies, which is responsible for the construction as well as the destruction of all creation. Even though Shiva is known as the destroyer, he is also most compassionate. He is furthermore known to be the greatest of all givers. Our Puranas are filled with countless stories about his compassion and generosity.

He is also the wielder of power! On this day the power he wields over the universe increases hundred-fold. His role is not just destruction but “creative destruction.” This means that his destruction has a purpose. It is not mere annihilation but transformation. So, on this Great Night of Shiva we invoke him and beg him to destroy all the blocks in our system that act as impediments in the way of our spiritual progress. Before the night starts, we should make a list of all our negative tendencies and concentrate on two or three of them and work on them during the long hours of vigil during the night of Mahashivaratri.

Aum Namashivaya!