Mahasivatri - Its Significance

Are you celebrating the powerfully Sacred

Mahasivaratri on 20

th

February 2012?

We reproduce the complete article from our February 2012 issue of our magazine for you to share with your family and friends.

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Mahasivaratri Its Significance DR. A. SREEKUMAR MENON Dr. Athickat Sreekumar Menon hails from Nallepilly villiage of Palakkad Dist, Kerala . He has excellent academic and professional back ground with a masters and doctorate in Psychology and Management. Has done post-doctoral work in Australia. Recipient of five postgraduate and doctoral fellowships including one from the Ford Foundation, U.S.A., he has held senior positions in India and abroad .

Has published five original books on Management of which two have received All India awards. He is also the recipient of N.I.P.M award and Will’s Award of Excellence. Authoring several original articles on Management and Human Values he has delivered many (highly valued) lectures in India and abroad. He is an original thinker , voracious reader , prolific writer and an eloquent speaker. He is keenly interested in human welfare and youth development . He continues to have active professional interest dating back to five decades.

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NCIENT INDIAN EPICS and festivals have both religious and moral implications. Moral values are disguised in them and have to be drawn out. Even the religious practices or rituals like prayer, homa (havan) and so on are full of moral values, if we understand their inner meaning. Those moral values are to be imbibed by humanity to meet the materialistic onslaught. Here an attempt is made to analyze Mahasivratri, one of the important Hindu festivals to bring out it’s significance and inner meaning or it’s moral ethical side. Generally, people follow rituals mechanically, which does not help to realize the purpose of festivals. It is hoped that this short article would help the reader to understand the values underlined this festival, to assimilate them and practice in their day to life, thus making life more wholesome and derive enduring happiness.

Mahasivaratri or the great night of Lord Siva, being one of the important Hindu festivals, is celebrated with devotion and religious fervor to propitiate Lord Siva. Unlike celebration of other festivals, Mahasivaratri festival is not celebrated with festivities, revelry and gaiety;, on the other hand, it is celebrated with solemnity and piety and devotional fervor.. This is so because, Lord Siva is the very incarnation of’ vyragia’ or renunciation or sacrifice of THE ASTROLOGICAL eMAGAZINE

physical pleasures. and he is in deep meditation in most of the times.Lord Siva is the most powerful deity and one among the trinities,Bhrahma, Vishnu and Mahesvara among Hindu deities. ‘Siva’ means being auspicious and power or energy, the most powerful God of Hindi pantheon.. This year Mahasivaratri falls on 20th February.

It is believed as the most auspicious time to invoke the blessings of Lord Shiva by day long worship.Due to unique planetary position, a powerful natural upsurge of energy is said to occur on that night in the human system.Worship on this day is considered beneficial for one’s material and spiritual wellbeing. Lord Siva is the destroyer of evil and protector of good. Those who utter the name of Siva on this night is said to be free from one’s past sins and wrong acts committed and would enjoy material prosperity and peace.

Celebration starts on the day of Mahasivaratri. Devotees wake up early morning and after ritual bath, wear new clothes and visit Siva temples for worship. They observe strict ‘Vrata ‘or follow acts of discipline. Fasting or going without food is one such act of self-control or being oblivious of body consciousness which lead to unholy life.

There are people who do not drink even a drop of water till next day. ‘Sivalingam ‘ or Idol of Siva is worshipped throughout the night. ‘Abbishekam’ or ritual bath is most FEBRUARY 2012

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important. It is believed that much heat is generated in Siva’s body due to deep meditation and the holy bath cools down his body.Priests wash the Lingam once every three hours with milk, curd, ghee, honey, rose water, coconut water and just with plain water and offer ‘Bilwa’ or Bael leaves which is said to be most preferred by Lord Siva In Bilwa leaf, there will be three leaves in a stalk which is supposed to represent three eyes (Trinetram) of Lord Siva. Devotees circumambulate Sivalinga by chanting devotional songs incessantly.

Thousand names of Siva each of which describes his glory and splendor are sung in chorus. They maintain sleepless night or long vigil throughout night. It is called practicing ‘ Jagaran’.The following is the meaning of these practices.Fasting is a way of controlling our senses, which run amuck after objects of pleasure. So also resisting sleep, which is the most fundamental need. In other words development of self-control and a life of moderation and contentment are exhorted. The night long also vigil suggests the importance of presence of mind in our day to day life. The message is that we should not be preoccupied with the dead past nor with unborn future, but the real present and that what ever we do, we should do it involving ourselves fully. Other acts of vrata or selfdiscipline, to be practiced are Sathya or speaking truth, Ahimsa or injuring none by thoughts, words or actions, Brahmacharya or continence or not indulging in sensuous actions unregulated, Daya or compassion to fellow beings, Kshama or patience, tolerance and accommodation, not being revengeful and forgiveness, and Anasuya or not being jealous. They also include not entertaining any evil thoughts during the whole day, instead filling the mind with sublime and divine thoughts by continuously chanting the hymns praising the glory of Lord Siva. These acts purify our heart and mind and strengthrn our will power and actions guided by vivka or discriminatory knowledge or higher levels of consciousness. The self-discipline we display during the Mahasivaratri day should not be confined only to that day, but it should be displayed in our life style as such. We can say that Mahasivartri is a period of moral and ethical training, quite apart from its divine import.

There are many legends showing the significance of Mahasivaratri celebrations.Those legends also bring out several moral ethical values to the discerning eye. Due to limitation of space, only few are quoted.

It was on this day,Siva married Goddess Parvati, who did long penance to get an ideal husband. Believing this legend, unmarried women pray for ideal husbands and married women pray for the well being of their husbands.

It is considered as a special day of worship for women 18

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like Thiruvathira festival, a festival of Kerala This shows that the marriage institution is considered as sacred according to Hindu thought and hence the partners are supposed to maintain it. Family life in Hindu scriptures is qualified as Grihastashrama. Ashram means the abode of ascetics or perfect souls who have absolute control over themselves and not swayed by outside forces. Thus family is a place for leading disciplined life as per Varnashrama dharma, the ethics coded in our ancient works of wisdom. The aim of married life is propagation of human race and not indulgence in libidinal life for the sake of sensuous pleasure.

After the creation of the universe and the living beings, Lord Siva is believed to have answered that the day, Mahasivaratri is celebrated as the day of his choice for propitiating him, in response to question posed by Parvati.

Parvati is believed to have told this to her friends and this practice was followed from generations to generations.

Lord Siva is believed to have performed the Tandava dance or Ananda nrityam on that day. It is a celestial dance of primal creation, preservation and dissolution which brings out the eternal truth that forms are created out of minute particles of high energy, which can neither be created nor destroyed, that they sustain their shape for a while and get dissolved and that this process is continuous. Modern Physics attests this fact. It is believed that life principle or Atma which is niether created nor destroyed, immutably passes on taking different material bodies. This movement is evolutionary, depending on the good deeds done and assumes higher forms till it gets merged with the ultimate which is a birthless and deathless state. This renewal need not be confined to transmigration of the souls. Change for better is possible with in one’s life span. This means that we should always try to reform our character by assimilating the teachings of our ancient texts and be a better person in terms of our moral, ethical and human qualities. God is an embodiment of all virtues. So the only way to reach nearness to God and get empowered is by cultivation of those virtue, as human life is strictly guided by moral laws. God intervenes in the life of man as impartial implementer of moral laws.

It is believed that Lord Siva manifested himself for the first time in the form of a ‘Linga’ on this day. Hence, the day is considered as most auspicious for invoking his grace.

According to Puranas, during the great mythical churning of ocean called Samudra Manthan or Ksheera Sagara Manthan a pot of poison emerged from the ocean. Gods and demons were terrified at the sight of poison which could wipe them out. They ran for Siva’s help. Lord Siva gulped that poison, in order to save the world from THE ASTROLOGICAL eMAGAZINE

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disaster. Parvati is said to have held his throat tightly, lest the poison might move to vital organs. The poison collected in the throat turned the color of the throat into blue. Siva got the name Neelakanta (blue neck) from this incident.

During Sivaratri celebration this lofty incident of Lord’s saving the world is commemorated. The message that comes out of this incident is that we should lend our helping hand in any diversity even at the cost of our lives rather than leading a selfish and ego centric life of exploitation. While churning the ocean, nectar was the last thing which came out after strenuous effort. This reveals the fact that real achievement is possible only through hard labor put in with tremendous amount of patience and personal sacrifice.

The Story of Chitrabhanu Chitrabhanu was a king who was a staunch devotee of Lord Siva. He had a rare skill of knowing his past. He narrated the story of his life as to how he became a Siva devotee. He told he was a hunter in his previous life. One day he roamed about in the forest and it was too late to return to his village. He could not get any prey on that night. In order to escape from wild animals, he climbed up a tree and perched there the whole night. It happened to be a willow tree, which is Lord Siva’s favorite. He plucked few leaves and dropped them on the ground to attract his prey/animals. A deer came on the spot. Before he could shoot his arrow, the deer with tears rolling down its eyes told the hunter how deep would be the grief of its wife and children, if he did not return home. The hunter was moved, took pity on the deer and let it free. The hunter was too hungry and felt how grieved his family would be back home. He continued to drop leaves one by one to keep him awake, lest he might fall from the tree.

Great Daivagjnas (continued from 16) The 9 th sub period of any dasa is generally found to be unfavourable. Nodes are causation planets of carcinoma. Ketu is in Virgo (pancreas). It was in the dasasandhi phase of Ketu sub-period that he was detected of pancreatic cancer and underwent chemotherapy. Ketu is a significator of 112th, house of hospitalization.

Transit at death · Exact opposition by Transit Uranus (sudden) of 3rd house to natal Mercury the dispositor of both the dasa lord Venus and sub-period ruler Ketu. · Jupiter, the ascendant lord made a square to radix and was in Pisces the 4th house of termination. · Transit Jupiter in the sign where natal Rahu is placed (serious set back in life). · Transit Rahu’s sojourn in Sagittarius will cause great mishaps, if Jupiter at birth is in Sagittarius (vide research capsules).

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There was a Siva linga under the tree. The Bilwa leaves fell on the Siva linga. So also the water, he had in his pot fell on the linga drop by drop. The drops of water which fell on the Linga was equivalent to Abhisheka or ritualistic bath given to Siva by his devotees. . On the next day morning, when hunter climbed down, Siva being happy, appeared before him and blessed him. Though he dropped leaves to keep him engaged, it was literally an act of worshipping Siva and hence he got his blessings. This incident indicates that if we do some good acts without seeking anything, it may bring good to us. Sudden transformation took place in the life of the hunter. He gave up eating meat and hunting or stopped himsa or violence. He stopped hunting and killing and selling animals for his livelihood. and spend his time in doing good work. He was reborn as Chitrabhanu to be the king and staunch devotee of Lord Siva.

Moral of the Story What moral does this story bring out ? It tells us that we should be reformed in our life, that reformation can come about anytime, if we have open mind, that we should not harm anyone by thoughts, words or action. We should not think of ill of any but think good of others and share in the happiness of others. We not wrong others but do good to others. We should be polite and gentle and not harsh at any time with any one and should help others and not harm them on any account.

To conclude, celebration of a festival in its true spirit is developing one-pointed mind to goodness, understanding human values embedded in the festival (as earlier pointed out) and striving to live as per those values for achieving material prosperity, enduring peace and happiness. · · · ·

Transit Saturn, lord of 2nd (maraka) in a tight conjunction with natal Venus, the dasa lord.

Transit Venus the dasa lord in Pisces the 4th house of END. Transit Ketu, the sub period ruler in 7th house (maraka) in the star of Mars, the lord of 12th.

Stallion in 5th house (stomach) from natal Moon pointing to some action in the 5th house domain.

Neville’s untimely death is a big loss to the cause of Astrology. He will be long remembered for his accurate US retaliatory prediction.

Conclusion Both Chellapan Aasan and Neville Lang leave behind a rich legacy.

If one can go through the life-style of Aasan, it can be seen that he gave paramount importance of devotion in the study of astrology as prescribed for an astrologer in our ancient texts. The other, a Westerner, learned in Vedic Astrology, became a master in it and proved that Jyothisha is not the monopoly of any country and anyone could learn and excel in it and attain the highest level of accuracy, provided he is industrious and involved. Glory to such exalted Astrologers! May their tribe increase!

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