Tattva

Bharat is a country known for its numerous cultural and religious festivals. One of these is Maha Shivratri also known as the night of Lord Shiva. This year it falls on March 12th, 2008.

The festival of Maha Shivratri is celebrated by Hindus all around the world on the night of the 13th and the day of 14th day of the waning moon in the Phalgun month of the Hindu calendar. This is the day when Lord Shiva took the form of a Shivaling, which symbolizes jyoti – flame of the fire. It is celebrated as a mark of respect toward Lord Shiva. Worshiping Lord Shiva on Maha Shivratri will get rid of a person’s sins and the person will achieve punya (spiritual merit). There are many stories in the Vedas and the Puranas that relay the glory of Lord Shiva.

The Shiv Puran relates a story of Maha Shivratri’s glory.
 
Once, a bheel (forest inhabitant) was hunting for deet, but he was unable to find any animal throughout the day.  As night approached, he climbed a bili (bael) tree near a lake, not noticing what type of tree he climbed. Later that night a deer arrived to drink water. The hunter aimed his arrow at the deer ready to shoot. While doing this he dropped some bael leaves on a Shivaling that was below the tree. The deer asked the hunter to allow her to go home say goodbye to her husband and her fawns; she promised she would return in the morning. After debating a lot, he finally agreed to let the deer go. While awaiting her return, the hunter stayed awake all night aimlessly picking up leaves from the tree and dropping them which fell on the Shivaling below. Thus he unknowingly performed its puja while staying awake all night. The following day, the deer returned with her family and said that if he kills her, he will have to kill the whole family. As the hunter aimed, some more leaves were brushed down on the Shivaling. The punya (spiritual merit) he achieved from performing the puja, even unconsciously, destroyed all his sins and purified his heart. The hunter set the deer free and Lord Shiva also granted him moksha. 

There are many other stories like the Samudra Manthan when poison came out of the sea. The gods asked Lord Shiva to prevent the poison’s spread in the world. Lord Shiva swallowed the poison and stopped it at his throat, which made his throat look blue and gave him the name of Neelkanth.

The festival of Maha Shivratri is celebrated in all homes and temples across India. On this day fasting and jaagaran, night vigil where devotees perform prayers and sing bhajans, are performed by devotees of Lord Shiva. Some people do not even consume a drop of water as part of their fasts. Devotees also perform puja of Lord Shiva with bael leaves and do abhishiek - bathing the shivaling with milk, panchamrut, flowers, curd, etc. 

Celebrations differ from place to place. For example in Kashmir (the northern-most state of India), Maha Shivratri is celebrated for three weeks in households, unlike other places where it is only a day-long festival. During the first week the families clean their houses. The second week is dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva. On the 13th night they fast worship Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati. After that, they have Prasad – holy food given to god. The next day is a day of worship and feast. 

References:

  http://www.swaminarayan.org/festivals/Shivratri/index.htm

  http://www.indiayogi.com/content/festivals/mahashiv1.asp

Akshay Dave is a senior in high school. He lives in Boston. You can contact him at akshayjdave@gmail.com.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 5:06 am and is filed under Festivals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.