Maha Shivaratri




Mahashivratri celebration

Maha Shivratri is an important  festival listed in  Hindu calendar.It occurs on fourteenth day  of lunar month Magha.It is celebrated to worship Lord Shiva. This festival is very popular in India and Nepal.People observe fast all through the day  and observe night vigil all through the night.Special prayers like chanting Siva mantras and vedic hymns are performed in Siva Temples.

Rituals and Customs

On the day of celebration devotees rise up early  and take a bath to purify their body.Bathing in holy water like ganga is considered very auspicious. After that they pay a visit to temple where they perform offerings to sivalinga.Temple priests worship sivalinga by abhisheka, that is pouring water etc  on Sivalingam. Six different types of abhisheka is performed pouring  water, milk, ghee, honey, sugar and yogurt over sivalingam, following this they apply vermillion paste to on shivling ,since it represents Virtue.Then bilva leaves , preferably a stalk with three leaves is placed on top of Linga ,as this might cool the  deity.Devotees offer betel leaves ,flowers and many other auspicious materials to please the deity. Abhisheka purifies the Shivling  and thus the soul.Devotees spend the whole night chanting mantras,hymns and singing devotional songs.The next day they beak the fast.The next morning they break their fast by accepting prasad from  the temple priest.

Benefits and Significance of Shivratri


Mahashivratri is a sacred and significant day of Hindu tradition. The holy bath along with a  full day fast will make devotee's body clean and mind purified.As the devotees stay awake throughout the night, the spine remains vertical and this causes a uplift of spiritual energy through sushumna.Planets placement  of this sacred day is  such that , there will be an upsurge of spiritual energy in all human beings.According to  Hindu Mythology he who observe Mahashivratri vrat  with sincerity will be blessed by the the Lord Shiva ,thus he will be freed from all sins, and birth cycle.Mahashivratri vrat is observed very seriously by women both married and unmarried.Goddess Parvathy the consort of Lord Shiva will bestow them  marital bliss, prosperity and longevity.

Legends of Shivaratri

There are many legends which are related to Mahashivratri.Scriptures and Puranas shed light on different stories,let us go through the details briefly.

The Marriage of shiva Parvathi is the most important legend behind Shivaratri vrat.Once when Mahadeva( Shiv) along with  Sati(sakthi) was travelling through a forest,where they met Rama the incarnation of vishnu.Shiva bowed his head in front of Rama .Surprised by husband's behaviour Sati asked Lord Shiv why he was paying  venerance  to a mere mortal.Lord informed her that Rama was an incarnation of Mahavishnu.Sati was not satisfied with the answer and Shiva asked to verify.Sakthi ( sati) took form of seetha and went in front of Rama.Rama identified her as Sati and sati  realised the truth behind Rama.Since Seetha was motherlike to Shiva , after this event Siva was unable to consider as a wife and began to see her with a detached vision.Sati was really unhappy about  this change in siva.

After that Daksha Sati's father arranged  a Yajna and he did not invited  either Sati or Siva.But still sati went to attend the Yajna , Daksha didn't pay any attention to her, Sati feel severely humiliated and sacrifice herself by jumping into the  Yajna fire.The enraged shiva performed Rudra tandava or Dance  and destroyed Daksha's kingdom.The whole universe was horrified since Rudra tandava has the power to destroy whole universe.Mahavishnu sliced Sati's body into twelve parts and scattered it on earth.where ever it fell there surfaced sakthi peeth.After that Lord Shiva took severe penance and was living detached life at Himalaya.Sati reborn as God Himalya's daughter and she observed penance to get his consort back.As advised by Kamadeva Parvathy performed dance to break Shiva's meditation, at the same time Kamadeva shot his arrow of desire at shiva.Mahadeva got furious ,opened his third eye and burned kamadeva into ashes.Parvathy continued her penance and at last Shiva changed his mind.Shiva agreed to marry parvathy and soon they got married.That  was fourteenth day in magha month  and  their marriage  anniversary is celebrated as Mahashivratri.

Another legend goes to Samudra Manthan explained in Purana's.Deva's and Asura's jointly decided to churn the Milk ocean in order to obtain the Nectar.During the churning a disastrous poison called  Haala-hala emerged , since the poison could destroy whole universe Deva's ran to Mahadeva for help.Lord Shiva drank the poison to save the universe.Parvathi hold his neck to prevent it from reaching the stomach  and as a result poison remained in the throat. Due to the toxic effect Lord Shiva's throat became blue colored giving him the name Neelakanda.God's observed a night vigil in respect to Mahadeva and this day is celebrated as Mahashivratri.

The legend of Hunter goes like this.A hunter went to forest to obtain wood and food.During his return he lost his way and caught in the middle of the deadly forest.Some animal chased him and  it was getting dark.So  he climbed on a Bael  tree in order to spend his night.He decided to stay awake to prevent him from falling.He plucked and dropped the leaves.The leaves fell on the Shiva Linga located under the bael tree, although hunter was not aware of it.Lord Shiva pleased with his worship and that day is celebrated as Mahashivratri.

There are many other legends behind Mahashivratri, but the concept is the same.Wish you a Happy Maha Shivratri to all .






















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