today!
is Mahashivaratri! am planning to stay up the night. hopefully perform puja every yaama. Hail Lord Shiva. Hail Nataraja. Hail the five-faced Sadashiva - who is Ishana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Vamadeva and Sadyojata. :)
Story goes that one dark moonless night, deep in the thickets of a dangerous forest, a hunter took shelter high up in a Bilva tree (Bel, Birch) to escape a tiger. The hungry tiger kept watch below, while the hapless hunter struggled to stay awake lest he fall down to his death. Nervously, he plucked a leaf and dropped it. And then plucked another.... and another.... till the fearsome night was at last beaten and the blessed rays of sunshine peeped in from a distance. Little did he know that in his anxiety, he had actually offered the sacred bilva leaves to a Shivalinga at the foot of the tree. It was now covered in hundreds of bilva leaves and Shiva, much pleased by this night-long worship - however inadvertent - appeared before the hunter and gave him moksha.
That night - is celebrated as Mahashivaratri. It falls on the fourteenth day of the waning fortnight of the Magh(Masi) month of the Indian calendar. The philosophical significance is brilliant! Just as the full moon wanes over fourteen days and becomes just a wisp of a crescent, our karma wanes over several births due to the grace of Shiva. And then, on the fourteenth night, with that persistent wisp of remaining karma, the soul yearns in desperation for Shiva, and heightens its fervent appeal to the Lord for deliverance in an all-night vigil on Mahashivaratri. The next day - the New moon day - signifies the final destruction of our continuing karma.
Story goes that one dark moonless night, deep in the thickets of a dangerous forest, a hunter took shelter high up in a Bilva tree (Bel, Birch) to escape a tiger. The hungry tiger kept watch below, while the hapless hunter struggled to stay awake lest he fall down to his death. Nervously, he plucked a leaf and dropped it. And then plucked another.... and another.... till the fearsome night was at last beaten and the blessed rays of sunshine peeped in from a distance. Little did he know that in his anxiety, he had actually offered the sacred bilva leaves to a Shivalinga at the foot of the tree. It was now covered in hundreds of bilva leaves and Shiva, much pleased by this night-long worship - however inadvertent - appeared before the hunter and gave him moksha.
That night - is celebrated as Mahashivaratri. It falls on the fourteenth day of the waning fortnight of the Magh(Masi) month of the Indian calendar. The philosophical significance is brilliant! Just as the full moon wanes over fourteen days and becomes just a wisp of a crescent, our karma wanes over several births due to the grace of Shiva. And then, on the fourteenth night, with that persistent wisp of remaining karma, the soul yearns in desperation for Shiva, and heightens its fervent appeal to the Lord for deliverance in an all-night vigil on Mahashivaratri. The next day - the New moon day - signifies the final destruction of our continuing karma.
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