The festival of Maha Shivaratri

Today in India we are celebrating the great festival of "Maha Shivaratri"

Maha Shivaratri is a very important festival in India, and having recently been in India with a Polish group, we had the chance to experience its magical atmosphere during the all-night celebrations at the BBAH Ayurveda center, where we were in the middle of a Panchakarma.

Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated every year in honor of the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, it falls on the fourteenth day of the first half of the lunar month of Phalguna. The festival commemorates the wedding of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion on which Shiva performs his divine dance, known as the Tandava.

It is an important festival in Hinduism, commemorating the "overcoming of darkness and ignorance" in life and in the world. It is observed by remembering Shiva, offering prayers, fasting, and meditating on ethics and virtues such as honesty, non-harming of others, charity, forgiveness, and the discovery of Shiva. Devout followers stay awake through the entire night. Others visit one of the temples of Shiva or go on pilgrimage to the Jyotirlingams. The festival is believed to have its origins in the 5th century BCE.

SWAMI SATYANANDA SARASWATI explains that there are two concepts of spiritual enlightenment:

One is that Shakti awakens, rises up through the sushumna nadi, and unites with Shiva in the sahasrara chakra. Shiva represents higher cosmic consciousness, and Shakti represents the evolution of energy. This is the concept on which kundalini yoga is based.

The second concept is that consciousness goes to meet Shakti, and this is Shivaratri. The concept of Shivaratri is the awakening of consciousness at the material level of existence and its union with Shakti at a higher point of evolution. This is why the word used is "Ratri," meaning "dark night." What, then, are the night and day of consciousness?

When an individual experiences existence, the objective reality around them, that is the day of consciousness. The night of consciousness is when consciousness is alone and there is no objective experience whatsoever. You do not hear, see, feel, or know anything. Time, space, and objectivity — the three qualities of the mind — fall away. Only consciousness remains. This is the dark night of the soul, the stage just before enlightenment.

So Shivaratri is a symbol of the spiritual state of samadhi. But for us, Shivaratri represents the state that precedes samadhi — enlightenment. The story goes like this: Shiva decided to marry Parvati, daughter of the Himalayas, who lived on the snow-covered peaks. Shiva lived in the forest. He was the master, guru, and controller of spirits and demons, and when he set off to marry Parvati, all of them accompanied him. Some had one eye at the back of their head, some had no eyes at all, or eyes in their belly. Some had only one ear, others had huge elephant ears, or just holes for ears. Some walked on one leg, others on three. So Shiva went on with his strange wedding procession. As he approached the Himalayan kingdom where Parvati lived, her family sent out a wedding party to welcome them and escort them to Parvati's home. But when the wedding party caught sight of Shiva and his strange companions, instead of greeting the guests with respect and escorting them back to Parvati's home, they turned and fled as fast as their legs could carry them. As soon as they got back to Parvati's home, they told, with awe and terror, what they had seen. "Oh, he is terrifying! The groom arrived on a bull. He is naked, and his body is smeared with ash. He has snakes on him, and his companions are the most dreadful, most frightening people imaginable." Parvati's mother was so distressed. How could she accept such a horrifying son-in-law?

But Parvati remained calm and resolute. "I will marry him," she told her mother, "I will not be frightened away." The moment Lord Shiva's procession entered the kingdom of the Himalayas, he and all his curious companions transformed into dazzling, divine beings with beautiful faces, exquisite clothing, gleaming necklaces, fragrant flowers, and every manner of finery. The demons turned into charming people; everything was transformed in the blink of an eye, and so the wedding took place.

Shiva is a symbol of consciousness. For the individual, consciousness moves ever higher toward Shakti. It moves along with all our instincts and animal tendencies, with everything that we are. Even as you practice yoga, everything is still with you — fear, anger, passion, worry, anxiety — you move forward together with all your companions. Your soul also evolves, progresses, together with all your companions. But there comes a moment in spiritual life when all your companions — your instinctive life and animal tendencies — undergo transformation.

And that same instinct becomes intuition. In the course of your spiritual evolution, you try many tunes and meet with failure — you go to church for a wedding, but when you reach the door, it turns out the bride isn't there, and you have to go home disappointed. You have flashes of inspiration, you may catch a glimpse of a higher state, but it isn't complete. When the time comes and transformation occurs, the ugly companions with noses in their bellies and eyes at the back of their heads turn into divine attendants in suits and ties! The frightening aspects of your personality become your ornaments, your helpers. This is exactly what the story of Shivaratri is about. Parvati symbolizes higher energy; she also symbolizes kundalini shakti in tantra. The divine union that comes about when Shiva arrives to meet Shakti represents enlightenment within absolute darkness.

Excerpt from an article in the magazine "Yoga," March 1978

Piyush Mittal

Nirmala Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda