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Saturday, March 9, 2013

This year Mahashivratri falls on 10th March 2013

This year Mahashivratri 
falls on 10th March 2013

when the Shiva principle descends to Earth 
a thousand times more than usual. 
On this day, to obtain the full benefit of 
Lord Shiva's principle, 
one should chant
'Om Namah Shivaya' 
as much as possible.

is the time when Shiva takes a rest. 
Shiva rests for one 'prahar' (three hours) of the night. 
This 'prahar' is referred to as the Shivratri. 
When Lord Shiva takes rest, the function of 
'Shivtatva' (Shiva Principle) ceases,
 i.e. Lord Shiva goes into a meditative state. 

Shiva's meditative state is the time when
 He is engrossed in His own spiritual practice.
 During that time, 
the 'Shivtatva' does not accept any tamogun 
(most base of the 3 elements in us - sattva, raja & tama)
 any halahal (venom churned from the ocean)
 coming from the Universe. 
As a result,
 the ratio of halahal or the pressure 
of the negative energies increases. 
For protection from this pressure, things like
 'bilva patra', white flowers, 'rudraksha' beads etc
 are offered to Lord Shiva. 

These things attract the 'Shivtatva' from the atmosphere,
 thus providing protection from the increasing
 effect of the negative energies.
 The Earth is a gross object.
 Gross objects have very low velocities
 i.e. they require more time to cover a specific distance in space. 
Gods on the other hand, are subtle hence they
 are capable of traversing space within a few seconds. 
That is why one year on the earth
 is equivalent to just one day of heaven.

Science in the worship of 
Lord Shiva on Mahashivratri

The function of the 
Emitting waves of Knowledge, 
Devotion and renunciation

'sattva' waves of knowledge,
 'raja' waves of devotion 
 'tama' waves of Renunciation (Vairagya)
 are emitted by the 'Shivpindi'. 
During Mahashivratri, 
the emission increases by 30 percent.

Emission of subtle vibrations 
of chaitanya, bliss and peace

The 'Shivpindi' emits
 subtle vibrations of chaitanya, bliss and peace. 
During the Mahashivratri, 
the emission increases by 25 percent. 
This helps purify the subtle-body of 
one who worships the Shivpindi on this day. 
The 'sun' or the 'moon' channels 
in the body get activated as per necessity. 
The capacity to absorb the sattvaguna
 and chaitanya also increases. 
Due to the presence of the unmanifest
 Shiva principle in the Shivpindi 
and the vibrations of peace emitted,
 the Shivpindi remains cool and the
 mind too experiences peace. 
Worship of Shivpindi with devotion, 
activates the dormant Shiva principle. 
An offering of puffed rice and milk
 reaches Lord Shiva in the subtle form.

Receiving the
 'tarak or marak tatva (element)' 
as required

There is a confluence of the manifest 
and the unmanifest elements along with the 
'tarak and marak tatva' in the Shivpindi. 
(Tarak = Saviour; Marak = Destroyer). 
That is how worshipers receive the required element. 
The temperature of the Shivpindi increases due 
to the emission of the marak tatva 
and there one experiences bliss.
when the tarak tatva is emitted,
 the temperature drops and one experiences peace and bliss.

Bilvapatra (Bel leaves)
Bilvapatra contains 2% Shiva tatva. 
By offering bilvapatra to the Shivpindi on Mahashivratri, 
the manifest Shiva tatva near the stalk of 
the bilvapatra gets activated.
 Due to this, waves of chaitanya as well as Shiva tatva
 are emitted by the bilvapatra. 
The bilvapatra
 attracts 20% of the Shiva tatva present in
 the Shivpindi towards itself.
 By immersing this bilvapatra 
in water or by placing it in grains,
 the Shiva tatva present in the bilvapatra is transmitted to them.
 The Shiva tatva in the bilvapatra 
is activated to a larger extent on Mondays 
when it transmits 10% of the Shiva tatva and sattvikta.
 On other days only 1% of the Shiva tatva
 is activated in the bilvapatra.

Offering bilvapatra 
to the Shivpindi and chanting the mantra 
'Om Namah Shivaya' 
with each offering is known as bilvarchan. 
Continue offering the bilvapatra until the pindi
 is completely covered. 
Offer the bilvapatra from the lower part of the pindi. 
By starting from the feet of the idol, 
more benefit is derived and the idol 
can be covered completely.

Chanting on Mahashivratri 
'Om Namah Shivaya'

Om represents an unmanifest state beyond
 the 3 gunas (elements of sattva, raja & tama). 
We bow to Lord Shiva, from whom Om was created.

What does the word 'Shiva' mean?

The word Shiva has been derived 
by reversing the letters of the word vash. 
Vash means to enlighten; thus the one 
who enlightens is Shiva. 
He remains radiant and also illuminates the universe.

 He is the auspicious and
 prosperity-bestowing principle.

Some unique attributes

1. Physical attributes

a. Ganga : 
Just as the sun is the focal point of the solar system 
and the soul that of the body, 
the focal point of divine consciousness
 (chaitanya) in every object and
 pure particles (pavitrakas) is ga-aum. 
The flow from which ga-aum originates is gan gaha = Ganga.
 Ga-aum flows from Shiva's head.
 This is called the descent of the Ganga 
from Shiva's head. 
Since the river Ganga has a fraction 
of the principle of the spiritual Ganga, 
no matter how polluted it becomes,
 its purity is perpetually retained. 
when compared to any other water in the world,
 the water from the Ganga is the purest.
 This is realised not only by those 
who can perceive the subtle dimension
 but also by scientific researchers.

b. Moon : 
Shiva adorns the chandra (moon) on His forehead. 
The point where the three frequencies 
- affection (mamata), mercifulness (kshamashilata) 
and motherly love (vatsalya) originate 
is referred to as the chandra (moon). 
Thus, one can conclude that chandrama 
(the moon principle) is the state in 
which the three attributes of affection,
 mercifulness and motherly love are present.

c. Third eye :
 Shankar is three-eyed, 
i.e. He can perceive events of the past, present and future.
According to the science of Yoga
 the third eye means the Sushumna nadi (channel).

d. Serpent : 
One of the Names of Lord Shankar is Bhujanga-patihari. 
Bhujang means a serpent or pure particles (pavitrakas), 
pati means the nurturer and hari means one
 with a garland around His neck.
 Bhujangapatihari thus means the One 
who nurtures pure particles and wears them like a garland. 
Various serpents represent groups of pure particles. 
Though externally they appear like serpents, 
internally they are a kind of ladder. 
To make spiritual progress one has to climb
 up holding onto the tail of the serpent.
 Lord Shankar adorns serpents at nine points on His body 
- one on the head, 
one around the neck,
 one on each arm,
 one on each wrist, 
one around the waist and 
one on each thigh. 
This implies that His body is comprised
 of pure particles or that serpents of pure particles 
play all over the body of Lord Shankar 
who has the universe as His form.

2. Spiritual attributes

a. One performing severe
 austerities and the great yogi

Shiva is always seated in a bandha or a mudra.
 His temperature rises due to heat generated 
by performing severe austerities;
 Hence, He uses the Ganga, the moon and
 serpents which endow a cooling effect 
and lives on the snow-clad Kailas mountain.

b. Short tempered
If someone disturbs His meditation
 the radiance generated by spiritual practice 
will be suddenly expelled and whoever is in front of Him 
will not be able to tolerate it, and gets destroyed. 
This is referred to as being 'reduced to ashes
 by Shankar's opening of the third eye'.


The poison 
generated during the churning
 of the celestial ocean (samudramanthan)
 was burning the entire Universe but no deity
 came forward to accept it. 
At that time Shiva drank that poison 
and saved the world from destruction.

One who has both,
 deities and demons, as His worshippers

Neither did demons 
like Banasur, Ravan, etc. 
worship Lord Vishnu nor did Lord Vishnu bestow 
any boon upon any demon. 
However, they worshipped Lord Shiva who blessed them.

e. Master of the spirits

Since Lord Shiva is the master of spirits,
 His worshippers are generally not possessed by them.

Science in the idol - in the Human form
This represents the Brahman
 in the form of the word (shabda Brahman). 
Alphabets consisting of the sounds of
 fifty-two basic letters and the forms
 of fourteen Maheshvar verses (sutras)
 have generated from it.
 Later the universe was created from these.

2. Trident :
 represents the following -

The three components - sattva, raja and tama
The root of creation, sustenance and dissolution
Volition, knowledge and action

3. Noose (pash) : 
The noose represents the noose of time (kalpash) 
(The rope in Lord Ganapati's hand too is the same).


a. Application of holy ash (Bhasma)

Tripundra refers to the three horizontal 
stripes of holy ash applied to the forehead.
 These stripes symbolise spiritual knowledge, 
purity and penance (spiritual practice of Yoga), 
so also they represent the three eyes of Lord Shiva.

b. Wearing a rudraksha

Wearing a rudraksha when worshipping Lord Shiva is ideal.
 A rudraksha is reddish in colour with yellow stripes 
and is flat like a fish. 
On one side it has a slight opening which 
appears like an open mouth.
 The rudraksha converts light frequencies of deities 
from the universe into sound frequencies in the 
body of humans and vice versa. 
As a result, humans can absorb frequencies of deities 
and thoughts can get converted into the language of deities.

A Genuine Rudraksha

The rudraksha absorbs sama (sattva) frequencies. 
Similarly sama frequencies are emitted by its crests.
 A real rudraksha can be recognised by the
 vibrations felt by holding it in the hand. 
At that time the body absorbs the
 sama frequencies emitted by the rudraksha.

 mostly Vikrutaksha is sold as a rudraksha. 
This is the seed of a type of wild berry. 
Vikrutaksha is used for sacrificial fires of
 tantriks, black magic etc. 
by sorcerers.

c. Ritualistic worship of the pindi

Only cold water and bel is offered
 to Lord Shankar's pindi. 
Neither is it bathed with milk and panchamrut 
nor offered turmeric, vermilion (kumkum) 
or white consecrated rice (akshata). 
Milk and clarified butter (ghee) symbolise sustenance
 while turmeric is an underground stem and represents
 fertility of the soil, that is creation. 
Vermilion is prepared from turmeric. 
Since Lord Shiva is the deity of dissolution, 
substances such as milk, vermilion and 
turmeric are not used in His worship.

d. Circumambulation 

When circum-ambulating one should begin
 from the left side and continue till the channel 
of the shalunka from where the water offered
 during the ritualistic bathing (abhishek) flows. 
Without crossing it one should complete
 a circum-ambulation by moving in the reverse direction up
 to the other side of the channel.
 The flow of a shalunka is not crossed 
as it is the flow of energy which adversely
 affects the formation of semen and 
the five internal vital energies (pran vayu).

e. Chanting the Name of Lord Shiva

'Namaha Shivaya is Shiva's five-syllabled mantra. 
The spiritual meaning of each of the five syllables is:
 na = Foremost deity of all the regions (lokas)
 ma = Bestower of supreme spiritual knowledge (gyan) 
and redeemer of the greatest of sins
 shi = Benevolent, serene and responsible for 
initiation by Lord Shiva 
va = Symbolic of a bull as the vehicle
 and Vasuki and Vamangi energy (shakti) 
ya = Auspicious abode of Supreme Bliss and Lord Shiva. 
Hence, obeisance (namaskar) 

to these five syllables.