The Hindus celebrate many festivals in a year. According to some legends 366 festivals are celebrated in 365 days in india. So festival is an indispensable part of an Indian' life. Among those Ganesha chaturthi,vasant panchami, holi, ratha Yatra, Krishna Janmashtami,Kali puja etc are very famous and the list goes on. But the mahashivratri is the most significant festival among the Hindus which often celebrated by different cults. Every section,caste,class of people celebrate this night wholeheartedly. But it is very crucial to know the importance of Mahashivratri and the hidden reason behind this night of lord Shiva so that it will help to increase the intensity of devotion amongst the devotees.
To understand clearly the background reason one needs to understand the concept of time calculation in Sanatan dharma.
Kala/time is the radiance of Lord Shiva. According to Shaivism there are thirty six tattwas which hold the whole universe.the Shiva Tattwa acts like a thread which connects all other tattwas. So the kala tattwa comes under Shiva. That is why Shiva is also expressed as Trikalangya i.e, who who has the knowledge of past, present, and future and Trikalatit i.e, who is above the time.
The kala tattwa provides a detailed explanation of time. It can be briefly explained as, the smallest unit for measuring the time is called Nimesha. Nimesha means the time taken to drops one's eyelid. A kala is 15 nimesha. 30 kala is 1 muhurtha. 30 muhurtha is 1 full day.30 days are equivalent to 1 month. A month is divided into 2 fortnight (15 days each) as krishna paksha(dark lunar phase) and sukla paksha(white lunar phase). 6 months are equivalent to 1 Ayana.12 months are equivalent to 1 year. A year is divided into two equal Ayana as Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. 1 year is equivalent to 1 day of deities. One year of deities is equivalent to 360 years of the world. 4000 years of deities is one Satya Yuga like that 3000years of deities is treta Yuga,2000years of deities is Dwapara Yuga and 1000 years of deities is Kali Yuga. When these four yugas are added together it becomes a Chaturyuga. 1000 Chaturyuga is equivalent to 1 Kalpa.1 Divine Kalpa is 1 day of the Bramha. 1000 Kalpa are equivalent to 1 year of Bramha. The life span of the Bramha is 100years. A Vishnu day is equivalent to the whole life span of Bramha. The whole life span of Vishnu is equivalent to 1 day of Rudra . The whole life span of Rudra is equivalent to 1 day of Shiva. A shiva's day commence with the creation and before the end of the night the whole creation gets annihilated inside the Sadashiva. Sadashiva is eternal.
1kala-15 nimesha
30 kala-1 muhurtha
30 muhurtha -1 full day
30 days-1 month
1month- 15days(sukla paksha)+15 days (krushna paksha)
6 months- 1 ayana
12 months-1 year
1year-6 months (Uttarayana)+6 months (dhakshinayana)
1year-1day of deities
1year of deitie -360years of the world
Satya yuga-4000 years of deities
Treta Yuga -3000 years of deities
Dwapara Yuga -2000 years of deities
Kali yuga- 1000 years of deities
Satya+treat+Dwapara+kali-1 chaturyuga
1000 chaturyuga-1 Kalpa
1 divine kalpa-1 day of Bramha
1000 Kalpa -1 year of Bramha and goes on ........
Every lunar month has a Shiva ratri which is the 14th day of the month and the darkest night . The day before Amabashya (new moon day) is known as Shiva ratri. But the Shiva ratri which falls on during the Krishna paksha in the month of Phalguna (mid February to mid March) is known as mahashivratri.
Here a question arises that why during that particular time period mahashivratri is celebrated.
Let's understand the mahashivratri from different perspectives.
The fest is celebrated according to the planetary system. Due to the wobble performed by earth around the sun, the earth's centrifugal upliftment which is 11 degree North latitude i.e, Northern hemisphere. This the Astrological point of view. It is celebrated exactly when the sun is in Aquarius in the month of Phalguna . On the night of Mahashivratri, the planet is tilted in exactly the right angle for people live in the Northern hemisphere of the world. They could feel an upsurge of energy.
Aquarius is the symbol of water . Water which is the most dominant element of human body gets effected much more than other elements around this time period. The impact of the planetary power on human body is very significant which helps to awaken the internal energy of body during this period.
Geographically on a new moon day the gravitational force of Sun and moon aligned with each other which put a common gravitational force on the planet earth . On this day the earth , sun,and moon are aligned in space, with the moon in the middle.
Due to this positional effect of these interstellar bodies spring tides originate in ocean . A spring tide is when a tide rises higher than normal day due to gravitational attraction of both the Sun and moon.
A human body contains 72%of water. On a new moon day due to the high gravitational attraction, the water level of the body also disturbed . This disturbed water level creates a vibration inside the body which further generates vibrational energy .
Ayurveda also mentioned that , around mahashivratri, the sun, the moon are aligned in such a way that the vatta component of our body gets activated. Vatta is one of the three constituents of body. Other two being pitta, kapha.
Vatta directly impacts,
1. At the physical level(sthula)- the nervous system which contains all bodily movements.
2. At cellular level( sooksma)- moves nutrients into the body and moves waste outside .
3. In the natural plane(karana)- retrieving information from the memory.
So the imbalance of vatta produces lethargy, demotivation, forgetfulness,bad temperament, depression etc within a person. The vatta component mainly active more at night than day .
From a Spiritual angle, the shivalingam in the temple is the symbol of union. A union of two energies and also the symbol of creation. When two energies are aligned with eachother, these become one and manifest in the form of creation.
The design of a shivalingam consists of two geometrical shape. A cylinder and a torus. Cylinder is considered as the masculine energy whereas torus is feminine energy. When they both unite creation takes place. Also the feminine energy is able to takes care of the masuline energy and this is perhaps the reason that the large size of torus (Shakti) surrounds the cylinder(Shiva). Similarly a human is considered as feminine and the shivalingam in whole is masculine. When a devotee becomes active and unites with the lord with a conscious state of mind liberation takes place . A devotee is capable to subordinate his beloved lord only by pure devotion. Pure devotion comes from a pure heart. A pure heart belongs to a conscious state of mind . Consciousness comes from an active mind . A mind becomes active when the internal energy starts resurging in a upward direction and directly hits the brain. All these proces could be fully develope during this time period of Mahashivratri.
Ancient sages wrote this concept in shastras in a familiar manner that on this night Shiva married to Parvati so this is the most favourite night of lord Shiva . This also indicates the same meaning of the union of Shiva tattwa and the Shakti tattwa when the internal energy is at it's peak level so all creation manifest. Shiva doesn't manifest the creation infact shiva is the creation.
So all these aforesaid explanation has a common gist that one must be awake at night during mahashivratri. This is the only festival which celebrated at night . A pious connection is established between an awaken person and the universe which recharge the body and mind with cosmic energy.
So it is important to be awake at the night of Mahashivratri. Perhaps for this reason shivaratri is also called as Jagara, Jagara ratri which simply means jagaran (be awake). During this jagaran to get rid from lethargy, dizziness it is prescribed to lighting a clay lamp and sit comfortably behind it and uttering the holy name of Shiva . By doing this the concentration power of mind enhances . Legends also prescribed a full day fasting. Because fasting cleanse the body and reduce the unholy desires like sex etc .
There are nothing like big,small festivals infront of a devotee. A devotee celebrates every festival with equal intensity of devotion. But the night of Mahashivratri is special and unique in it's own way which actually brings a lot of changes in humans . Today we are blessed that ancient sages of Bharat were developed their intelligence and intuition in such a high level that they were able to demystified the relationship between the universe and the immense potential of human body and directed the masses,their followers to perform the process in a simple way so that each individual will get liberation from the sorrow of this materialistic world. Because they were believed in the mantra of Sarve bhabantu sukhinah and vasudheiba kutumbakam .
Mahashivratri, the great night of Shiva is most auspicious amongst those .
SHIVAHAM, SHIVAHAM, SHIVAHAM
TANMEMANAH SHIVA SANKALPASTU
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