A human being is called purusha – meaning one who is purnaḥ ( complete ) . Thus , one should live his life in a manner to discover this fullness . The Vedas mention of the four purushārtha (human goals) – dharma , artha , kāma and moksha . Moksha is the ultimate end and realising the limitations of the first three pursuits , one eventually resorts to the pursuit of moksha .
Moksha is the spiritual goal unique to the Hindu Dharma alone . It is discovering the fact “ I am the whole” . This means I am already a complete person , free from defects and lacking . Our day to day encounters with worldly matters gives the mind a tendency to sway away from the spiritual goal . So , we take vratams (resolves) to withdraw our mind from worldly pursuits and remind ourselves of the spiritual goal . Vratams emphasizes two forms of practices : upavasa (fasting) and śravanam (listening to the scriptures) . Śivarātri is an ideal occasion for taking up both the forms of vratam .
On this night , it is said that Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were both arguing on who is superior . To resolve the dispute , they went to Lord Śiva who then said the one who can find Lord Śiva’s limits is the superior one . Brahma took the form of a Hamsa (swan) and ascended upwards searching for the Lord’s head while Vishnu took the form of a Varaha (boar) and went into the earth to find the Lord’s feet . Both eventually failed and Lord Śiva appears in the form of a jyotirlinga before them .
In the Vedic tradition , Lord Śiva is the presiding deity of destruction . Lord Śiva destroys ignorance (ajñana) which is the cause of bondage by giving atma-jñana (self-knowledge) . The word “Śiva” itself means “ the auspicious one” . From the standpoint of Vedanta , bondage is deemed as inauspicious because it gives rise to sorrow , pain and sufferings to the individual . In life , letting go is always the toughest part because one sees himself as lacking or incomplete when he lets go of things that are dear to him . In reality , a human being is already complete and all he needs is to see this fact .
The form of Lord Śiva beautifully unfolds the true nature of oneself . Lord Śiva is depicted as wearing garland of snakes and skulls , dancing in the crematorium and etc. which are considered as impure and inauspicious . In spite of all these inauspiciousness , Lord Śiva remains ever-pure and auspicious , untainted by the inauspiciousness that surround Him . This is the nature of the ātmā (Self) which in spite of all the bondage imposed on the individual , the ātmā (Self) is ever-pure and auspicious , free from any associations . This is the truth that the Vedas expound . On Śivarātri , we worship Lord Śiva , seeking His grace to bless and guide us to see this fact .
Traditionally , spiritual seekers observe fasting and keep vigil all night during Śivarātri , chanting the pancaksara-manta , “ Om Namah Shivaya ” with great fervour . In Śiva temples , abhiṣeka is offered to the śivalinga during each yāma( three hour period ) of the night and arcana is performed using bilva leaves . Maha-Mrityunjaya mantra japa and chanting of the Sri Rudram are highly efficacious on this day . Religious satsangs and puranic stories of Lord Śiva are narrated on this day . Since Lord Śiva is also yogaswami ( Lord of Renunciation ) , gurus give sannyāsa-dīkṣā to committed spiritual seekers .
As Sri Śankara says , “ Don’t postpone . We grow older daily yet we are still waiting to begin the spiritual pursuit as though we are going to live for a hundred years . Start now .”
Hara Hara Mahadeva !
No comments:
Post a Comment