Hinduism

Maha Sivarathri - vigil for eternal bliss

Thangam J. Prathapan
 

Hindus celebrate many festivals. One such annual festival is Maha Sivarathri which falls on Amavasi, the 14th night of the darker side of the moon, in the month of Maasi.

It is considered a very auspicious night to the Hindus. They fast the whole day, keep awake the whole night and engage themselves in Poojas, prayers and meditation throughout the night.

It is believed that Lord Brahma, the Lord of Creation and Lord Vishnu, the Lord of Protection, were at one time involved in a heated argument as to who was greater of the two. Their anger grew so fierce that it blinded them totally and in the height of their stupidity and arrogance, they forgot to realise the greatness of Lord Siva about whom the Vedas speak very much of and from whose limbs they had originated.

The problem is, each one in this world, out of ignorance or arrogance thinks that he is greater than the rest. Those who do not recognise others as either equal or greater than them are really foolish and are bound to meet their fall sooner or later.

Watching Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu, Lord Siva felt that unless he intervenes, the row between the two would cause the destruction of the whole Universe. There appeared a huge column of bright light between the warring Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu in Thiruvannamalai. The brilliance of this column blurred their vision.

At that very moment, they heard a voice say, “O children, Lord Siva alone knows your strength, between the two of you, whosoever first finds the summit or the base of this column shall be the greatest and the strongest.” The Lord manifests Himself in His form on earth. The one who sees and remembers that form is sure to be blessed and could surrender to the Lord easily.

Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu stopped their quarrel and Lord Brahma, in the form of a swan took wings immediately and soared high to find the top - the end of the column. Lord Vishnu on the other hand, took the form of boar and started digging the ground to find the base - the beginning of the column. The top was beyond and beyond and the base could not be traced.

Having dug and dug the ground with no results, he completely exhausted. Lord Vishnu gave up the search and returned. He said, “I had forgotten my Creator, the all pervading Lord Siva because of my folly, my pride and my ego!

He realised that the column of light was Lord Siva, the Jothi Linga and that the Lord has no beginning or end. The linga is the symbol of Lord Siva. With all humility, he said, “I have no strength to perform a Pooja for the Lord. Hence, I offer myself as an offering to the Lord.” It was a total surrender.

When one surrenders fully to the Lord, He showers His mercy on that person and when the Lord showers His mercy, that person’s ego disappears instantly and he is protected at once.

In the meantime, Lord Brahma flew higher and higher, but could not locate the summit of the column. His wings refused to fly any further. He was fatigued and exasperated.

The Seers who saw him struggling to reach the summit said, “How foolish is he trying to seek the infinite column.” Lord Brahma’s pride was great. He would not give up that easily. It was a matter of prestige to him. He decided to defeat Lord Vishnu somehow, if not by genuine means, at least by deceit. While he was contemplating on this, he met a white flower falling from above.

He asked, “Who are you? From where are you coming?” The flower said, “I’m Thaalam (screwpine) flower. I was an offering on the head of this column, the linga and have been there for ages. I decide to see the world and it has taken a long time to come this far.”

To the deceitful Brahma, it was a great opportunity. He grabbed it and persuaded the flower to tell Lord Vishnu that it had seen Lord Brahma at the top of the column.

Lord Brahma returned and told Lord Vishnu that he had seen the top of the column. As agreed upon, the flower confirmed it. A voice was then heard saying that Brahma shall not be consecrated and worshipped in temples and that the flower shall not be used in Poojas for the Lord.

Lord Brahma had told a lie and the flower had borne false witness. They get what they deserve.

Falsehood never wins ultimately and the wrong doer never goes unpunished.

Lord Brahma was ashamed of himself for insulting Lord Vishnu. It was Lord Siva’s mercy that He revealed Himself in the form of the glowing column. Lord Brahma repented for his foolish behaviour, praised Lord Siva and surrendered unto Him.

Those who have got the Lord’s blessings only can understand Him.

Whoever worships the radiant column will be able to cross the ocean of samsara.

Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu cast aside their arrogance and worshipped the Lord most humbly. Their pure hearts won the grace of the Lord and He appeared in His true form in the blazing column and blessed them both immensely. The night that Lord Siva revealed Himself to Brahma and Vishnu is Maha Sivarathri.

The extraordinarily powerful radiance flooded the whole place and Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu were afraid that it would affect the universe. They prayed to the Lord most ardently to contain the brightness and remain as stavara linga in all peace and tranquillity on Mount Arunachala for the benefit of the whole world.

It is said in the Skanda Maha Purana that Lord Siva Himself had declared that mount Kailash and mount Meru are His abodes, but Arunachala is He Himself.

The very thought of Arunachala will liberate one from the cycle of births and deaths.

The bright column that appeared on Maha Sivarathri is mount Arunachala. One who worships and meditates on them intensely is sure to be blessed with eternal peace and bliss.

‘Here am I’

V. Varathasuntharam

Maha Sivarathri fast signifies the manifestation of Lord Siva announcing “Here am I “, “Here am I,” when our ego is destroyed, when the darkness of our ignorance is dispelled. That really is the significance of Maha Sivarathri fast, according to Saiva literature.

In order to understand the sprit of the Sivarathri fast, it is pertinent to view the essence of Saiva Sithantha philosophy. According to Saiva Sithantha thought, there is really but one God- Sivan -the Pathy- Then we have souls - the flocks- the Pasu. We have thirdly the bond - the Pasam.

The Saiva Sithantha philosophy expounds three categories, pathy, pasu, pasam namely the God, the soul and the matter. Saivaism stresses the doctrine of Karma that the fruit of deeds must be eaten.

Let us consider the significance of the Sivarathri fast in this back ground of Saiva Sithantha philosophy. There is a legend associated with the Sivarathri fast.

Brahma and Vishnu disputed regarding their respective claims to superiority. Sivan appeared as luminous Lingam, a pillar of fire.

Vishnu, took the shape of a boar, speeding downwards for thousands of years. He beheld no base at all of the lingam.

Brahma took the form of a swan with wings on every side, went upwards to see the lingam’s top.

But, both failed and at length united in a hymn of praise to Sivan as supreme; which so pleased the God that he offered them a boon. They asked that they might both obtain an eternal devotion for him, which was granted.

Mal, Ayan, all the gods,

And sciences divine,

His essence cannot pierce.

This being rare drew

near to me;

In love,

He thrilled my soul!

With this remembrance moved,

Let your bright eyes

with tears and overflow,

And beat Tellenam.

(Thiruvasagam)

There is another story linked to the Maha Sivarathri fast. A hunter lost his way in a thick jungle. As it was getting dark, he climbed a tree to spend the night safely. While he was on the tree, in order not to fall asleep and fall off the tree, he plucked the leaves of the tree and dropped them one by one.

The leaves and the dew drops fell on a Siva Lingam that was at the foot of the tree. It so happened that the tree was a Vilva tree.

It also happened to be a Sivarathri day. The hunter had not eaten any food the whole day.

He was keeping awake the whole night. The hunter was finally blessed.

The hunter is the soul. He is enveloped in the darkness of ignorance. The message is that through vigilance over our senses and actions, through the abstinence from food and keeping vigil, we can tread along the path of spirituality.

On the Sivarathiri day, the devotees fast the whole day and keep vigil the whole night.

Abishekam and Archanai are performed for every three hours outwardly in Temples and inwardly in their hearts by the devotees seeking His blessings to destroy the ego in Man, to instill humility in Man and to dispel the darkness of ignorance.

The Abishekam and Archanai at the midnight watch or yama are all the more sacred. This is performed during the Lingodbava Kalam to Lingodbava Moorthy in the niche of the outer wall of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

There, Lingodbava Moorthy appears as emerging from the Lingam without the top half of the head and the bottom half of the legs, while the axe and the deer are seen.

The bear, burrowing the bowels of the earth, and the swan, taking flight upwards to see the top of the lingam, appear at the bottom and at the top respectively.

Incidentally, the Nanthi Flag Day sponsored by the World Saiva Council falls on the same day.

The propriety of the Nanthi Flag day on the Sivarathri day is worth pondering for Nanthi is the flag of Lord Siva and Nanthi represents Siva himself. In this context, Vidaikody Chelvar S.Dhanabalaa, a reputed Lankan, who has laboured immensely for several decades to promote this flag among Hindus all over the world, needs to be congratulated.

Let us on this sacred day of Maha Sivarathri, fast, keep vigil and pray to Siva inwardly for His blessings!

Om Namah Shivaya

Aims of Life

K S Sivakumaran

The Hindu conception of an ideal life is Purushothamam. It consists of Trivarga (Artha, Kaama and Dharma). Attempt to acquire worldly possessions is Artha. Enjoying these is Kaama. Dharma means our duties to society. The Hindu Shastras of each of these give details to be followed for the realization of these pursuits.

Moksha really means liberation from ignorance. The idea of Moksha takes primary place in Hindu thought. There were several women poets with the name of Avvaiyaar.

One of them summed up the four aims of life in one single verse. Accordingly Dharma is charity and duty. Acquisition of worldly possessions by righteous means is Artha. Kaama is reciprocated love.

Moksha is freedom from all these three. The zenith point is Moksha. It is realized when we give up our desire for wealth, pomp and power.

In our short span of human life, there is hardly any time to think of Moksha. From the cradle to the funeral pyre our time is fully occupied in seeking the means of acquiring wealth and enjoying them.

What little time could be spared is swallowed up by social obligations and duties in the name of religion and charity.

Moksha is invisible. Nor is it any kind of feeling. It is freedom.

Illusions

All religions proclaim that Self is not the Body. But nobody takes this seriously. We want to keep our life nice and comfortable.

This is an illusion. The second illusion is that we will not die in spite of seeing death all around us every moment.

The third is the identification of the Self with the Mind, which is compared to a monkey.

The fourth illusion is that we have an abiding personality. Moksha is also known as the Parmarthma, which means the permanent object or the ultimate reality.

If freedom from everything that we considered real is Moksha, then the religions, their rituals, ceremonies are not of much use. What is required is discrimination and practice.

Philosophy devoid of religious prejudices might be of great help in discriminating and realizing the Truth from the Untruth.

The moment one realizes that there is ONE behind this phenomenal world and that forms and names are illusory, then the aims for which we spend all our lives would be meaningless.

Cosmic consciousness

We can live in the midst of this world and yet know that this life is a passing phase in our progress towards the ONE. The world’s a stage and our life is like a movie.

If at all we should identify ourselves with something like body, mind or ego, let us at least know that we are not any of these. The identification with the cosmic consciousness is the one aim of life.The only correct vision is to see the ONE behind everything. That would give us eternal peace.

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Hindu Gods

Thilaka V. Wijeyaratnam

Hindus believe that God is omni present. Hindus also worship many Gods which are all aspects of the one Supreme God.

The Gods Siva, Vishnu, Bruhma are only differnet names and forms of the One God.

He is Brahma when he does the fiunction of creation, Vishnu as the God of Protection, and Siva as the destroyer of the universe when the time is due.

Hence God is known as ‘Ekan’ (one), ‘Anekan’ (many). A force in space can be mathematically devised to have various components of space so the Supreme God is devised by the Hindus as having arious aspects. Each deity is one with the Supreme Being.

Hence Hinduism cannot be said to be polytheistic but montheistic in polytheism - one in many.

The cosmic activity of this Supreme Being comprise creation, preservation, disselution and recreation. This is done by the Hindu Trinity, Brahma - creation, Vishnu - preservation, Siva - dissolution and recreation. But the three are not seperate entities though often in mythology they are.

They represent the Supreme God in three different aspects. The mystic symbol AUM represents them. ‘A’ - Vishnu, ‘U’ - Siva and ‘M’ - Brahma.

God is infinite. He can be represented in infinite ways and He manifests in infinite ways. He cannot be measured arithmetically. So Hinduism says there is but one God and His manifestations are many. Hinduism gives forms to help one visualise Him. This concept that the Supreme Being could be worshipped in any form is something unique in Hinduism. God Siva represents the aspect of the Supreme Being that causes dissolution and recreates the cyclic processes mentioned earlier.

God Siva is a pre-Vedic God. The Vedas accommodated Him in the Vedic Panthion because of His great popularity during pre-Vedic period. The seated yogi found on the seals of Indus Valley Civilization was the Proto Siva mentioned by Marshall. Bigveda too refers to this Proto Siva.

Saivaism was popular and the Saiva literature grew around Him and this literature was placed on equal footing to the Vedas.

Lord Siva is normally visualised as a fair entity. Only His neck is blue.

This refers to the mythological story where the Devs and the Asuras using the snake Vasuki as the rope churned the milky ocean. Unable to bear the pain Vasugi spat out the venom.

The venom went chasing the Devas who surrendered to Lord Siva. He swallowed the venom. Heis consort Parvathi held His neck so that the venom went no further. So it stuck at the neck makign it blue.

Lord Siva got the epithet Neela (blue) kandan (throated). His body is besmeared with ash symbolising the transcendal aspect. He has three eyes. The right eye is the Sun, the left eye is the Moon and the third eye is Fire.

The right and left eyes are an indicatioin of His activity in the physical world. The third eye symbolises spiritual knowledge and power, and is thus called the eye of wisdom. The powerful gaze of Lord Siva’s third eye destroys evil and the evil doer.

His matted hair characterises His yogic aspect. Incidentally some Hindus complained to me that on TV Lord Siva’s Tandavam (dance) is shown. But those who danced had a shaven head which is difinetely not the imate of Lord Siva. It is an isntult to Saivaism which is now more than 5,000 years old, for people to misrepresent facts.

Before one does injury to the feelings and sentiments to another one shoudl pause to think of the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would unto you.”

In one of the earlier articles on Hinduis, too I mentioned that those who attempt to do Siva Tandavas shoudl either ask a Hindu well versed in the subject or listen to lectures on it or read literature concenred with it. I may repeat it in peopel representing Siva’s dance with shaven heads. Almost all Saiva saints sang of his matted hair - “Viritha Senchandai”, “Panitha Mudi” are some of the descriptions.

The ear-rings (kundala) in the left ear of Lord Siva is like the one used by women, and the one on His right ear is the type used by men. These two diuffernet kundalas symbolise Siva and Sakthi as Arthanareeswarar - the right half the male and the left half female - the principle of creation.

The snake coiled round Lord Siva’s neck symbolizes yogic power.

He wears a necklace of Rudrasksha seeds. There are in all 108 beads which is the number of elemnts used in the creation of the world. Lord Siva’s right hand is the boon giving hand.

The three pronged Trident (Thrisulan) is reprdentative of His three fundamental powers or sakthis - Iccha Sakthi (will), Kriya Sakthi (action) and Jnana Sakthi (knowledge).

The Trident is symbolic of His poer to destroy all that is evil. The dumbel in His right hand denotes two states of exisence - manifest and unmanifest. When the dumble is vibrated, it produces a sound called Nadha - the cosmic sound of AUM which accoridng to Hindu Texts is the source of creation.

The bull (nandhi) indic ates that He is the eternal companion of righteousness. The bull is Vrishaba in Sankskrit. It also means righeousness (dharma).