|Mahashivratri is the festival of God Shiva. Shivratri is the time when God Shiva rests for one ‘prahar’ (three hours) of the night (referred to as the Shivratri). This year the festival is on 10’th March. Because God Shiva is taking rest during this time, his function of absorbing the tama (spiritually impure) component stops & hence to protect from increase in tama component of universe, this festival is celebrated so that more Shiva component can be absorbed and maintained in atmosphere.

On this day, devotees offer bilvapatra, rudraksha, white flower to God Shiva and do ‘abhishek’ on shivapindi to attract shiva principle from atmosphere. These (bilvapatra, rudraksha, white flower) have the ability to attract Shiva principle and hence they are used in worship of God Shiva.

Chant of “Om namaha shivay” is also done on this day.

Physical features of God Shiva and their actual meaning:

• Ganga: The sanskrut meaning of Ganga is flow of chaitanya (purest particles). Ganga shown from God Shiva’s head means flow of divine particles from God Shiva.
• Moon: Moon principle is where affection, mercifulness, motherly love is present and since God Shiva has it, he is shown moon on his head.
• Third eye: God Shiva has three eyes which means He can perceive events in the past, present and future as well.
• The serpent: One name for God Shiva is Bhujangapatihari which means the one who nurtures pure partciles and wears them like a garland. It means that God Shiva is all covered with pure particles.
• Damaru: It is a symbol of naad brahma.
• Blue color of body: It is so because at the time of ‘samudramnathan’, very poisonous venum came out which was causing lot of distress was consumed by God Shiva. He sacrificed so that others there is no harm to others due to this venum.
• Tiger skin: It means raja tama (spiritually impure) component is won by God shiva.

Spiritual attributes:

• Always in meditation: Since God Shiva is always in meditative state, it generates heat and results in rise in temperature. That is why He uses the Ganga, the moon and serpents which endow a cooling effect.
• Short tempered: No one can tolerate the energy generated by spiritual practice of God shiva & gets destroyed.
• Willing to undergo any distress for the sake of imparting happiness to others: God Shiva drank the poison generated during the churning of the celestial ocean and saved the world from destruction.
• Master of spirits: Since God Shiva is master of spirits, his worshippers are generally not possessed by negative energies.