Maha Shivaratri - Part 1

Maha Shivaratri - Samudra Manthan Part 1

OM NAMASIVAYA !!!
             
             Every month, Shivaratri falls on 14th day of lunar month or a day before New moon. Among all the 12 Shivaratris, the one which comes on Kumbha / Phalguna month, when the sun enters into Aquarius is the most important and widely celebrated with devotional fervor called as 'Maha Shivaratri'. This year Maha Shivaratri comes on 13th February 2018.

                

         Devotees observe strict fasting on this day, keep vigil through out day and night, chanting Shiva's mantras, performing pooja and worshiping Lord Shiva will give moksha to the devotees. 
        Lord Shiva, the supreme being, the cosmic allegory forms trinity with Brahma (Creator) and Vishnu (Preserver), which is represented by the Trishul (Trident) that he carries Tamas - Sattva - Rajas signifying Brahma(Creator) - Vishnu (Preserver) -Shiva(Destroyer). Tamas and Rajas are two opposing forces, like Anu / Paramanu which are connected through conciousness. 

       There is a small drum (Damaru) looks like an hour glass, tied to Lord Shiva's trident represents big bang, the Origin.  The sound of Damaru produces vibration, the cosmic sound of AUM, the earth's heart beat, frequency of Pranav Mantra OM that is 7.83 Hz which can not be heard by ears, but it can be heard by heart. Humans' heart and earth's heart resonates in the same frequency, Dolphins are attracted to the same frequency. Dolphins ?? Matsya Avatar of Lord Vishnu and that's the reason Hindus doesn't eat dolphins.

For detailed information about Matsya Avatar, reach out to

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2020/05/pandya-king-satyavrata-and-matsya.html

           The Vasuki snake around Lord Shiva's neck represents raised kundalini and opens third eye. Third eye signifies, self realisation. To activate Third eye of Shiva, our soul and body should vibrate in resonance to create a field, which is achieved through meditation, chanting mantras.
          The Rudraksha mala that he wears around his neck contains 108 rudras. Rudra means Lord Shiva, Aksha means tear. Rudraksha increases wearer's aura and protects them from evil. Shiva 's Thandav dance has 108 poses, distance between Sun and Earth is 108 times of the sun's diameter, 108 upanishads, 108 marmas in our body. 

Lord Shiva in Nataraja pose (King of Dance) kept in CERN, Germany

          Lord Shiva is a cosmic allegory not a mortal / Aadi yogi. All the hindu gods, sapta rishis are cosmic allegories except human avatars of Lord Vishnu. All hindu gods are not explained well in quantum science that still needs to be explored.

         In all Shiva temples, there will be reclining Nandi bull, gatekeeper of Mount Kailash, placed in front of the sanctum of the deity, with the head turned away from the deity but gaze fixed on the lingam / deity. In Hinduism, Nandi represents Dharma, faith, strength and virility. As per Hindu mythology, in Kali yuga, bull will have only one leg raised. As per our belief, by saying our wish in Nandi's ear will reach Lord Shiva. So, we go near Nandi's statue and say our wish in Nandi's one ear by closing the other ear.

              
              Now, coming back to the topic Maha Shivaratri, the story behind this festival is explained below in 'Samudra Mantha'.

Samudra Manthan

                'Samudra' means ocean, Manthan means Churning, in sanskrit Mathanam means 'to churn' . This story is about getting 'Amritham' (Nectar of immortality) and winning good over evil. Devas (Gods) and Asuras (Demons) fight with each other to get the nectar of immortality.
                 Indra, King of devas, God of rain, lighting and thunder. Once Indra Deva was riding on his white elephant 'Airavata', he came across the Great Sage Durvasa Muni and the sage offered him a garland given by Lord Shiva. Indra accepted the garland and placed on his elephant's truck, but airavata elephant crushed the garland by stomping on it. Enraged Sage became furious and cursed Indra that all the devas will lose their immortality, fortune and power. Due to the sage's curse, devas became very weak and lost the battle with asuras with asura king Bali, then asuras took control of all the three worlds.
                 

              Devas runs to Lord Vishnu, the preserver to help them from the curse of the sage Durvasa. Lord Vishnu offered them a solution for this curse, the solution is to drink 'Amirta' the nectar of immortality, to gain back the lost power and immortality. To obtain 'Amirta' and to regain the power, devas needs to churn the ocean of milk. But devas were very weak to churn the ocean, so they required the help of asuras to churn the ocean. Deva king Indra convinced Asura king Bali that if they offer help to churn the ocean, they can share the amirta as a result of their help. However, Lord Vishnu told devas that he would arrange amirt for them alone.

                 'Paarkadal' (The Ocean of milk), the place where Lord Vishnu reclines on Shesha Naga along with his consort goddess Lakshmi. Devas and asuras started to churn the ocean to get the amrith (nectar of immortality), using huge mountain Mount Meru as churning dasher. But, when the churner entered into the water, it kept sliding into the depth of the ocean. To balance the churner into the ocean, Lord Vishnu came into rescue and took 'Kurma' avatar (tortoise form), upon which mount Meru is placed to balance it. King of serpents, five headed Vasuki snake, which is around Lord Shiva's neck is used as rope around the mountain to churn. 

                  Lord Vishnu had a plan and suggested gods to tell asuras to hold tail and devas will hold head of Vasuki serpent. Asuras got insulted as they have been told to hold tail, so they readily walked towards Vasuki's head to hold for churning process. Lord Vishnu's reverse psychology worked, he intentionally asked gods to say like that as the Vasuki's head portion will be heavy to churn and importantly Vasuki will spit fire venom, which will be hard to withstand.  
            Asuras got the head side of Vasuki and Devas hold the tail of Vasuki and started churning. As they rigorously churned the mountain , vasuki serpent vomited enormous amount of powerful venom in the ocean and it formed like thick foam layer. This Halahala venom is very poisonous, it will kill all the living beings in the ocean and it can cause the end of the world. They all were scared and ran to Lord Shiva.  Only Lord Shiva, the Supreme being can survive the power of poison and save the world. So, he took the venom on his conch and drank it up completely. Goddess Parvati witnessing this situation and pressed Shiva's throat with her hands so that the poison will not go into his stomach. Thus all the venom stayed there in his throat causing blue colour, so he is called as 'Neel Kanthan' (Neel - blue and Kanth - Throat). 
               
             Though Goddess Parvati stopped the poison by pressing Shiva's throat, little bit of it has gone into his stomach. So all the gods, sapta rishis and munis decided to keep Lord Shiva awake on  the whole night. So, on that night Lord Shiva started to do his Thandav, a celestial dance, to burn out the poison in his stomach and that night he kept vigil is called as Maha Shivaratri. So, every Maha Shivaratri night, devotees keep vigil and chant Lord Shiva's names.

                    Devas and asuras continued the churning process, treasures started to emerge from the ocean. First, emerged 13 Ratnas (gems), these gems were accepted by Lord Shiva for consuming the poison. Followed by Goddess Lakshmi emerged from the ocean, Lord Vishnu accepted Goddess Lakshmi, the god of fortune and wealth, as his consort. 

  Followed by          
 Apsaras (Divine Nymphs) - like Ramba, Menaka are emerged from the ocean, accepted by various demi gods (Gandharvas) as their consort.
 Varuni -  accepted by Varuna, God of water.
 Kamadhenu - the divine wish granting cow, taken by Lord Vishnu and gave it to sages. The ghee which comes out of her milk will be used for Yajnas.
 Airavata - White elephant, taken by Deva King Indra
 Ucchaishravas - Seven headed horse, taken by Asura King Bali.
 Kaustubha - the most valuable and precious ratna (gem) in the world, as the devas and asuras started fighting for this jewel, Lord Vishnu worn that as an adornment on his chest.
 Parijat - a divine flowering tree, Parijat flower gives out sweet perfume which will never fade and has medicinal properties - taken by Devas to Indraloka (abode of Indra)
Sharanga - a divine bow emerged from the ocean, symbolic of weapons - taken by asuras.
Kalpavriksha - a divine, movable wish granting tree, which has numerous medicinal properties, taken by Gods to Indraloka.
 Chandra - the moon, adorns Lord Shiva's head 
 Shankha - a divine conch, taken by Lord Vishnu
 Jyestha - goddess of misfortune, opposite of Lakshmi, taken by asuras.
        At last came, 'Dhanvantri', god of ayurveda (medicine) with 'Amirta', the nectar of immortality in a Kalash (pot). 

God Dhanvantri

             Devas and asuras started fighting with each other for the  divine nectar Amirt and started to chase after Dhanvantri and asuras snatched the Amirt Kalash from him. The divine eagle 'Garuda' which is bigger in size, snatched the pot from asuras and flew away. While flying 4 drops fell on 4 places of earth, Prayag, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik. However, asuras got hold of the vessel again.
          Terrified Devas rushed to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu realising that evils can not be made immortal, he incarnates himself as 'Mohini' avatar, a supreme beautiful lady, danced and distracted asuras. Mohini suggests asuras that she will divide the drink equally between devas and asuras.
           Mohini distracted the asuras using Maya (illusion so that she swaps the vessel every time when she serves demon) and distributed among devas, they drank the Amirt. 
          However, two clever asuras Rahu and Ketu using illusion disguised themselves as devas and consumes some amirt. Sun god 'Surya' and Moon god 'Chandra' shouted to Mohini about Rahu and Ketu. Lord Vishnu in Mohini avatar, used Sudharsan Chakra (Spinning discus) and cut their heads in one shot before they swallow the divine Amirt.

               Rahu is north lunar node and Ketu is South lunar node causing Solar and Lunar eclipses, as they were deprived of Amirt by Sun and Moon gods, they developed enmity against these two gods. Ketu deals with past karma and Rahu deals with future. In our tradition, before starting anything good will check Rahu Kalam, we won't start / do auspicious things during that time. Will write a separate post about Rahu and Ketu.

              This is the story of 'Samudra Manthan',  depicting multiple symbolic messages like Good over evil, Like Devas and asuras (Positive and negative cosmic forces) churned the ocean to get amirt, we humans vibrate our soul and body in same frequency to get higher consciousness, self realisation is the ultimate goal of consciousness. This story is depicted in sculptures at many places,  Angkor Wat temple of Cambodia, temples of Indonesia  and many other ancient temples.

Angkor Wat temple

Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand

       
Shiva Lingam
       
               In most of the temples, Lord Shiva is represented in the form of 'Lingam', lingam means inference / mark / symbol. The black meteorite stone that is formed naturally (Swayambu lingam) or fallen from space are considered as Lord Shiva in the form lingam and people started to construct temple around it. How do Indians worship black stone as lingam ??? If still anyone wonders about it check NASA, National geographic and Space articles for the same 'Building blocks of DNA found in meteorite from the space'. Seed of humans came to Earth from the black meteorite stone 'lingam', not a stupid theory of humans evolved from apes. 

https://www.space.com/12569-meteorites-dna-building-blocks-discovery.html

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorites.html

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080618-meteor-earth.html

https://www.geek.com/geek-cetera/nasa-discovers-building-blocks-of-dna-in-meteorites-from-deep-space-1410943/

Black stone Shiva Lingam

          Shiva lingam is elliptical in shape like an egg. Yes, Cosmic egg, Brahmanda, no beginning and no end.

           The oldest river of Bharat, the origin of all evolution, the place where the meteorites showered from space, is none other than the Holy Narmada River. It is also called as 'Shankari River', as this place was showered by Shiva lingams, black meteorite stones from the space (binary star), the first DNA seed on this planet, all the pebbles rolling on the banks of this river were turned to lingams. Narmada river is older than Ganges, one who dips and baths in this river washes away their sins.          
            'Omkareshwara' temple on the banks of this river, is one of the twelve Jyothirlingas of Lord Shiva. It is located at the Shivpuri island in the Narmada river, the shape of the island is like OM symbol of Hinduism. The sand of Narmada river is very sacred, holding the sand will get your body boosted with positive energy, due to the presence of Shiva Linga. The lingam stones found on the banks of this river is very auspicious and called as 'Bana Linga' (Quartz Lingam),  Tanjavur Brihadhesswara Temple has one of the biggest Bana linga.

One of the Biggest Lingam at Brihadheeswara temple.

           Many archaeological sites and historical evidences have been discovered, by the development of Narmada river. Bhimbetka Rock Shelters near Narmada Valley have been discovered in the late 1950's, is one of the oldest human habitation in India. It contains cave house, rock paintings created by man about 35,000 years ago. By the name, 'Bhimbetka', it refers to one of the five brothers 'Bheem' of Pandavas in the Epic Mahabharat. 

Parad Lingam / Rasa lingam (Mercury Lingam)

               Parad Lingam is considered as rarest and important lingam. Once Lord Shiva said to his consort Parvati that the one who worships lingam made out of mercury will face no diseases or death. It is also called as 'Rasa lingam', as lingam is made using solidification of mercury, in Tamil Mercury is called as 'Pada Rasam'. Agathiyar, the First Tamil Siddhar, a vedic sage, used Mercury which is widely used in Siddha medicine. During purification process, poisonous mercury will be converted into healing nectar, followed by adding gemstones and so on, at the end of the process mercury takes the shape of lingam.   

           Mercury (Hg - 80), chemical element is considered as Shiva's metal in semi liquid form and the chemical element Sulfur (S -14) represents his consort Goddess Parvati. The color of the mercury and his holy ashes / limestone are same, likewise color of turmeric and sulfur are same, mercury and sulfur combined together to form Mercury sulfide, which is called as vermilion and that is the reason why married women put vermilion in their forehead and Mangalsutra.  The source of vermilion preparation is cinnabar and its chemical formula is HgS (Mercuric sulfide). Also, the vapor pressure of mercury is high, sulfur is poured to absorb mercury vapor. 


         There are many variation of lingams at different places across the globe.

Naturally formed Ice Shiva lingam at Amarnath Caves 

Ancient Shiva Lingam found at Tara Hill, Ireland

Crop lines of Shiva's Trident at Nazca

Excavated Shiva Linga from the Vatican City are kept at Etruscan Museum, Vatican City.

Ekamukhalinga found in Afghanistan

 Worshiping Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva's representation were found at Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Rome, Africa, China etc.

HARA HARA MAHADEV !!!

---- Will be continued in Part 2