Maha Siva Ratri: March 8, 2005 [Written by Amrita]

[Guest guest]

The Meaning of Maha Nyasam

 

Aham means I, or me. Read letters "a h a m" in reverse sequence, and

we get "m a h a". Maha is the complement of Aham; its reverse.

Nyasam means placement. Maha Nyasam means: "Don't look at the world

as your little self. Look at yourself being the entire world. Don't

look outside. The world is within you. Look at it inside." Therefore

the real meaning of Maha Nyasam is - Placing the world inside of

you. Lets now try understand all this in context of Karma and

destiny.

 

Karma and Suffering

 

The Sastras say – "You suffer if you do evil, and enjoy if you do

good". This is what we normally understand by destiny or Karma.

However we often observe in our day-to-day life that "God" is

blessing `bad' people and punishing `good' people. We then ask: Is

there really a God? Is this God just and fair? The usual answer

given is that there is indeed a God who is just and fair; but you

must have performed some bad deeds in the past or in previous janma

(life). While you don't know/remember these deeds, these past

actions constitute your adrishta or luck. In other words, you are

currently suffering the fruits of a backlog of your bad deeds in the

form of miseries. All these above ideas are summarized by one word

Karma (or destiny).

 

Personal Destiny

 

The story begins with your personal destiny. It does not, however,

end there; everyone is doing karmas - on others or for others also.

The farmer is growing rice and vegetables that are on my table to

eat. So it is the fruit of farmer's work that I am enjoying. In

defining Karma, we are missing the most important Karma – the Karma

the world is doing on us, or, for us. The closest definition of God

in a positive term is given in the sacred hymn Rudra Prasna – It

goes in great detail and keeps reiterating that God is this, also

this, also this, and so on. It goes on to say - this is for me, this

is also for me, this is also for me, and so on. Again it says, I,

(Aham) is God, in the most famous mantra, Om Namah Shivaaya.

 

How? Om is the name of God. Namah: Na means not (Ma= Mother,

h=father), but Mah= mother/father together, the Siva Linga is what I

am. This knowledge that I represent the eternal bliss of Siva and

Shakti in union is for Shivaaya (= good).

 

The mantra is defining your goal as being God and his Power

together. It makes you that. It makes you ever blissful. It makes

you the universe. It places the world and its power within you. It

represents the Maha Nyasam.

 

So what is the Significance of the Maha Nyasam?

 

Maha Nyasam is one of most sacred and ancient procedures for placing

the world and its powers inside of you. Once the whole world is

established in you, the world's karma is your own karma. There is

only one karma to worry about and that is yours. There is no more

adrishta or an unseen luck (or an unknown force) operating in the

environment. In other words, you are managing your own destiny. This

process of understanding that, "my awareness reaches out to the ends

of Galaxies" is called the Linga-Ud-Bhava or the characteristic of

God rising in you. What can be more auspicious than when you

yourself become God and His Power together, totally capable of

anything?

 

Why the All-Night Waking on Maha Siva Ratri?

 

The Abhishekham is a life-giving process. It is the sprinkling of

the seeds of all life forms in the world on the Linga (or the

characteristic of God rising in you). You have to be aware, awake,

so you can observe and know what is happening. That is why we keep

awake or do Jagaran on the night of Maha Siva Ratri. We forgot our

intrinsic divine nature, we forgot our powers, and are crying like

helpless creatures. We forgot we can, and do indeed, create our

destiny.

 

Why give a Form to the Power within us?

 

Suppose there is a power within you. Suppose it has no ears to hear

what you say, no hand to touch you, no eyes to see you, no life to

work for you, no substance to stop others' actions on you. In such a

case what use is the power for you? Therefore, we have to generate a

power that can interface to our modalities. You need to give limbs

and powers to the deity in you so it can interface and interact with

you.

 

How to Give this Power a Form?

 

Japam forms ears and hearing for the God in you. Puja forms skin and

touch. Homam creates the form and makes eyes. Abhishekham or

Tarpanam sprinkles life into it. Naivedyam, cooked rice, feeds

substance to it. So the God-Power is induced into you to empower you

to not only manage but also to create your destiny, the destiny of

the cosmos itself.This, in my view, is the true significance of Maha

Siva Ratri and the Lingodbhava Pujas done on that day.

 

Maha Siva Ratri Puja Sponsorship

 

If you would like to sponsor the Maha Siva Ratri pujas at Devipuram,

please http://www.vi1.org/step1.asp

 

Love,

 

Guruji