in honor of Maha Shivaratri!

[Guest guest]

dearest devotees,

 

on march first(please correct me if i am wrong) , devout hindus will

be observing Maha-shivaratri... There will be all night chanting of

Rudra chamakam -namakam, linghashtakam, bilvashtakam, milk abisekha

of shiva lingam and bhajans and songs glorifying the names of Lord

shiva... devout hindus will also observe all night fasting...

 

it gives me great pleasure to share with you the origins of shiva-

mahima stotra...

 

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ADMIN's note : The text posted below is also available at a number

of places on the web, for example

 

http://www.hindunet.com/stotras/xdvng/shivamahi.html

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A king named Chitraratha had constructed a nice garden. There were

beautiful flowers in this garden. These flowers were used every day

by the king in worshipping Lord Shiva.

 

One day a Gandharva (Singer in the court of Indra, the Lord of the

Heaven) named Pushhpadanta being fascinated by the beautiful flowers,

began to steal them, as a consequence of which king Chitraratha could

not offer flowers to Lord Shiva. He tried very hard to capture the thief,

but in vain, because the Gandharvas have divine power to remain invisible.

 

Finally the king spread the Shiva Nirmaalya in his garden. Shiva

Nirmaalya consists of the Bilva leaves, flowers, et cetera which

have been used in worshipping Lord Shiva. The Shiva Nirmaalya is

considered holy.

 

The thief Pushhpadanta, not knowing this, walked on the Shiva

Nirmaalya, and by that he incurred the wrath of Lord Shiva and lost

the divine power of invisibility. He then designed a prayer to Lord

Shiva for forgiveness. In this prayer he sung the greatness of the Lord.

 

This very prayer became well known as the `Shiva Mahimna Stotra'.

Lord Shiva became pleased by this StotraM, and returned Pushhpadanta's

divine powers.

 

The legend has some basis since the name of the author is mentioned

in verse number 38 of the stotraM. The recital of this stotra is very

beneficial,and Shri Ramakrishna, one of the famous saints of the

nineteenth century,went into samadhi just by reciting a few verses

from this hymn.

 

To read the entire stora with english translation, please visit

 

www.geocities.com/Athens/6893/ssshivamahi.htm

 

Om namaha shivaye!