Shivaratri

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Greetings !

 

This is a posting from another list:

 

sanjeev nayyar wrote:

 

Hi,

Sivaratri ( the sacred night of Lord Siva ):

 

Background about the Lord -

 

Siva and Uma are most likely of Dravidian origin and they are Indian

modification of the great Mother Goddess and her consort of the

Mediterranean peoples. The name Siva has been explained partly to be of

Dravidian origin. In Tamil Sivan means Red and the Lord was known to the

early Aryans as Nila-Lohita - the Red one with the Blue throat. Sambhu

another name for Siva, has been compared with the Tamil chempu meaning

copper. It is likely that the Red God was first rendered into Aryan speech

as Rudra and then this name was identified with the Aryan Storm God, the

father of the Maruts or the Storm Winds, whose name Rudra in Aryan meant

the Roarer " .

 

The figure of Siva as the great Yogin, Pasupati, Mahadeva, appear to have

been known to the people of Mohenjo daro as shown by the very important seal

in the figure of the divinity who can only be identified with the Siva of

the later times. Siva was referred into in the Rig Veda and may not be an

intruder into the Hindu pantheon.

 

Saivism popularity's with foreign kings, Kushanas and the Huna king

Mihirakula continued ( 320 to 750 a.d.). Tirumular's " Tirumandiram " is

supposed to be a masterpiece on the Saiva doctrine.

 

The beginning of Kashmir Saivism ( regard the individual soul and the world

as identical with Siva ) are to be traced to the Sivasutras whose authorship

is traced to Siva himself. The sutras are said to have been revealed by a

sage Vasugupta who lived towards the end of the 8th century a.d. The

Ultimate Reality is Siva himself.

 

1000 to 1300 a.d. - Saivism contd to flourish in Kashmir. The deity of the

Royal house of Nepal is Pasupati. In Bengal and Assam Siva was revered too.

The Cholas were great patrons of Saivism. The Kailasa Temple at Ellora was

built by the Rashtrakutas and completed between 758 and 773 a.d.

 

Philosophy -

Siva is one of the Gods of the Trinity. He is the Lord of Destruction. Some

of us view this negatively. Creation and destruction are two sides of the

same coin. For something to be created, destruction of what exists is

essential. If the Indian cricket team is to rise from the ashes the old team

has to be done away with. Or morning dies to give birth to noon. Siva is

married to Uma who represents Prakrti or perishable matter. Siva's marriage

with Uma signifies that the power of destruction has no meaning unless it is

associated with perishable matter.

 

Lord Siva sits in a meditative pose at Kailash . ( from personal experience

I can tell you that if you sit in that posture for fifteen minutes a day,

back problems will never bother you ).His posture symbolizes perfect inner

harmony experienced by a man of Realization.

 

The snow white background symbolizes the absolute purity of mind. When the

mind is agitated, you are distracted, loose focus, do not see the divinity

in you. When your mind is steady and pure you recognize your supreme Self.

That is the state of Lord Siva at Kailash.

 

The Lord has his eyes half open half closed. They indicate that his mind is

absorbed in the inner self while his body is engaged in the outside world.

What this means that he is involved with the outside world but is not

attached to it. It is when we get attached to the fruits of action that our

mind gets agitated.

 

The state of meditation shown in Siva's posture is symbolic. Meditation is

the gateway to self realization. In order to meditate you must have a pure

calm mind. That happens only when you perform self less actions. By such

actions your ego and vasanas fall away. Then, your mind gets purified.

 

Lord Siva is shown with a Trishul in his hand. The three prongs represent

the three gunas, the three thought-textures ie sattwa, rajas and tamas. The

sattawa-guna is the state of mind where it is pure, serene and

contemplative, rajogana when it is agitated and tamoguna is when it dull and

inactive. Every human has varying degrees of the three gunas. It is a

three-pronged weapon which symbolizes the destruction of the ego with its

three fold desires of the body, mind and intellect. With this weapon Siva

indicates his victory over the ego and attainment of the state of

perfection.

 

Siva is said to have a third eye known as Gyana Chaksu. Lets not take it

literally but what it means that Siva has a Divine vision of Reality. When

you transcend the limitations of your mind, body and intellect, you gain the

realization of the Self. That is what is indicated by Gyana Chaksu.

 

Linga -

God is formless. But in order to bless us he assumes innumerable forms. The

Linga form in which we worship Iswara is symbolic of his formlessness and

form. The shape of a Linga has neither head nor limbs like other images. The

Baana Linga which is egg shaped serves to remind us that Isvara has neither

a beginning nor an end, just like the sky.

 

Isvara assume many forms to guide the functioning of the universe, one such

form is Natraja, Siva in a cosmic dance. The Lord who performs this

illuminating dance appears in the form of Lingodbhavamoorthi on Sivaratri to

shower his grace on us. It is our duty to fast, vigil and worship him at

midnight at least with one leaf of the Bilva tree.

 

Siva is a development of the Vedic Wind or the storm god Rudra. He inspires

love and reverential fear, wins the human hearts and is worshipped

emotionally. He is not only dreaded but revered, as the destroyer of

evil-doers, hatred, diseases and is a nourisher who bestows long life.

 

Nandi the Bull.

 

The bull is considered to be the Vehicle of Lord Siva. It is called Nandi in

a Siva temple. Nandati iti Nandi - one who is full and happy is also called

Nandi. The perfect man, realized soul can alone be happy. The head of a bull

is turned towards God in a temple, indicating that the bulls actions are

dedicated to God, in the absence of ego and desires. By worshipping a bull,

the Hindu invokes the spirit of dedication to higher values and service to

fellow human-beings.

 

In a predominantly agricultural country, the bull plays a very important

role in the lives of farmers. It toils the whole day in the hot sun, in

weather conditions as diverse as Assam, Punjab and Tamil Nadu. Yet, what

does it get in return except some water and dry grass. It does not go on

strike or ask for stock options. It goes on and on serving its owner without

expecting fruits of action. It has no desires, does not want to wear a ten

yard Kanjeevaram saree or Color Plus shirts. In a way, it symbolizes Indian

philosophy. Men of any religion can achieve self realization by giving up

desires, doing self-less deeds without worrying about the fruits of action.

 

When we go to a Siva temple we first offer our salutations to Nandi, the

Bull in front of the deity. Placing the two fingers, the index finger and

the thumb of the right hand on the two horns of the bull, we have the vision

of the silhouette of Lord Siva through the circle thus formed. Offering our

prostration's to Nandi first, is a form of love at the mental level and

respect at a intellectual level which is the first sign in the step in the

path of perfection. Then we try to identify ourselves with this perfect soul

and try to enjoy the vision of Lord Siva by transcending the matter

developments. When we place the thumb and the index finger on the two horns

of the bull, the index finger Jiva representing the ego centric entity gets

resolved in contact with the Thumb Reality, in the circle of fullness that

is formed through the two horns of the bull, which stand for Viveka and

Vairagya, enjoyed by the man of perfection symbolized by the bull.

 

Rudrakshmala

 

Ardent devotees of Lord Siva wear a string of beeds known as Rudrakshamala

which they use for counting while repeating the mantra. It is a compound of

two words, Rudra meaning Siva and Aksha meaning eyes ie Eyes of Siva. The

seeds are of four colors as if to indicate the four Varnas. The colors are

whitish ( brahman), reddish ( kshatriya), gold ( vaisya) and dark ( sudra).

The Rudraksha beed is found in Nepal. You have hordes of shopkeepers selling

it outside the Pasupati temple in Kathmandu.

 

According to the Yoga Sara, spiritual powers corresponding to the Gods

reside in the beeds according to the number of faces and thus determine the

type of mantra for which they are suited. A beed with one face is said to be

sacred to Siva, two to Siva and Parvati, three to Agni, four to Brahma,

eight to Ganapati, nine to Bhairava ir Siva, ten to Vishnu and twelve to

Surya. The most favored Rudrakhsmala is the one with six faces ie the mala

of Subramanya who is the second son of Siva and Parvati.

 

The beeds are seen in three sizes. Big ones of the size of a Amalaka fruit,

medium size of the fruit of Jujuba and small ones. It is believed that the

smaller the size of the beed the greater the efficacy. The single and double

phased beeds called Brahmapura and Gowri-Shanker are considered to be the

most effective irrespective of their sizes. The beed that has a natural

opening allowing the string to pass through is considered to be the most

sacred. The Rudraksha jabalopanishad mentions that " In the crust of the

beed dwells Brahma, in its hollow rests Vishnu and in its mouth is located

Siva while in the Bindu abide all the celestials.

 

Medical science is beginning to believe that wearing a genuine Rudraksha has

a salutary effect on controlling blood pressure, cancer, jaundice.

 

Significance of Mount Kailash

 

The abode of Lord Siva, Mount Kailash, is worshipped by Hindus, Buddhists

and Jains alike. To the Hindu, it is the abode of Siva and Parvati. It is

said that they had bathed in holy lake Mansrovar. Devout Hindus believe that

one can see the shape of Om made from snow on this mountain. Buddhists of

Nepal and Tibet consider Mount Kailash as the center of the Universe. They

believe that one Parikrama will wash their sins while one hundred Parikramas

will give them salvation. Jains belive that Tirthankar Rushabhdev resided

there, attained Nirvana on the summit of Mt Kailash and Gautam ( first

disciple of Lord Mahavir) visited this mount. Doing a Parikrama round the

Kailash has tremendous religious significance for each of the three sects.

 

Our Tibetan guide discouraged Indians from undertaking the Parikrama since

the Tibetans want only themselves to undertake the yatra. A Buddhists

monastery on the banks of the Holy Mansrovar Lake had a number of huge

Trishuls lying there. You can travel to Mount Kailash, economy class thru

Uttar Pradesh or executive class via Kathmandu.

 

Yet our Warped Media, Secularists are out to prove that they are different

religions. It is my belief that the Chinese are going to use the Buddhists

card against us in this decade. The appearance of the Karmapa is only the

first major missile that has been fired.

 

How do we have a Sankaracharya temple in the Muslim dominated Kashmir

Valley.

 

While resting in the Valley the learned Brahmans told Sankarachrya ( S) that

unless he defeated the learned persons of Sarada Pitha they would not accept

the supremacy of his philosophy. With his arguments he defeated all the

learned men at that high seat of learning including Jains and Buddhists. The

King of Kasmira or Kashmir has made arrangements for the S's stay at

Srinagar but the S chose to stay near an ancient Siva temple overlooking the

city. Since then the temple has popularly been known as the S temple.

Briefly, after the Muslim conquest of North India large scale conversions of

Hindus took place which is how Islam entered the Valley. In fact I remember

Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah saying that their family converted in

1859.

 

Which are the twelve DWADASH JYOTIRLANGAS ? ( Lingas of Light )

 

Kedarnath, Viswanath, Baidyanath, Amreswar, Mahakaleswar, Somnath, Nageswar,

Triyemveswar, Bhim Sankara, Dushmeswar, Malikarjun and Rameswaram.

 

Kedarnath is amongst the most imp Saivite shrine in India. It was from here,

a place known as Gandhi Sarovar, that Yudhister departed to heaven.

Kedarnath is at the head of the Mandakini river. Acc to legend, the temple

now extinct, was built by the Pandavas at the present sight where Adi

Sanakaracharya built the present day Kedarnath in the 8th century a.d.

behind which lies Sanakaracharya's samadhi.

 

 

This mail is dedicated to my Late Father. I am willing to stand corrected,

be educated.

 

regards

 

sanjeev

 

 

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