The Significance Of MahaShivaRaathri

Prashanthi Nilayam - Mahaa Shiva Raathri 2000

Mahaa Shiva Raathri is the Great Night when Shiva appears in different forms for the progress, welfare
and redemption of the universe. It is basically a time of spiritual illumination, and of the emergence or
renewal of Life, Light and Love; it also signifies the act of creation of universes. It is a day of
deliverance, of emancipation and liberation from this and other worldly bondages. It also marks the time
of the final dissolution of the Cosmos before its next cycle of regeneration.

Shiva Mahaa Dheva is closely associated with spiritually significant events in cosmic history, evolution
of consciousness and regeneration of Life. These milestones mark the cathartic, or cataclysmic or disaster-
laden moments for the Cosmos, which is repeatedly rescued by Shiva by His divine Self-sacrifice. These
acts of self-abnegation took place, as the legends tell us, at Midnight on the day prior to the New Moon
in the month of Maagha, which is called Mahaa Shivaraathri, the Great Night of Shiva. The formless
Divine form of Shiva takes on five forms as detailed below.

Emergence of Fiery Jyothir Linga

First, Shiva emerges in the form of a massive fiery, radiant LINGA before the four-faced creator Brahma
opposing the four-armed Vishnu. On the one side, there is the assertive, aggressive force of Action or
Karma symbolised by the creator Brahma and on the other side, there is the compelling, punishing force
of Dharma or Righteousness symbolised by Vishnu. In the great Divine drama, Brahma represents
Raajasik or passionate and unfettered creative activism; Vishnu stands for law and order, righteousness,
maintained by wielding the Dharma Dhanda, the rod of punishment. These two functional principles vie
with one another for primacy or superiority. Their titanic inter-play resulted in a terrible fight creating
confusion, chaos and crisis, and the lesson for us is that any ego-play is destructive. The ego is the last to
go, which goes only when there is surrender with Love to the supreme Divinity, Shiva. It is at this critical
juncture that a mysterious, majestic, mighty and effulgent Jyothirlinga, with immeasurable dimensions
emerges between them. The two contestants realize their own limitations in the face of that immense fiery
Linga and pray to Sadhaa Shiva on that great significant night of supreme Light. Para Brahman the
Supreme Absolute transcends both Karma and Dharma.

Since that event, Shiva is praised as Lingodhbhavakara, an appellation that applies to Bhagavaan Sathya
Sai Baba who has created various types of Lingas both from his stomach emitting them through the
mouth on Mahaa Shiva Raathri days and also continues to create different types of Lingas by the mere
wave of his divine hand and bestows them on devotees. Baba has also recharged the potency of Lingas
installed in ancient temples such as Somanaath.

Emergence of Ardhanaareshvara
The second Mahaa Shiva Raathri - related event is the striking manifestation of Sadhaa Shiva as
Ardhanaareshvara, half-male, half-female, the prototype form for self-multiplying creation. Legend has it
that the four-faced creator Brahma was at a loss as to how to initiate an automatic process of procreation
of living beings. He meditated for long on this problem and prayed. It is then that Shiva assumed this
androgynous form. It may be mentioned here that Baba moves amongst women as a "woman" and
amongst men as a "man".

/opt/scribd/conversion/tmp/scratch2498/30429240.doc
Page 1 of 4
The union of Prakrithi and Purusha in loving ecstatic dance of Shiva and Paarvathi, called Ānanda
Thāndava, is a illustrative of this Primordial relationship. Shiva as Nataraaja is the quintessential creative
cosmic dancer. Just as the dancer is not separate from his dance; the creator cannot be separated from his
creation. The two are in union. Shiva pervades the creation. World is God! Shiva dances on the infinite
scale of unending non-linear Time and Space on the stage of Unlimited Cosmos.

Shiva swallows Haala-Hala poison to save the world

The third climacteric event on Mahaa Shivaraathri day was when Shiva swallowed the terrible deadly
mass of poison, Haala-Hala or Kaala Kūta. The positive or angelic forces, for once, joined up with
negative or demonic forces to churn the deep ocean of life in order to take out the treasure hidden there,
particularly nectar for their mutual benefit. It is a joint venture, as it were, in costly under-sea hunt for
valuable minerals. Just as the Americans and the Russians, the proverbial antagonists in the cold war
period, have been jointly cooperating in the deep sea and space-probing enterprises. Haala-Hala
threatened the world with destruction and death. Haala-Hala is symbolic of the poison in the minds of the
two contestants for domination. It is the pride and prejudice of the so called moralists, Suras on the one
hand and the greed and envy of the violent materialist Asuras, on the other hand, that generated the deadly
poison. It was Shiva, the beneficent and auspicious God of Gods, who swallowed the Haala-Hala poison
and thus saved the world from the holocaust. Since that event, Shiva is called Neela-Kanttheshvara, the
blue-throated God, (Svaami gifted my father with a Neela-Kantha Linga, He also materialised a dark blue
crystal Linga for my youngest son).

There is today a parallel to the Haala-Hala type of poison in the minds of men. This is the poison of
ethnic racial, political and even religious violence which is taking place on a large scale in many parts of
the world. Furthermore, today's man, misusing nature, is polluting the air and water with chemical,
biological and nuclear wastes. The ocean waters are becoming poisonous from massive oil spills and from
the churning out of toxic minerals etc. Furthermore, radiations from Nuclear reactor- accidents and
meltdowns and from piled up nuclear wastes, particularly from the vast nuclear weapon arsenals of the
big powers, will one day overwhelm mankind which faces nuclear catastrophe and nuclear winters. Such
a future of doom and gloom is not unthinkable. Who can avert such a cataclysmic disaster now? Only
Shiva Sai Mahaa Dheva, the contemporary Avathaar or manifestation of Shiva, the primordial Divinity,
can save mankind. This will be the ultimate fulfillment of the Avathaar's motto:
LOKAAH-SAMASTHAAH SUKHINO BHAVANTHU
Let all the worlds be happy and prosperous.

Shiva as primordial preceptor

The fourth form of Shiva is the primal preceptor in the form of Dhakshinaa-Muurthy. He is the South-
facing, ever youthful Divinity, teaching profound spiritual lessons by his mere hand gestures. He speaks
the language of silence, seated under a Banyan tree and surrounded by much older disciples such a
Sanaka, Sanandha, Sanaathana and Sanathakumaara - the four mind-born sons of the four-faced creator
Brahma. Dhakshinaa- Muurthi boons the gift of liberating, non-dualistic, supreme knowledge of identity
between the Jeevaathma, the individual soul or Self, with the supreme Self or Paramaathma. This is
symbolised by his Chinmudhra with the gesture of the right index finger joining the thumb; the other
three fingers, stanting for the three limiting wordly qualities of piety, passion and prejudice, are stretched
outwards in the direction of the world.

Like Dakshinaa Mūrthi, Baba explains cosmic metaphysics through the creation of Lingas.

/opt/scribd/conversion/tmp/scratch2498/30429240.doc
Page 2 of 4
On sacred Mahaa Shivaraathri nights, Svaami materialises from his stomach, Lingas symbolic of the four
Mahaavaakyas-the great sacred statements of Non-Duality of the individual Self with the Omni-Self in
the Upanishaths. First, the Anda-Pinda-Brahmaanda Linga, the Linga of Cosmos corresponds to the
Mahaavaakyas "Prajnaanam Brahma" - Constant Integrated Awareness is Paramaathma. Second, the
Sadhaa-Shiva Linga corresponds to "Ayam Aathma Brahma" - This individualised Self is but the
Cosmic Divine Omni-Self. Third, "Jnaana Linga" corresponds to the statement, Thath Thvam Asi - Thou
Art That, the Supreme Divine Reality. Fourth, the Aathma Linga corresponds to the statement "Aham
Brahma Asmi" - I am the Supreme Brahman. Liberation is promised with the vision of these Shiva-Sai
Lingas. Recently, on Mahaa Shiva Raathri occasion, after a lapse of more than twenty years, Baba has
taken out from His stomach and mouth, the famed Hiranya Garbha Linga, the golden Linga from the
Divine Golden Womb. This symbolises the golden or shining primordial Love Principle underlaying the
cosmic play of creation, sustenance and regeneration.
Today, it is Bhagavaan Shri Sathya Sai Baba who shines as the sun of liberating knowledge of one-ness:
He is the Advaitha Jnaana Bhaaskara, like Dhakshinaa Muurthi. SAI SHIVOHAM is the non-Dualistic
five-lettered Advaitha manthra for the modern age. Sai Shivoham means, "I am SAI, who is none but
Shiva, the Primordial Supreme Divinity".

Shiva's Pralaya Thaandava

The fifth Mahaa Shivaraathri-related event is the Kaala Raathri which is the last act in the drama of
dissolution of the Cosmos before its regeneration in a new cycle of creation. Shiva appears as Rudhra,
opens His third eye of fire and the Cosmos is reduced to mere ashes. Rudhra's dance of final destruction
is called Pralaya Thaandava. It is Rudhra who wields the veto of death both at the individual level as
well as at the Cosmic level. That is why we pray to Him to spare us from deadly disasters and accidents:
THRAYAMBAKAM YAJAAMAHE
SUGANDHIM PUSHTI VARDHANAM
URVAARUKAMIVA BANDHANAATH
MRUTHYOR-MUKSHEEYA MAAMRUTHAATH:
"We worship the three-eyed God Shiva whose divine fragrance spreads far and wide and who equips us
with increasing vitality.
We pray He releases us from all bondages. Just as the ripe pumpkin gets naturally disconnected from its
creeper, so also, Oh Lord, save us from premature or untimely death and grant us immortality."
This is the famous Mruthyunjaya Manthra to avert untimely death. There are innumerable instances
where Bhagavaan Sathya Sai Baba has rescued a number of individuals from the jaws of death. He is
verily a Mruthyunjayeeshvara, the conqueror of death. But for Sai Shiva, man will be reduced to nothing
but a Shava, a corpse! But for Shiva, the Cosmos will be reduced to ashes.
We therefore pray to Shiva-Sai by chanting the SAI (EESHVARA) GAAYATHREE MANTHRA, revealed
by that great Vedhik scholar, Shri Ghandikota Subrahmanya Shaasthry, on Christmas Eve of 1977, in
holy Brindhaavan, in the presence of Bhagavaan Baba at the holy twilight or Sandhya time.
OM. SAAYEESHVARAAYA VIDHMAHE
SATHYA-DHEVAAYA DHEEMAHI
THANNAH-SARVAH PRACHODHAYAATH
We realize that Sathya Sai is Shiva, Eeshvara, Supreme Divinity.
We meditate on this God of Truth. Virtue, Peace, Love, Non-violence, Self-sacrifice.
May that Almighty All-In-All personality lead us to Liberation and eternal Bliss.
G.V.Subba Rao
Prashaanthi Nilayam - 4th March 2000
/opt/scribd/conversion/tmp/scratch2498/30429240.doc
Page 3 of 4
>1 - The emergence of the Jothirlingam between the two opponents Brahma and Vishnu is narrated with those
"personalistic" features in some Purana or other mythological work?, Which one?
> the shiva puraana IT ALSO OCCURS IN THE VEDHA TOO
>2 - Shiva Maha Deva, or Sadha Shiva, is named also Shiva, that is the name of the "destroyer".rudhra-shiva is the
desroyer
>He is frequently, particularly in this talk of yours, endowed with features, powers, capacities that are ;related, in
other literature, to Para Brahman or Maha Vishnu, who is easily indicated as Vishnu, etc. .You write:The two
contestants realize their own limitations in the face of that immense fiery Linga and pray to Sadhaa Shiva
>So, these names seem sometimes distinctive, sometimes interchangeable; this corresponds to the futility of
names in a non-dualistic perspective. EACH NAME CORRESPONDS TO EACH ATTRIBUTE of
PARABRAHMA<OR MAHAA VISHNU OR SADHAA SHIVA OR SHIVA MAHAADHEVAA <WHEN PARA OR
MAHAA PRECEDS THE NAME IT MEANS THE SUPREME OR PARAMAATHMA
> remember names are many but God is one with many attributes;WHEN HE EXERCISES THE CREATIVE
FUNCTION HEIS CALLED BRAHMA THE FOUR FACED, IN MAINTAINING ROLE HE IS CALLED VISHNU,IN
DESTROYING ROLE HE IS CALLED RUDHRA.
>The poor westerners, that mutuate the terms of Indianre philosophy in their spiritual search, are still bound to say
black where is black, and red where red starts; they wonder who is who. I feel that one must help them.
>IF YOU APPROACH THRO THE LENS OF CREATION HE APEARS AS BRAHMA ETC.FORMS AND
FUNCTIONS VARY SUBSTANCE REMAINS THE SUPREME SPIRIT
>Could you briefly expose why Shiva, the destroyer of the Trimurthi, or in other occasions Vishnu, are depicted as
the Supreme self-manifesting Lord , the first suitable to bear a name, of whom the wholeTrimurthi is the threefold
manifestation?
>I think many would benefit of a clarificating comment.
>
>Renato December 2002

/opt/scribd/conversion/tmp/scratch2498/30429240.doc
Page 4 of 4