Sivaratri
Mountain Path
“The day on which Lord Siva took the form of the mysterious Hill Linga known as Adi Arunachala was the day of Arudra (constellation) in the month’ of Margali (Margasira or Dhanus — coinciding with Dec/Jan) ; and the day on which Vishnu and other devas worshipped Him manifested in that Hill of Light was on Siva Rathri in the month of Masi Magha, (Feb/Mar).”
– Sri Bhagavan
This is the second of the introductory verses composed by Sri Bhagavan in His 'Five Hymns to Sri Arunachala', The idea is taken from Siva Purana. The contents of the other verses are taken from the Arunachala Mahatmya (Greatness of Arunachala) in the Skanda Purana.
It is interesting to the devotees of Sri Bhagavan that He Himself was born on the night of that day (Arudra in Margali, i.e. Dec/Jan).
There is an account found in the Siva Purana that there was a fight between Brahma, the Creator, and Vishnu, the Protector, as to who of them was greater and as a result everything went wrong in the Universe. At that juncture, Lord Siva appeared there as an endless column of extraordinary Light and a voice was heard saying: “ Whichever of you two is able to find either the top or bottom of this column of Light is the greater one.” And so Brahma took the form of a swan and soared up to find the top and Vishnu went down searching for the bottom, taking the form of a boar. After a long long time, both of them had to return unsuccessful in their attempt and they realised that there was a great God Siva of whom they were only instruments existing and functioning only by His Grace. At their request Lord Siva took the benevolent form of Arunachala, so that every one could have darshan of Him, go round Him, think of Him and worship Him and be blessed, And the first day on which Vishnu and other devas praised and worshipped Lord Siva (manifested from that column of Light) was on the fourteenth day of the dark-fortnight in the month of Masi (Magha, Feb/Mar).
This is the account of Siva Rathri we find in the Puranas. Siva Rathri is the holiest of the days sacred to Lord Siva and the devotees fast the whole day and keep on worshipping Him during the four quarters of the whole night.[1]
Ceremonial Puja is performed at temples and houses also to Siva Linga (the emblem of Lord Siva) clothed and adorned with ornaments and flowers after bathing it with holy water, milk, curds and honey accompanied by the chanting of Sri Rudra and other Vedic Hymns. His Thousand Names are chanted in worship. Various offerings are made of food- preparations and fruit. There is prolonged beautiful waving of lights and the Puja finishes with the waving of burning camphor, denoting the complete melting of the mind in the Fire of Pure Awareness, known as Lord Siva.
At Tiruvannamalai many devotees go round Arunachala (a distance of 8 miles) that night either meditating on Lord Siva or chanting His Name and Hymns of Praise of Siva. Going round the Hill at dawn or dusk or at night alone silently, the Presence of Arunachala becomes a living experience.
Here I am reminded of the best Siva Rathri of my life in the year 1924, Sri Bhagavan sat down at about 8 at night near His couch where He used to rest. A small desk was in front of Him with a soft light nearby and there were only a very few devotees seated in front of Him, One of them requested Sri Bhagavan on behalf of some others to explain the meaning of Sri Sankara’s Hymn to Dakshinamurthi, which Sri Bhagavan Himself had rendered into Tamil verse. Sri Bhagavan was silent with a very gracious, gentle smile. A few minutes passed. The devotee repeated his request to Sri Bhagavan. There was no answer and Sri Bhagavan remained silent with the same expression of remarkable grace. Within a few minutes all the devotees including the questioner understood that Sri Bhagavan was teaching them in silence what Lord Dakshinamurthi did ages ago to the four sons of Lord Brahma, viz. Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumara and Sanatsujata.
(The story is well-known that these four sons of Brahma were created by him out of his mind to assist him in the creation of world systems. But the sons wanted rather to find out the source of the mysterious universe around them and went about with one-pointed mind in search of such knowledge. Lord Siva appeared to them seated under a banyan tree wrapt in glorious silence and they got enlightened at the very sight of Him, and sat at His Feet in silence, This aspect of Siva is known by the name Dakshinamurthi and we find this image of His in every temple of Lord Siva on the southern side facing the south. Moreover, Dakshina means knowledge and He in whose presence knowledge of the One Self of all spontaneously dawns is known as Dakshinamurthi.)
The passing of the hours of that night went by unnoticed by any of us as Sri Bhagavan had drawn our minds and kept them in tune with Himself. Suddenly there was dawn and Bhagavan got up smiling and went out with His kamandalu for His morning walk. All of us came out of our wonderful samadhi in the presence of Bhagavan that whole Siva Rathri night.
It may not be out of place here to say that every day and every night was like that with Bhagavan. I have often experienced the power of His dynamic silence especially during the still hours of the night. Siva Rathri really means Absolute Pure Awareness of Lord Siva in which all else gets dissolved.
There is also an account found in the Puranas of Siva swallowing up the terrible poison which rose up as the Ocean of Milk was being churned by devas and asuras to get Amrita (divine ambrosia), and thus saving the universe from annihilation. And as He sat a whole night with the poison retained in His throat, He was worshipped by all devas and asuras for His great act of grace to save them all. Siva is known by the name Nilakanta (blue-throated) on account of this.
The poison coming up during the churning (sadhana) is the process of latent tendencies of the mind being brought out to get destroyed by Divine Grace !