Maha Shivaratri with Sri M

"The essence of our consciousness is Shivam. Therefore, when it is said, “Chidananda roopam, shivoham shivoham”, it means that that Supreme reality, whose spark is inside me, is Supreme auspiciousness. I am of the real form of Shiva, which is auspicious all-pervading reality. After midnight, begins a new day. Shiva finishes his dance of destruction. The dance of destruction is actually a renewal, where the old is destroyed and the new takes place. When Shankara, who is the representative form of that Supreme Being, dances this dance of destruction, the Tandava Nritya, it is said that the entire Universe shakes and shivers and everything falls to pieces. This is the renewing and destructive aspect of divinity that you see every day in the outside world and the inner world. When this turmoil takes places within, when the dance of destruction of Shiva takes place in our hearts, then much of the old is destroyed. All the aspects of the ego, are churned up, broken and thrown to bits by the Tandava Nritya. When they are broken to bits, only peace and blissfulness remains, which is the essence of consciousness."

Sri M

Inner significance of Shivaratri

On the Shivalinga, water should always be dripping from the top, as a constant abhisheka is going on. The real meaning of this, according to Raja Yogis, is that inside the sahasrara chakra, in the center is the point which is called, the “Brahma randra” – the door way of the Brahman. When one enters through that, one comes face to face with that which we call Shivam – the lingam. In the highest state of meditation, amrita drips on to that linga constantly. And what the yogi tastes is the nectar that flows down. Anyone who has touched the amrita, even a drop of it, or a half a drop of it, becomes so intoxicated and filled with the joy of Shivam, that nothing else is an attraction to him.

It doesn’t mean he needs to run away from the world. He could continue to be in the world but he realizes that he is free of all this and is a part of that all-pervading Shivam.

All this is the inner significance of Shivaratri.

So, the auspiciousness that we seek, the Shivam that we seek, is to be sought inwardly. And the destruction that takes place is our connection to the outward. This is the dance of Shiva.

Shiva & Shakti

Shiva sitting cross legged, with his eyes closed is the symbol of the yogi in meditation.

The snake that sits around Shankara is the ancient symbol of wisdom. The symbol that signifies the tremendous energy called Para Shakti. It’s also called Kula Kundalini, Bhavani, Tripura Sundari, who lies latent, coiled without action in most people, in the Mooladhara. And the whole of the process of awakening, the experience of the night of Shiva, is the awakening of that energy. And it’s a gradual progress through the different chakras, till it reaches the Sahasrara chakra and becomes one with that supreme Shivam.

Shivam is nowhere other than in our own system. From our point of view, Varanasi, where Shiva sits, is the point between the eyebrows. Where the Varuna and the Asi River flow and join together. From there, it is but one step to Nirvana.

So this is the significance of Shivaratri.

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