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By Sadhguru
Every lunar month, the night before the Amavasya or new moon is referred to as Shivratri. Of the twelve Shivratris that occur in a calendar year, the one that occurs in February-March, in the lunar month of Magha, is called Mahashivratri because it is the most powerful of the twelve Shivratris.
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The significance of Mahashivratri is seen in many different ways in the tradition. For people who live in family situations, Mahashivratri is celebrated as Shiva’s wedding anniversary. For the ambitious, this is a day when Shiva conquered all his enemies. For the ascetics, this is the day when he became one with Kailash – he became like a mountain, absolutely still. After millennia in meditation, one day, all movement in him stopped and he became utterly still. So, ascetics see Mahashivratri as the day of stillness.
If we look at it scientifically, the significance of Mahashivratri is that on this day, the planetary positions, particularly in the northern hemisphere of the planet, are such that there is a natural upsurge of energies in the human mechanism. It is to make use of this upsurge that in this tradition, we established this festival which is nightlong. One of the fundamentals of this nightlong festival is to ensure that you stay awake and remain with your spine vertical to allow this natural upsurge of energies to find their way. If you lie down on Mahashivratri when the energies are trying to move upwards, you will be obstructing them.
Energy, Perception and the Third Eye
No matter what work you are doing, your ability to be successful is not about how much information you have in your head. It is essentially dependent upon how much clarity you perceive situations with. Right now, our education systems have become such that we are cramming people with information and clogging perception with all kind of ideas, teachings and philosophies.
What we refer to as Shiva is nothing but the very embodiment of ultimate perception. Shiva has always been referred to as Triambaka because he has a third eye. The third eye does not mean someone’s forehead cracked and something came out! It simply means that another dimension of perception has opened up. The two eyes can see only that which is physical. If I just cover them with my hand, they cannot look beyond that. That is how limited they are. If the third eye opens, it means another dimension of perception, which is inward-looking and looks at life completely differently, has opened up and everything that can be perceived is perceived.
In this tradition, knowing does not mean reading books, listening to someone’s talks or gathering information from here and there. Knowing means opening up a new vision into life. So, if true knowing has to happen, your third eye has to open up. If your perception has to evolve and enhance itself, the most important thing is that your energy has to evolve and enhance itself. The whole process of Yoga is to evolve and refine your energies in such a way that your perception is enhanced and the third eye opens.
Mahashivratri is a possibility for you to raise your perception by at least one notch. It is an opportunity to not be embroiled in thoughts, emotions, or conclusions that you have drawn about life. This is what Shiva is about and this is what Yoga is about. It is my wish and blessing that you ride this upsurge and make use of this wonderful gift that nature offers us on this day.
Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author. Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. He is also the founder of the world’s largest people’s movement, Conscious Planet – Save Soil, which has touched over 4 billion people.
