Why celebrate mahashivratri festival

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This vastness, this unbounded emptiness, is what is referred to as Shiva. Today, modern science also proves that everything comes from nothing and goes back to nothing. It is in this context that Shiva, the vast emptiness or nothingness, is referred to as the great lord, or Mahadeva. Every religion, every culture on this planet has always been talking about the omnipresent, all-pervading nature of the divine.

If we look at it, the only thing that can be truly all-pervading, the only thing that can be everywhere is darkness, nothingness, or emptiness. Generally, when people are seeking well-being, we talk of the divine as light. When people are no longer seeking well-being, when they are looking beyond their life in terms of dissolving, if the object of their worship and their sadhana is dissolution, then we always refer to the divine as darkness.

Light is a brief happening in your mind. Light is not eternal, it is always a limited possibility because it happens and it ends. The greatest source of light that we know on this planet is the sun. But darkness is all-enveloping, everywhere. The immature minds in the world have always described darkness as the devil.

But when you describe the divine as all-pervading, you are obviously referring to the divine as darkness, because only darkness is all-pervading. It is everywhere.

It does not need any support from anything. Light always comes from a source that is burning itself out. It has a beginning and an end. It is always from a limited source. Darkness has no source. It is a source unto itself. It is all-pervading, everywhere, omnipresent. Unlike a lot of Hindu festivals, Maha Shivratri is not an overtly joyous festival.

This is a night reserved for self-reflection and introspection for the purpose of growing and leaving behind all things that hinder our success. People all over the country celebrate Maha Shivratri according to the customs dictated in the region. Some celebrate in the morning, while other organise pujas and jagrans at night. Devotees also observe a full day fast on Maha Shivratri, eating only on the next day after bathing. Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter.

This year, the festival will start on March 11 at pm and end at pm of March Share Via. By hindustantimes.