What is the spiritual significance of Mahashivaratri?
The festival of Mahashivaratri is celebrated with great enthusiasm in India every year. The devotees visit Shiva temples on this day to worship Lord Shiva. They celebrate this festival by observing fast and keeping awake whole night to signify their devotion to the Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva is a very popular deity which is commonly worshipped among the people. Shiva temples can be found in almost every nook and corner of India. Some of the famous Shiva temples are Amarnath in Kashmir, Somnath in Gujarat, Vishwanath in Varanasi and Makaleshwar in Ujjain. To explain the spiritual significance of Mahashivaratri, legends tell us that even Lord Rama and Lord Krishna celebrated this festival. Lord Rama worshipped Lord Shiva at Rameshwaram while Lord Krishna worshipped Lord Shiva at Gopeshwar in Vrindavan. Famous Shiva temples have been built at these places as memorials of such unique events. This also marks the truth that Lord Shiva is the supreme amongst all deities and hence has the name “Mahadev” or the Supreme God.
Lord Shiva is worshipped in the form of Shivalinga which shows him not having any male or female human form. He is considered to be the point of light which has given birth to the entire universe. He is the one who destroys the universe to regenerate it again. The Shivalinga is marked with three lines with each line signifying something special:
· Trinetri – He has the supreme wisdom in the third eye
· Trikaldarshi – He can see the three aspects of time – past, present and future and holds the power to change it
· Trilokinath – He is the Lord of all the three worlds. He knows about everything which happens in all the three worlds as every event takes place with his wish.
Lord Shiva is also known as Swayambhu which means that He is Supreme with nobody above Him. The spiritual significance of Mahashivaratri can be seen in the light of the fact that it is celebrated during night time when festivals of all other Gods are celebrated during the daytime. Celebrating Mahashivaratri in the night reflects the moral degradation of the world due to the huge amount of sins and ignorance that is prevalent in the world. In the darkness of this night, Lord Shiva provides the light to the devotees through which they can get rid of all their sins and attain salvation, thus attaining perpetual freedom from the cycle of life and death.
In the 2013 year we can find this Maha Shivaratri Festival on 10 March 2013 Sunday.
Complete overview of MahaShivaratri Puja, Rudra Abhishekam, LaghuRudra, Maha Rudram, Shiva Pooja, and Live telecast and Darshan of 600 Years old PanchMukhi Shiva Mandir – Click Here
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