Maha means great, Shiv is a name of God and ratri means night. Except for consciousness, all else is impure, but here impure should not be taken in the negative sense. It simply implies mixedness. Consciousness is pure, it is qualityless, beyond name, form and colour. Shivam is the Sanskrit word for it, therefore Shiv means Pure Consciousness. But how do the words ‘maha’ and ‘ratri’ come to be associated with Shiv? As we move further to explain and to unfold the esoterism of this festival, we will become aware that Shiv Ratri or Maha Shiv Ratri is a message or a pointing finger, as I usually call it, for the whole of mankind towards the highest reality of life. In fact, like many other religious festivals, this one too reveals the aim of human existence. But alas! People have made religion become a prey to their unconscious mind. Fortunately enough, time and again a few mystics appear to lift up the veil of mythology in order to show the naked truth. Let those who are thirsty and receptive benefit.
God is pure and boundless consciousness – Shivam or Shiv. What does this have to do with ratri, the darkness of night? It is said by the scriptures that before the birth of the universe, there was nothing but darkness. Both the Bible and the Vedas agree on this point. That darkness, also known as Mahantam or the Great Darkness, is called the night of Brahma, the time of dissolution when creation remains in a seed state and inactive. It is the great ratri or maha ratri, the great night of God or of Shiv, hence the term Maha Shiv Ratri.
Furthermore, man is essentially consciousness, pure consciousness. It is the same stuff that underlies the phenomenal creation and the infinite ocean of energy. Thus, Shiva is present in man. The mind, however, is unaware of this fact. The mind or the jiva or the individual soul is blissfully ignorant of the absolute Truth. The darkness of the individual soul or the mind existed since its origin. Having passed through innumerable animal and human lives in the ignorance of its ultimate nature, the individual soul or the mind or the jivatma is said to have been through a great night of unconsciousness. Jiva has been in a maharatri and remains in that state till the ultimate awakening. The Egyptian calls it the dark night of the soul. The mind or the man or still the jivatma continues to remain in this great darkness of ignorance so long as he does not realise his fundamental nature. Such a realisation comes not by the mere performance of rites and rituals, but by transforming the unconsciousness of the mind. There is an art and a science to it.
(extract from Know Thyself Newsletter Jan 2000)
Contact me at: mystery@globalmindtransformation.org
*****Latest NEWS: The Spirituality and the Truth Behind the ‘Maha Shiv Ratri’ Festival REVEALED by H.H. Swami Paramananda on TV MBC 3, at 16.30, on Tuesday 09 February 2010.*****
