Lord Shiva: The Symbol of Universal Consciousness

Lalit Garg

(The writer can be reached at lalitgarg11@gmail.com)

Mahashivaratri is celebrated on the Chaturdashi of the Krishna Paksha of Phalgun month, a religious festival of Hindus, which is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Mahadev i.e. Shiva, the principal deity of Hinduism. This is the occasion of union with Shiva. On this day, 'Shivlinga' emerged at Nishith midnight. That is why this auspicious festival is celebrated with gaiety and zeal throughout the country and the world. This festival is the light ray of cultural and religious consciousness. This awakens our consciousness, happiness in life and fill the whole world with fellowship, harmony, energy, self-purification and light of inspiration abound. This festival gives inspiration to adopt the best and the most powerful vows, resolutions and thoughts of life.

The festival of Mahashivaratri is very important for those who follow the spiritual path. This festival holds great importance for the people who are householders and also for the ambitious people. Those who are householders among the family celebrate Mahashivratri as a celebration of Shiva's marriage. People surrounded by worldly ambitions find this day important because Shiva conquered all his enemies. Mahashivratri is an opportunity and possibility. It takes you to the experience of that bottomless void hidden within every human being, which is the source of all creation.

Lord Shiva is called as 'Aadidev', 'Devo ke Dev as Mahadev'. Of all the gods, he is the supreme, the greatest; he is the destroyer of sorrows. If he is welfare, he is also a destroyer. Shiva is a naïve steward and is the welfare of the world. Destruction of dilapidated objects is necessary for the welfare of the world. The seeds of creation are hidden in this destruction itself. Therefore, Shiva is also an inspiration for creation and new life as a destroyer. Whenever there was any crisis on the creation, he was at the forefront to solve it. Whenever any crisis was faced by the gods and demons, they remembered Shiva and Shiva protected them.

Both the Gods and the demons were engaged in the churning of the sea (Samudra Manthan). Everyone wanted nectar, got nectar, but before that, there was a poison of in the sea, whose heat, heat and crisis made everyone distraught and put in trouble, the poison should destroy the whole creation, the question was who should take this then Mahadev was remembered. He appeared and took this poison and protected it from the crisis present in front of the universe. He kept this poison till the throat and he was called 'Neelkanth'. Similarly, Lord Shiva cooperated to bring Ganga to earth. Because of how the earth could bear the immense pressure and flow of the Ganges, Shiva incorporated the Ganges in his 'jatas' (hair knots) to solve this problem, and then the flow of Ganga flowed from his jatas with favourable speed.

There are many mythological stories related to the creation and the sequence of Shiva's efforts to get rid of them, for which Shiva gave new life to the world using his powers, penance and meditation. Shiva means welfare, he is Shankar, and he is also Rudra. In Shankar, 'Shan' means welfare and 'kar'' means the maker. In Rudra, 'Ru' means sorrow and 'Dra' means defeat. In this way, Rudra means one who removes sorrows or does welfare. The third eye is definitely made in the idols of Shiva, the pagoda is not completed without the Nandi idol, the question is whether it is only a matter of faith and worship or its deep and creative meaning? Shiva's third eye is not a physical eye; Nandi is also not just a bell, these are meaningful structures connected to both life and creation, only by understanding its merits can we be capable characters in the cultivation of Shiva. In fact, it is this amazing inspiration and power that inspires us to see life like Shiva.

The festival of Shivaratri is also inspiring to remove sorrows and create happiness in the world of physical and materialistic world. Bholenath is hungry for emotion; anyone can offer his wishes for fulfillment by offering flowers of true devotion, faith and love to him. A scholar-illiterate, rich and poor, who is free from pretence and illogical proud, can worship and pray to him with his convenience and ability. Shiva resides neither in the wood, nor in the stone, nor in the idol of the clay, nor in the grandeur of the temple, He resides in the Bhavas. It is believed that by worshiping and consecrating on this day, the worshiper gets the blessings from all the pilgrimages.

The fasters of Shivaratri, after consuming all the bhogas of this folk, go to Shivaloka at the end. Shivaratri should be worshiped in the four hours of the night. Shiva is very fond of bilvapatra, dhatura flowers, and cannabis in Prasad. Milk, yogurt, ghee, sugar, honey - these five nectar (Panchamrit) are used to worship in a temporal point of view. Mahamrityunjaya Mantra is the Mahamantra of Shiva worship. Shivaratri is the time that frees all three types of anguish, sorrows, pangs, from otherworldly, mental and physical. The night of Shiva provides rest to body, mind and speech. Provides such peace to the body, mind and soul that it is possible to attain the essence of Shiva. The union of Shiva and Shakti is the integration of dynamic energy.

In the cosmic world, the common meaning of gender is a sign that identifies the masculine, feminine and impotent gender. The Shiva linga is beyond the cosmic. For this reason there is a gender. It is a soul. Shiva is the destroyer. They are destroyers of sins. Upon reaching Shiva's lap, every person is freed from fear. According to Shiva Purana, at the beginning of the creation, Brahma created Shiva in the form of Rudra on this day. Shiva and Himalayan daughter Parvati were also married on this day. Therefore, it is also the night of complete harmony of Shiva and Shakti. He is the creator of the universe. Those human beings are not only the creators of life, but also the creators and nurturers of the world. He gave a new vision of life to mankind and taught the style of living.

Shivaratri is an inspiration against the philanthropic attitude, of restraint, of renunciation, of devotion, of balance. Those in the midst of facilities have the opportunity to think whether they live with the essential needs or demand more than the needs. In this Shiv Bhakti and fasting journey, every person awakens, not ego, but infancy. Not anger, forgiveness is good. There is no distraction of mind in sufferings, patience to endure. This austerity is a process of change of self. It is not the performance but the inspiration of the spirit's rise. It is not the ambition to get material results, it is the renunciation of all desires.

Shiva has lived both materialistic world and salvation. He gave new and perfect style to life. Imparted training in the need and utility of earth, water, fire, air, vegetation in life. Set standards of cultivation with arts, literature, crafts, psychology, science, ecology and education. He taught everyone the meaning of work, meaning of religion and effort of salvation. He is the leader of Indian philosophy of life. Today, his entire personality and curiosity has become an indelible article in the history of creation. His entire life is a source of inspiration. But we are so naive that we could not understand our Shankar, understanding, knowing and assimilating them can prove to be a self-respecting and self-enhancing experience. All the dimensions of human life attain perfection from Shiva.

Today, there is dominance of immorality, terror, anarchy and indiscipline. Person, society and nation - everywhere there are cracks, everywhere there is shattering and disintegration. Human vision and life value are not being found. Man has ceased to be a human being, his nature has become demonic. Humanity is moaning and mutilating. The reason for all this is that we have forgotten the self aspect. Only Mahadev can save us in these difficult situations, because Shiva made repeated and many times undertakings to protect the world. In fact, making your opponents and enemies friendly is true Shiva devotion. Shiva embraces those whom the society despises. That is why the untouchable snake as the necklace, deadly poison in his throat, the ghost of the infamous ghost-vampire are companion of Shiva. Those whom society neglects, Shankar accept them. The fact that in Shiva's marriage, vampires, demons and negative forces were also came. In this sense, Shiva is a pure impure holy man. Due to his nature, apart from gods, demons also respect Shiva. Really! We are blessed with his teachings, tolerance, perseverance, determination, patience, self-respect and unbroken spirituality.