Shiva ratri

[Guest guest]

Today is Shivaratri. From the Times of India:

 

THE SPEAKING TREE

Creator & Destroyer: Incorporeal Shiva

B K MOHINI

 

[ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2004 12:00:46 AM ]

 

Mahashivratri or Shiva Jayanti is a festival imbued

with deep spiritual meaning. Today, it is celebrated

by devout Hindus as one of the many festivals and very

few are aware of the deep significance of observing

Mahashivratri.

 

Shiva symbolises the universally worshipped form of

God, the Eternal Light. Shiva literally means one who

is Kalyankari, the Benefactor of all souls.

 

Mahashivratri, therefore, is the memorial of the

divine incarnation and divine acts of the incorporeal

God.

 

Shiva is the Supreme Father, He who performs the

triple role of creation, sustenance and destruction.

This divine Trinity is symbolised as Brahma, Vishnu

and Shankar in Hindu theology.

 

When devotees offer prayers to the Trinity form, they

say “Brahma devtaya namaha, Vishnu devtaya namaha,

Shankar devtaya namaha” and “Shiv Paramatmaya namaha”.

Shiva denotes the Supreme God who is the creator of

these three subtle deities through whom he performs

divine acts. Only God the Father has the power to

create, sustain and also destroy creation in order to

renew it. Shiva is the Paramatma, the Supreme Soul,

the Incorporeal, the Formless. But all deities and

incarnations have corporeal form. Shiva and Shankar

are worshipped distinctly as God and deity

respectively.

 

The Shiva lingam denotes the incorporeal form of God

Shiva. The three lines and a dot in the centre signify

the subtle form of God as a point of light and his

three divine acts. The 12 renowned temples in India ,

the Jyotirlingam Maths, are dedicated to the divine

attributes of Shiva. The prayer Om Namo Shivay

signifies that Om is the soul who is worshipping

Shiva. Those who believe themselves to be

manifestation of God say Shivoham (I am Shiva). We

seldom hear of anyone referring to themselves as God,

taking the name of deities. The deities are addressed

as Lord; they are earthly rulers who appear in the

cycle of karma, according to the fruit of their

actions. God remains always beyond joy and sorrow.

Deities are the highest creations of God; hence they

are also worshipped alongside God. But they take birth

in the corporeal world while God never appears in the

cycle of birth and death, for, He is beyond it.

 

Deities are worshipped as pure beings but only God is

patitapavan, the Purifier of all impure beings. All

Shiva temples are named after His divine attributes

and acts. Legends tell us that even the most revered

deities, Krishna and Rama, invoked the blessings of

Shiva, and this is represented by the temples at

Rameshwaram and Gopeshwar. God is known as the

Liberator who grants salvation to all souls because He

is the only one who remains liberated, eternally.

 

Shivratri signifies the night of ignorance and

unrighteousness when Shiva incarnates in order to open

our third eye of wisdom. Today, due to ignorance, we

say that God is omnipresent; yet, we continue to

suffer and seek Him for salvation. In blind faith, we

believe every spark of light to be the Sun.

 

When we cannot comprehend God, we look up to His

divine creation as God. But it is the Supreme Soul who

is the eternal source of Light and Might. All that

seems divine, are, in fact, His creation.

 

Due to spiritual ignorance, we have lost our divinity.

We can regain our divine nature only when we link

ourselves to the Supreme Soul Shiva, who is the Ocean

of all divine virtues and powers. As the Gita points

out, when the Ocean is bestowing everything, why stop

at a river or pond?

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/502962.cms

 

 

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA!!

 

Keval

 

 

 

Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.

http://antispam./tools