|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maha Sivaratri – The Great Lord Siva’s Night: A sacred night of chanting, meditation and worship dedicated to Lord Siva Text of Amma's Message Amma sings: Om namah sivabhyam Embodiment of Divine Souls, Amma’s Most Beloved Sweet Children, Amma’s special motherly affection and gazillions times of love to all of you! I love you so much, my sweet children. Bhaktim bina brahma jnanam na katapi jayate It is impossible without the pure devotion towards Divinity. What is devotion? Devotion is pure love. Devotion is desireless love. Devotion is the highest peak of pure love towards God. Devotion is selfless and there is no trace of “I-ness” at all in this true devotion. My dear, sweet children, this is a very auspicious month, Magha masa.* In this auspicious month, we have a very special festival for Lord Siva; that is the Maha Sivaratri festival. The Sivaratri festival is a very, very auspicious festival for Lord Siva’s disciples. Siva’s form is so beautiful; Siva is with form and without form. There are innumerable names for Lord Siva—Shankara, Hara, Rudra, Sadasiva, Nilakantha, Mrutyunjaya, Chandrashekara—innumerable, very powerful names. When you see one name, Shankara [also pronounced Shamkara]: Sham means any kind of good wish will become fruitful by thinking of Lord Siva. Kara, ka: All kinds of negative thoughts, negative instincts are just eradicated by the power of the [sound] ka—k, a, that seed letter; and it enhances the beautiful memory power, purity; and all kinds of negative thoughts will become very positive and also all thoughts will be divinized by the power of the chanting of the ka seed letter. Ra: ra seed letter belongs to the fire. Any kinds of sins, innumerable, countless births of the sins are totally burned by chanting the last seed letter, ra—r, a. So, this is the beauty of the chanting of the divine names. Shankara, Hara, Mrutyunjaya, Chandrashekara, Ardhanarishwara, Uma-Maheshwara, all the names are very, very sacred names of Lord Siva. One of the slokas describes the beauty of Lord Siva: Chita bhasmo lepo garana masanam dikpatadharo Siva and Sivani are both like a beautiful pair of divine swans. They are always in the sky of the disciple’s heart like the full moons, two full moons—a very beautiful pair. Siva and Sakti both are oneness only. The milk and the color of the milk, the white color, both are one and the same. Similarly, the moon and moonlight are one and the same. Viswam bhutam bhuvanam chitram This is a beautiful sloka. O Lord Siva! Even before this creation you existed. Animates and inanimates—everything is nothing but your supreme Self only. You are everywhere, in everything. O Lord Siva! You are always auspicious. Everyone’s salutations to you on this Sivaratri festival day! People are doing rudrabhishekam* to Lord Siva. This rudrabhishekam is very, very powerful and very, very auspicious. And people are going to get the greatest grace from Lord Siva by doing this rudrabhishekam. What is rudrabhishekam? All kinds of sins, all kinds of doshas, all kinds of sorrows, pains, tribulations, everything will be eradicated by doing abhishekam to Lord Siva on Sivaratri. There are eleven types of abhisheka to Lord Siva. The first abhisheka is with the sudhodakam. Sudhodakam is the pure water that is mixed with cardamoms, cloves, cooking camphor, saffron, a little bit of sandal paste, and all those things. And gokshiram, that is the organic milk of the cow, cow yoghurt, cow ghee [clarified butter], honey, sugar, fruits—and dry fruits, fruit juices—eighth one is the tender coconut water, ninth one is sandal paste, tenth one is sugar cane juice and eleventh one is vibhuti and also vibhuti water.* For vibhuti water we are generally using the Ganges water for the vibhuti abhisheka. These are the eleven abhishekas for Lord Siva on Sivaratri day. With all of these abhishekas, all kinds of ailments, commotions, unrest will be reduced. In the Mahabharatam Vidhura was one of the greatest sages. He lived with his family but he was a very detached sage in family. He mentioned—how can we get peace? When the king asked Vidhura, he said that if we really want peace in our life we need to do niyata japa everyday—everyday, without interruption we need to wake up early in the morning and finish 1000 times at least Siva mantra japa. The Siva mantra japa is: Om Namah Sivaya This is the Siva Panchakshari* Mantra. Om Hrim Namah Sivaya This is the Siva Gauri Panchakshari Mantra. Both mantras are very powerful. Generally people do: Om Hrim Namah Sivaya Siva Gauri Panchakshari Mantra is a very powerful and a very beneficial mantra for purification inside. Practicing Siva Mantra early in the morning, starting the day with Siva Panchakshari Mahamantra, totally eradicates the greediness from the life. Then people remain in total peace. There is no greater treasure than the Atma jnana sampada. There are treasures in our world. These treasures belong to this world. But there is no treasure equal to or greater than the Atma jnana, the knowledge about our supreme Self. This supreme knowledge comes from Lord Siva. Sweet children, we need to do meditation every day. That meditation gives total 100% purification inside, both mentally and physically, in all aspects of our life. What is the color of air? What nationality is the sun? What is the religion of water? Which class does the Earth belong to—lower or upper class? Which race does space belong to? All the five essential elements of Nature are symbolically Lord Siva’s five faces. Lord Siva’s five faces are so beautiful. Similarly, Gayatri Devi has five faces: Mukta vidruma hema nila dhavala chayar mukhayi These are the five faces of Gayatri Devi. They symbolize the five natures—air, fire, earth, sky and water. The five elements are symbolically represented as well by Siva’s five faces. This creation is not owned by anybody. Our world home was born without any borders. Let us share and enjoy our Mother’s home—I mean this world—together. Let us protect Mother Nature together. Siva is beyond borders, unbound by shores. A real Siva devotee believes in sharing and accepting, in giving and absorbing. Be always in dharma, children. Dharma stands for the ultimate goal of truth only. Siva—he himself is the absolute truth. Whenever people do Satarudriya homa for Lord Siva, the sounds travel in the ether, in the atmosphere. The vibrations of the Rudra mantras charge the entire Nature with cosmic radiance. There are seven other meanings in the Sanskrit language just for one sound. So here, for the Rudra mantras, according to the levels of the spiritual seekers, there are innumerable, different levels in these Rudra mantras. Especially the homa time is so powerful. Homas are very powerful. At Sivaratri time it is so great to observe silence and experience that greatest light of auspicious Siva within our hearts through absolute silence. Sweet children, wake up early in the morning on Sivaratri day, brahmi muhurta time, between 3.30 and 4.30 a.m.; chant a Siva Mantra—Om Hrim Namah Sivaya mantra japa—and do abhisheka with water. If Ganges water is available to you, do it with Ganges water. If Ganges water is not available to you, you can do it with the regular water and charge the water with Om Namah Sivaya Mantra and then do the abhisheka to Siva, do puja to Lord Siva. Offer coconut to Lord Siva. Pray to Lord Siva for the welfare of the entire world, for the experience of happiness and the ultimate goal of truth in this lifetime. On Sivaratri festival day fasting is very good. Silence is so sweet. If you want to observe silence, you can do that. But regularly, wake up early in the morning, start the day with puja. Have a small Sivalinga. Offer one teaspoon of milk to Siva with Om Namah Sivaya Mantra. That is so auspicious—you can do that. After the abhisheka, you can offer some fruits to Lord Siva and give harati. The puja is very simple; it is a very, very simple puja. On Sivaratri day, at least try to do 1000 times of Om Namah Sivaya mantra japa in intervals. I love you so much, my children. If possible you can try to observe silence. Silence is Lord Siva’s beautiful language. Silence speaks a gazillion words and a gazillion words speak nothing but absolute silence. My heart never leaves you, children. I love you so much. Om Namah Sivaya Om Shantih Shantih Shantihi *Magha masa: masa = month; the month of Magha according to the Hindu lunar calendar. *Rudrabhisheka(m): Rudra + abhisheka(m). The sacred Siva Linga(m) is bathed using various substances while sacred mantras are chanted. The worship can be simple, using just one substance or more elaborate, using several substances for bathing the divine Lingam. Likewise, one may choose to chant a simple mantra or stotra or a more complicated one. The Siva Linga represents the all-pervading, eternal Self. *vibhuti water: a mixture of holy ash and sacred water. *Siva Panchakshari Mantra: The five seed syllables (pancha akshara) of this mantra are namely, Na-Ma-Shi-Va-Ya. **From Siva Bhajans Vol 2.
|
|
Home / Sri Karunamayi / Message / Charities / News / Tours / Homas / Shop / Information |
