Are you celebrating the powerfully Sacred

Mahasivaratri on 20th February 2012?

We reproduce the complete article from our February 2012 issue of our magazine for you to share with your family and friends.

FEBRUARY 2012 17THE ASTROLOGICAL eMAGAZINE

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ANCIENT INDIAN EPICS and festivals have both

religious and moral implications. Moral values are

disguised in them and have to be drawn out. Even the

religious practices or rituals like prayer, homa (havan)

and so on are full of moral values, if we understand their

inner meaning. Those moral values are to be imbibed by

humanity to meet the materialistic onslaught. Here an

attempt is made to analyze

Mahasivratri, one of the

important Hindu festivals to

bring out it’s significance and

inner meaning or it’s moral

ethical side. Generally, people

follow rituals mechanically,

which does not help to realize

the purpose of festivals. It is

hoped that this short article

would help the reader to

understand the values

underlined this festival, to

assimilate them and practice in

their day to life, thus making

life more wholesome and

derive enduring happiness.

Mahasivaratri or the great

night of Lord Siva, being one

of the important Hindu

festivals, is celebrated with

devotion and religious fervor

to propitiate Lord Siva. Unlike celebration of other

festivals, Mahasivaratri festival is not celebrated with

festivities, revelry and gaiety;, on the other hand, it is

celebrated with solemnity and piety and devotional

fervor.. This is so because, Lord Siva is the very

incarnation of’ vyragia’ or renunciation or sacrifice of

MahasivaratriIts Significance

DR. A. SREEKUMAR MENON

physical pleasures. and he is in deep meditation in most of

the times.Lord Siva is the most powerful deity and one

among the trinities,Bhrahma, Vishnu and Mahesvara

among Hindu deities. ‘Siva’ means being auspicious and

power or energy, the most powerful God of Hindi

pantheon.. This year Mahasivaratri falls on 20th February.

It is believed as the most auspicious time to invoke the

blessings of Lord Shiva by day

long worship.Due to unique

planetary position, a powerful

natural upsurge of energy is

said to occur on that night in

the human system.Worship on

this day is considered

beneficial for one’s material

and spiritual wellbeing. Lord

Siva is the destroyer of evil

and protector of good. Those

who utter the name of Siva on

this night is said to be free from

one’s past sins and wrong acts

committed and would enjoy

material prosperity and peace.

Celebration starts on the day

of Mahasivaratri. Devotees

wake up early morning and

after ritual bath, wear new

clothes and visit Siva temples

for worship. They observe

strict ‘Vrata ‘or follow acts of discipline. Fasting or going

without food is one such act of self-control or being

oblivious of body consciousness which lead to unholy life.

There are people who do not drink even a drop of water

till next day. ‘Sivalingam ‘ or Idol of Siva is worshipped

throughout the night. ‘Abbishekam’ or ritual bath is most

Dr. Athickat Sreekumar Menon hails from Nallepilly villiage of Palakkad Dist, Kerala . He has excellent academic and professional back

ground with a masters and doctorate in Psychology and Management. Has done post-doctoral work in Australia. Recipient of five post-

graduate and doctoral fellowships including one from the Ford Foundation, U.S.A., he has held senior positions in India and abroad .

Has published five original books on Management of which two have received All India awards. He is also the recipient of N.I.P.M award

and Will’s Award of Excellence. Authoring several original articles on Management and Human Values he has delivered many (highly

valued) lectures in India and abroad. He is an original thinker , voracious reader , prolific writer and an eloquent speaker. He is keenly

interested in human welfare and youth development . He continues to have active professional interest dating back to five decades.

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18 FEBRUARY 2012 THE ASTROLOGICAL eMAGAZINE

important. It is believed that much heat is generated in

Siva’s body due to deep meditation and the holy bath

cools down his body.Priests wash the Lingam once every

three hours with milk, curd, ghee, honey, rose water,

coconut water and just with plain water and offer ‘Bilwa’

or Bael leaves which is said to be most preferred by

Lord Siva In Bilwa leaf, there will be three leaves in a

stalk which is supposed to represent three eyes

(Trinetram) of Lord Siva. Devotees circumambulate

Sivalinga by chanting devotional songs incessantly.

Thousand names of Siva each of which describes his

glory and splendor are sung in chorus. They maintain

sleepless night or long vigil throughout night. It is called

practicing ‘ Jagaran’.The following is the meaning of these

practices.Fasting is a way of controlling our senses, which

run amuck after objects of pleasure. So also resisting sleep,

which is the most fundamental need. In other words

development of self-control and a life of moderation and

contentment are exhorted. The night long also vigil

suggests the importance of presence of mind in our day

to day life. The message is that we should not be

preoccupied with the dead past nor with unborn future,

but the real present and that what ever we do, we should

do it involving ourselves fully. Other acts of vrata or self-

discipline, to be practiced are Sathya or speaking truth,

Ahimsa or injuring none by thoughts, words or actions,

Brahmacharya or continence or not indulging in

sensuous actions unregulated, Daya or compassion to

fellow beings, Kshama or patience, tolerance and

accommodation, not being revengeful and forgiveness,

and Anasuya or not being jealous. They also include not

entertaining any evil thoughts during the whole day, instead

filling the mind with sublime and divine thoughts by

continuously chanting the hymns praising the glory of Lord

Siva. These acts purify our heart and mind and strengthrn

our will power and actions guided by vivka or

discriminatory knowledge or higher levels of

consciousness. The self-discipline we display during the

Mahasivaratri day should not be confined only to that day,

but it should be displayed in our life style as such. We can

say that Mahasivartri is a period of moral and ethical

training, quite apart from its divine import.

There are many legends showing the significance of

Mahasivaratri celebrations.Those legends also bring out

several moral ethical values to the discerning eye. Due to

limitation of space, only few are quoted.

It was on this day,Siva married Goddess Parvati, who

did long penance to get an ideal husband. Believing this

legend, unmarried women pray for ideal husbands and

married women pray for the well being of their husbands.

It is considered as a special day of worship for women

like Thiruvathira festival, a festival of Kerala This shows

that the marriage institution is considered as sacred

according to Hindu thought and hence the partners are

supposed to maintain it. Family life in Hindu scriptures is

qualified as Grihastashrama. Ashram means the abode

of ascetics or perfect souls who have absolute control

over themselves and not swayed by outside forces. Thus

family is a place for leading disciplined life as per

Varnashrama dharma, the ethics coded in our ancient

works of wisdom. The aim of married life is propagation

of human race and not indulgence in libidinal life for the

sake of sensuous pleasure.

After the creation of the universe and the living beings,

Lord Siva is believed to have answered that the day,

Mahasivaratri is celebrated as the day of his choice for

propitiating him, in response to question posed by Parvati.

Parvati is believed to have told this to her friends and this

practice was followed from generations to generations.

Lord Siva is believed to have performed the Tandava

dance or Ananda nrityam on that day. It is a celestial

dance of primal creation, preservation and dissolution

which brings out the eternal truth that forms are created

out of minute particles of high energy, which can neither

be created nor destroyed, that they sustain their shape

for a while and get dissolved and that this process is

continuous. Modern Physics attests this fact. It is believed

that life principle or Atma which is niether created nor

destroyed, immutably passes on taking different material

bodies. This movement is evolutionary, depending on the

good deeds done and assumes higher forms till it gets

merged with the ultimate which is a birthless and deathless

state. This renewal need not be confined to transmigration

of the souls. Change for better is possible with in one’s

life span. This means that we should always try to reform

our character by assimilating the teachings of our ancient

texts and be a better person in terms of our moral,

ethical and human qualities. God is an embodiment of all

virtues. So the only way to reach nearness to God and

get empowered is by cultivation of those virtue, as human

life is strictly guided by moral laws. God intervenes in the

life of man as impartial implementer of moral laws.

It is believed that Lord Siva manifested himself for the

first time in the form of a ‘Linga’ on this day. Hence, the

day is considered as most auspicious for invoking his grace.

According to Puranas, during the great mythical churning

of ocean called Samudra Manthan or Ksheera Sagara

Manthan a pot of poison emerged from the ocean. Gods

and demons were terrified at the sight of poison which

could wipe them out. They ran for Siva’s help. Lord

Siva gulped that poison, in order to save the world from

FEBRUARY 2012 19THE ASTROLOGICAL eMAGAZINE

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disaster. Parvati is said to have held his throat tightly, lest

the poison might move to vital organs. The poison collected

in the throat turned the color of the throat into blue. Siva

got the name Neelakanta (blue neck) from this incident.

During Sivaratri celebration this lofty incident of Lord’s saving

the world is commemorated. The message that comes out

of this incident is that we should lend our helping hand in any

diversity even at the cost of our lives rather than leading a

selfish and ego centric life of exploitation. While churning

the ocean, nectar was the last thing which came out after

strenuous effort. This reveals the fact that real achievement

is possible only through hard labor put in with tremendous

amount of patience and personal sacrifice.

The Story of Chitrabhanu

Chitrabhanu was a king who was a staunch devotee of

Lord Siva. He had a rare skill of knowing his past. He

narrated the story of his life as to how he became a Siva

devotee. He told he was a hunter in his previous life. One

day he roamed about in the forest and it was too late to

return to his village. He could not get any prey on that

night. In order to escape from wild animals, he climbed

up a tree and perched there the whole night. It happened

to be a willow tree, which is Lord Siva’s favorite. He

plucked few leaves and dropped them on the ground to

attract his prey/animals. A deer came on the spot. Before

he could shoot his arrow, the deer with tears rolling down

its eyes told the hunter how deep would be the grief of its

wife and children, if he did not return home. The hunter

was moved, took pity on the deer and let it free. The

hunter was too hungry and felt how grieved his family

would be back home. He continued to drop leaves one by

one to keep him awake, lest he might fall from the tree.

There was a Siva linga under the tree. The Bilwa leaves

fell on the Siva linga. So also the water, he had in his pot

fell on the linga drop by drop. The drops of water which

fell on the Linga was equivalent to Abhisheka or ritualistic

bath given to Siva by his devotees. . On the next day morning,

when hunter climbed down, Siva being happy, appeared before

him and blessed him. Though he dropped leaves to keep him

engaged, it was literally an act of worshipping Siva and

hence he got his blessings. This incident indicates that if we

do some good acts without seeking anything, it may bring

good to us. Sudden transformation took place in the life of

the hunter. He gave up eating meat and hunting or stopped

himsa or violence. He stopped hunting and killing and selling

animals for his livelihood. and spend his time in doing good

work. He was reborn as Chitrabhanu to be the king and

staunch devotee of Lord Siva.

Moral of the Story

What moral does this story bring out ? It tells us that we

should be reformed in our life, that reformation can come

about anytime, if we have open mind, that we should not

harm anyone by thoughts, words or action. We should

not think of ill of any but think good of others and share in

the happiness of others. We not wrong others but do good

to others. We should be polite and gentle and not harsh at

any time with any one and should help others and not

harm them on any account.

To conclude, celebration of a festival in its true spirit is

developing one-pointed mind to goodness, understanding

human values embedded in the festival (as earlier pointed

out) and striving to live as per those values for achieving

material prosperity, enduring peace and happiness.

The 9th sub period of any dasa is generally found to be

unfavourable. Nodes are causation planets of carcinoma. Ketu

is in Virgo (pancreas). It was in the dasasandhi phase of Ketu

sub-period that he was detected of pancreatic cancer and

underwent chemotherapy. Ketu is a significator of 112th, house

of hospitalization.

Transit at death

· Exact opposition by Transit Uranus (sudden) of 3rd house

to natal Mercury the dispositor of both the dasa lord Venus

and sub-period ruler Ketu.

· Jupiter, the ascendant lord made a square to radix and was

in Pisces the 4th house of termination.

· Transit Jupiter in the sign where natal Rahu is placed

(serious set back in life).

· Transit Rahu’s sojourn in Sagittarius will cause great

mishaps, if Jupiter at birth is in Sagittarius (vide research

capsules).

· Transit Saturn, lord of 2nd (maraka) in a tight conjunction

with natal Venus, the dasa lord.

· Transit Venus the dasa lord in Pisces the 4th house of END.

· Transit Ketu, the sub period ruler in 7th house (maraka) in

the star of Mars, the lord of 12th.

· Stallion in 5th house (stomach) from natal Moon pointing

to some action in the 5th house domain.

Neville’s untimely death is a big loss to the cause of Astrology. He

will be long remembered for his accurate US retaliatory prediction.

Conclusion

Both Chellapan Aasan and Neville Lang leave behind a rich legacy.

If one can go through the life-style of Aasan, it can be seen that he

gave paramount importance of devotion in the study of astrology

as prescribed for an astrologer in our ancient texts. The other, a

Westerner, learned in Vedic Astrology, became a master in it and

proved that Jyothisha is not the monopoly of any country and

anyone could learn and excel in it and attain the highest level of

accuracy, provided he is industrious and involved. Glory to such

exalted Astrologers! May their tribe increase!

Great Daivagjnas(continued from 16)