Significance of Shivaratri
In the following discourse Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba emphasizes the role of moon as the presiding deity of the mind as He expounds on the real purpose of Shivaratri.
There are many different stories about the origin of Shivaratri. One version is that it is the day on which [Lord] Shiva in His ecstasy danced His tandava [cosmic] dance. When He consumed the Haalahala poison to save the world from destruction, the heat was well nigh unbearable, and it was curbed only by the waters of the river Ganga pouring uninterruptedly on His matted locks and by the cool moon perching permanently on His forehead. Then, Shiva danced with all the Gods as His audience, most of them accompanying His steps with appropriate music. But, this is not the event of a single day. Others say that Shivaratri celebrates the birth of Shiva, as if Shiva has a day on which He is born and a day on which He dies! The story that a hunter sitting on a Bilva [leaves offered to Shiva]tree spat on a lingam beneath, and the day being so holy, he got salvation etc. is not to the point at all.
The real purpose of Shivaratri however is this: The moon has 16 kalas or fractions and each day after the full moon, it is reduced by one kala, or one sixteenth. The moon is the presiding deity of manas, or mind and this reduction of the moon is a symbol of the destruction that the manas must undergo, in order that man may save himself. On Chaturdasi [14th] night, there is only just a wee bit left, and through special vigilant effort even that disappears, and the manas is fully eliminated. So, on every 14th day of the dark half of the month, the aspirant is asked to carry on his spiritual discipline throughout the day and night. And, once a year, on Shivaratri day, a special spurt of activity to remove the dross called mind is prescribed.
This being the significance of this day, it is foolish and even harmful to keep awake just for the sake of keeping awake, and to spend the night playing cards or watching pictures, just to ward off sleep. The sadhana [spiritual practice] one is engaged in must become automatic, orderly, and natural; it should not be forced, erratic, and unpleasant.
On Shivaratri, one should reduce the manas into nothing; it must be made laya. Lingam means that in which the jagat [world] attains laya, leeyathe, that to which the jagat goes, gamyathe. The three gunas [qualities] are represented by a triangular base, and the aim, and goal of creation by the lingam above. The world that is the result of the imposition of the three gunas on the attributeless Shivam has to be understood as wholly Shivam and nothing else.
The hrudayam [heart] is called so because He is in the heart—hrudi (in the heart), ayam (He). You must know that Shiva does not ride about on an animal called in human language, ‘the bull’; the bull represents dharma [righteousness], standing on the four legs of satya, prema, shanti, and ahimsa [truth, love, peace, and non-violence]. The three eyes of Shiva are the eyes that reveal to Him the past, the present, and the future—Shiva alone has all three. The elephant-skin that forms His cloak is only a symbol for the elemental bestial primitive traits that His grace destroys, and makes powerless and harmless. The four faces represent joyful activity, quietude, indignation, and auspicious grace. In this way, realizing the inner significance of the various attributes of Shiva and of His various appurtenances, one has to meditate on the Lord this day so that one may be free from the last vestige of delusion.
Just as a child learns to toddle first in the home, and after its steps have become firm, it can safely run about even outside the home on the streets, so, too, the individual must first master the inner knowledge, the control of the senses, and the education of the emotions so that it may move about fearlessly among the temptations of the world. That is why there is this insistence on sleeplessness, or vigilance. One cannot call oneself educated unless one has mastered the science of self-control, and destroyed the causes of delusion. Shivaratri is an auspicious day since the smarana [contemplation] of the Lord helps to destroy illusion.
Do not feel that you do not care for that happiness, and so you need not be bothered by this vigilance! The nature of man abhors the dull dreary round of eating, drinking, and sleeping. It seeks shanti [peace], and inward contentment. Every one craves for it and it is available only in one shop, the shop of contemplation of the Highest Self. However high a bird may soar, it must some time perch on a tree-top in peace and joy. So, too, a day will come when even the most haughty, the most willful, even those who assert that there is no joy or peace in the contemplation of the Highest, will have to kneel and pray, “O God, grant me consolation, grant me peace.”
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1959
