Mahashivratri: Night of nameless ecstasy

The fourteenth night of every lunar month, the night before the Amavasya or new moon, is referred to as Shivratri. On this night, people on the spiritual path usually perform sadhanas (spiritual practices) of special significance. Of the many Shivratris that occur in a calendar year, the one that occurs in February-March, in the lunar month of Magha, is called Maha Shivratri because it is the most powerful.

On this day, the planetary positions are such that it is most conducive for a person to seek his spiritual nature and raise his energy to its peak. Because of this natural upsurge of energy, there are many benefits if a person is awake with his spine in a vertical posture throughout the night.

From being just a biological entity to becoming spiritual, what is needed is an upward movement of energy. Biologists have pointed out that one of the biggest steps in the evolutionary process for an animal is to move from a horizontal to a vertical spine. It is only after this step that your intelligence flowers. By making use of this natural upsurge of energies on Maha Shivratri, with the right kind of mantras and meditations, we can move one step closer to the Divine. So, keeping the body in a vertical position – or in other words, not sleeping on this night – is very important.

When we say Shiva, it is not about creating one more idol or god that we can ask for more prosperity. The word “Shiva” means “that which is not.” That which is not means, if you open your eyes and look around, if your vision is for small things, you will see lots of creation. If your vision is really looking for big things, you will see the biggest presence in the existence is a vast emptiness. If you want to put it in logical terms, today, science is telling you that everything has evolved itself out of nothingness and will again go back to nothingness. This is the fact of life. That nothingness is Shiva. That which contains everything, “that which is not,” is Shiva. It is in this context that Shiva is referred to as the great lord, or Mahadeva.

So when we say Shivratri, which is the darkest night of the month, it is an opportunity for one to dissolve their limitedness, to experience the unboundedness of the source of creation which is the seed in every human being.

This Maha Shivratri at the Isha Yoga Center is the 21st Maha Shivratri. In the yogic arithmetic, 21 is an important number. It is my request to every one of you, not only to stay erect, but also to stay as conscious, as alert and as aware towards your ultimate wellbeing. This is the night where you have to practice getting your life to the highest level of exuberance without any external stimuli - just by yourself. Nature itself is working in our favor today. Let’s make this truly a night of awakening for all of us.