[Excerpts from talks & commentaries by Swami Chinmayananda]
SHIVARATRI is the day in India when winter ends and from the next day onwards it is summer. Positively the climate changes. The climate changes outside. The Ganges will be flooded because more of the lower layers of snow with be melting. So by this natural phenomena they fixed this particular day, because the day after SHIVARATRI the climate conditions must change. Where? Outside! Meteorological Department! No!! IT IS THE CLIMATE OF OUR MIND!!! After Realization, the Man of Realization gets up from his seat of meditation a totally different man. He is not the man who went to the seat of meditation. It is a complete transformation!
All movements in the Cosmos are elliptical, and therefore, the diagram of the ellipse represents our Cosmos. If that ellipse is half-buried, what would be seen on the surface is a SHIVA LINGA. So, the SHIVA LINGA represents the manifested and therefore, vividly visible part of the Cosmos, which is supported by the other part of the ellipse which is hidden from our vision. Thus, the universe of names and forms is the LINGA (symbol) for the Lord who supports it all.
A time when the usual world of plurality is blanketed away from our awareness of Pure infinite Subjective Experience is that which is indicated by SHIVARATRI. In order that it may come to the masses and the average man may spend time in lifting his mind, turning his mind’s attention to the Lord, it has been brought into a very significant ritual, dedicating this day to Lord Shiva. On this auspicious day, seekers rededicate themselves to the subjective science and the pursuit of excellence in their daily lives.In the present state of your ego, it sees very clearly MAHADEVA with name, form and all properties. When the ego in you through surrender to MAHADEVA comes to experience the awakening, the Essential Reality, that MAHADEVA represents a State of Eternal Auspiciousness and Bliss – SADASHIVA. Therefore, consistent and sincere sadhana is the bridge. Offer all your Rajas and Tamas to MAHADEVA – that is true Archana. As the Sattva predominates in you, your inner equipment become extremely pure and therefore steady in contemplation — there you experience SADASHIVA.
A spiritual seeker’s sole purpose is to destroy the ego, and the “non-apprehension of the Reality” (Avidya), which is the cause for it. Where this destruction is complete, the very Lord of Destruction, SHIVA “alone” remains. Hence Lord Shiva is represented, often, as the Lord of Meditation. The ability inherent in us to destroy an undesirable thought in us is the “Shiva-Shakti”, the spirit of detachment. Invoking this “power-divine”, we, with the Grace of Lord Shiva, progress on our march from imperfections to PERFECTION.
Quietened mind becomes contemplative and it becomes the grand way for realising the Shiva-State of Perfection. In the heat of contemplation, our vasanas get burnt down and if anything is burnt, it becomes the white ashes and theses ashes become an ornament “Bhooshana” of Lord Shiva. Beyond all vasanas is the PURE SELF.
In Dhyan, the Mind, the seat of the separative Ego-centre melts and the relationships of I-seperate-from-my- Shiva….rolls off; the final experience is “I-am-Shiva.” This is ISHWARA DARSHAN — the vision in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum, in the Temple.
The process of Constructive Destruction is SHIVA, the Annihilator. Thus SHIVARATRI is the destruction of Ego in the discovery of the Self – SHIVA.
May all devotees come to experience at least the shy rays of the early dawn at the end of one’s own inner “ratri” in the emerging beams of the Shiva-Spirit in us. Be quiet. Be silent within. Blind. Deaf. Mum. BE….. Invoke. Be expectant. Let SHIVA happen. TRY….. May Lord Shiva’s Grace be upon all during this SHIVARATRI celebration!!
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