The halo of Shiva – Shiva Ratri
AbOUT "ShiVa Ratri"
Lord Shiva is considered as the most potent and powerful devata in Hindu religion. Amongst the three primordial lords, He is the one. He is pictured as the destroyer of this universe and all its contents. A devotee hence asks for His blessings so that all of us can sustain through all the hardships of life and get bestowed with material gain, sound health and mental uplift. This ceremony of "Shiva Ratri''" is commenced every year in the spring season in Krishna Chaturdashi The ritual is based on offerings of five fruits, leaves called “bilwa patra” flowers, water taken from river ganga, milk, purified butter, curd, honey and sandal paste. The ritual goes throughout the night in four intervals. The devotee pours the mixture of water, curd, milk, purified butter and sandal paste on the symbol of Shiva known as Shiva Linga which is either made of stone or earth called Parthiva Linga. As it is celebrated at night so it found its name as "Shiva Ratri''" where ratri means night in Sanskrit. This is what we can call the materialistic meaning form of this ritual. There is indeed a subtle and deeper interpretation of this ritual which can only be felt by those who has got a deep insight into the realms of spiritualism.
Interpretation
According to Hindu mythology this universe has generated and evolved from a dimension less point which evolved itself followed by expansion. This expansion from one-to-many is called the Brahma, the lord of creation. To sustain this expanding universe in a balanced and ordered way another massive power is identified which was named as Vishnu. As all things comes to an end so too this expanding universe will fall back to its core and reverse (many-to-one) process shall overpower the creative force and all shall crunch to a single dimension less point and dissolve into the same energy reservoir which created it. This energy was termed as Shiva the lord of destruction. Basically these three forces which creates, sustains and destroys are the facets of the same power. Shiva is the end of the horizon. In front of him everything loses its value and identity. Everything becomes uniform and dissolves into singularity. There is no force which can supersede this power. There is nothing left after it. Every diversified matter becomes one in that very point. Hence "Shiva" is depicted as the last goal of everything and the ultimate point of dissolution.
The reason behind it
Spring is the season of creation, celebration of new life with all its color, flamboyance and jovial features. It’s the time to rejoice and enjoy life. At this very moment it is quite natural that people forget about the last refuge which stays behind the scene and takes those happy moments as granted. Life at this juncture may get out of control. So men from the past rightfully introduced the aforesaid ritual in between this lively season. At night when nobody is near then only can a person become aware of his or her true existence. An existence which is independent of body, mind and everything alike Shiva Linga which doesn’t have a body and its features, it only has an existence. It says silently that "I am". In the morning there are all kinds of celebrations and at night there is a focus for complete dissolution. So the "Shiva Ratri''" coherently says to enjoy life, to carry forward our civilization and to grow in every filed but to remember the end we along with everything shall become one with Him. When all our false desires burns to ashes through renunciation and becomes a cremation ground then only our past and the present deeds shall not produce any further results to bind us. When our restless mind stills and dissolves into our soul then only the potential devotee can feel the rise of Shiva amidst that cremation ground of desires and see the halo of Shiva in the dark night. This is the essence of "Shiva Ratri''".