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Maha Shivarathri - The
Night dedicated to Eashwara  Photos: Shivarathri has been among the most spiritually signifying events in a festive galore Prasanthi Nilayam. …and the festivity has had a unique trail to this Divine Abode that dated back to the early 1940s when the Master Indweller of this Home of Supreme Peace, had come out with the most significant declaration after the times of Bhagawan Sri Krishna, revealing The Sai Advent.…and with Lord Shiva in physical Shivarathri was never again a choice, rather, it was a compelling benediction. Shivarathri in the immediate Divine Presence of Shiva Himself and this remarkable distinction is the uniqueness of the festivity in Prasanthi Nilayam. The Festival of Austerity Maha Shivarathri is perhaps the only festival that has this attribute to its credit. This is the holy occasion when the jiva remembers and adores Shiva, who is the life of lives and the Lord of all souls, who through His cosmic dance, a metaphorical representation of life on earth, conglomerates the three acts of the Godhead, namely, creation, preservation and destruction… Bhagawan has said: all that you find in this world, mobile and immobile, is nothing but the Cosmic Dance of Shiva. This is wonderful, blissful and beyond human comprehension… Maha Shivarathri means `the Great Night of Shiva. According to the Sivapurana, it falls on the Krishna Chathurdasi day which is on the fourteenth day during the waning of the moon in the month of Megha, though in some years it may occur in the month of Phalguna. The Legend This festival has a unique tale that dates back to the ancient times. The legend has it that in the ancient city of Srisylam a thief with a keen desire to plunder a Shiva Temple goes there with the intention and patiently waits behind the ‘Lamp of the Lingam.' Crowds come and go and the thief waits for the appropriate time for his plunge into the treasures of Lord Shiva. Hours and hours pass on, and lo! He waits patiently. At last everybody leaves the temple and the thief is left alone in the night in the midst of a cyclonic weather! Suddenly an unknown fear envelops the thief and in spite of himself being a thief, he starts muttering ‘Shiva, Shiva'. The great irony behind this is that the man though he is only a thief, has fortunately reached the fag-end of his Prarabdha Karma and a little Japa proves sufficient for liberation, as in the case of Ajamila in the epic ‘Bhagavatam'. Now in his great concentration in invoking Lord Shiva, the Lord appears. Having pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva liberates him! In the highest abode of Lord Shiva at Prasanthi Nilayam, the festivity assumes a different dimension compared to the traditional Shivarathri celebrations across the country. In the late fifities, sixties and seventies, Shivarathri had become synonymous with the most coveted mystic occurance called ‘Lingodbhavam’. There were occasions when a record number of eighteen lingams emerged out through the divine gullet on the sacred occasion. Hoisting the Prasanthi Flag atop the Mandir by the Divine Hands, symbolically signifying a successful sadhaka who achieves realisation through the conquest of evil qualities is another feature of the festivity of olden days. This would invariably be followed by illuminating Divine Discourses. At a time when the surging crowd in anticipation of Lingodbhavam become multiplied in large proportion year after year, in 1978 Bhagawan had decided to stop the phenomenon of Lingodbhavam in the public. There could definitely be apparent reason behind this action that would be incomprehensible to the ordinary minds with limited understanding and blurred spiritual vision. Yet again after a gap of twenty long years, in 1999, Bhagawan re-enacted the feat of sixties and seventies, blessing thousands and thousands assembled in Sai Kulwant Hall to witness the mystic phenomenon, on the sacred Shivarathri occasion. Eversince this has been a regular feature for the full public view all years except in the year 2005 when it was announced in advance that there would not be any Lingodbhavam that year.  The
miraculous feat of Lingodbhavam is one of the greatest boons
conferred on to the humanity by Bhagawan and for Bhagawan it is
a very natural phenomenon as He embodies the Shiva Principle. As
was attributed by Bhagwan time and again about the feature of
His miracles, Miracles are My visiting cards, the Lingodbhavam
serves a clarion call to humanity to realise that everyone is
essentially Shiva alone and by digging deep into the inner
shrine of one’s own existence one is certain to know that he/she
is nothing but Shivam alone…Shivarathri undelies this Shivoham
Principle.   |
