Sivaratri Lore

Sivaratri Lore

The great importanace of the day is that Shiva got married to Parvathi on this day...

Another legend is that in the course of Armritha Madhanam, the serpent Vasuki spewed out Halahalam or Kaalakoodam.. a poison capable of destroying the whole universe, and there was no one to save us.. The merciful Lord simply took the poison in his hands and put it into him mouth.. Matha Parvathi, realizing the fact that the Lord Carried the whole universe in His abdomen, caught hole of his neck so that the poison did not drip in.. Lord Vishnu ensured that the poison did not come out by closing the Lord's Mouth.. So the poison stuck to the Lords Neck and he became Neelagreeva.. 

The poison is said to have scorching effect and so Dhaara of cool water and other substances like milk, Ghee, Fruit Paste, Sandalpaste etc are offered throughout all Yaamams to the lord to the chanting of Sree Rudram..

Then to drive home the fact that Shiva is very much pleased if someone does some services to him on this day.. there is the hunters story..

A hunter wandered around a forest all through the day without much success in catching any birds or animals land was extremely hungry and desperate.. Night fell, and he did not have the strength to return to his abode.. So, with a lot of difficulty he climbed a tree expecting to be perched there for the nights sleep.. However, the impossible hunger did not permit him to sleep.. Sitting there atop the tree and ruing his fate, he was plucking the leaves from the branches of the tree and throwing them down carelessly throughout the night.. And the tree happened to be a sacred tree of Bilvam and a Shivalingam had formed underneath.. The leaves thrown down formed night long archana with bilvam to Shiva.. And the hunters cold sweat and tears flew down as the cooling abhishekam for the Lord..

The Lord was extremely pleased..

The hunter went his way not knowing the wealth of divine grace he had earned..

When the hunters last day arrived Yama sent his messengers to bring the fellow to his world, but Lord Siva, sent his servants to the place to carry the fellow to the Holy Sivaloka, because he has, though unintentionally, offered Bilvaarchana and Abhishekam to the Lord on the Sivaratri day, keeping awake all through the night..

veera swargam and last rites

There was a discussion on the issue that when a warrior dies in a battle, he would reach heaven and in such cases, the obituary rites like offering balls of rice or pinda for a dead soldier was a contradiction in Hinduism.

My evaluation of the situation is as follows.

Here we are faced with extraordinary rules and dicta given forth to praise certain activities and qualities like Kshatra Dharma.. and the conclusion that those dead in battle would reach heaven even without any pindam..


But, while making such declarations, it has to be noted tha nowhere, the basic rules common to all are ever declared as kept suspended..

So the man on earth and surviving has to follow the majority rule, or the rule of the majority as well as the extraordinary rules so long as they do not conflict with one another..
The crunch will be there only if there is an overruling or exclusive provision that those who die in battle should not be offered pindam..
Actually such a rule is there for those who die after assuming sannyasam..

So there is no conflict here..
If there is a rule that one should eat rice, and another rule that one should eat wheat, both can be followed alternately or even jointly. The problem will arise only if there is a rule that nothing other than rice should be eaten, or nothing other than wheat should be eaten..
Here there is not such stipulation.. And therefore there is no contradiction too.

measure of success.

But I wonder what is the exact measure of success...

Ultimately, if I can convince myself at the end of the day that it was not wasted, I can say I was successful.. But after all the show of mirth and boisterousness, if I am retiring to bed in the night with a feeling of emptiness, I am unsuccessful..

And about talent... I have to state that the feeling of fulfillment will visit us after satisfying many factors, and talent can play only a minor role or even no role at all in the process..

If a dog wanders all the day, even limping and sick, and finally it manages to eat some muck and could yell in satisfaction, its day is made.. But if the same dogs keeps vigil as a sentry to its master all day long, and for some silly reason it is kicked by its master then its day is completely lost.. 

Where does talent come in here? And are we much better that that dog?

bright light after darkness

true, we enjoy nice things as even nicer when we have had occasion to come in contact with ugly things...

सुखं हि दुखानि अनुभूय शोभते घनान्धकारेषु इव दीप दर्शनं

sukham hi duhkaanyanubhooya shobathey ghanaandakaareshu iva deepadarshanam..

. this is a quote from Mrichchakatikam.. the famous Sanskrit Drama of Poet Shoodraka... 

meaning... 

"pleasures and comforts in life look very bright and excessively blissful, when we attain those after suffering a lot of sorrow.. It is like seeing the bright wick of a lamp suddenly after getting mired in pitch darkness... "

But my point is, even though some darkness may be of some use to us, we need not seek out darkness just to find greater pleasure in brightness..

If our complexion is black.. I am blessed with that, and I use some talcum powder to look fair, it is okay.. 

But a person with fair complexion need not smear his face with soot and then wash it off to prove that he is having a reddish complexion..