During the night which happened to be Shivaratri too.. (and shivaratri occurs every month.. but this occurred on the Shivaratri of Kumbham.. ) a hunter who had wandered all around a forest and had remained without food for the entire day, climbed up a tree, and tried to sleep atop that tree.
It so happened that it was a Bilva tree and a Shivalingam was placed below..
In hunger and desperation, the hunter was plucking the leaves and throwing them down at the head of the Lord Shiva throughout the night.. and by the morning after a night long vigil of utter sleeplessness.. he fell down at the feet of the Lord and attained Shivaloka..
In commemoration of that incident, people just fast during the day and and offer pooja to shiva on all the four yamas of the night..
Shivaratri is the time of that lord of time Mahaakaalaa. and keeping awake is just a ritual.. For him the wakefulness or sleeping of anyone matters very little..
Doing any service to Shiva even unknowingly makes one emancipated..
The innocent worship of that hunter is celebrated this day..
The story of Mahabali is a case study.. In his previous life, he was a rat.. and he was roaming around the sanctum of a dilapidated Shiva temple. A weak solitary wick of an oil lamp was shedding light for the Lord..And the lamp was about to be put out because the tip of the wick was getting submerged into the oil..
The confused rat ran around and pulled the wick... and the lamp shone again in all its brightness..
And for this service without any intention, the rat was born as an Emperor and finally reached the lotus feet of Vishnu too..
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