Maha Shivratri – The Cosmic Dance

The festival of Maha Shivratri is celebrated throughout India. Devotees perform pooja in Shiva temples, fast, sing hymns and distribute prasad. These are the superficial ritualistic aspects. But what is the real significance of Maha Shivratri?

Self-realized souls, who conceived this festival, intended to convey the dance of life and the original essence of creation. It is difficult to communicate this through words. Hence, such stories and festivals were conceived.

Maha Shivratri symbolizes the Tandav dance of Lord Shiva. If this profound truth has to be explained through a story, it would be narrated as follows.

Millions of years ago, when the world was not created, when all there was was God and He felt the need to express Himself. He felt like communicating with Himself; to show Himself His vast potential. But how can one tell oneself about whatever lies within one’s potential? There was no one else with whom to communicate. Hence, He started dancing – the famous Tandav! Thus, all this Leela – the worldly illusion, the whole cosmos was danced into existence.

Before the creation of the world, even light didn’t exit. Day and night occurred only after the world came into existence. Hence, it is called Maha-Shiv-Ratri (the great night of Lord Shiva).

When you wave a lighted incense stick in the air in circles at top speed, what do you see? All you see is a circle of light. The dance of the burning point creates the illusion of a circle of light. Similarly, the dance of Shiva creates the illusion of this world. While the incense stick moves fast, only the circle of light is visible; the burning point is invisible. Similarly, the living essence – Lord Shiva – is invisible in the dance of life. You cannot perceive both Lord Shiva and also His dance at the same time. Either you can see the Dancer or His dance – the Leela of the world.

Myths about God exist because people are unable to experience the presence of the Creator in the creation; they are unable to spot the Dancer in the cosmic dance.

Is it possible to see both? In this Leela of the world, when you raise your awareness, slow down your thoughts and pause to look within yourself through the practice of meditation, it is possible to experience the Dancer – the conscious essence of life. When you meditate, you shift into absolute stillness beyond thoughts. You can connect and experience Lord Shiva within yourself. You do experience it every night in deep sleep as well. But in sleep, you identify with the Self in ignorance; you are in that state, but you are not aware of it.

So where is the Dancer? We don’t need to go anywhere to meet this Dancer. The Dancer is our very essence!

Through the practice of meditation with right guidance, you can become wakefully aware of this original state. Let us celebrate Maha Shivratri with this understanding and endeavor to experience Lord Shiva within us.