Thursday, March 7, 2013

Mahashivaratri - the great night of Lord Shiva

As per Hindu calendar fourteenth day of Krishna paksha of every month is called Shivaratri. However fourteenth day of Krishna paksha of Maagh month is treated as a special day and is called as Mahashivaratri. This year Mahashivaratri is falling on March 10.

They say whoever worships Lord Shiva on this auspicious day achieves all auspicious gains. The practice is to observe fast throughout the day by remaining on fruits and then break the fast only in the next morning. On this day there is also a practice to keep vigil throughout the night by continuously worshipping Lord Shiva in various ways – singing his bhajans, performing rudra abhishek, chanting his holy name.

Even more gain one achieves if one visits and worships Lord Shiva at Shri Shailam, located in Andhra Pradesh. It is a belief that Lord Shrirama himself installed sahasralinga at this place and later Pandavas also installed more lingas, collectively called as panchapandavalingas. The place is also referred to as Sri Parvat (Shail means parvat, mountain). The main deities worshipped here are Shri Mallikarjuna (Lord Shiva) and Shri Bhramaramba (Mother Parvati).

This year it is also a special combination of days. March 9 happens to be Trayodashi – 13th day of Krishna paksha. Since it falls on Saturday, it is called Shanipradosha. Shanipradosha vrat is usually performed for acquiring good children. They say that Mother Yashoda in her previous birth witnessed pradosha puja of Lord Shiva performed by her the then son. Just witnessing a worship of Lord Shiva, in her next birth, she got an opportunity to be the mother of God himself, Lord Shrikrishna.

Last year we posted procedure to perform worship of Lord Shiva on pradosha day.

Here are few additional useful links for performing worship of Lord Shiva.

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