Significance of Shivaratri festival

Loknath Baba of Balangir

Abhisek ( the sacred bathing of the God) is a basic ritual of Shivratri. Pouring fresh water, Water of  the  river Ganga, milk, curd, honey, sugar, Ghee onto the Linga is worth during this worship. At least if someone chants the Panchakshyari Mantra  that is Namah Shivaya with the Pranab Ohm before that will also tremendously satisfies Lord Shiva. 

Shivratri is the festival of massive celebration with worship, chanting hymns, singing devotional songs and dancing among the devotees of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati. In 2011 this auspicious occasion will fall on 2nd of March.

To know the significance of 'ratri' or night in this occasion let us talk about the famous story provided in Hindu epics. In the dynasty of Ikshyaku there was a famous king named Chadrabhanu who used to perform this sacred worship along with his wife. Once, famous sage Astabakra requested him to tell about the performance of Shivratri. The king was a genius who could recall his past birth. He tells the lore that in his earlier birth he was a birdpreyer in the name of Suswar. Once on the 14th day of the waning moon in the month of ‘Phalguna’ when gone for firewood he lost his way in the forest and could not manage to notice the way to his home. As darkness deepen, terrified with the growling of wild animals he climbed to the nearest tree. Being afraid of falling off the tree he vigiled for the whole night and plucked and dropped leaves from that tree one after one. The result was outstanding. To his great good luck there was a natural Shivlinga beneath the tree where actually he had dropped the leaves and the tree was a Bael (Bilva) tree which is the most favorite of Lord Shiva. 

In this way unknowingly he performed all the rules of Shivaratri and hence blessed with 'Shiblok', the abode of Lord Shiva. That could be termed as the inception of Shivratri. (this story is the rare story found in webs till date, although present not originally as per the epics, One can refer to the hardcopy of the sources books given in the end of this article to get the proof)

Loknath Baba near P.R. High School, Balangir

Including the famous temples like Lingaraj in Bhubaneshwar, Harishankar in Balangir, Gupteshwar in Koraput and Kapilas in Dhenkanal in Orissa, this grand pious occasion is celebrated at all the Shiv temples.

Sources - Shree Ram Charit Manas and Shiv Puran.