Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – Shivaratri Midnight – March 5, 2019 – Mysore
Compiled by Parimala Eshwarla
Namaśśivāyādbhuta vigrahāya te
Namaśśivāyādbhuta vikramāya te
Namaśśhivāyā-khila-nāyakāya te
Namaśśivāyā-mrta hētavē namaḥ
Meaning: O Shiva! Your form is wondrous. Your prowess fills us with absolute astonishment. You are the Lord for the entire universe and also the Lord of liberation. To You, I offer many obeisances.
Just as one deity (Devata) takes on the responsibility of showering the person with intelligence, another deity takes the responsibility of blessing the person with wealth and yet another deity takes on the responsibility of blessing him/her with beauty, similarly the deity who takes on the responsibility of freeing the living entity from further re-births and who is the Lord for all other deities, is addressed as Maha-deva or Shiva.
The day of His incarnation is celebrated as Shivaratri. On such an auspicious day, the mind of the devotee must be solely fixed upon the lotus feet of this Lord while the tongue should solely be engaged in extolling His glories. Hands must be engrossed in worshipping Him while ears must be engrossed in listening to His glories. The eyes must drink Him in while the intellect must be solely focussed upon Him. When all the senses are thus engaged solely in His activities, His grace falls upon us and He will bless us by casting His loving glance. Lord Shiva will shower upon us that ultimate state after attaining which there will be nothing more left to be attained!
In the ancient past, it so happened that the Lord of love (kāma) arrogantly tried to direct his lusty arrows towards Lord Shiva desiring to conquer Him. Contrary to his expectations, he was reduced to ashes by the gaze of the Lord.
At another time, Yama, the Lord of death, prided in his supremacy and tried to snatch away the life of little Markandeya, who was totally engrossed in worship of Lord Shiva. Angered at Yama’s audacity, Lord Shiva violently kicked Yama on his chest thereby completely subduing his arrogance. He thus established that He was the ultimate supreme ruler of time.
In another instance, when the entire universe was being engulfed by the kālakūṭa poison, the inhabitants of all the three worlds were being badly tormented. There was none in the creation who could counter its effect. Observing this pitiable condition of the living entities and the helplessness of other celestials in setting right the situation, the ever-compassionate Lord Shiva stepped forward. Swiftly he caught the poison and gulped it down as easily as one would gulp down a tiny fruit. He then held the poison in His throat.
Thus, it is evident that to this Lord there is no goal more supreme than saving the world and its inhabitants. Impressed by His extra-ordinary deeds, Mother Goddess praised Him saying, ‘O Lord! I am so proud of You, who are eternally engaged in seeking the well-being of the creation. Inspired by You, I too desire to get involved in ensuring the well-being of this creation. Hence, permit me to occupy half of Your body’. When she thus pleaded, the innocent Lord granted her wish without even reflecting over her demand for even a second.
On this auspicious day, life is rendered fruitful by endlessly chanting the five-sylalled mantra ‘Om Namaḥ Shivaya’. He who manifests in the form of this sacred mantra, burns down all sins while fulfilling the desires of the devotee.
Omkāra mantra saṃyuktaṃ nityam dhyāyanti yoginaḥ
Kāmadaṃ mokṣadaṃ tasmai ‘Om’kārāya namo namah
I offer manifold obeisances to Lord Shiva who, at all times, fulfills all the desires of the devotees, who also bestows them with liberation, who is the essence of the ‘Om’ mantra and who is the object of meditation for all supreme yogis.
Namaste dēvadēvēśa namaste paramēśwara
Namaste vŗṣabhāruḍha ‘na’kārāya namō namaḥ
O Lord of all Lords! To You, I offer obeisance. O Supreme Lord! To You, I offer obeisance. O Lord who has mounted the bull! To You, I offer obeisance. O Lord, who manifests in the form of the syllable ‘Na’ in the five-syllabled mantra (namah shivāya), I offer obeisance.
Mahādevam mahātmānaṃ mahā-pātaka nāśanaṃ
Mahāpāpa haraṃ vande ‘Ma’ kārāya namō namaḥ
I bow to Lord Rudra who is the most supreme of all the deities, who possesses the most supreme mind, who destroys even the worst sins such as the sin of killing a Brahmin and frees us from all other such sins. I offer obeisance to that Lord who has the syllable ‘Ma’ (in the five-syllabled mantra) as His form.
Śivaṃ śāntam jagannathaṃ lokānugraha kāranaṃ
Śivamēkaṃ paraṃ vande ‘Śi’ kārāya namō namaḥ
I offer obeisance to Lord Shiva who is the embodiment of auspiciousness, who is the refuge for one and all, who possesses absolute control over His mind and senses, who is the protector for all the worlds, whose grace flows upon all the creatures in all the worlds, who is the best among all and who is the only essence that exists. I bow to Him who manifests as the ‘Śi’ syllable in the five-syllabled mantra (Namah-shivāya).
Vahanaṃ vŗṣabhō yasya vāsukiḥ kanthabhūṣaṇaṃ
Vāmē śaktidharaṃ vande ‘Va’ kārāya namō namah
I offer obeisance to Lord Shiva who retains the bull Nandi as His vehicle, who wears the snake Vāsuki as an ornament around His neck, and who retains His spouse Parvati as the other half in His body. To Him, who manifests as the ‘Va’ in the five-syllabled mantra, I bow.
Yatrakutra sthitaṃ devam sarvavyāpina mīśvaram
Yallingaṃ pujayēnityam ‘Ya’kārāya namō namah
I offer obeisance to Lord Shiva who pervades everything in creation, who is Self-luminous, who is eternally revered, who manifests as every symbolic depiction of the Lord and who accepts worship offered to all His varied forms. Again and again I bow to Him who manifests as the ‘Ya’ syllable of the five-syllabled mantra.
River Ganga is addressed as Tripathaga i.e. she who flows through all the three planes of existence (heaven, earth and netherworlds). Do you know that she could earn this unique status purely through Lord Shiva’s grace?
In His incarnation as the dwarf Vāmana, Lord Srihari had measured the entire cosmos with His feet. When He was measuring the universal egg, His toe-nail pierced the outer layer of the egg, causing the waters of Ganga to seep into the universe. The environs of Ganga are eternally sacred. Those who live in her vicinity are blessed with purity and cleanliness. Being conversant with this fact, Lord Brahma immediately retained Ganga in his water-pot. Learning of her sacredness, the celestials beseeched Lord Brahma and with his permission retained her in heavens.
The Trinity, who observed her flowing only in heavens, opined that it was incorrect to deny the denizens of earth and the netherworlds of the chance to be bestowed with sacredness, merit and purity. They used Emperor Bhagiratha as a tool to bring her from heaven to earth. The force of Ganga who was gushing mightily from the skies appeared to drown the entire earth! At such a critical juncture, Lord Shiva rushed forth and retained her, who was gushing forcefully, upon His head. Without allowing even a drop to flow out, He bound her tightly in His locks and thereby saved earth from being washed away.
Gradually reducing her force, He allowed only a little of the water to flow out on to the earth. From then on, Mother Ganga has been showering blessedness on the denizens of earth as well as the netherworlds. Through this act of bringing her down, Lord Shiva has blessed us abundantly. This magnanimous Lord has gifted away every belonging of His to others while He himself remains dressed like a mendicant. In fact, through this attire, He remains a symbol of sacrificial nature.
This Lord who is an ocean of compassion and an embodiment of love can easily be pleased. He showers abundant blessings irrespective of whether the person offers Him worship knowingly or unknowingly. Destroying all their sins He showers them with all forms of auspiciousness and uplifts them. The story of Guṇanidhi stands proof of this.
For being a notorious miscreant Guṇanidhi was abandoned by his family and ostracized from his village. Bereft of any shelter, food and water he wandered from one forest to another aimlessly. One night he came across a temple wherein festivities were in full swing. Hoping to obtain some food, Guṇanidhi walked into the temple. Little did he know that it was the night of Shivaratri. While waiting for some food to be served, he sat witnessing the pujas, abhishekas and homas. He heard the songs being devotionally sung. When they loudly chanted ‘Om Namah Shivaya’, he too joined the chorus.
It was midnight. Observing that the assembled devotees had slowly drifted into deep sleep, Guṇanidhi neared the place where prasadams were kept. To dispel the darkness and to enable him to spot the food clearly, he tore a portion of his garment and lit a lamp using it. With the aid of that lamp, he located the prasadam vessels, grabbed a vessel containing the prasadam and quickly tried to escape. In that eagerness to escape, he stamped the foot of a devotee who was asleep in the temple premises. The screams from the startled devotee awakened the other devotees. Seeing Gunanidhi with the pot of prasadam and presuming him to be a thief, all of them collectively chased him. Guṇanidhi who was trying to escape, ran around the temple unknowingly circumambulating the idol. The devotees however caught him and beat him to death.
The attendants of Yama, the Lord of death, arrived to take Guṇanidhi to the abode of Yama. However, they were halted by the attendants of Shiva, who upon arriving there garlanded Guṇanidhi. Addressing the attendants of Yama they said,
‘Guṇanidhi now belongs to us. On the auspicious night of Shivaratri, he participated in all rituals pertaining to Shiva. For having worshipped Shiva on this day, he is rewarded with residence in Kailasa, the abode of Shiva. All his sins have been dispelled and he is filled with limitless merit’ -saying so, they led Guṇanidhi to Kailasa.
Some time later, Guṇanidhi was reborn on earth and was named Dama. He became the king of Kalinga province. The merit earned in his previous births caused him to encourage lighting of oil lamps in the various Shiva temples all through his kingdom. He propagated Shiva worship. This merit caused Dama to be reborn as Kubera in his subsequent birth. In this birth he extensively worshipped Shiva. His worship, in which his heart overflowed with devotion, was supremely pleasing to Lord Shiva. In great elation, the Lord appointed Kubera as the Guardian-deity for the Northern direction. He was made the Lord for all forms of prosperity.
Not stopping with that, the Lord reached out to Kubera and made him his close friend (Sakha). For this reason, Lord Shiva is addressed as Kubera-sakha.
It is thus imperative that Shivaratri, which abundantly blesses a person and which uplifts him, must be utilized wisely. Skanda Purana declares that those who diligently abide by the Shivaratri disciplines are freed from the shackles of re-birth.
O Lord Sharva! To You, who exist as earth and who offer utmost protection, I offer obeisance. Om Sharvāya Kṣtimūrtaye namah.
O Lord Bhava! To You, who exist in water, who enlivens the worlds and who protects us water disasters! I offer obeisance to You. Om Bhavāya Jalamūrtaye namah.
O Lord Rudra! Existing as fire, You illumine all the worlds. To You, who protects us from fire disasters and who subdues all enemies, I offer obeisance. Om Rudrāya agnimūrtaye namah.
O Lord Ugra! Existing as wind, You dispel the poisonous winds thereby offering protection to the world. To You, I offer obeisance. Om Ugrāya vāyumūrtaye namah.
O Lord Bhima! Existing as space, You pervade everything while destroying all wicked objects. To You, I offer obeisance. Om Bheemāya ākāśamūrtaye namah.
O Lord Ishāna! To You who supply all the nutrients required for the sustenance of Earth and who, through Your form as the Sun sustain the Earth, I offer obeisance. Om Iśāṇāya suryamurtaye namah.
O Lord Mahadeva! To You, who in the form of the Moon shower us with nectar through Your cooling rays, thereby dispelling all mental agitations and diseases and enlivening all entities, I offer obeisance. Om Mahādevāya Soma murtaye namah.
O Lord Paśupati! To You who in the form of the performer of Yagnas, commence Yagnas seeking the well-being of the world and its inhabitants, I offer obeisance. Om Paśupataye- yajamānamūrtaye namah.
O Deva! O Swami! May Your compassionate gaze fall in all directions! With Your grace may all the calamities that have befallen earth be wiped away! May the wicked be blessed with a good mind! May peace prevail everywhere!