It would be nice if you could share how you had spent this shivaratri. Here is my story.
There are various versions of the story of Shivaratri – here is the one close to what I’d been told:
‘A hunter was roaming in the jungle on the bank on the Kolidum River. He was chasing after a deer when he heard the growl of a tiger. He ran as fast as he could and climbed up a tree nearby. The tiger stood at the foot of the tree, and did not leave. All through the night, the hunter had to stay up in the tree. Afraid that he would fall if he fell asleep, he gently plucked one leaf after another from the tree and threw it down.
At the foot of the tree was a Shiva Linga (an image of Lord Shiva). Without realizing it, the hunter, who was sitting on a vilva tree, threw the leaves down at the Linga. The tiger left in at sunrise. The hunter looked down, and found that the tiger was gone, and in its place stood Lord Shiva. The hunter prostrated in front of Shiva and received mukti-the release from the cycle of birth and death’.
Source: Indiadivine: A Discourse on Shivaratri by Swami Sivananda
One important point to note above, is that, atleast in the version of the story familiar to me – the hunter was completely illiterate and innocent, and had no knowledge at all about Shiva. He was not even thinking that he was worshipping. He had no intellectual opinions whatsoever, which could form barriers for himself. So a perfect candidate for the murderer’s club 🙂
Currently am thoroughly enjoying reading Dialogue with Death by Eknath Easwaran. Its been an excellent read so far, starting with a very informal yet thought provoking description of the story of Nachiketha, the young teenager who set out to encounter and learn from Yama, the God of Death.
One valuable point in the beginning of the book that the author makes is…
“In Hindu mythology, I should explain, there is a great deal of personification. Forces of nature and of the mind are represented in gods, goddesses, and daemons; states of consciousness become unearthly realms.”
So just my personal view, this is where we need to look, this is where we need to celebrate Shivaratri. My first preference was to simply experiment – by trying to emulate the hunter’s circumstances – no food (anyway I’d taken nothing after breakfast except water), sitting isolated, just mesmerised in total concentration all night.
But anyway since other family members + one more elderly lady (neighbour) were also there, a plan B looked more appealing. Beautiful writeup on Mahashivaratri by Bellur, listed various events.
Considering that jokes are a way to God, we concurred on another item on Bellur’s post Nage Habba, Malleswaram Ground, 6.30 p.m. – festival of laughter – comedians who would perform all night in Malleswaram Grounds!
Well we did come home well after midnight since my neighbor had never stayed up so late and was becoming impatient. But had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves anyway. Not just the comedians, even the huge crowd of 100s was a wonderfully attentive and responsive audience.
[Btw I tried to stay up for the rest of the night to revert to Plan A but fell asleep! 
]
Anyway here are a couple of more short video clips taken on that night… its all in Kannada.
The super hit of the night (while we were around) was Mahabharata’s Draupadi Vastraabharana as Ravi Belegare of Crime Diary fame would’ve narrated it. [Will update the comedian’s name as well shortly]
If you know Kannada, its just fantastic and really worth the wait to view the videos (audio is more important).
Leave a Reply to bellur ramakrishna Cancel reply