Shiva’s Third Eye

The 14th day of every month or the day before the new moon which is the darkest night in the lunar month, is known as Shivratri. Mahashivratri is the most powerful of the 12 Shivratris in a year for on this day the planetary positions, especially in the northern hemisphere, are such that there is a natural upsurge of energies in the human system.

In the yogic tradition, Shiva is not worshipped as a god but considered as the Adi Guru, the first Guru from whom knowledge originated. For the ascetics that is the day he became one with Kailash; he became like a mountain, absolutely still. After many millennia in meditation, one day He became absolutely still; that day is Mahashivratri.

THE THIRD EYE

Shiva is referred to as Triambaka because he has a third eye, the eye of vision. The two eyes are sensory organs; they feed the mind with nonsense because what you see is not the truth. You see a person, you think something about him; but you are not able to see the Shiva in him. These two eyes don’t see the truth, so another eye, an eye of deeper penetration, has to be opened. In our tradition, knowing doesn’t mean reading books, knowing doesn”t mean listening to someone, knowing doesn”t mean getting information from here and there. Knowing means opening up a new vision into life.

So, true knowing means your third eye has to open up. If your third eye is not opened then there is no way you can see Shiva. On Mahashivratri day, nature brings that possibility close to you. Everyday it is possible; it is not that you will have to wait for this day. But this day it is easier.

One of the prescriptions for Shivratri is that you do not lie down in horizontal positions; you remain in a vertical position. Allow Him to be; for you are not. Shiva means ”that which is not”. If you become like that the possibility of opening up new vision into life, looking at life with clarity, is possible. Any amount of thinking or philosophising will not bring clarity into your mind. Only when vision opens there is clarity. Nobody, no situation, can distort this clarity within you. But the logical clarity you create, anybody can distort it. So today is an opportunity for you to become a “Triambaka”, to open your third eye.

For those who are family-oriented, Mahashivratri is Shiva”s wedding anniversary. For ascetics, it is Stillness Day, when He became one with Kailash. The ambitious see it as the day Shiva overcame his enemies.

This day is also very special in the yogic tradition. Modern science has gone through many phases to conclude that everything you know as life, matter and Existence, and everything you know as the cosmos, is all just one energy manifesting itself in millions of ways. This reality is an experiential reality in every yogi; the word yogi means just that. Yoga means union. A yogi is one who has known the oneness of existence. All longing to know the unbounded, all longing to know the oneness in existence is yoga. Shivratri offers an opportunity to experience this.

Traditionally, Shivratri is observed as a day of sadhna, as a day of intensifying the spiritual processes. We need to be aware, awake, focused, and vertical also. So various situations should be created to combine powerful meditation and celebration, that will keep us ever awake metaphorically.

According to tradition, the planetary positions on this night are such that there is a powerful natural upsurge of energy in the human system. It is said to be beneficial for one’s physical and spiritual well-being to stay awake and aware throughout the night. On this day, artists from various fields such as classical music and dance perform the whole night. This Shivaratri, let’s not just stay awake, but get awakened. 
Source : Speaking Tree