Today is a very big festival for Indians, the festival of Maha Shivaratri. This day is considered to be the most auspicious day to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva. Shiva is known as the Lord of the destroyer, that does not mean that he is only destroying things in our life. It means that only when the old gets destroyed the new begin. He is the creator, the protector and the transformer.
The day is considered to be one with very high energies, hence the traditions say that on this night one should not sleep and perform meditation, because when the spine is erect one can feel those energies within them.
Maha Shivaratri is the celebration of the divine union of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, it is believed that they were married on this day and it is the Night of Lord Shiva's union with his beloved. There is also another story to it, which is that there was a churning of the ocean that had taken place by all the evil spirits of the world and a lot of poison was released in the churning, which Lord Shiva drank it and saved the world, which also changed his own color to blue.
This day is celebrated in the Lunar month of Phalguna as per the Hindu calendar and it is celebrated a day before the new moon. A lot of people also observe fast on this day. In Mumbai just behind my home is one of the biggest Shiva Temple, the Bablunath Temple and I go there very often. On Maha Shivaratri day at any given time there is a long queue and it will take around 4 to 5 hours to visit the temple, the queue goes up all through the road and special arrangements are made for the devotees. I would go there by 4 a.m. but still 3 to 4 hours it would take easily to get to the temple on this day.
At the Isha centre in Coimbatore is the biggest statue of Lord Shiva. I visited there a few years back and felt so good witnessing and experiencing this place. Isha centre is a very sacred place which has been founded by Sadhguru, it's a spiritual retreat where programs are offered and also one can go and stay there and participate in their activities. I have visited it once and after that have been wanting to go again but not getting the opportunity. Possibly will visit it soon.
Lord Shiva is considered to be a very tough task master and cannot be pleased very easily. Lord Shiva's blessings means spiritual growth, enlightenment, and liberation from worldly desires. He is not the one who is going to bless you with material gains, rather his blessings will lead you to a path of liberation from all the worldly material attachments.
On this day there is no statue of Lord Shiva that is worshipped, what is worshipped is the Shiv Ling, which is an abstract representation of Lord Shiva. It is the power of all existence and a symbol of fertility at the cosmic level.
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