MAHĀŚIVARĀTRĪ (Three Hours of Long-Term Prāṇa Adaptability)

INTRODUCTION
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Mahāśivarātrī (महाशिवरात्री) is a festival celebrated every year through an all-day fast, through an all-night long vigil, and by making offerings of Bael (Bilva, Aegle marmelos) leaves to Lord Śiva. Additionally, cannabis is traditionally used as an offering to Lord Śiva and his followers in certain ritualistic sections. Per scriptural and discipleship traditions, the penances are performed in order to gain boons in the practice of bīja meditation in Yoga and Tantra, to reach spiritual goals more swiftly, and to avoid rebirth. It is observed on Phālguna Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa कृष्ण पक्ष (waning moon) Trayodaśī / Caturdaśī (13/14th night) as per North Indian calendars, and on Māgha Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa कृष्ण पक्ष (waning moon) Trayodaśī / Caturdaśī as per Gujarat, Mahārāṣṭra, Karṇāṭaka and Andhra Pradesh calendars.

SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
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Mahā is the Omnipotent.
Śiva represents the combined Nirguṇa-Saguṇa, the limitless, all-pervasive energy, the supreme Tattva. Although a meaning of ‘rātri’ is ‘night’, it represents the state of Jagatrātrī, the void, the ether of nothingness that makes the Śiva Tattva imperceivable; it is inclusive of Jivarātrī (where we experience complete cessation of activity partially when we sleep). Rātri encapsulates all the light of day and of night within it like a black body.
On a spiritual level, it depicts the ignorance that we create from our sensory world and that we believe to be complete. It forces us to implode into the Śiva Tattva that is imperceivable, by breaking the linearity created by our sense organs. Only through this can we merge in the non-relative Truth / Satya of Self, the Śiva Tattva, as beautifully put forth by the Māndukya Upaniṣad; the Turiyā state of Self, beyond which one attains the state of Turiyātit where Ātma and Brahmā are one.

THE USE OF TRIFOLIATE BAEL (बिल्व) LEAVES
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A Śiva piṇḍi contains two types of pure particles (pāvitrakas) derived from: the āhata sound (that is produced by water falling onto its surface), and the anāhata (subtle) sound within which the āhata, the perceivable sound, is encapsulated in as linear projection. This pure projection of sound lies at the basis of the Māheśvara Sūtras, the foundational algorithms of creation, which are represented as the two points of a triangle by the two leaves of Bael. The third leaf completes the upward facing triangle of Śiva as depicted in the Śrīyantra. The tender leaves of Bael combine the perceivable and imperceivable source energy, and project it towards the self. These leaves are hence offered with their stalks facing oneself. The leaf is placed upside down on the piṇḍi. This way, the bindu within the Śrīyantra connoted as the Śiva Tattva is absorbed as a continuum of Prāṇa forces. The leaves are hence never offered on the śāḷuṅkā (base), but to the self-stirred, implosive eyes of Śiva.
Moreover, the leaves are offered at the precious Muhūrta of the Niśita Kāla, the eighth Muhūrta that spreads over forty-nine minutes, and which has to be arrived at with complex calculations. This Muhūrta denotes the absolute ether, the darkness of the Nirguṇa Śiva. At this time, the Śiva Tattva reveals itself as the bindu and as the yantra. Performing Bael Arpaṇa at this very Muhūrta, especially on a pure unadulterated Pārada Śivalinga (alchemical purified mercury), opens channels of energy within in which prāṇa flow can be maximised.
The Bael leaves must be collected from the tree which has thorns, the wild variety, in order to derive maximum benefits in this process.

HEALTH BENEFITS
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Mahāśivarātrī falls in the period of transition between the Śiśira Ṛtu (the cold season) and the Vasanta Ṛtu (the spring season). As per atmospheric patterns of weather, this is a period in which extreme cold warms to upcoming summer. This leads to numerous metabolic and immunity changes in the body, as respiratory tract disorders begin to precipitate.

Per Āyurvedic algorithms, this transition causes the vitiation of Kapha doṣa, which, if unchecked, leads to the disease of the physical body, as well as to inertia towards mental and physical activity. Offering Bael leaves to Lord Śiva in the night during this prahar (a unit of time of three hours) destroys inertia at the prāṇic level and nullifies all hālahala / viṣa (हालहल / विष) venoms (micro & macro) that originate or circulate in the body due to atmospheric changes in the form of viruses, bacteria or internal Agni disruptions. The three-hour prahar resets immunity at the neuro-hormonal level, immunity which can generally take a lifetime to build - provided the sādhak has prepared themselves for this auspicious time and is engrossed in sādhanā with inner awareness. Only then do these enzymatic hormonal pathways in the brain begin to activate the micro channels of secretions which can impart cellular immunity post-Śivarātri if maintained for one maṇḍala (42-48 days).

Bael is significant here, as it is described to originate from the sweat of Goddess Pārvatī. It is the perfect capacitor to store and transfer the mercurial energy of the Śiva Tattva, without which it can short-circuit our prāṇic flow. In certain alchemical expressions, Bael therefore is a restricted food when formulations of Pārada are administered, as prescribed in the Vṛndamādhava Jvara Cikitsā.

Bael, due to its unique properties, is widely described in Āyurveda as a rejuvenator. It does not just reduce Kapha (phlegm or inertia at micro & macro levels) but it primordially detoxifies it. Further, it facilitates the positive flow of prāṇa and enables the micro-hormonal enzymatic cocktail to release over time, which can in turn produce new blood cells that provide recursive immunity in due course.

The prahar of Śivarātri is encoded in perfect dynamics and hence is not just a spiritual or ritualistic sojourn. It instead carries in itself cryptic codes of environmental sciences and human adaptability at micro and macro levels. The lesser traditions of crude rituals significantly exist as an unbroken link towards decoding the cryptic algorithms of the greater traditions of Veda and Tantra to unleash the prāṇa within.

ॐ नम: शिवाय