Author: IANS
Publication: Thaindian News
Date: February 26, 2009
URL: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/900000-devotees-invoke-shiva-with-music-and-mantra-in-coimbatore_100160043.html
April, a young American artist from New York,
swears by Lord Shiva. As do the 900,000 devotees who attended the Mahashivratri
celebrations at Isha Foundation, a global non-profit organisation, 40 km from
Coimbatore.
Clad in a white salwar kameez and a vermillion
mark on her forehead, the slim bespectacled blonde was in a daze.
"I was overwhelmed by the celebrations
and the purification rites that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev conducted on the day
of Shivratri. I felt completely purified and connected to a higher plane,
especially through the music that accompanied the ritual," she told IANS
after an unusual "purification rite" christened the "pancha
bhuta aradhana" at the commune Feb 23.
She was struck by the intense energy of the
Hindu deity of "creation and destruction" and the scope of the celebration
of Mahashivratri (Night of the Lord Shiva) at the Isha Foundation, which places
the festival at the top of its events calendar.
Hina, a software programmer from the US, got
the shivers after the purification rite at the Dhyan Linga (Shiva) temple
inside the retreat. She had to be calmed down by her companions, also from
the US.
"They were possessed by the divine energy
of the Lord," Swami Patanga, a spokesperson for the retreat, explained
at the end of the rite.
Led by mystic and yoga expert Jaggi Vasudev,
the organisation, with 150 centres worldwide and over 250,000 meditators and
volunteers, is engaged in holistic living through yoga and inner transformation,
spreading environment awareness, social forestry and rural education.
Isha Foundation is spread across 145 lush
acres at the foot of the Vellingiri Hills in the Nilgiri biosphere in Tamil
Nadu (near the Karnataka border).
Nearly 900,000 devotees - including 5,000
foreigners and celebrities - had assembled at the retreat to celebrate the
festival with a nightlong carnival of prayers, religious chants, meditation,
yoga, music and dance.
Billed as the biggest in the country, the
Shivratri celebration, in its 15th year, was opened to the media for the first
time.
Throughout the day, devotees kept trickling
in to the venue in buses, three-wheelers and cars from all over the country,
braving the rising mercury and the scorching sun.
Music and sacred mantra were the essence of
the celebrations. The star performers of the live concerts that continued
till wee hours of the morning were the Gundecha Brothers of the Dhrupad Gharana
from Ujjain, Sounds of Isha (the Isha Foundation band) from the commune and
the Indian Ocean from Delhi.
The Shivaratri celebrations began at 5.40
p.m. with a special consecration rite by Vasudev at the Dhyana Linga temple
- a cylindrical dome-shaped shrine of Lord Shiva built with bricks and granite,
in the heart of the retreat.
The consecration rite, "pancha bhuta
aradhana", was a variation of a form of yoga known as the "bhuta
shuddhi" or purification of elements for good health and de-stressing.
The seer lighted the ritual fire, bathed the
giant lingam in the sanctorum of the temple and offered flowers - to the beat
of drums, music and dance. At the end of the hour-long rite, most of the devotees
swooned apparently "with the intense cosmic energy generated by the music,
primordial beats of the drums, chants, incense and the music".
The purification rite was a precursor to the
main celebrations later in the night - which started from 8.30 p.m. on a stretch
of even ground encircled by hills, coconut groves, flowering plants and tropical
trees.
Later in the evening, the seer clad in a saffron
drape flagged off the festivities.
Shivratri is the 14th day of every lunar month
or the day before the new moon. Of the 12 Shivaratris that occur in a calendar
year, Mahashivratri, celebrated in February-March, is spiritually the most
significant.
"Once upon a time, India had 365 festivals
- one for every occasion, but changes in lifestyles have reduced the number
of festivals. Mahashivratri, however, stands out as a festival of a different
kind because of the planetary positions, which creates a natural upsurge of
energy, which make people react in different ways. This energy must be used
in the best possible to raise one's system by a notch," Vasudev said.
The connotations of Shivratri were diverse,
he explained. While some felt that it was day Shiva, the Adi Guru, became
enlightened, many believed it was the day he defeated his enemies. "For
householders, it signifies the great celestial wedding of Shiva and Parvati.
It was also the day, according to myths, when Kubera, the thief and the gambler,
was granted a place in Shivalok (Shiva's home) and made the custodian of his
wealth," he said.
By dawn, over 900,000 devotees, both the common
man and the celebrities - danced wildly to the music of the Delhi-based rock
band Indian Ocean, along with their guru, in a state of trance and abandon.
