Mahashivratri points to the dissolution of illusion and false identity, not merely ritual celebration. Shiv is not a form, person, story, or symbol, but pure consciousness beyond mind, ego, senses, and thought. True worship is self-observation: clearing inner clutter, dropping false identifications, and allowing self-knowledge to burn away what is untrue.
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Originally published in The Sunday Guardian on 23 feb '25.
With Mahashivratri around the corner, many of us find ourselves struggling to discover the actual and deeper meaning of the festival. We wonder: surely there has to be something beyond the rituals and performances. More importantly, it strikes us when we are contemplative: who is Shiv?
Mahashivaratri is the only festival that is celebrated throughout the night traditionally with little music, no colors or decorations, and minimum ostentation and lights. This unique night is the confluence of two streams—the first is that of destruction, of dissolution, and the second is of creation, a new beginning.
Before any new beginning can happen, we need to let go of the old—everything that’s obscure, misleads, and deludes. The lies, the illusions, the beliefs that hold us back—they need to be washed away. That is the true essence of Mahashivratri.
