Message on Maha Shivaratri - 2016




Wherever there is truth there is Shiva. Wherever there is beauty there is Shiva. Wherever there is benevolence there is Shiva. And there is not a place where the Shiva principle is not there. It is the omnipresent, omnipotent, most benevolent divinity, that is what Shiva is all about, and we are soaking in that.
We forget that this power is there with us! Shivaratri is to remind us that we are Shiva. That is why we say, "Shivoham, Shivoham", which means 'I am Shiva, I am that principle, I am the truth, eternity, beauty, and benevolence'. So Shivaratri is an occasion to remember this.
In the daily hustle and the bustle, we forget that from which we have come, in which we are and into which we go — that eternal principle is forgotten. This is the most puzzling thing! It is so puzzling how we can forget that from which we have come, in which we live and into which we dissolve. How can we forget that? This is a big puzzle! Remembering that, true celebration happens in life, all the worries disappear; everything that is bothering you simply disappears, doesn't it? And you are all so lucky to be in silence and meditation on this day.
Shivaratri is when the manifest and unmanifest celebrate their union. The One which is so unmanifest, intangible and abstract manifests in the manifestation, in the concrete.