Experience Shivaratri

You are invited to experience Shivaratri, with the ultimate goal of overcoming darkness and ignorance in life and the world. In the observance of Shivaratri at Mount Madonna, we begin the ceremonies by creating 1008 clay lingams (symbols of the formless universal divine principle), consecrated with mantra (chanting). Sunset sees the commencement of an all-night vigil including prayers, chanting, meditation, storytelling, and a midnight puja (ceremonial offering) and asana (postures). In the early morning, a Maha Shivaratri Puja concludes with submerging the 1008 lingams into a lake at Mount Madonna, accompanied by prayers for peace.

Shivaratri is a night that celebrates the Hindu deity Shiva as a manifestation of the universal consciousness principle. Traditionally, Shivaratri is observed on the lunar fortnight, when the moon is waning into the new moon in the western months of February or March. To practitioners, this night is considered a highly auspicious time of tapah (austerity) and bhakti (devotion). Shiva represents the principle of destruction, in this context the destruction of ignorance or our belief that we are separate from the universal divine energy.

The purpose of rituals like Shivaratri is to shift our focus, quiet our minds and open ourselves to the possibility of the end of ignorance, or the awakening of our true nature.