I feel very fortunate to be spending Mahashivratri in Ganeshpuri again this year. There are different legends behind the meaning of Mahashivratri, and Wikipedia provides a nice summary.
It is a joyous celebration of Shiva and is observed in Ganeshpuri in different ways. There is a sapta, which is chanting and dancing around a diety. In this case, a small murti, or statue, of NiNityananda. The chanting from the sapta is broadcast through speakers all around the temple. You can hear it for miles. The sapta goes on continuously for three days. It ended this morning at 9am.
There is a Palki, or procession from Nityananda's temple at the bottom of Temple Rd, all the way to the top of Temple Rd and back again. On the way back down the hill (Temple Rd is a big hill), the Palki stops along the way so people can make offerings to Nityananda and Shiva and wave the flame to them. I started the Palki at a friend's house. We joined to walk to the top of Temple Rd. On the way back down, we got to make offerings and wave the flame from my friend's house.
I left her at her home, and joined the Palki again. I hadn't gotten very far when I ran into another friend. We spent the rest of the evening together. She took me on a whirlwind tour! We went ahead of the Palki to the Bhadrkali temple. We were able to get darshan with Bhadrkali before the crowd arrived. Darshan is an opportunity to see a holy person or diety and it is a revered practice in Hinduism. Here's a snippet of the activity once the Palki arrived at the temple.
After the Bhadrkali temple, we left the Palki to go to Nityananda's temple for evening Arti (a ceremony involving waving a candle flame to Nityananda's statue). After we had darshan with Nityananda, we visited the little Krishna temple behind Nityananda's Samadhi shrine. Then we joined the sapta for about 15 minutes. Then we went to Bhimeshwar, the Shiva temple next to Nityananda's Samadhi shrine. That Shiva temple is my favorite place. We got there just as the Palki was ending.
That little Shiva temple was so crowded. I didn't want to go in. Lol! I figured I could wait - I have lots of time to spend in Bhimeshwar. But my friend insisted and I'm glad I listened to her. There's something blissfully intoxicating about the lack of personal space and the press of people all around you. In America, that would have been a challenging and slightly stressful situation. Here in Ganeshpuri, it feels very right. After that, I was spent. We headed back up the hill to our respective homes.
It was a glorious celebration, and I continued celebrating Mahashivratri this morning by tuning in to a Gurudevi connection zoom broadcast from the ChantingandMeditationretreat at the Ashram. Chanting and meditating with my Guru and my kula (spiritual community) after celebrating in Ganeshpuri was the very best of both worlds. Shubh Mahashivratri!
wow, what an interesting post, thanks! you really did celebrate the whole night long, good for you!