The month of January-February of 2025 is seeing a beautiful celebration of two Maha Utsavs. One is Maha Kumbh which started on January 13, 2025. The other is February 26, 2025, the day or rather the night, when Maha Shivaratri will be celebrated. This makes one wonder if there is an intrinsic connection between Mahakumbh and Maha Shivaratri?
No doubt, on land we can see a Yatra connection where people travel from Prayagraj after the Kumbh at the Triveni Sangam, to Kashi for a darshan of Shri Vishwanath on Maha Shivaratri. For, where else can one celebrate the Shiva Tattva other than Kashi which glows with the full import of the three States of Shiva Tattva. For, Kashi is where,
- Shiva Tattva can be experienced right from the Arupa, formless form of an eternal auspicious, conscious Sadashiva
- Shiva Tattva can be venerated in the Rupa-Arupa, formed and formless forms of the Bana Lingam of Kashi Vishwanatha which shows how, even the Prapancha, cosmos go through rejuvenation in the infinite cycles of creation and dissolution
- Shiva Tattva can be realised at the Manikarnika Ghat and in the Sarupa form of Kala Bhairava, the keeper of time of both the cosmos. Since creation all the way upto each of our individual lives as we go through the innumerable cycles of life and death till we mature enough to reach the state of being a part of the eternal Cosmic consciousness
Shiva Tattva brings to our notice how everything is creation, including creation goes around in cycles. These cycles create time, Kala Chakra and at the same time also destroy or eat up time as Kala Bhairava.
Shivaratri: Cyclic Window For Rejuvenation
We all know how time elapses due to the circular, cyclical, rotational and revolutionary motions of Earth and other bodies in the skies. Time for mankind is another form of denoting the extent of space covered through various motions of Earth amidst and along with all the other objects in the skies.
Amongst these motions, revolution of the Moon around the Earth which demarcates time into months for us on Earth, causes the Moon to be seen in phases.
The night when the Moon is in its 14th phase, during the waning fortnight, Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi, is the night which is about to disappear from our sight. This night has been instituted as a Shivaratri night. It has been earmarked as a night for mankind to remember to repose and give rest to oneself from all three aspects of actions – namely bodily acts (Kayika), speech (Vachika) and thoughts (Manasika).
This night is like a night spent with Shiva for, it will make one rejuvenated and fresh for growth in all dimensions just like the Moon which after spending the no Moon phase, Amavasya with Shiva starts to appear and grow from the day after. The word Ratri means comfort giver.
This advice to pause and rejuvenate in the comforting lap of Dhyana, meditation in silence or in focus through singing, chanting and dancing has been conveyed to us by our ancients in the imagery of Shiva as Chandrashekara, who carries the thinnest crescent moon on His head to connote the auspiciousness of Shiva that rejuvenates.
The 12th Shivaratri – Annual Maha Shivaratri
Our ancients had advised us to earmark this 14th phase night of Krishna Paksha every month in the form a monthly Shivaratri, to climax in the 12th month or yearly Shivaratri as a Maha Shivaratri during the Magha month, Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi.
While those in the know and the spiritually inclined, rejuvenate themselves every month on the monthly Shivaratri, the Maha Shivaratri draws all into the mood of reposing and rejuvenating themselves in the lap of Shiva Tattva.
Cycles For Rejuvenation In Time
As time elapses in cycles, our wise ancestors had earmarked markers, windows in these cycles for us to track the passage of time and take necessary steps for us periodically, to evolve in our physical, dynamic, mental, intellectual and spiritual existence too.
Sun, as we can see daily, is the first and foremost marker for rejuvenation. Every evening and dusk, as the Sun vanishes from our sight, we and our body automatically know that it is now time to rest. It is called the circadian rhythm after cirque, the word for circle in French. It is the daily, circular rhythmic cycle for all earthly beings which are governed by the Sun, the Cirque, a bright circle in the sky.
So, we have the Sun to remind us of our daily window of physical rejuvenation. We have the Moon to remind us of our monthly windows of mental rejuvenation. We also have Jupiter to remind us of our annual window of intellectual and spiritual rejuvenation.
It is difficult to identify annual cycles of the Sun using the Sun itself as the tracking object since all markers in the sky vanish and are not visible in the brightness of the Sun.
On the other hand, we have another bright object in our night sky, which has a motion that coincides with our Earthly years or annual, apparent motion of the Sun in the sky. This is Jupiter.
Jupiter moves from one Zodiac to the next in the time lapse of one earth year i.e the time it takes the Sun to move through all the 12 zodiacs when we see from the Earth.
Our ancestors had therefore tracked the passage of larger, annual scales of time with the motion of this large Jupiter, though visible as a small shining object in the sky.
Kumbh: Year Cyclic Window For Rejuvenation
Our ancestors had associated rivers on our land, Bharatvarsha with the movement of Jupiter from one zodiac to another in one year.
Each of these transitions became time windows and each of these rivers and their confluences became places for rejuvenation of intellectual and spiritual existence in the form of Kumbh, Pushkaram and Sangamam.
Every Kumbh, Pushkaram and Sangamam is an occasion, venue and opportunity to gather, rejuvenate, evolve and grow our intellectual and spiritual dimension in the presence of sadhus, sanyasis, sants, Gurus, intellectual scholars, social, religious and spiritual leaders, Bhakts, Sevaks, Sadhaks and others from family and society.
Dharma Sastra advise us to bathe ourselves in five different kinds of ways for rejuvenating our five different sheaths of existence
- Jala Snaan: Ritualistic water bath for our physical body, Annamaya Kosha
- Prana Snaan: Soaking in energies from surroundings and others for our life forces, Pranamaya Kosha
- Mantra Snaan: Bringing our mind in resonance with the sounds of Mantra and chant all around, for our Mental sheath, Manomaya Kosha
- Gnana Snaan: Uplifting our intellect and knowledge from the various discourses one can engage in, at the Kumbh, for our Intellectual dimension, Vignanamaya Kosha
- Ananda Snaan: Aligning our consciousness with the overarching eternal, cosmic consciousness through Dhyana for the bliss, calm and rejuvenation that only such an alignment sans any resistance, any action can bring and radiate as our glowing consciousness, Anandamaya Kosha .
While there is a gathering happening at each confluence every year, every confluence becomes the seat for such a gathering only once every 12 years. These gatherings are like conferences for our overall physical and spiritual wellbeing, in both, present and after life.
These 12 year windows are also the time to rejuvenate the rivers and their confluences, as without these nourishers of life on Earth, where is the scope for all other forms of rejuvenation of all other beings?
Thus, just like the monthly Shivaratri, every year is the time for rejuvenation of rivers, mankind and society. For, when every individual in society is radiating with rejuvenated energies, society will also radiate afresh with these energies too.
While many may be able to travel across the length and breadth of the land to attend each and every Kumbh, Pushkaram or Sangamam, a cycle of 12 years becomes the time window that gives people of each region an opportunity to experience such rejuvenation without having to travel. Thus, each region has a form of Kumbh to celebrate once every 12 years.
The 12th Kumbh – Mahakumbh
In the Cosmos, anything can be tracked only through alignments of celestial objects and everything can be navigated only through alignments of existence.
However, since all the objects in the sky are also actually moving in real space, their cyclical orbits are also moving along with them. Thus, the cycles do not take the same time every year. They fall back and need more time to align with the marker zodiacs.
However, since they are cyclical, by their very nature, they tend to align exactly in cycles too. These aligning cycles typically are multiples of 12, since the markers for tracking alignment are the 12 zodiacs in number.
Thus, even though Jupiter returns to the same zodiac after 12 years, it does not coincide exactly with the annual, Sun based cycle or year. They coincide or align completely only after 144 Earth years or 12 such 12 year cycles.
Prayagraj, with the Triveni Sangam confluence of the mighty Himalayan Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers, has served as the starting point for this Jupiter-based Jovian calendar, just like the 12 ‘o’ clock marker on our watches. This Kumbh is celebrated when the Sun enters Capricorn and Jupiter transits into Taurus zodiac, which used to be the starting point of a sun-based year too, millennia ago.
Location of Jupiter & Sun In The Sky During Kumbh
The Kumbh at Prayagraj, on the return of Jupiter to the Taurus Zodiac after 144 years, has been designated as the time window for a Mahakumbh. Meaning, it is time to reset the Jupiter clock and the differences in cycles, as the Sun and Jupiter, Guru based years are aligned completely once again.
While each and every Kumbh, Pushkaram or Sangamam, after 12 years becomes the time window that draws people to each region to experience the unique rejuvenating experience which, that river, its locale and populace can give, the Mahakumbh at Prayagraj draws everyone into its ambit once in one and a half century, to align in millions but in unison.
The Shiva and Kumbh Connect
At every Kumbh, Pushkaram and Sangamam are an opportunity and occasion to rejuvenate our being across all our sheaths, with intellect, in the presence of the many Gurus and masters who come and lead such gatherings. It is natural that these gatherings are led by the annual movement of planet Jupiter, also revered as Brihaspati or Guru Tattva. One of the aspects of Shiva Tattva is Guru Dakshinamurthy, the essence of Guru Tattva.
For, Shiva as the Tattva for auspiciousness and manifestation also leads to Guru Tattva or heaviness, gravity and the nature of a Guru to draw, elevate or uplift one in all the various dimensions of their manifested form of existence, living.
Interestingly, Guru Dakshinamurthy is often allegorically depicted with the four Mind born sons of Brahma as His four primary shishya, students to whom knowledge is transferred in silence.
Jupiter: Even though it has a complex Jovian satellite system with at least over 90 distinguishable moons/satellites, it is often depicted with four of its most massive moons, called the four Galilean moons. These are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
We see a beautiful similarity in the allegory of Shiva as Guru Dakshinamurthy and the planet Jupiter, revered as Guru in Indian thought.
Phenomenon of Underlying Cyclic Nature
Another way to relish the Kumbh, comes from its evolution from the movement of Jupiter, the planet Guru.
Just as a Guru leads people and guides them on Earth for their daily life, Jupiter, the Guru from the skies, like Guru Dakshinamurthy Shiva, guides mankind on earth in silence, imparting knowledge of the highest order.
Namely, that there exists a deeply recurring as well as a simply aligning connection between the Cosmos and us.
Yatha Pinde Thatha Brahmande.
(As is Microcosm, so is Macrocosm.)
Everything is to do with cycles – right from the sub-atomic particles in our bodies to the largest objects in the Cosmos, including the entire Cosmos itself. This is known as the Dharma, order or nature in Creation itself.
Once we see, understand, relish, imbibe and align ourselves to the larger and larger, wonderful cycles in the Cosmos, life will move from being a fast spin to a harmonious calm and an unchanging, still frame of reference from where one will be able to observe everything in its right perspective, the truth, Satyam!
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