There is a beautiful story about Kanyakumari, India’s southernmost tip. Shiva was residing on Mount Kailash, which lies to the far north of India. Uma had a desire to marry Shiva. Hearing Uma’s prayer, Shiva set off from Kailash with his retinue.

As per the rules in those days, the marriage had to be finalized before sunrise, or else it couldn’t happen. However, Uma had the power to destroy hosts of demons only if she remained a virgin. All the gods started to worry about how the demons would be destroyed if Uma were to marry Shiva and go to Kailash.

So Indra, king of the gods, disguised himself as a rooster and went to the place where Shiva and his attendants were resting for the night. In the middle of the night, well before daybreak, he started crowing. On hearing the rooster crow everyone thought that it was dawn already. This made Shiva and his retinue stop on their way to the wedding, since there was no point in going any further for the marriage.

There is a place called Suchindrum, 50 kilometres from Kanyakumari. It is believed to be the place where the marriage party stopped while Uma meditated at Kanyakumari. Hence, Uma remained a virgin and stayed at Kanyakumari.

This is a popular story but there is a deeper spiritual aspect to it. The energy of desire leads you to believe that it will make you happy, but in fact, it cannot. Even if a desire gets fulfilled, it doesn’t give lasting happiness. So, the energy of desire never reaches its goal of ultimate happiness.

Therefore, our ancestors decided to honour the power of desire, māyā, or Uma’s power. When you honour desires, those desires that are necessary get fulfilled and those that are unnecessary fall away. This is the story of Kanyakumari. Shiva, the ultimate source of bliss, had come very close but had to stop because desire is never destined to unite with Shiva. One can unite with Shiva after dropping their desires only.

The mind harbours desires, naturally. Desires don’t take your permission. They just drop in and stay. When they drop in and stay, that is when they create trouble for you. When they drop in, bid them adieu. Don’t hang onto desires, crave and identify with them. Just take them as they come. Wanting to have no desires in life is also another desire. Be satisfied, content and centred. All of these are possible through meditation, and there is no better day to meditate than Mahashivratri.

This does not mean your desires do not get fulfilled. Consciousness is also like a supercomputer. When you are content and centered, whatever intention (Sankalpa) you put in, it manifests. And some particular places, situations, and time, like the Maha Shivaratri are more congenial for that. But for that to happen you need to take the intention and then surrender it, and not keep holding on to it.

There are twelve Shivratris every month before the new moon. But this one in the Magha month is considered very special. On this day, meditation is naturally deeper and effortless. The Shiva Tattva is believed to manifest on earth on this day. All you need to do is soak the mind in this divine consciousness. It is like the air is everywhere but you feel it near a fan.  Similarly, on Mahashivaratri, meditations are very vibrant, powerful, and you feel a deeper connection with the Divinity.

It is said that meditation on Mahashivratri removes all the ‘mala avarna’ and ‘vikshepa’, the impurities in the mind. The veil on the soul loosens on this auspicious day of Mahashivratri.  You can peep through the veil at something that is beyond human comprehension.

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