LOS ANGELES:- The Mahashivaratri festival, which has been celebrated every year by the Pashupatinath Buddha Temple according to traditional traditions, has been celebrated this year with a mass Maharudrabhishek and continuous bhajan kirtan.

The Mahashivaratri festival was celebrated by approximately 1,200 devotees in the presence of Sanatanis living in Southern California, worshipping Shiva, performing Maharudrabhishek, and chanting Akhand Bhajans.

According to temple president Bimal Shrestha, Shivaratri was celebrated with a mass Maharudrabhishek, continuous bhajan kirtan, and blessings from Lord Shiva in the presence of Sanatanis living around Los Angeles.

Shrestha said that the area of ​​the current temple is shrinking due to the increasing presence of devotees, and said that a campaign to construct a building with facilities in this area will soon be launched to accommodate the number of devotees.

Secretary Tulsi Gyawali has informed that arrangements have been made for the devotees present at the Mahashivaratri program organized in the presence and with the support of community leaders, offering prasad and performing Maharudrabhishek puja in two phases, morning and evening.

According to Secretary Gyawali, devotees donated about 40,000 US dollars during the Mahashivaratri festival, which was attended by thousands of devotees.

Maha Shivaratri:

Maha Shivaratri is a festival celebrating Lord Shiva and literally translates as “The Great Night of Shiva.” Worship services occur all day however the main pujas occur either once in the evening or four times that span the entire night. The festival signifies several events important to devotees. Shivaratri commemorates the wedding night of Lord Shiva to his consort Parvati. Thus it is a festival particularly marked by married couples. During this night Lord Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance, first performed the Dance of Bliss – the “Anandatandava”. This dance portrays the cyclical nature of the universe reflected by the cyclical nature of daily life as experienced by individual souls.

The Linga Purana also indicates that on this day Shiva took the form of the Lingam, a column of light with no beginning and no end to signify His infinite existence. Likely referring to the Shivalingam, Swami Chinmayananda connected Shivaratri to “moments of pure infinite subjective experience” and the worship of Shiva on this day as a means towards achieving a state of transcended perception.