Maha Shivaratri 2019 at Pashupatinath Temple!
by ManojPosted on March 3, 2019 Travel/Photography
Maha Shivaratri 2019
Shivaratri falls on the 13th night and 14th day of each month in Hindu Luni-Solar calendar meaning there’s a Shivaratri every month during the whole year. But one among all of them stands out and that’s Maha Shivaratri.

When is Maha Shivaratri Celebrated?
Maha Shivaratri is celebrated marking the new moon day of Maagh Month in Hindu Calendar. In the year 2019, Maha Shivaratri is celebrated on 4th March.
Further reading: Holi Festival in Photographs!




Significance of Maha Shivaratri!
Just recently, I came to know more about the festival. One important objective of the festival is about “overcoming ignorance and darkness”. The process involved in order to gain the result is through self-reflection, meditation, introspective focus, fasting.” I used to wonder why people were staying around Pashupatinath temple premises the whole night. But most of them are there to smoke weed. 😀
Further reading: Reasons why I’ll visit Jumla again!

Further reading: Mardi Himal Trek- 2019!


Weed is legal on the day of Maha Shivaratri
On the day of Maha Shivaratri, weed is un-officially legal. A lot of Sadhus and many more youngsters and other people are seen openly smoking weed in the premises of Pashupatinath temple. Despite the presence of police, they don’t care and smoke. The Pashupatinath temple is intoxicated with the smell of Marijuana during Maha Shivaratri.
Shiva and his significance
Along with Brahma and Vishnu, Shiva is one of the members of holy trinity in Hinduism. Shiva represents goodness and is regarded as the protector. There’s a widely accepted belief that Shiva is the destroyer and transformer of the universe. As per the belief system, the Universe has a certain life span and at the end of the span, Shiva destroys it to regenerate anew.
“Shiva means “that which is not”. That which is physical in nature. All that we experience through our five senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and listening are all physical in nature. What is physical is what we call as existence or creation. But what is physical is very very limited. Or literally negligible meniscal in this existence. Today, scientists are saying, over 99.99% of an atom is an empty space that which is not; Shiva. Over 99.99% of the very cosmos is nothingness or emptiness. If you look up in the sky, you see a few specs which we call as stars and galaxies. But the large part of cosmos is sheer emptiness. This dimension which holds existence in its lap, today, they’re trying to find an appropriate term. So they’re calling it dark energy, darkness and things like that. But essentially, non-physical in nature means that which is not. So this “that which doesn’t exist” physically as we know existence, but which is the basic of existence, we call this “Shiva; the limitless nothingness” is referred to as Shiva. But a yogi, the adiyogi, the only yogi; we refer to him as Shiva because he perceived that which is not. All of your perceptions of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and listening, you can only perceive that which is. You can’t perceive that which is not. When he perceived that which is not or he perceived that which we refer to as Shiva. Because afterall a human being is what we have perceived. So we call him a Shiva as well. People are named after Shiva because you might not have perceived but within you also every single atom in this body is over 99.99% Shiva. You are un-realized Shiva hoping that one day you’ll get it. Now, you can also call your dog a Shiva because it is made up of the same stuff.” – Sadhguru


Hi Manoj, it’s nice that you let me see these wonderful photos! Several years ago I was in the midst of this crowd of people during the Shivaratri festival. And I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time with the sadhu with the help of my Sadhu friend Shiva. Thank you, Manoj!
Wow! It’s great to know about you celebrating Shivaratri with your Sadhu friend. Hope you had great insights about the festival during that time. Thank you so much, my friend. Cheers!