Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals :Ch-2. Part - 15.

Ch-2.  Siva – The Mystic Night ( Sivaratri)


Part-15.


This adjective or qualification 'due to excess of light' must be added.

It is darkness because of the excess of light. When you look at the sun directly for a few minutes and then look elsewhere, you will see only darkness.

The sun has dazzled you to such an extent that all else appears as darkness.

It is said in the Mahabharata that when Lord Sri Krishna showed the Cosmic Form in the court of the Kauravas, everything was dark, as it were.

The intensity of the light was such that it looked like darkness to the eyes of man.

In one of the famous creation-hymns of the Rigveda we have a similar reference made to the original condition of creation.

There is the hymn of the Veda called the Nasadiya Sukta, wherein it is said, "Tama asit tamasa gudhamagre":Darkness there was; at first concealed in darkness.

According to us, light is perception of objects, and therefore non-perception of objects is regarded by us as night, because knowledge or consciousness unrelated to the perceptual process is unknown to the human mind.

Swami Krishnananda

To be continued   ...