Shivaratri and A New Moon

---

We celebrated Shivaratri on the 12th of Feb and kept a night vigil. Shivaratri is a very auspicious festival day and night, in honor of Lord Shiva, the destroyer (of all karmas) and the liberator. He symbolizes the highest form of protection and blessing on the spiritual path. He represents the force, the Shakti, which enables the human to achieve the goal of human life, that of self realization. Bhajans went long into the night, as did the campfire glow and the chants of "Om Namah Shivaya".

Markji missed the evening bus due to new bus stops during Commonwealth Games construction, so left Delhi in the morning for Jodhpur. He changed buses there for destination Jadan and arrived at about 3am, still in time to join in the Shivaratri festivities. Even after a day of fasting and a night of singing, you can not really add the word fatigue. It was very uplifting to enjoy the night with the small group of Karma yogis and the early morning halva with the sunrise was really something.

The stars were so beautiful last night, since we just had dark moon a couple of days ago. It’s my favourite phase of the moon and a big time for reflection. I know that another month in Jadan has passed. Coming out of the Bhakti Sagar in the evening you can see the finest sliver of moon. There is so much potential in that and it sets early in the night, so no moonlight washing out the night sky later when I’m walking the boundary paths or gazing out on the sleeping Ashram from the top of Kailash Mountain. There is still the big spotlight of the Om Ashram and a big light on top of all the other prominent buildings like Hospital, Swastika, Guruji building…. though the night sky viewing remains particularly spectacular on these nights.

Recently, the boys (C, A and AP) were playing so beautifully on the grass and in the flowers, hiding etc. They were really not fighting at all. Amazing how united they are now. They know how to send the appropriate one of them to seek permission for something or other, batter their eyelids to the right people for sweets and are much more accommodating than they’ve ever been for their differences in opinion and preferences for games. Fun to watch them while picking weeds from the garden. It’s clearing head space to make room for something new.

---