8.7% of US adults \u2013 or 20.4 million \u2013 practice yoga. \u00a0Another 44.4% of the US adults are \u201cAspirational Yogis\u201d \u2013 those interested in trying yoga. \u00a0Unfortunately, Yoga for almost all has remained an exercise, when it could have been a tool for complete transformation of a being. \u00a0Today, Americans are spending $10.8 billion on Yoga learning and products (source<\/a>). \u00a0A large market of health and fitness from an ancient tradition that was created towards a very important end.<\/p>\n It would be instructive to remember that as efficient and amazing Yoga is in resolving many health issues and is sought after by the top Medical Hospitals globally to augment treatments of various diseases, conditions and recoveries, it was not formulated with the use of modern science. \u00a0Modern science of today may have dissected and looked at every possible physical aspect of our body, but none of that knowledge went into creating Yoga. \u00a0Yet, till date, it remains the most potent and efficient way of renewing one\u2019s body and mind.<\/p>\n This is like saying that we have a Rocket with us, which is far superior to anything we have been able to create, and it didn\u2019t use any of our latest technologies.<\/p>\n Then, isn\u2019t it important to know who were those who created this entire way of being \u2013 yes, Yoga is not just postures or Asanas? \u00a0What was their modus operandi? \u00a0If there were millions practicing a discipline which was central to their well-being, wouldn\u2019t they be interested in knowing who has come up with such an important thing for their lives?<\/p>\n Indian Yogis \u2013 the carriers and teachers of Yoga for many a millenia \u2013 credit the origin of Yoga to the Adiyogi. \u00a0Or the \u201cFirst Yogi\u201d. \u00a0Adiyogi is also called Shiva. \u00a0Shiva is celebrated as one of the main three divine presence that Hinduism celebrates. \u00a0Yet, he was a living Yogi who raised his consciousness to a level that the entire cosmos reverberated through him. \u00a0What Shiva did was to change the very way humans could live and handle themselves. \u00a0For the first time, a being looked at the human body and laid down all the ways that one could raise his\/her experience to a level where outside conditions or scenarios no longer dictated his\/her joy and well being. \u00a0After much work, Shiva laid down 112 ways to achieve that. \u00a0Those 112 ways were collectively called Yoga. \u00a0Millions of Yogis came and raised their own consciousness and worked with those 112 ways to chart out new formulas or mixes. \u00a0But the essential ways remained intact.<\/p>\n Tonight is the night when Shiva was married to Parvati. \u00a0Symbolically perceived at coming together of Shiva and Shakti. \u00a0Or what is known in far east as the \u201cYin and Yang\u201d. \u00a0Yoga means Uniting or coming together. \u00a0Tonight in Spiritual and in energy realms \u2013 the foundational energies of this cosmos came together. \u00a0Today, Yoga manifested in its complete way. \u00a0This night is known as Mahashivaratri<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n A night when Yoga was finally manifested in its complete sense by the being who first conceived of it along with his Shakti, his wife \u2013 strangely has been missed by almost the entire Yoga world. \u00a0If there was one occasion or time when a Yogi can most utilize the very energies of the cosmos to take him beyond, then it is tonight. \u00a0But millions of Yogis have instead chosen today to make their millions tonight as opposed to use Yoga for the one thing it was manifested for. \u00a0Uniting with the cosmic primordial energy.<\/p>\n Despite its overwhelmingly amazing benefits health-wise, Yoga is never talked in terms of bones, blood and muscles \u2013 the basics of our physical body, but in terms of Chakra, Prana and Naadi. \u00a0No one has ever seen any of the latter. \u00a0Yet, Yoga works! \u00a0What is it that modern science, which focuses on the physical, is missing? \u00a0If the Yogis were \u201cloonies\u201d to be talking about \u201cnon-existent\u201d Chakra, Prana and Naadi, then they couldn\u2019t have come up with a brilliant, time tested product. \u00a0Is it that we are missing something?<\/p>\n And in that question lies the centrality of Yoga. \u00a0It is an energy phenomenon. \u00a0As is Life. \u00a0And Death. \u00a0In fact, the entire \u201cExistence\u201d. \u00a0Something that the scientists have been able to discern, albeit not fully looked at biology with the knowledge of the quantum as they should have. \u00a0Yogis bridged that gap \u2013 of looking at the body with the lens of Quantum \u2013 many millenia ago. \u00a0The being who pioneered this \u201cScience\u201d was AdiYogi Shiva.<\/p>\n The Hindu calendar is lunar and Mahashivaratri is always followed on a certain day<\/a>:<\/p>\n Maha Shivaratri is celebrated on the Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi of Hindu calendar month\u00a0<\/span>Maagha<\/a>\u00a0as per Amavasya-ant month calculation. As per Poornima-ant month calculation, the day is Krishna Paksha Chaturdashi of Hindu calendar month\u00a0<\/span>Phalguna<\/a>\u00a0which falls in\u00a0<\/span>February<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>March<\/a>\u00a0as per the\u00a0<\/span>Gregorian calendar<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shivaratri \u2013 the 14th day of every lunar month is also the darkest. \u00a0The one that fall in February-MArch period is the most significant for Spiritual processes though. \u00a0Sadhguru explains<\/a> why the importance of the darkest day.<\/p>\n The fourteenth day of every lunar month or the day before the new moon is known as Shivarathri. Among all the twelve Shivarathris that occur in a calendar year, Mahashivarathri, the one that occurs in February-March is of the most spiritual significance. On this night, the northern hemisphere of the planet is positioned in such a way that there is a natural upsurge of energy in a human being. This is a day when nature is pushing one towards one\u2019s spiritual peak. It is to make use of this, that in this tradition, we establish a certain festival which is night-long. One of the fundamentals of this night-long festival is to ensure that \u2013 to allow this natural upsurge of energies to find their way \u2013 you remain with your spine vertical \u2013 you stay awake.<\/p>\n Mahashivarathri is very significant for people who are on the spiritual path. It is also very significant for people who are in family situations, and also for the ambitious in the world. People who live in family situations observe Mahashivarathri as Shiva\u2019s wedding anniversary. Those with worldly ambitions see that day as the day Shiva conquered all his enemies.<\/p>\n But, for the ascetics, it is the day he became one with\u00a0Mount Kailash<\/a>. He became like a mountain \u2013 absolutely still. In the yogic tradition,\u00a0Shiva is not worshipped as a God<\/a>, but considered as the Adi Guru, the first Guru from whom the knowledge originated. After many millennia in meditation, one day he became absolutely still. That day is Mahashivarathri. All movement in him stopped and he became utterly still, so ascetics see Mahashivarathri as the night of stillness.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This year\u2019s opportunity may have been passed by most of the Yogis. \u00a0But let the Yoga world be awakened to the One who brought Yoga to us all. \u00a0 Let us celebrate Mahashivaratri from next year as the Night of Awakening!<\/p>\n\n