Maha Shivaratri

Maha Shivaratri - the great night of Shiva - falls
in February or March, on the fourteenth night of
the dark fortnight of the month of Phalguna.
It is the darkest night of the month, and the
practice is to stay awake through it.

This is not insomnia as spiritual discipline.
The wakefulness is the point.

Several stories surround the origin of Shivaratri.
In one, it is the night of Shiva and Parvati's
wedding. In another, it is the night when Shiva
drank the poison that emerged from the churning
of the cosmic ocean. In a third, it is simply
the night when his presence is most powerfully
available.

The teaching associated with the vigil is this:
ordinarily we move through waking, dreaming, and
deep sleep without much awareness of the
transitions between them. On Shivaratri, by
staying awake through the night, you become
aware of the moment when you would normally
fall into unconsciousness - and in that
moment of awareness at the edge of sleep, you
touch something the tradition calls Shiva:
pure awareness.

For NRI families, a lamp lit at dusk, kept
burning through the night with periods of
quiet or mantra, is the practice. The scale
is not the measure of sincerity.