Spiritual Significance of Shivarathri story

We are aware of the story of a hunter , who out of fear climbed a tree, spent a sleepless night and to spend his time, he was plucking the leaves of tree and dropped them down on a shiva linga about which he was not aware.Having worshipped Shiva unknowingly on a Shivarathri Day the hunter realised the Supreme.
There is a spiritual significance behind this story.

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It is an allegory. The wild animals that the hunter fought with are lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred.
The jungle is the fourfold mind, consisting of the subconscious mind, the intellect, the ego and the conscious mind. It is in the mind that these "wild animals" roam about freely. They must be killed.
Our hunter was pursuing them because he was a Yogi. If you want to be a real Yogi you have to conquer these evil tendencies.


His birthplace is Varanasi.
Now, the Yogis call the Ajna Chakra by the name Varanasi. This is the point midway between the eyebrows. It is regarded as the meeting place of the three nerve currents (Nadis), namely, the Ida, Pingala and the Sushumna. An aspirant is instructed to concentrate on that point. That helps him to conquer his desires and evil qualities like anger and so on. It is there that he gets a vision of the Divine Light within.



Vilva leaf has three leaves on one stalk.



The tree represents the spinal column. The leaves are threefold. They represent the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadis, which are the regions for the activity of the moon, the sun and fire respectively, or which may be thought of as the three eyes of Shiva.



The climbing of the tree is meant to represent the ascension of the Kundalini Shakti, the serpentine power, from the lowest nerve centre called the Muladhara to the Ajna Chakra. That is the work of the Yogi.



The Yogi was in the waking state when he began his meditation. He bundled up the birds and the animals he had slain and, tying them on a branch of the tree, he rested there. That means he had fully conquered his thoughts and rendered them inactive. He had gone through the steps of Yama, Niyama, Pratyahara, etc.



On the tree he was practising concentration and meditation. When he felt sleepy, it means that he was about to lose consciousness and go into deep sleep. So he determined to keep awake.



His wife and children are none other than the world. One who seeks the Grace of God must become an embodiment of love. He must have an all-embracing sympathy. His shedding of tears is symbolical of his universal love.



In Yoga also, one cannot have illumination without Divine Grace. Without practising universal love, one cannot win that Grace. One must perceive one's own Self everywhere.



The preliminary stage is to identify one's own mind with the minds of all created beings. That is fellow-feeling or sympathy. Then one must rise above the limitations of the mind and merge it in the Self.



Why did he pluck the leaves?

That is mentioned in the story only to show that he had no extraneous thoughts. He was not even conscious of what he was doing. All his activity was confined to the three Nadis.


The leaves, represent the three Nadis. He was in fact in the second state, namely, the dream state, before he passed into the deep sleep state.



He kept vigil the whole night, it is said.
Yes, that means that he passed through the deep sleep state successfully.



The dawning of day symbolises the entrance into the Fourth state called Turiya or superconsciousness.



It is said that he came down and saw the Lingam.
That means that in the Turiya state he saw the Shiva Lingam or the mark of Shiva in the form of the inner lights. In other words, he had the vision of the Lord. That was an indication to him that he would realise the supreme, eternal abode of Lord Shiva in course of time.




Now the story continues. He goes home and feeds a stranger. A stranger is one whom you have not seen before. The stranger is no other than the hunter himself, transformed into a new person.

Jayasala42