Mahashivarathri – A Rapturous Night With the Divine

COIMBATORE, India, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Isha Foundation celebrated the sacred night of Mahashivarathri on 10^th March at the Isha Yoga Center at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains. Over 8 lakh people from all parts of the world gathered at the center to participate in a nightlong Sathsang with Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. Sadhguru's discourses and powerful meditations were interspersed with musical performances by Raghu Dixit and his popular folk rock band - the Raghu Dixit Project, Anita Ratnam, the classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer, and Padma Shri Aruna Sairam, the eminent Carnatic vocalist.

The celebrations began at 5.40 pm at the Dhyanalinga Yogic Temple with Sadhguru conducting the Pancha Bhuta Aradhana - a unique opportunity to cleanse the five elements of the body which leads to health and well-being. At the celebration grounds, the festivities began with chanting followed by Sadhguru leading the audience through several preparatory spiritual processes. At the stroke of midnight, Sadhguru initiated the huge gathering into a very powerful meditation which was the most looked forward to event of the night. Cultural and musical performances were held in between meditations and discourses. Annadhanam (a free offering of food) was served to hundreds of thousands of people on this auspicious night. The celebrations culminated at 6 am with a meditation by Sadhguru.

Mahashivarathri is one of the biggest and most significant of the sacred festival nights of India. This, the darkest night of the year, celebrates the Grace of Shiva, who is considered the Adi (first) Guru from whom the yogic tradition originates. The planetary positions on this night are such that there is a powerful natural upsurge of energy in the human system. It is enormously beneficial for one's physical and spiritual well-being to stay awake and aware in a vertical position throughout the night. In addition, the benefit of any spiritual practices performed on this night multiply many-fold. It is for this reason that in the yogic tradition it is said that one should not sleep on the night of Mahashivarathri.

To offer this possibility to people who could not make it to Isha Yoga Center, Mahashivarathri celebrations were telecast live on Aastha Channel, Jaya Plus and Polimer TV reaching 30 million people. Isha Foundation also hosted a live webcast of the event. This night was also celebrated at over 150 centers in India and across the world.

About Isha Foundation:

Isha Foundation, founded by Sadhguru, is a volunteer-run, international non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating human potential. The Foundation is a human service organization that recognizes the possibility of each person to empower another - restoring global community through inspiration and individual transformation. Isha Foundation is operated by over 2 million volunteers from more than 150 city-based centers spread worldwide. The Foundation is headquartered at Isha Yoga Center, set in the lush rainforest at the base of the Velliangiri Mountains in southern India, and at the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences on the spectacular Cumberland Plateau in middle Tennessee, USA.

For more information about the event, visit http://mahashivarathri.org/

Primary Media Contact: Aditya Nishtala, aditya.nishtala@ishafoundation.org, 91-9959168888

Secondary Media Contact: Kumar Govind, kumar.govind@ishafoundation.org, 91-9443731964

SOURCE Isha Foundation