Mahalingarchana sahita Rudra Homam

1. The significance of this day (Karthika Somavara Masa Shivaratri)

Karthika month & Monday: Karthika is the month dearest to Lord Shiva. Monday is ruled by the Moon (Soma), and Shiva is called 'Someshwara'. So a Karthika Monday is the most excellent day for worshipping Shiva.

Masa Shivaratri (Bahula Chaturdashi): Masa Shivaratri falls every month on the Chaturdashi of the Krishna paksha. On this night the influence of all the planets falls on the Muladhara chakra of beings on earth, and the life force naturally rises upward.

Anuradha nakshatra: Anuradha is ruled by Shani, and its deity is Mitra. It is the nakshatra most favourable to steadiness, devotion in spiritual practice and the awakening of kundalini.

2. The fruit of the Mahalingarchana sahita Rudra Homam

Mahalingarchana means arranging many Shiva lingas (usually 365 or 108), made of clay or other sacred materials, in a particular yantra pattern, consecrating them with prana pratishtha and worshipping them.

When the Rudra Homam (the fire ritual performed with the recitation of Sri Rudra Namakam and Chamakam) is joined to it, a great field of power forms in that place.

The fruit: the karmic faults of many lifetimes are destroyed. Serious health problems and planetary afflictions are removed, and peace in the family, long life and health, and finally liberation (moksha) are attained.

3. Its effect on the six chakras within us

The 72,000 nadis through which life force flows in our body meet in six main centres: Muladhara, Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha and Ajna.

The sound vibrations of the Rudra mantras, and the prana vayu released from the homa ash, directly purify the blocked nadis in our body.

Because of the gravitational forces of Karthika Chaturdashi, the life force travels upward through the sushumna nadi (the centre of the spine) and balances the six chakras. Anxiety in the mind subsides, and calm and divine clarity arise.

4. How do the 116 chakras begin to work?

According to yoga shastra, our subtle body has many thousands of energy junctions (places where nadis meet). Among them are 114 (or, in some tantric traditions, 116) important sub-chakras.

The sound of the Rudra Homam mantras on this day cleanses the karma hidden in every cell of the body (cellular memory).

As soon as the six main chakras awaken, the remaining 110+ subtle chakras (nadi junctions) connected to them are stimulated on their own. Cosmic energy then flows through the whole body without obstruction, and the seeker feels their own body to be a temple.

5. Is it equal to a lakh Ashwamedha yagas?

According to the Puranas (especially the Shiva Maha Purana and the Skanda Purana), fasting on a Masa Shivaratri that falls on a Karthika Monday and performing Mahalingarchana with Rudrabhishekam or Rudra Homam gives boundless merit.

The fruit of the Rajasuya and Ashwamedha yagas is worldly kingship and fame. But the scriptures proclaim that this worship of Shiva, done without desire, is greater than all yagas, and grants the fruit of a lakh Ashwamedha yagas: lasting freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

6. How often does such a combination come?

Shivaratri in Karthika comes every year. But its falling on a Monday (Soma Pradosham / Soma Shivaratri), with Anuradha nakshatra (ruled by Shani) aligning on that day, is a very rare planetary position in astronomy.

These three (month, weekday and nakshatra, based on the Moon's waxing and waning in the east) come together only about once in 12 to 15 years. Sometimes the cycle can take as long as 30 years to return.