Shiva has always been referred to as Triambaka because he has a third eye. The third eye is the eye of vision. The two physical eyes are just sensory organs. They feed the mind with all kinds of nonsense because what you see is not the truth. You see a person, but you are unable to see the Shiva in him. These two eyes do not really see the truth. So another eye, an eye of deeper penetration, has to be opened. In this tradition, knowing does not mean reading books, listening to somebody’s talks or gathering information. Knowing means opening a new vision towards life. So if true knowing has to happen, your third eye has to open up. If this eye of vision is not opened, if we are limited to just the sensory eye, there is no possibility of Shiva.
On Mahashivaratri, nature brings this possibility very close to us. While this is possible every day, on Shivratri nature makes it more available to you because the planetary positions are such that the energy, especially in the northern hemisphere, makes it very easy for a person to raise his/her energies upward. No amount of thought or philosophy will bring clarity. Anybody can distort the logical clarity that you create.
Difficult situations can completely put it into turmoil. Only when vision opens up, only when you have an inner vision, will there be perfect clarity. Nobody and no situation in the world can distort this clarity within you. So Mahashivaratri is an opportunity for you to become a Triambaka, for you to open up your third eye and a new vision for yourself. That is the possibility on this day.
