fasting for shiva 16 straight mondays

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

If you recall in post 1 above, the HDF member suggested s/he was going to fast for 16 days. Why was 16 days and Monday offered as the prescription
of tapas for śiva ? Here's a few ideas for your kind consideration.

What is significant about 16? Surely 15 or 18 or 25 could have been offered, yet the offer is 16. Monday also gives us a hint because Monday is owned
by candra ( moon) some call śaśāṅka¹. What does śiva adorn on the top of His head ? A crescent moon. We can now infer we are now on the right track to
make some observations/insights.

The moon travels through 15 tithaya ( the plural of tithi) or lunar days. 15 for the bright half and 15 for the dark half. Kalā is another way of counting tithi-s…
just another way of saying it is the 10^th kalā of the moon or the 15^th kalā of the moon as kalā is a division and a few other things as we will see.

We are told akṣa eka śītāṁsu kalā – or, there is one kalā (or division) of the moon (śītāṁsu is ‘cold-rayed’ , another name for moon’s luminosity)
that does not vanish. This is called amākalā. There are several ways of defining this term, but for brevity let’s look at it this way:
amā+kalā = chief, at home + digit or division of the moon. This infers too that I can write it this manner, a+kalā , by the grammar rules of
saṃdhi¹ ( conjunction rules). This a+kalā = with no division and therefore meets the definition just offered ‘ does not vanish’.
If there is no division how can it vanish? That is the thought here.

But what digit is this ? it was not specifically mentioned. It is the kalā digit. You see by definition kalā also = 16.
It plays two roles , one as a ‘division or digit’ and one as the moniker (or alias) of the number 16. So now we know that the 16^th division of the moon
(śītāṁsu or ‘cold-rayed’) is amākalā , with no division and does not vanish. But wait a moment , I just said there are 15 tithaya and not 16 tithaya.
This is where the insight begins.

All we need to do is view the moon’s cycle to know which one is amākalā. From the 1^st tithi to the 15^th, the moon changes and each division
vanishes or changes into the next one in progression 1,2,3,…15^th and there is the full moon. Yet on the way back down in brightness
we end at the new moon ( some say dark moon) āmāvāsya.

This āmāvāsya is looked at as āma +āvāsya : āma = uncooked, raw, unbaked, the state or condition of + āvāsya = full, to be inhabited by.
So, the dark moon is looked at as the full, uncooked division. Here is where we can ‘see’ amākalā. When the moon is in the āmāvāsya state look at it.
Note that you can ‘see’ the circle , the hint, around that empty , unbaked yet full moon’s disk that shows. That is the 16^th, amākalā; that is what śiva keeps
on His forehead. The symbol or indication of no division of never vanishing – He is that which never fades never vanishes.

Now many will also say that the moon atop of śiva’s head is that of śiva-rātri ( the night of śiva) or the 14^th tithi of the dark half of the month.
Mahā śivarātri is a bit more specific as the month is called out for this occasion. So , one would say that the moon that is shown on His head is the 14^th tithi
visualization of the moon. I am fine with this definition also and find no issues with this view.

The point offered is 16 is ‘code’ for a few things:

• śiva
• wholeness
• without division
• never vanishing
• and also the sound form ḥ ( written in devanāgarī script as a colon : ) which is the symbol of śiva & śakti. It is the 16^th vowel no less, ḥ

So, fasting for 16 days is the alignment to these principles of śiva, wholeness, without division. That I may raise myself up to this status via
the tapas offered or being pursued.



iti śivaṁ

words

• kala is defined many ways . One definition is a digit or 1/16^th of the moon's diameter ; another is ‘a division of time’ ; another is a small part of anything ,
• any single part or portion of a whole ; and there are more for this most wonderful word.
• śaśāṅka – the moon; this term means hare-marked or rabbit. The craters on the moon can be connected as an outline and it resembles a hare or rabbit.
  
  • Rabbit or hare as an alternate name for the moon : Look to this 7^th post: http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthr...ghlight=rabbit
  
  
• saṃdhi - containing a conjunction or transition from one to the other