I received several questions on how to do the simplest Mahashivratri puja routine thus this mini post.

Maha Shivratri is celebrated on the night of Magh Krishna Chaturdashi. This year it is on 26th Feb 2025. Ideally this Utasv of Sanatan Dharma is celebrated over 3 lunar days/ tithis from Magh Krishna Trayodhashi, Chaturdashi and Amavasya.

Every follower of Sanatan Dharma will do pujas of Bhagwan Shankar on Magh Krishna Chaturdashi with full faith and intensity. We will all stay awake the whole night on this tithi/ lunar day. There are 3 night in a year where we are not allowed to sleep and this Mahashivratri is one of these 3 powerful nights.

On this night ideally we have to do 4 Rudrabhishek in the 4 prahar of the night. This year the four time slots are – in the night of 26 – 27 Feb..

1. 6:19 PM to 9:26 PM (Indian Std Time.)
2. 9:26 PM to 12:34 AM
3. 12:34 AM to 3:34 AM
4. 3:41 AM to 06:48 AM

So we have to do one Rudrabhishek approximately every 3 hours in this one night .

If you can afford it then do engage a Brahmin and he will guide you through the process. Karmakaand can be as simplistic or as elaborate as you wish, but engaging a Brahmin for the Rudrabhishek is always the better option. If you cannot do all four, do at least one Rudrabhishek with the Brahmin and then continue the other 3 with the simplest method that I have given in this post.

Then the Nishita muhurt, ie the 23minutes before and after the exact midnight as per the ratrimaan/duration of the night is the most important time. So if you cannot stay awake the whole night, at least stay awake till the Nishita muhurt (for my location it is 23:59pm to 00:50am. You will get this in your Panchang). Then the young, the ill and the aged should take care of their health and go to bed as per their health concerns. If you are genuinely unwell, do not force your body.

If you cannot engage a Brahmin or if you live in a place where Brahmins are not available then you can follow this very simplistic routine for Mahashivratri pujas. It is so easy that you can easily repeat it for the required 4 times in the night. It may seem simple, but it builds power. So you will actually feel the energy increasing with every repeat.

You will need – One small Shivlingam, max height 2 inch. A large deep plate where you can keep it to do Abhishek on it. (eg- a ‘paarat’ in Marathi.) And Ganga water or unboiled milk or clean water to do the actual Abhishek. This much is compulsory.

Ideally the water/milk is poured over the Shivlingam using a Shringi. But you can use a small copper or silver or any small vessel which you have. (Do not use copper vessels for milk.) The objective is to keep a thin continuous stream flowing over the Shivlingam going on for the duration of the recited mantra. If the water gets over in your pot, someone else can refill it from the top. Or someone can continue the Abhishek while you refill your pot. Or the entire family can do it one after the other while one member recites the mantra. Do what works for you, but the Shivlingam must be under flowing water for the entire mantra jaap.

You will start your pujas after sunset. So get ready in time. The standard rule is to not eat food for at least 2 hours before doing any pujas. If you want to fast for the entire day then here is a list of satvik foods you can eat instead of your regular foods. Then if you are a man wear a Dhoti and keep your angavastra on your upper body. If you are a woman, then wear a sari. If you cannot wear these, wear comfortable cotton or silk clothes. Put a tilak, wear Tripundhra bhasma or red vermillion dot on your forehead. Hindus never keep their foreheads bare, we always protect the energy of our Ajnya chakra using a tilak.

The step 1 – Preparatory puja is first done in a basic simple manner. This is done only once, at the start of the Mahashivratri puja.

• So do the basic puja of your adored deity, Kuldevata, Ishtadevata, Gurudevata, the Shivlingam etc. Light an oil deepak before them as you invoke them. This deepak has to remain lit for the entire night so oil is preferable. You can light additional ghee deepaks if you want to. Remember your ancestors with gratitude. Think of your land, your nation, the Devi Pruthvi. Invoke the deities in the language you are comfortable with. Think of Bhagwan Shankar, Devi Parvati their sons, Bhagwans Ganpati and Skandha. Ask them to be with you as you do your Mahashivrati pujas. Express your intentions, be sincere and feel the emotion in your heart as you do this. Tell them that you are not an expert on karmakaand but you will do this simplistic puja with all your heart. Request them to be kind, to guide you and to give you their blessings.
• Offer the deities, vermillion, turmeric, sandalwood, saffron, ashtagandha, bhasma, essential oils, white flowers especially night blooming fragrant flowers like jasmine, mogra etc, then bael leaves, bhang leaves, dhatura leaves/flowers/fruits, raw rice grains, etc as per whatever you have with you
• Offer them Panchamrut as a naivedya/ food to eat (milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar crystals/khadi-saakhar). Or any whole uncut fruits eg banana, pomegranate, apples etc or if you can make rice kheer etc. If you do not have any of these ingredients then at least offer some milk mixed with a little sugar as the naivedya.
• Then burn Dhoop and offer the smoke to the deity. If you have the resinous dhoop then first rub it in your hands, recite your mantras over it as it gets warm, and then light it. Or you can burn regular agarbatti.
• Then do Arti of your adored deities by burning camphor. Offer the flames of the fire to all the deities in your puja ghar/ altar and to the 10 directions. And then do namaskar to all the deities.
• (There are Sanskrit mantra and proper steps for all this, if you know these then you should use them. Or you can recite the Shiv Manas puja stotra as it covers all the pujas which are done to a moorti of a deity. Keep it as simple or as elaborate a you wish.)

Now step 2 – the actual Abhishek.

• Now pick up the Shivlingam from the Dev ghar/ altar and set it carefully on the plate. The plate will get full with the used Abhishek water so the Shivlingam should be placed on something so that it does not get submerged in the water. Arrange everything carefully. You will now be doing the actual Abhishek so sit comfortably. Keep the water, milk, etc close by.
• You will recite ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ 108 times and as you are doing this you will pour water in a very thin continuous stream over the Shivlingam. Use a largish pot so that the water/milk stream is continuous.
• You will have to keep count of the mantra, so either all present can recite the mantra aloud and someone keeps count. If you are alone, record yourself reciting the mantra 108 times and play it in the background as you recite it while doing the Abhishek, so you know when 108 are complete.
• If several of your family members are doing the Abhishek, then make sure that the plate does not overflow, someone should keep removing the used Abhishek milk/water from it using a small bowl. Improvise this part as per your situation.
• You can tie a long thread to your pot and everyone in the family can touch the thread while you do the Abhishek. This is equivalent to everyone actually doing the Abhishek.
• After you complete the 108 mantra repeats, the Abhishek part is done. Now pick up the Shivlingam carefully, remove the used Abhishek water. Set the Shivlingam back into the dev ghar/ puja ghar/ altar. Dry it carefully and now you will do its formal puja.
• So follow this post for the detailed Shivlingam puja. (especially from point 7 to point 20). Worship it with some items, some mantra and some visualizations.
• Then after doing the complete puja, the entire family can recite Shiv bhajans in the language of your choice, or Sanskrit Shiv stotras or shloks etc as a group or if you are alone, you can do Dhyan .
• This was one repeat of the Abhishek. This will take you 3 hours.
• Then get ready for the next repeat as per the timing. Repeat this simplified Abhishek part 3 more times. You are required to do 4 Abhisheks in the 4 prahars of the Mahashivratri night.
• If you cannot stay up the whole night, do at least the 2 repeats till the Nishita muhurt.

Then whenever you complete the last puja step, fold your hands in the namaskar mudra and request the deities for forgiveness for the mistakes you which you may have done. This is the formal end of the puja.

Request for blessings for everyone in this universe. If you feel like it, you can recite ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः । सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु ।मा कश्चित् दुःख भाग्भवेत् ॥ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः॥ “Om sarve bhavantu sukhinah, sarve santu niramaya, sarve bhadrani pashyantu, na kaschid dukha bhag bhavet. Om shanti shanti shanti”.

And then distribute Prasad to your family members. This would be all the naivedya, fruits etc food which was offered to the deity which has now absorbed the energy of the pujas and is now prasad.

Then everyone touches the used Abhishek water to their eyes and drinks a few drops as teerth. (The used Abhishek water is later poured into a potted pot or under a tree where no one will step in it.)

This is the conclusion of the puja.

This is the simplest karmakaand. But if you do it sincerely, it will generate the same energy. Elaborate pujas generate huge quantum of energy and the simplest ones can also be equally powerful. So do not give yourself excuses to get out of doing pujas on Mahashivratri. Do at least one simple Abhishek yourself.

Then if you are travelling or unable to do anything at all then at least, recite or listen to to Shiv mantra as much as you can on this one night. Or at least do mental recitation of ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ as much as you can in this night. Every follower of Sanatan Dharma must do something to channelize the energy on this one night of the year. Especially now when the times are so turbulent.

Do not waste this opportunity.

Shivah Namah Parvati Pataye Har Har Har Mahadev!

Dr. Tejaswini Arvind Patil.