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Brahmagiri hills are a part of a charming countryside, in the wilderness of Maharastra surrounded by green and years of worship. A voice sings the praise of the 12 Jyotir Lingas and attributes his worship to Lord Shiva. The sweetness in his voice wake the senses and sends goose pimples through oneself, just experiencing the peace at Trayambakeswar temple.
Om Namah Shivaya
A shikhara rising up into the sky carries with it smaller vimanas intricately carved into itself. Its not just the beauty of these minor temples dotting the roof that stands out, its a reminder of the recurring pattern of our births, a cycle we don't want to get out of.
My life, like these endless vimanas, goes through its never-ending rhythm of living and desire. A churn so strong, that I do not know the way out. A reflection of this endless living with no effort to rise out of it brings the Jyotir Linga of Trayambakeshwar temple to those suffering this misery. How blind are we, that we don’t see this glaring truth in front of us and just leave it to being an ancient wonder. All that remains is a stone Linga embedded deep within these walls that beckons us to look within ourselves and find our own flame of enlightenment.
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The potency of this Linga is well known, from the yuga of Gautama Rishi(sage) and his wife Ahilya who lived in their ashram here and attained great siddhas such that it rendered even Indra insecure. Gautama Rishi's devotion was so superior that Varuna (Lord of water) blessed him with a bottomless well from which rose unlimited supply of grain. The other sages conspired against him in jealousy. Few versions run from here on. A cow once strayed into their ashram and began to eat the grain. This cow is believed to be the incarnation of Ganesha in some cases and Jaya(an associate of Parvati)in other versions.
When Gautama rishi saw the cow eating into the supply, he tried to shoo the cow away with a bunch of Darbha grass. The cow died within the ashram, this in reality was an illusion created and Gautama Rishi brings Kala Sarpa dosha upon himself. Kala(time) sarpa (snake like) dosha (sin) is a state of higher misery given to those who have attained higher levels of perfection like the great sages in ancient times. The misery is such that it follows generations of lineage of those who have commit a sin, the death of the sacred animal - the cow, being one of them.
In order to release himself from this dosha, Gautama made a small Linga and diligently worshipped the Lord asking for respite. He prayed to the Lord, asking for the Ganges to descend to the earth, in the form of Godavari, and flow through his ashram and rid him off the sin of killing a cow within his courtyard. The Lord answered his prayers and the source of the Ganges starts here in the south and forms the River Godavari.
The Ganges still flows within the shrine chamber, ever covering this small linga, that stays beneath the earth with the water rising out. The Lord lies here submerged, in a constant abhishekam, the worship of whom resurrects anyone from this endless churn of living.
Photo courtesy: ©Lux
26 comments:
Kavitha, as we had seen earlier also elsewhere, although there exists the one and only sacred river, named Ganga, which has its origin at Gomukh in the Himalayas and is associated with Shiva in Satyuga, and also with Lord Rama in Tretayuga who was believably born close to the original abode of Shiva at kashi - at Ayodhya.
The Hindu mythological stories indicate Moon (Parvati as its typical model) as the source of all waters on earth (Shiva as its typical model in human form). And, the naturally filtered, and thus purified, underground water is also referred as ‘Patal Ganga’.
Thus, one finds even today many rivers in India, as well as in Sri Lanka even, are referred as ‘Ganga’, although those might have different names too on account of their different geographical locations…
The battle of Mahabharata was believably fought between the Kauravas & Pandavas at Kurukshetra in Haryana, which is located in the River Yamuna valley, which is related with Krishna of Dwaperyuga and the river on the surface is believably relatively more polluted on the surface of earth. And, the incident related to Arjuna providing ‘Ganga water’ to Bhisma Pitamah, when he was lying on the bed of arrows shot by him, just by striking an arrow on the ground, indicates how the ancients considered underground water as Ganga water…A similar legend related with ‘Ganga water’ flowing through the Jyotirlinga located over the source of River Godavari in Brahmagiri Hill, near Nashik in Maharashtra also conforms to that belief…And also, the story of Rama, (model of Sun in Tretayuga while Brahma as the model of Sun is believably considered as one of the aspects of Mahashiva the solar system reflected through ‘Trimurty’ of Sun, Earth & Moon or Shiva as the Three-in-one creator), reviving Ahalya, turned into rock by her husband sage Goutama in the past, just with the touch of his feet (cosmic dust/ sunlight) also relates to the Brahmagiri hill region…
Hi Joshi Uncle,
You have beautifully brought out various situations in mythology where the Ganges has played an important role.
This is just a doubt, but is this the same ahilya who was turned to a rock for Lord Rama to come and rid her off her curse?
It also surprises me that the Ganges being very pure and flowing underground should still get the name of Patal Ganga. Isn't Patal actually a very derogatory name for "hell"?
I have noticed that anything/ anyone placed below normal level immediately gets the title of "Patal". The temple of Kalahasti has a Ganesha that has been installed a good 10 to 15 feet below the land and can be accessed through a small square door. Its called Patal Ganesha.
I am still to understand the difference between Patal Ganesha, Avimukta Vinayaka and any other variant i still cant think of. Ganesha is Ganesha, what is the purpose of these various naming conventions?
Or is there a deeper meaning that we are still to understand?
Regds
Kavitha
Kavitha, 'Patal' actually refers to the region lying below the surface of the earth, viz. a cave, a burrow, etc. Thus 'Trilok' refers to 'Akash that is sky'; 'Dharatal that is surface of earth as the zero datum'; and 'Patal' that is below earth's surface or underground, as the three regions of Earth as the essence or model of the universal energy, Nadbindu the point source of infinite energy/ supreme knowledge...
Yes, the character of Ahalya in the story related with sage Goutama as his wife, is the same that is referred in Ramayana or Ramleela the drama of Lord Rama also...
In the legend related with Trayambakeshwar, it is associated with ‘Brahmagiri’ and has Indra the king of the demigods or yet another model of Sun other than Lord Rama of Tretayuga - perhaps ‘Brahma the Creator’ towards the close of Satyuga - testing sage Goutama by appearing in sage’s ‘double role’ at his hermitage, Himself being an aspect of the Creator, and thus related with zero time and space, while due to the inherent characteristic of ‘apparent time’ the sage failed, due to natural fall in human efficiency by around 25%, and believably turned Ahalya into stone due to lack of knowledge of the ‘Absolute Truth’ of existence of one and only Formless Creator and rest all physical forms as 'His Images'!
A study of the Gita, between tehlines', would also indicate ‘Yogiraja Krishna’ the mischievous or ‘natkhat’ Nandlal and the reincarnation of Formless Vishnu/ Shiva as the basic character around whom the story of ‘Creation’ revolves. He claims all physical forms to be illusory or a result of ‘Maya’ of His supreme form Vishnu represented in physical form by planet Saturn/ Shiva represented in physical form of planet Earth, or both together represented by ‘Mahashiva’ the selected members of the Solar System from Sun to Saturn or Shani ‘the son of Sun’ as the attached and yet detached witness of the drama!
The wise ancients also realized human form, believably as the model of the Creator Himself, to naturally have essences of the selected members of the solar system that are located at different levels that all need to be added and the total stored within the brain cells through Yogic exercises, that is, ‘activation of kundalini’ through zero thought, for common man to analogously visualize it with the example of a hooded serpent raising its hood up in no time by virtually standing on its tail, for retrieval of supreme knowledge and energy related with that at any time…
Kavitha, ‘avimukta’ means one who is not free, thus ‘Avimukta Ganesh’ would mean Ganesha confined, or when he isn’t free, or is occupied because of some responsibility assigned to him…I may be wrong in guessing it, but perhaps as he was believably created by his mother, Parvati, for the specific purpose of her security, and not to allow even Shiva to enter her chamber at all times, Ganesha should therefore never be free, as Krishna also says that he works every second. And, perhaps therefore, he is considered as ‘Vighna harta’, that is, ‘trouble shooter’. It indicates that he alone has the authority to act as link between man and Mother Parvati teh supreme knowledge, the essence of Moon housed in the ‘Sahasrara Chakra’ while the essence of planet Mars is housed in the ‘Mooladhar chakra/ bandha or lock’, with intervening locks too, whose key rests with Ganesha and therefore without his blessings ‘kundalini’ can’t be activiated for attaining ‘moksha’ or ‘liberation’…
Joshi Uncle
What surprises me is that why is there a Patala Ganesha in one location and an Avimukta Vinayaka in another and a Selva Ganesha in yet a third place.
It intrigues me that Hinduism though simple, assumes complexity because of the extent to which the concepts stretch geographically.
Its a beautiful analogy you have brought out with Ganesha and the rise of Kundalini shakti. Yes, Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of any puja and he is present in the Muladhara.
It looks logical enough that Avimukta means "those who are bound by karma?". Makes enough sense for now though i cant understand why he is present in the temple of Varanasi and no where else(that i have heard of so far).
Regds
Kavitha
Kavitha, Ir is generally said that 'brahmins' in the past used to keep spiritual knowledge confined within their own clan.
People perhaps need to try reading material on a subject which doesn’t apparently concern the common man today, say, Atomic Energy, and then say whether they can make any head or tail of the subject and if they enjoy reading it!
The ancients gave stress on ‘natural inclination’ of any individual to decide the field of one’s day-to-day activities…
The ‘seekers’, who were generally advanced in astronomy and its application to human life, apparently used to collect every 12 years on the banks of the River ‘Ganga’ at different locations in 'India' when planet Jupiter was in Leo. The said period happens to be the time taken by planet Jupiter to go once around the Sun. And, the said planet is referred as 'Brihaspati' in the language used by Hindus and is indicated to have been the supervisor when ‘churning of the Milky ocean was undertaken in the beginning’…
Like in the present, 'experts' meet for 'brain storming', ‘elevated souls’ from different locations gathered at Kasi that is Varanasi, and discussed various interpretations of scriptures, for they were apparently available in Sanskrit, written by wise ancients and carried through generations verbally and recorded when it was possible to do so…It is thus possible that different terminology/ legends came into use at different locations. However, “Satyam Shivam Sunderam,” conveyed to all to read the material between lines to reach at the essence…
And the essence, according to the 'wise ancients' is YOGA, i.e., instead of getting lost in the details of each part independently, unconscious of importance of others too - like ‘specialists’ in different innumerable subjects that continue to multiply with time apparently do today – one must ever remain conscious of the one and only Formless being, the Creator as the goal - the ‘Absolute Truth’ already reached by the ancients...
Krishna in the Gita also says that anyone can reach him. Therefore, one could perhaps take hint from out of any of the many simple examples that ‘naturally’ exist in ‘Nature’ for this purpose. For example, a kite can continue to fly till its connection with the flier remains intact; or like a cow duly tethered with a rope by its gentle and yet powerful caretaker can possibly feel secure as long as it lives; or a fragile flag can flutter in wind, if properly tied with strings to a strong mast; and so on…
Of course, it’s a fact that all physical forms are temporary and there are innumerable factors, as part of a design, that apparently need to be taken care of if perfect functioning throughout the life-term of the individual being concerned is desired. The wise ancients have therefore also realized 'Time' as the most important factor and that although the physical body has its own disadvantages and limitations, the mind is like a kite that can fly high only if it is properly attached to the indestructible soul through the thread of faith in God and belief in the findings of the wise ancients…There is a popular saying in Hindi, to the effect, “Thoughts can reach there where sunlight cannot.”
Talking of TIME, I give below my reaction to an article on MF Hussain and "Hinduism" in 'my' newspaper. The newspaper has now advanced, and their computer exchanged thoughts with my digital computer...
"When it was formed, it was called United Nations Organization, which if allowed to remain unchanged or unabbreviated could perhaps have constantly reminded one of its purpose. But, the characteristic property of time made it UNO such that today ‘you only know’ its original intended purpose - and not the present generation or the aam aadmi. And, just a little over six decades only have elapsed since its inception. On top of it, it’s location in the United States of America itself makes ‘west’ take its poor constituents for granted, as the ruled - symbolically through the massive structure…
MF/ ST wouldn’t thus be expected to be capable of imagining the state of Sanatan Dharma that was supposed to have been kept unchanged by ‘Indians’ over the infinite ‘past’, i.e., eternity! Thus, like all westerners, SD is referred as Hinduism! Krishna believably is natkhat, or mischievous and has perhaps taken ‘born Hindus/ Indians’ for a ride for his Supreme Form’s/ Formless Creator's UNknOwn purpose…"
Continuing, Ganesha, as the link between man and God, is depicted symbolically - lower body in human form and having the head of an animal over human shoulders! Hindu Mythology thus attempts one to get used to all kinds of permutations and combinations of forms at any time, as thoughts in the one and only Formless Creator’s head, that is, His innumerable dreams that apparently also find reflections in human mind in day-dreaming and dreams seen in graphic form in ‘mind’s eyes’ in the state of sleep…
In the chain of eight links or stages of evolution, Fish (Meen) is believed to be the first evolved form of Vishnu, followed second by Tortoise (Kurma), third by Pig (Varaha), fourth by Narasimha (Half lion and half man), fifth by Vaman (Dwarf, first time in human form), sixth by Parashuram (Fully grown man with axe as weapon), seventh by Rama (ditto, but with bow and arrows as the weapon), eighth by Krishna (ditto, but with the feared sudershan chakra, literally the beautiful wheel, as the weapon that is also associated with Lord Vishnu, whose reincarnation in Dwaperyuga, or half-way to perfection, Krishna believably is - perhaps as model of our galaxy)…
The above could perhaps indicate how the wise ancient ‘Hindus’ apparently attempted to enter the mind of the Formless Creator from His creation…
In essence, the 'Hindu mythological stories' indicate Yogis to have eventually realized that all apparent physical forms in the entire believable universe were projections - of the state of past achievement as it existed at a particular point of time, in the Shiva’s‘Third Eye’ - of characters in the dream of the Formles Creator Himself! And humans at any time on earth, which acted as the true image of the Bhootnath Shiva, appear to see the creation as it existed in the past in the life of ‘Bhootnath’ the believable Lord of the Past, as His Own images or his instruments or models of the super computer that the one and only immortal Creator believably is…
The 'realized souls' appear to have exclaimed that they were Shiva/ Vishnu Himself! Thus it’s a matter of belief in the apparent realization of the wise ancients, and to get personally convinced of its veracity or otherwise, if one had such inclination of mind as part of a grand design of the Creator…
It’s a well known fact that each man-made machine/ instrument has a certain useful life period that is indicated in advance in terms of years irrespective of whether it is used or not. And, also the total average time it could be brought into use with normal usage and proper recommended maintenance from time to time, whichever occurs first…As per Hindu belief also there occurs a time limit when most of the life forms get submerged/ burnt whether any of those were brought in to use or not for the normally specified average life of the particular specis of animal life form!
Kavita...trying to get in touch with you...
can you drop me a mail at my Gmail account? The ID is jv.rajan
Now, unlike the invisilators in the school/ college examinations tell the students every half an hour or so how much time was left for submission of the written answer sheets, the ancient just said to the effect, “Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do it today. And, whatever you want to do today, do it now, for you do not know when it would be doom’s day.” They didn’t tell what one should do, for in the then existing human society every mature person was well informed that the purpose of birth of human being was only to realize the Formless God and the Gods with forms…
Talking of man-made structures, pyramid appears to be the only masonry structure that continues to stand for the longest duration in the recorded history of mankind despite the vagaries of ‘Nature’.
These apparently were built on a large scale in Egypt, in the African continent, the believable root of the Homo sapiens, And also in Mexico and South America to some extent. These edificies, represented by ‘five points’, were also apparently copied in India too, in vimanas of temples, for confinement of energy in the interior of the structure for energizing live devotees, instead of ‘mummies’…
However, it’s a fact that man appeared on earth much before the pyramids. The ancients appear to have treated human structure, although similarly made from five elements or ‘panchatatva’, they defined it by two points as centres of the ‘governing’ (head) and the ‘conception’ (lower body) vessels. That is, the human structure was treated as a binary system, and perhaps can be visualized represented by an eight-legged spider by the Creator to reflect the believable eight essences of planets, made also from five elements, and descending from high altitude (starting from Satyuga), duly attached to the ceiling with the help of the fine thread that it makes itself while also using it for spinning a web to catch moths for its own sustenance as long as it exists during one life-span...
Kavitha, the loud thoughts as above, regarding man as a binary system, in an attempt to traveling back in time, have helped me in trying to reach just the two planets and their respective essences - represented by related coloured gemstones already arrived at by the wise ancients in the long lost past and carried through generations - that I believe could help improve one’s efficiency...
The trials are on primarily on the photograph of self, and also of those who are willing for the trial and whose birth particulars have been made available to me…
The almost immediate benefit with the present gemstones arrived at - and that I have personally experienced - is that now I don’t need spectacles to read the material that I key into the computer, which consequently appear on the monitor! A big load off my eyes for the present, at least - needing to be proved by long-term trials on others too!
Continuing, to indicate how thoughts continue to rise in one's head, it is a well known saying, “Man is a social animal.” Human life is a dynamic process and for all round peace it generally is about expected life-long interaction between two individuals belonging to the human society - husband & wife - each of whom perhaps have different governing planets. In such cases provision would, therefore, be needed to bring about balance in the couple’s life...
I have, therefore, based on trial and error, considerd same pair of gemstones, as one each determined from each of their particulars of birth, aplicable till they remain unmarried - to represent the governing vessel controls, one placed on the left (determined for female partner) and the other on the right (determined for male partner)…
Instead of being carried away by the so-called successes in different fields, the question that one could perhaps ask onself is: Why my thoughts are different from those of others? That is to say, why my behaviour is different from others in certain respect, although all are born to eventually die?
The ancients explained it with respect to one’s apparent ‘inclination of mind’ controlled with permutations and combinations of essences of solar system, which define one’s ‘thought plane’ as per a grand design for Creator’s purpose…the behaviour being like that of rivers that follow different meandering paths from their source to the seas – guided by earth ans other elements of ‘Nature’, i.e., Shiva, in the words of ‘wise Hindus’!
In view of the above, one is supposed to ever remain conscious of Bhootnath the Lord of the Past whose purpose each character, like different components of a tree, served in the past - as His Own image – for Him to reach ‘perfection’, or balance of ‘spiritual’ and ‘material’ that is associated with the concept of‘Ganesha’ who alone has the blessings of Ma Kali (centre of earth) as well as Ma Parvati (Moon – evolved from earth itself)…
As we have seen elsewhere, earlier also, human form is believed to have the essence of Moon in the head in ‘Sahasrara Bandh’, perhaps alluding to ‘sahastradhara’ or energy in thousand channels believably locked up in the head.
Also, Parvati, as the typical model of Moon, is referred as ‘Ashtabhujadhari’ Durga, i.e., the eight-handed Goddess, literally the ‘eight-sided fort’ too, which perhaps refer to the essences of eight selected heavenly bodies, from Sun to Jupiter, within the human form at eight different locations from ‘mooladhar’ - at tail-bone end - to ‘Sahasrara’ in the head, which can all get concentrated there for attaining ‘supreme knowledge/ moksha’ only if ‘Ajna Chakra/ Bandha’, at the ‘Third Eye’ location - related with evolved Shiva the holder of the ‘Trishool’ or‘Trident’ - permits one…
Therefore, in view of the above, perhaps it can be inferred that the ‘governing vessel’ can have a maximum of three essences, out of the seven left out as the ones other than the essence in the ‘conception vessel’ of the concerned individual depending on his/ her control planet determined from the particulars of birth…
Kavitha, The blog now has a different make up! Its exterior now appears 'different'!
Kavitha, I hope you heard the news of a roughly estimated 150 gm, 5 Cm metallic stone, perhaps a part of a meteorite, falling in the field of a farmer in Sangrur, Punjab, shown on the TV today. It is reported that the stone is porous and shiny and awaits 'scientific' examination by 'experts'.
The above-cited news reminded me of the ’jyotirlinga’, the stones believably containing light, and worshipped by devotees of Shiva in the past and continued since long - duly installed inside certain temples in India, 12 in number, perhaps to coincide with 12 months in a year during which our sun apparently stays for a month in a zodiac sign, also represented by 12 houses in the horoscope of an individual to cover 360 degrees of space...
The ancients believed Earth as the source of all planets/ meteors etc, ejected at some stage from its core of molten magma. And today some meteors and meteorites are known sometimes to re-enter earth’s atmosphere and burn out/ mostly fall into the seas, and sometimes land on earth also.
These might not even get noticed if those are small and land in some secluded region. The stones thus found falling down from the sky were perhaps believed to be part of Shiva (energized earth) and those in the form of Shivalingas perhaps could also have been installed in Jyotirlinga temples…
It is believed that 65 million years ago one of the asteroids, thousands of which are found located in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, struck the planet earth and perhaps resulted in shutting out sunlight due to dust rising into the sky, resulting in extinction of the dinosaurs…maybe one such could cause extinctin of humans too!
It is because of such ‘natural’ events occurring from time to time as the ‘Truth’, as reflected also in the saying, “History repeats,” the wise ancients advised humans to attempt reaching independently the ‘Absolute Truth’ or the cause apparent of the physical universe - a component of which believably is imprisoned within each form too - within the time allotted to each…like each student is obliged to write answers (without cheating/ copying) to common questions posed to a class as a reflection/ aid to visualizing the phenomenon as ‘natural’…
It is due to ‘slavery of time’ that the ‘wise men today’ - despite perhaps knowing that even the ‘most intelligent person’ today utilizes only a negligible fraction of the available innumerable brain cells – despite reading the Gita umpteen times, perhaps do not attempt to understand the communication therein about the laid down fact that free and wide copying is going on in ‘Nature’. For this phenomenon Krishna, referred in the Gita in human form, notionally takes the credit on behalf of the Formless creator, the apparent thought behind the infinite physical universe. But, He believably remains ever detached from His Creation, being related with zero time and space, whereas all other life forms and also their different apparent behaviors are believably related with apparent unending time…Thus it would be foolhardy for one to believe oneself capable of original thoughts…It is perhaps like an angler sitting quietly and patiently at one end of the line who might 'by chance' catch a big-fish-like bright idea suddenly (example of Archimedes)!
The human brain acts like a multi-purpose instrument. When a student reads a printed matter a number of times before the examination, say, its image/ (photo)copy gets deeply implanted in the brain cells rendering the person capable of reproducing the matter, depending on his own eficiency, like a good or bad photocopier, on a sheet of paper…thus only acting as one of the innumerable links in the chain…the book itself being a compilation of material from different appearing sources perhaps...
In my school days, there was a class fellow cum friend who used to read a particular matter 10 to 12 times and was capable of reproducing it word by word. Later while he was working for IBM and met me by chance of design, he told me that he had become capable of reproducing any given one page material after just one reading!
Man/ Human brain was realized as an instrument by the wise ancients, a wonderful design by ‘supreme knowledge’ - an evolved form out of pure energy to start with - that contains the entire information related with the infinite universe, both about the material and the spiritual…
And, it is on account of characteristic property of time that humans today aren’t able to utilize it to its full potential. Rather, one is able to utilize it only to a negligible extent, although because of relativity, as per an old saying to the effect, “A one-eyed person rules over the blinds.”
Hierarchy incorporated in the design all through the different Yugas helps in creating/ maintaining ‘Maya’ or illusion throught as the Creator only is conscious that He is reviewing His story backwards in time such that not all characters, or His Own Images, are aware of Creator’s past, which in fact is their own apparent ‘future’, therefore one remains ever in suspense. The mythological stories therefore help a seeker to correlate human history with His story of reducing efficiency and thus leser utilization of available potential with passage of apparent time…
reaqlly good information about trimbakeshwar with good snap. money drives life
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Namashkar, Sri JC Joshi ji,
You have explained certain ancient mystries very well in modern views, hope we can show to the modern world the greatness of the creator Shiva, to attain Mukthi for few and Moksha for many , and reduce the suffering of Baktas, AUM TAT SAT,
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