JYOTIRLINGA TOUR OF AN OLD COUPLE (14)

---

JYOTIRLINGA TOUR OF AN OLD COUPLE (14)

27th JULY, 2009 - MONDAY.

We started at 7-20 am from Dwaraka after vacating the room and taking leave from Lord Sri Krishna and Sri Nageswara Jyotirling Mahadev. We prayed the Lords to bless us by giving another opportunity to visit and worship them. We had a definite feeling that Lord Sri Krishna lived at this place, moved with the people, ruled the Kingdom and blessed his followers and devotees and we were moving in such places. So far, we covered a distance of 4,345 km in our tour. On the way to Somnath, we intended to visit Harsiddhi Matha or Harshad Matha Temple which was at a distance of 80 km from Dwaraka. By 9 am we reached the Harsidddhi Matha Temple. From the National High Way one has to go 2 km on a parallel road to reach the temple. The temple is situated on the sea shore. Many of the pilgrims take a dip in the Sea and then visit the Temple. We entered the temple premises and after 10 minutes the temple gate was opened for Harati and we had the Harati darshan of the Harasiddhi Matha, a form of Kalika Matha.

The original temple of Harshad Matha was on the mountain. The ancient temple is situated on the top of the Koyala Mountain at a height of 3000 feet. The pilgrim need to climb around 500 steps to reach the temple on the mountain. It is believed that Lord Sri Krishna created Harshad Matha to demolish all the devils present in this region and after finishing her assigned work, Harshad Mata decided to stay here for ever in the form of a holy spirit. In accordance with her wishes, the Yadava community installed a gold plated statue. Able bodied devotees visit the temple on the Hill also climbing the steps. It is also stated regarding construction of the temple down the Hill that during 16th century the ships coming in the way of Mataji’s eye site were getting sunk in the Sea and to avoid this situation a famous merchant Seth Jagdu Shah constructed an exact replica of the temple on the base of Koyala Mountain so as to avoid the eye site of Matha on the Ships and also to facilitate old and sick people to visit the temple and perform pujas.

Another story is that famous King Vikramaditya of Ujjain was also a very strong devotee of Harshad Mata also called Harsiddhi Mata (there is a Harsiddhi Matha Temple in Ujjaini also) and he had convinced Harshad Mata to remain at Ujjain during the day time and be at this Koyala Mountain during night time. The real proven Shakti Yantra is placed at both the temples of Harshad Mata at Ujjain and Koyala Mountain. The beautiful statues of Mataji are placed behind these Yantras indicating that Harshad Mata would provide all the strength to her devotees through these Shaktri Yantras. These two are said to be the original Shakti Yantras in the entire India. Most of the pilgrims in Saurashtra Region visit this temple by walk in fulfilment of their desires. There is a choultry with rooms provided on rent.

After a leisurely darsan of Harshad Mata and taking blessings from her we proceeded further to Somnath via Porbandar.

HARSHAD MATHA AT KOYALA MOUNTAIN


HARSHAD MATA ICON
PORBAN DAR

This ancient port on the Saurashtra peninsula, on the Arabian Sea is mentioned in Skanda Purana as Sudamapuri and Ashmavati.

Porabandar is the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi and an ancient port on the Arabian Sea and is mentioned in the Skanda Purana as Sudamapuri or Ashmavati. It is the place where the childhood friend Kuchela of Sri Krishna in Sandipani Ashram lived. There is a memorial building to Mahatma Gandhi in this City. We have not stopped in this town and proceeded further. There is still knee deep water on some of the main roads. This city suffered a heavy down pour in the previous week. After Porbandar there was a stretch of about 200 metres on the National High Way where water was still overflowing on the low lying bridge on the road at more than one foot. A tank on either side of the road was overflowing. Carefully driving behind a lorry at a distance of 25 feet I crossed this stretch and afterwards realized that one should not travel behind a lorry in the circumstances - the reason being that if for any reason the lorry is stopped it is very difficult either to proceed further or to go back.

BHALKA TIRTH

By 1-30 pm we reached Veraval and from there proceeded to Bhalka Tirth, the place of Dehotsarg of Lord Sri Krishna. Unable to bear the grief of destruction of Yadava Clan by fighting among themselves, Lord Sri Krishna left Dwaraka and reached this place which was a deep forest in those days. He was in a deep Samadhi under a large Pipal Tree (Ravi Chettu), lying on a deer skin. This Pipal Tree is called Moksha Pipal Tree. Lord Sri Krishna was lying under this tree with one leg over the other. A hunter by name Jara thought that it is a deer standing and he shot an arrow aiming at the toe of Lord Krishna which looked like the eye of the deer. The arrow fatally wounded the toe of Lord Krishna and he instantly left the body and proceeded to Vaikunta Dhamam. He forgave the hunter Jara as he had not intentionally shot the arrow against Lord Krishna. It is believed that the hunter in his previous birth was Vali, the Monkey King and brother of Sugriva whom Sri Rama killed standing behind a tree. At the place where Lord Sri Krishna left his mortal body, a statue of Lord Krishna made of blue marble is kept below the tree in memory of sad demise of Lord Krishna and a temple was constructed. The area and the temple renovation has been taken over by the Central Government. A Tulasi tree was also planted at this place. The marble statue of Lord Krishna in the reclining position is very beautiful and attractive to witness.

The mortal body of Lord Sri Krishna was said to have been cremated near Somanath sea shore at a place called triveni sangamam. The area is known as Dehotsarg place of Lord Sri Krishna.

There was a cave nearby which is known Balarama gufa. It is believed that Bala Rama, an avatar of Adi Seshu entered this gufa before the death of Lord Krishna and proceeded to Vaikunta Dhamam awaiting the arrival of Lord Krishna. There was also a small Shiva Temple. The place where the body of Lord Krishna was cremated is known as the Dehotsarg place and it is believed that Lord Sri Krishna walked upto this place after he was shot by the Bhil Jara.







LORD SRI KRISHNA AT BHALKA TIRTH






LORD SOMANATHESWAR SHIV LING ICON
ARROW-PILLAR
By the side of Bhalka Tirth there was a temple complex of Brahmakumaris. We visited this complex and from there we proceeded to the Somanath temple complex. We were informed that the Somnath Trust is maintaining a Guest House with about 300 rooms and most of the tourists prefer to stay here due to its prime location of just opposite to the Somnath Temple. We went to the Reception of the Guest House and took an AC double room at a rate of Rs.600 per day. The double room is reasonably good with AC and Gisure properly functioning. But the towel kept in the room is so dirty that a cloth used in a kitchen for cleaning would be more cleaner than this. After taking rest for some time and taking bath we proceeded to visit the temple by 5 pm.
The famous temple of Somnath is very big, beautiful and also very neatly maintained. It is located on the Arabian Sea Shore. There is orderliness in entering into the temple complex and the Hall before the Sanctum Sanctorium. At the ticket counter I purchased a ticket for Rudrabhishekam for Rs.100/-. It is stated that pilgrims are not permitted to enter into the Sanctum Sanctorium. Sankalpam will be performed by a priest and the Rudrabhishekam will be performed next day morning by the priests. We had a leisurely darshan of Someswara Jyotirlingam which is very beautiful in an oval shape and about 2 and half feet long. The Jyotirlingam was well decorated with the features of Lord Shiva. With this darshan my desire of visiting the twelve Jyotirlingams is finally fulfilled and my heart filled with joy and peace which cannot be described in words. I was asked to sit at a place and it is said that a priest will come and perform the sankalpam for abhishekam. In the meanwhile I had recited namakam and the priest came and performed sankalpam and puja. Again having the darshanam of Someswar Jyotirlingam, we came out of the temple and leisurely visited the entire temple complex.
Behind the temple there is an open air theatre where Light & Sound show depicting the History of Somnath is exhibited every evening. But on the day of our visit the show is not there as the atmosphere is cloudy and rain is expected. On the side facing the Sea there is an ARROW-PILLAR erected on the sea-protection wall. There is an inscription on the Arrow-Pillar indicating that between Antarctica - the South Pole -- and the point where Somanath temple is situated, there is no land and one can have an unobstructed view of the South Pole from this point. On the other side of the compound wall are statues depicting the events in Shiva Puranam in glass windows. Just behind the temple there was a base of an old temple said to be the base of destroyed original temple. We spent in the presence of Somanatheswar till 8 p.m and then returned to our Room and decided to visit the temple next day morning by 5-30 a.m.

OM TAT SAT OM TAT SAT OM TAT SAT OM TAT SAT


RAGHAVARAO U.V.G.V. DUGGIRALA,
HYDERABAD, Dt.9th OCTOBER, 2009.

---