BADRINATH – Part 2

7/31/2019 BADRINATH Part 2

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As the title goes, this is about the glory of the

most exquisite, ancient and powerful place on

this planet. The Headquarters of the very Ancient

Hierarchy of Beings who have transcended the

birth and death and have now dedicated their

existence for the upliftment of the rest of us who

are still struggling to find the way forward.

The gigantic mountain ranges of Himalayas,

which extend for thousands of square kilometres,

are broadly divided into five parts - Nepal,

Koormanchal (Kumayu), Kedar-Khand, Jalandhar

and Kashmir. Badarinath is located in Kedar-

Khand and is considered most holy of all.

The very air that flows in this sacred place is said

to purifying and conducive for Tapas or Penance.

While sending Sri Uddhav to Badarivana at the

time of his ascension to Vaikunta, Lord Sri

Krishna says to him that the very breeze that

flows over the holy Alakananda River would

purify him and annul his sins and that he can

happily live there doing tapas and meditating on

His form and attain to the Supreme Bliss and

hence he should proceed to Badarivana after His

ascent to Vaikunta. He also warns him to wear

woollen cloths and not to stay on empty stomach

while he is at Badarinath.

THE GLORY OF BADARIKASHRAMA II- By: Sanjay Bharatha

This principal source of River Ganges has a

number of sacred spots on its holy banks near

Badarinath. At various places in Badarinath there

are a number of secret and hidden sacred spots

that are only described in various Puranas and it

is only those who are blessed and those who are

meant to visit such sacred spots are either guided

by unseen forces or all of a sudden find

themselves at such spots.

Apart from such secret Teerthas or pilgrim spots

there are a number of pilgrim spots that are very

famous and visible to the naked eye and which

are known to all those who are familiar with

Badarinath. Now we shall know about a few such

Tirthas that are described in various Puranas.

The presence of River Alakananda here at

Badarinath is a story in itself. It is said that due to

the prank played by Lord Narayana upon Sri

Lakshmi Devi, she was compelled by Him to curse

Mother Ganga and Himself. As a result of such a

curse He gets a face of a horse that enables him to

kill an evil Asura and Mother Ganga is made to

flow near Badarinath in the name of Alakananda.

Thus it is due to the curse of Ma Lakshmi Devi

that we have River Alakananda to cleanse our

sins. All this was a part of the drama enacted by

Lord Narayana for the benefit of humanity.

Map showing Four Sacred Places in Himalayas

Sri Krishna Sending Uddhava to Badari-Vana, also

in the Picture Maharshi Maitreya who lives in

Kalapa Village near Badrinath


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Now as we come out of the Temple of Badarinath

and get down a few steps, on the right we find a

small shrine of Adi Kedareshwar Mahadev, Lord

Shiva. It is said that earlier this place was chosen

by Lord Shiva to do Tapas. Once upon a time Lord

Shiva had severed the fifth head of Lord Brahmain a rage due to the non-conformity of Dharma by

Lord Brahma. That head got stuck to Lord Shivas

hand owing to the sin called Brahma-hatya, the

Killing of Brahma. It would not come-off in spite

of many measures taken by Lord Shiva to absolve

that sin. Wandering from place to place when

Lord Shiva came to Badrinath, the fifth head of

Lord Brahma fell down near a spot known as

Kapala-Moksha or Brahma Kapala. From that time

onwards Lord Shiva began to stay at that sacred

spot.

And later Lord Narayana came there in the form

of an infant and began do Tapas at the placewhere Lord Shiva was staying. Seeing this Lord

Shiva along with Ma Parvati shifted his abode to

the nearby place called Kedareshwar or

Kedarinath.[It is said that in earlier days there

used to be a single priest who used to worship at

the four shrines of Badarinath, Kedarnath,

Gangotri and Yamunotri. All these four peaks can

be seen from a place called Tunganath that lies

above all these four spots and houses a temple oflord shiva].

Yet even today a small shrine of Lord Shiva is still

there at Badarinath. It is said that Lord Narayana

will not be happy with those who do not first

worship Lord Shiva at the said Adi Kedareshwar

Temple.

In front of this Adi Kedareshwar Temple is a

temple dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya, who

installed the present idol of Lord Badarinath that

was lying at the bottom of River Alakananda near

a spot known as Narada Kunda.

As we come further down we come to a hot water

spring known as Usna-Kunda. Near the feet of

Lord Badarinath very hot water springs out from

Narayana Mountain and is allowed to flow into

Usna-Kunda to facilitate the devotees to bath in it.

This is the most thrilling experience for the

devotees in those ice-clad mountains and is no

less than a heavenly experience to bath in thosesacred waters in the nail biting cold all around.

Adi Kedareshwar Temple situated upon Garuda-Shila

Temple of Adi Shankaracharya at Badarinath


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Such a bath actually relieves all the tiresomeness

of the devotees who come to visit this holy shrine

against all odds of nature, in most of the cases,

travelling at least for 2 days in those gigantic

peaks of Himalayas. It is also said that bathing in

those holy waters burns all the sins of thedevotees and also cures the diseases.

There is a story as to how this holy hot water

spring came to be at Badarinath. Once upon a time

in an Ashram of a Rishi a small female child was

crying and her mother said to her that if shedoesnt stop crying then she would give her to a

Rakshasha, a demon. At that very instant a Demon

happens to be there and overheard this

conversation and decided that that girl will be his

wife. All this is unknown to the mother of that

child as she had said it just to make the kid stop

crying.

After a few years that child is married off to

Brighu Maharshi and this makes that demon very

angry and he waits for the right moment to

kidnap her. Once when Brighu Maharshi is out of

his Ashram the demon kidnaps his wife, who was

at that time pregnant with Brighu Maharshis

child. But before kidnapping her, he asks the

sacred fire that is kept in Brighu Maharshis house

whether or not it is true that the girl was

promised to him when she was a kid. Now as fire

is supposed to always tell the truth, the Fire God

Agni says that it is true.

And then taking Agni, the Fire god as a

witness that demon kidnaps the women. But as he

forcefully carries off the poor wailing women who

has no idea as to what was happening, she begets

a child, who later goes on to become Chyavan

Maharshi. Due to the splendour of that child that

demon is burned to death. When Brighu Maharshi

returns to his ashram and comes to know what

transpired, he curses Agni to become Sarva-

Bhakshi, that is, to become all-devouring.

Getting the shock of his life, Agni approaches Sri

Veda Vyasa who advises him to do penance at

Badarinath to absolve his sins. Agni comes to

Badarinath and pleases Lord Badarinath with isintense penance. Lord Badarinath appears to Agni

and says that his sins have been destroyed by his

mere coming to this sacred spot and asks him to

remain at Badari in one of his forms and burn

away the sins of the devotee who come there.From that time onwards Agni remained at

Badarinath in the form of a hot water spring

coming out from near the feet of the Lord and

cleanses all the sins of the devotees who bath in

those holy waters.

Usna Kunda the hot water pond at Badrinath


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It is also said in Skanda Purana that just as it is

immensely beneficial to do penance and holy

deeds at this Tapta-Kunda or hot water spring, it is

immensely destructive to commit any sin here.

Hence one needs to be very careful in the Tirthas

and be of pure thoughts and deeds.

Five sacred Rocks near Badarinath:-

1. Garud-Shila:- It is said in Skanda Purana thatGaruda the vehicle of Lord Vishnu did a severe

penance at a place 25 miles before Badarinath

and has the vision of Lord Narayana who then

advised him to go to Badarinath and fast for 3

days worshipping him. Garuda does this

penance and then Lord grants him boons.

Apart from being the Lords vehicle, one of itwas that the rock upon which he did the

penance be named after him and that those

who worship it be freed from all sorts of

poisons.

This is the rock upon which Adi Kedareshwar

Temple is situated. It is found that there are no

serpents in Badarinath at all and even the

black scorpions that are found here areabsolutely harmless and do not sting even

when they are accidentally crushed while we

are sleeping on the ground. This is my personal

experience at Badarinath. Just a few miles from

Badarinath at Kedarnath there are a number of

huge poisonous serpents but those are

mysteriously absent in Badarinath. It is said

that this is due to the presence of Garud-Shila

or Eagles-Rock at Badarinath.

2. Narad-Shila :- This rock is located verynear to river Alakananda and under it there

is a small pond known as Narad - Kunda

that is visible only at certain times of the

year and at other times it is covered by the

waters of Alakananda.

Bhagwan Narada did penance here and was

granted boons by Lord Narayana. One of

those boons was that the Lord remains

near this rock. Hence the shrine of Lord

Badarinath is located here. And other was

that whoever sees, drinks from or worships

at the Narada-Kunda be born again only as

humans and not degenerate into other

species in their next birth.

3. Markandeya-Shila:- Once upon a timeSiddha Markandeya met Narada Maharshi

at Mathura and told him that he is finding

the practice of going on pilgrimages very

tough. Then Bhagwan Narada advised him

to go to Badari as it would give him the

benefit of visiting all the Tirthas. Hence

Markandeya Rishi came to Badarinath and

did fasting and worship just for three days

here to please the Lord. Lord granted him

the boons at this place and one of it was

that the Lord has his permanent abode at

this place.

Small temple of Bhagawan Narada

Maharshi at Narada-Shila


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4. Narashimha - Shila:- after killing theAsura Hiranyakasyapa, Lord in the form of

Man-Lion was very angry and upon the

worship by the gods to calm down he

granted their wish and came and dipped

himself in Alakananda river and remained

there in the form of a holy rock, called

Narasimha-Shila, protecting the devoteesfrom evil influences.

4. Varahi-Shila:- Lord Varaha, an Avatara ofLord Vishnu came to Badarinath

immediately after rescuing the earth and

bringing her back from the nether world of

Rasatala. He remains here at Badari in the

form of a holy rock ever since.

Now as we proceed further along the banks of

Alakananda river towards the north we come

across Brahma Kapal. It is the place where the fifth

head of Lord Brahma fell off from the hand of Lord

Shiva. It is said that if one performs the ritual for

the benefit of ones ancestors here, they attain to

higher planes and if they happen to have fallen

they would again rise and get good birth.

Almost all those who come to Badarinath perform

this ritual here for the sake of their ancestors. It is

Siddha Markandeya being blessed by

Bhagawan Nara-Narayana at Badari-Vana

Brahma-Kapala- The place near Badari where

Lord Brahmas Head Fell


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It is said that here Lord Indra did his penance for

Lord Vishnu and got back his Kingdom from the

clutches of Asuras. It is said that if one baths in

this waterfall on the 13th day of the bright half

(approaching Full Moon) of any month and does

worship, one gets to go to Lord Indras World after

ones death.

Now on as we keep moving on this side of the

river on the Narayana Mountain we come across a

small shrine of Mata-Murthy, the mother of Nara-

Narayana Rishis. Nara-Narayana Rishis were born

to Dharma and Murthy Devi. When both the

brothers wanted to do Tapas and left for

Badarikashrama, their mother could not

withstand the separation from her beloved

children and came to live with them at Badarinath.

It is said that the Lord was always immersed in

Yoga-Samadhi for the welfare of the worlds but

promised to his mother that he would come to

visit her once a year at the place close to

Badarinath where His parents decided to perform

their penence. Thats why even to this day Lord

Badarinaths Utsav Moorthy (Idol meant for

procession) is taken to the temple of Mata Murty

on Vamana Dwadasi day and no worship is

performed in the main temple at Badarinath but

Lord is worshipped along with his parents at

Dharmasthal (named after His father). This place

is around a mile from the main temple of

Badarinath where the two auspicious rivers

Alakananda and Saraswati meet.

said that once such a ritual is performed here

there is no need to perform the annual ritual for

the same purpose. Exactly below this place in the

river there is Brahma-Kunda. Here Lord Brahma

had worshipped Lord Vishnu in order to get back

the Vedas that were stolen by an Asura and got

those back through Lord Vishnu after the Lordkilled that Asura.

As we proceed towards north from here to where

the river takes a turn, we come to a place called

Atri-Anasuya Teerth. It is where Mahrashi Atri and

his wife Anasuya did there penance.

Now lets come to the other side of the river

opposite to Brahma-Kapal. Here there is a big

ground which is rarely found in these mountain

ranges and as we proceed from there towards the

Village known as Mana, we come across a silvery

flow of water from the Nara Mountain. This is

called Indra Dhara waterfall.

Veda-Dhara water-falls beside Indra-

Dhara waterfalls on Nara Mountainopposite to Badrinath Temple


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This is the place where the pilgrims who dare to

go to Swargarohini or Sathopanth rest for the day.

And only one in thousands who visit Badarinath

goes on these very dangerous pilgrimages as the

route is very tough and if one is even a bit careless

then its the end of the story for him. Usually only

two periods are suitable to undertake this tough

pilgrimage. One is at the end of Vaishaka (end of

April-beginning of May) Month and the other

would be at the beginning of Jestha (end of May-

beginning of June) Month. At these times the ice

that is formed on the mountains would be hard

and hence it becomes possible to walk on it.

Now as we travel along the Narayana Mountain

towards the north-west direction to visit other

pilgrim centres we come across very beautiful

waterfalls known as Sahastradhara or the

thousand waterfalls. These waterfalls flow from

the top of Narayana Mountain.

It is said that Sri Maha Lakshmi too accompanied

Lords parents to Badarinath to do the service of

the Lord and she choose a place about 3 miles

from Badarinath Temple, it is called Sri Lakshmi

Vana, the forest of Sri Lakshmi Devi. It is very

interesting to note that there is no much

vegetation nearby Badrinath but once you enter

the precincts of Sri Lakshim Vana you find a forestof varieties of trees mainly of very large

auspicious Bhoja trees that are very important for

a number of rituals. May be this is the same place

that is referred to as Sri Vana in Suddha literature.

This is a very beautiful place that has a water fall

which is called Lakshmi-Dhara.

Lakshmi-Vana, a tract of greenery near Badari

where Bhojapatra trees are found

Lakshmi-Vana on the way to Sathopanth

Hard Ice enables us to walk on our way forward


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After they did and became purified they decided to

multiply their forms and be permanently at

Badrinath in one of their forms, the waterfalls and

continue to do Penance. Likewise there are 12

Dharas called Dwadashaditya Dharas or 12 Sun

waterfalls. Here the 12 deities, the sons of Kasyapa

Rishi, who are the 12 personifications of Sun god

did their penance in order to get the position as

Sun Deity and each becomes a personification of

Sun for each of the 12 months.

Another 4 waterfalls that are personifications of 4

aims of Human life, namely, Dharma, Artha, Kama

and Moksha are said to be in the same vicinity. But

it is impossible for a common pilgrim to identify

those out of the hundreds of waterfalls that areflowing there. It is only possible if some divine

soul shows those to us. After crossing these

Dharas we come to Chakra-Teertha.

This is the last spot before we go to the very

famous and very auspicious Sathopanth Teertha.

Chakra Teertha is in the form of a discus and is a

plain ground in the midst of these two gigantic

Mountains. In the next issue we shall cover theother auspicious spots around Badarinath.

(To be continued)

There is no mention of a thousand waterfalls in

this region in the Puranas but there is a mention of

a number of other waterfalls like Pancha-Dhara,

the waterfall form of 5 deities who are the

personifications of 5 pilgrim centres at various

places in India. They are Prabhas, Puskar, Gaya,

Naimish and Kurushetra.

It is said that as a number of pilgrims visit these

holy places annually and get cleansed of their sins,

these sacred spots eventually began to lose their

power and purity due to accumulating sins of thevisitors and when they prayed to Lord Brahma he

advised them to do penance at Badrinath.

Sahasra-Dhara during winter

Chakra Tirtha a tract of land in a circular

shape. The last stop before we reach

Satopanth Lake

BADRINATH – Part 2

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