Kashi yatra for maharudra in nov 2023

Rituals

Every religion has rituals. Buddhists, Islam, Christians, Jain's, Sikhs, all have different ways of chanting, a sequence of steps to follow, prayers, asking for blessings, well-being. The process is different, but essentially the goal is the same.

One has to understand the basic principles of the rituals to truly appreciate it's design, purpose and implementation. Otherwise, it remains either as an emotional exercise or a mechanical process, both of which, have less benefit, than something done with understanding.

Rudra abhishekam.

Shiva rudra abhishekam consists of two parts. Namakam and chamakam. As the shiva lingam is actually the purest form of the self, the constant jala abhishekam creates a circular energy movement from the hand to the lingam to the ground and back from legs to the hands. The divine form of the self and the mortal form of the self hence become one. The shiva lingam, is not shankara, one of the manifested forms of Shiva, with jata, gangaji, damru, trushool etc. Shiva lingam is the symbol of the formless consciousness, the same way, a shaligram is a symbol of manifested consciousness, Vishnu.

The design of namakam and chamakam is very interesting. It simply consists of praying to all the forms of consciousness, visible and invisible in namakam. And a prayer to fulfill all possible desires in chamakam. A complete package is hence designed in rudrabhishekam.

You can read in detail about this most powerful manifestation process here.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.templepurohit.com/sri-rudram/amp/

Maharudram 2023

Maharudram is 1331 repetitions of the rudram. 11x11x11 with around 15 pandits chanting at the same time for around 3 days, followed by havan.

My mother, who lived in kashi till she got married and moved to Mumbai in 1966, expressed a desire to perform maha rudram in kashi. This was planned over one year from the desire to the fulfillment, with all arrangements, gurujis, staying place etc identified and booked. I was given the responsibility to conduct the maharudram.

Divine guidance:

When i landed in kashi, i called guruji referred by my friend Kamal, who was to help us take darshan of some lesser known, but very unique temples in kashi.

He replied that we will not be in kashi for the next ten days. Not even for a moment, did i think, who will guide us now? And exactly the same happened, when we met sudarshan!

This kashi trip was unique in the sense that it opened a whole new dimension about the oldest city in Earth. Which has existed even before the ganga river!

Bhajan seva by kaka

Darshan at adi vishwanath mandir. The Bhajan of soham har damru baje by kaka. Followed by arti of Mahadev. This was an unusual experience. Met the pujari there. A new project of bringing the ancient Vishnu kashi to the front begins now.

Followed by thandai sans the bhang, at the chowk and chat at the kashi chat bhandar.

Visheshwar sparsh darshan

At night, early morning, sparsh darshan. It is the wish of my mother to do the sparsh darshan, touching the shiv lingam. followed by Annapurna darshan. Slept and woke up late in the morning.

Bindu madhav darshan

Bindu madhav mandir. Kashi was the Anand vana of Vishnu. Half of it was given to Shiva. This is an interesting aspect that very few know.

A new Project to create videos YouTube channel of murlidhar patwardhan was discussed...

Meeting sudarshan

As the second day maha rudra puja finished and me and my kaka, stepped out, as others either want back to the hotel room to rest or shopping.

We decided to take darshan of agnishwar Mahadev first.

As we reached there, it was past 7 pm and the mandir was locked. It's a small mandir

Just outside the mandir, there were two young men, talking. I could over hear them. They were not talking about politics, Bollywood, cricket, gossip, food, bhang, etc. They were animatedly discussing about yatra, upasana, Shiva, bhakti etc.

I told kaka, we are at the right place... We are in kashi, where everyone is aligned with Shiva. One of them, who was from Bangalore, introduced himself as sudarshan.

(Later sudarshan told us that he was going to take a different turn, but ended up exactly at the agnishwar Mahadev mandir. As if we were destined to meet.

There are a few events and decisions in life that alter the course fundamentally. Our decision to take darshan of agnishwar Mahadev and the event of meeting sudarshan is one such event in life. I later realised that this meeting is the start to sometime profound, which lies ahead.)

We requested both of them, if any thing can be done to take darshan of agnishwar lingam. One of them knew the pujari. The temple was opened and after the darshan, kaka rendered his Bhajan. I could see sudarshan in deep meditation, as if in a trance..

After the drashan and Bhajan seva, sudarshan asked us, if we wanted to take darshans of some other shiv lingas in kashi. I instantly realised that Shiva himself has sent him to us for this purpose. The temple Kamal told us about, sudarshan would take us too. I felt a deep sense of gratitude, amazement, and delight, all the same time...

In the gallis of benaras, the journey of the trip, sudarshan, kaka and me began

Harishcandreshwar darshan and

Krishneshwar darshan followed.

Kashi Khanda skanda purana.

Kedar ghat to manikarnika ghat

Noon Sanam were explained by sudarshan.

Next to Kedar ghat is old manikarnika ghat. Many temples have their mirror images or replicas at different ghats.

Nageshwar jyortilinga.

Upshanteshwar Mahadev

Ashwini kumareshwar darshan followed.

Each lingam is consecrated with a specific purpose.

Pashupateshwar. Here baba vishwanath comes every evening. For sandhya.

So come here and sit if you don't find place in vishwaanth temple.

A Rickshaw driver told us about a Hindu King who demolished the gyanvapi temple. What an absurd story...we were amazed at the level of ignorance or propaganda by some people, or maybe he just wanted to get attention... But his attempt failed...

Authentic Bhang shop

A Visit to the bhang shop follwoed. This is the Third generation shop! Which is recommended by my mamaji, who is 75 + now

Maha mrityunjaya

maha rudram culiminated with mrityunjay mantra homam worth samapti. Amazing 4 days. Of rituals.

Mukti lingams

There are 14 mukti lingams in varanasi. These are swambhu lingams.

Atma veereshwar.

Atma veereshwar mandir has all nine navagrahas for worship.

This mandir is super powerful for homas and Naman.

Veereshwar has some accelerated process for homam and namaskars that multiply the effort by 3 crore times. It has many lingams and Vinayakas and devis in it's premises. An amazing temple complex.

Guru brihaspatishwar. Vishwanath bhagwan is here every day. Pray here. This is the secret of kaliyuga. Not everyone knows this...

Together with bhrihaspatishwar mandir, atma veereshwar it is the key for kashi.

Gram devta

There is a the gram devta of kashi. To be explored further in the next yatra!

Change after kashi yatra

After this kashi trip, i have become largely free of thinking continuously. This is a major change i noticed.

Silencing the mind. So it's free, unbiased, sharp and aware.

Thoughts come to me in a quiet state. Like bubbles in a glass of soda. Not many, but a few only.

I do my roles at work, at home, as an actor does with full involvement, but knowing that i am not my role.

More yatras

Every yatra opens a new dimension of kashi... Multiple lifetimes will not be enough to get even a little depth, it is so vast...

Blessing

Hearing the name of kashi, reading about kashi, Also has the same punya or higher state of being for anyone. May you be blessed, reading this blog and it's associated links.