Jyothir Lingam - its Revelation

Introdution 

Om Visveswaraya Mahadevaya Triyambakaya Trupuranthakaya Tripuragni kalaya Kalagni Rudraya Neelakantaya Mrutyunjayaya Sarveswaraya Sadasivaya Sriman Mahadevaya Namaha:

Once the sages living in Naimicharinya requested Saint Soodhar to explain how Jyothir Lingams came to this universe.
Soodhar began to tell the Mahatmiyam to the sages "O virtuous men of God I will tell you the epic of Siva Puranam as far as I know and If there is any mistake Maheswar should pardon me." Soodhar narrates as follows:

The great philosophers saw with their spiritual vision the phenomenal Image of Lord Shiva as in Linga swaroopam (incarnation) which no one can explain and no one can understand.

Brahmam ( as distinct from Brahma ) has no beginning and also it has no end. This is neither sthulam (body) nor sukshumam.(concepts) Everything is Brahmam and Brahmam is everything.
Brahmam lovingly created prakruthi (Mayadevi) with eight hands - bright luminous and resplendent in all fine jewellery. At the same time he created a handsome man also.

As the man and the Devi who thus came into being were contemplating why they had been created an invisible voice told both to do penence. Accordingly they did penence for long number of years as advised by the voice. In the process they both were sweatting and the sweat flowed like a stream from their body and the water became an ocean. The man and the Devi created by Brahmam went into 'yoga-nidra'. From that time the man was named Narayana and the prakruthi devi was called Narayini.

( Prakruthi is the primordial matter which became the universe through the process of evolution.)

From the navel of Narayana came out a nice frangrant lotus with innumerable petals. and an immeseasurably long and wide stalk. Brahma - the creator incarnated in the lotus.
Brahma saw around him. He could'nt understand anything - who he was, where-from he came, why he was created and so forth. Hence he went down through the lotus stalk to find answers to these questions. He went on and on for years and years but he could not reach the bottom. He became very tired and turned round and began going up the stalk again for years and years. He could not reach the top either. He was bewildered when he heard an invisible voice which asked him to do penance.

Accordingly he did penance for 12 years. Atlast Sri Narayana appeared before him. Brahma asked him who he was and why he had appeared before him. Narayana said " I am the one that created you to do the work of creation". Brahma was disbelieving and retorted " you say that I have been created to carry on the work of creation. But I did not create you. Then how did you come into being ?" They were quarreling hotly when suddenly there appeared a bright Jyothi (light). They both looked at the four directions for the source of the brightness. A big Lingam appeared in front of them. They were stunned and stoped quarreling. Narayana said to Brahma "you go up and see where this begins at the top and I will go down and see the end at the bottom"

Narayana took form of the a white boar and drilling the earth went deep down. From that time he was called 'Swedha Varaham' and the 'kalpam' became 'swedha varaha-kalpam'.
(When we do any pooja 'sangalpam' this word 'swedha varaha kalpe' is mentioned) Brahma went up on his Hamsa vahanam (meaning: 'Hamsa' is a swan & 'Vahanam' is vehicle). Years passed and they could not locate the end nor the begining. and they became humble and realised that there was one above them .

When they were doing prayer they heard sound "AUM" . They were searching for the source of the divine sound and they saw the letters 'agaaram' ( a ) on the south, on the north they saw " ugaaram " ( U ) and inbetween the "Magaaram" ( M ). and the The first letter ' Agaaram' was like 'Surya Mandalapradesam' ( sun ) ugaram was like the brightness of Agni ( like fire) and 'Maagaram' was like the Chandra mandala pradesam ( moon the sattelite). Over that there appeared the "brahmam" bright like spadigam (pure crystal) with five faces and ten arms and with priceless jewels. God Aadhi sivam appeared in Jyothi swaroopam.

Thus appeared "JYOTHIR LINGAM".
Narayana and Brahma bowed to Easwara and asked him " My lord, who are you ? Please explain to us about your avathar." Shiva said " I am the one that created Narayana and Narayana created Brahma. I am everything and every-thing is I. I am the "Brahmam". He told Brahmah " I made Vishnu create you to carry on the task of creation." he told Vishnu " I have created you to sustain the universe. Rudhra who will be the destroyer is also my aspect." Vishnu asked " My Lord we now know the purpose of our creation how will be get the 'sakthi' to do our duties."

Shiva was very happy and taught them "Om Thatvamasi" 'Maha-vakyam' (Mahavakyam means the great sentences) and Mrithyn-jayam, Pancha-ksharam, Chinthamani, and Dhakshina-moorthi Moola Jabam Brahma and Vishnu bowed to the lord. Shiva told them "Narayana, I am in 'Lingam' exactly how I appear now before you with 5 faces. I will fulfil the desires of all my devotees.

On my right side is brahma, on my left Vishnu and in center Rudran - all three united in me. You three are only my 'swaroopam' created to carry on the three duities of creation, sustanence and destruction. Though you are my 'swaroopam' I have no bondage with you. You should pray to me so that the universe you will create in future will be prosperous and people will take you as an example and be devoted to me.

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Om Namasivaya

Jyodhir Lingam Rameswaram

"Sivam Shantham Uma nadham Mahatyana Parayanam"|
Gnana pratham Kruthivasam Jyothir swaroopam Namamyaham"||

Rameswarar temple at Rameswaram in Tamil-Nadu is one of the 12 'Jyothir linga Kshetrams '. The Lord here is in three forms Moorthy, Sthalam, & Theertham.

Rameswaram is as ancient as the epic Ramayana. Pilgrimage to this place is of equal importance to the pilgrimage to Kasi (Varanasi). It is said that pilgrimage to Kasi will be complete only after a worship at Rameswaram and vice versa. Apart from this one should have a holy dip in Dhanuskodi (Sethu) at the Confluence of Bay of Bengal and Indian-ocean and should take the water from here to kasi to do 'Abishegam' to Lord Visveswara there. Apart from any mythical reasons for this ritual or this practice is to promote national integration.

Siva purana speaks about Rameswara lingam . Once Sri Rama to fulfil his father Dasaratha's wish through his aunt (Kaikeyi) went to forest with his consort Sita and brother Lakshmanan. When they were staying in Panchavadi, Lankeswara Ravana abducted Sita and kept her in Asoka vanam (forest) in Lanka. To destroy the demon and rescue Sita from Ravana Rama came to Sethu and stayed there for some time with his army of monkeys working out the plan of invasion of Lanka.

One day Rama felt thirsty and wanted some water to drink. One of his monkey warrior ran and brought some holy water (Theertham). As soon as Rama saw the holy water he dicided that he would not drink that water without doing Siva Pooja. Rama made a Siva lingam with mud and he did the pooja. Lord Maheswara happily appeared before Rama in luminous "Jyothi Swaroopa". Sri Rama was very delighted to see Maheswara and worshipped the " Jyothiswaroopa ".

Lord Siva asked Rama for his wish . Rama said "You should give me energy to cross this ocean. Secondly Ravana has abducted my wife. So I have come to Punish him. As he is your devotee I beg your permission to kill him and you have to be with me in this war".

Lord Siva told Rama that " once Ravana did penance in the Kailash mountain and he tried to uproot the entire mountain range to be taken to Lanka. For this act of sacrilage I cursed him at that time that Lord Vishnu would be born as a human being and kill him. You are the incarnation of Vishnu and the time has now come to kill Ravana. You have my blessings and I shall be with you on this". It is a well known story about how Rama vanquished and killed Ravana.

From the time Shiva appeared before Rama in Jyothi-swaroop.  

He is consecrated as Rameswarar in Jyothirlingam in Rameswara"Sivam 

Om Hreem Namasivaya

Connected with Railways and Roadways.

Rameswaram is in the center with Pamban in the North and Dhanuskodi in South.

                                                                                      

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Jyothir Lingam Kathmandu

" Jeevatyaksham Jeeva vantyam Jeevana Jeevana Rakshagam |
Jeevakrut Jeevaharanam Jyothirswaroopam Namamyagam||

Pasupathinath temple at Kathmandu in Nepal is a holy 'Jyothir linga Kshetram. The Devi here is Mahamayi.
 

The famous Pashupateswara temple is on the banks of river Baghmati. This temple is the most famous 'Jothir Linga Kshetra'. This is also one of the ' 51 Sakthi Sthalams '. People from all over the world come to this temple in pilgrimage throughout the year. Specially on the 'Sivaratri' day the crowd of devotees is huge.

Legend says that Shiva once took the form of a deer and playfully roamed around in the forest on Bagmati river's east bank. The gods caught hold of the deer by its horn and forced the Lord to resume his divine form and get back to Kailash. However horn broke. The broken horn was being worshipped as a linga. Over a period of time the 'horn' got buried and people forgot all about it. Centuries later a cow-herd found one of his cows showering milk on a small mound under a tree. Digging at the site, he discovered the divine linga of Pashupatinath in " Jyothiswaroopa".

The entrance gate to the temple is an impressive structure with beautifully painted images of Ganesha and a Devatha on the sides surmounted by an image of Shiva standing with his trident in the center of the Himalayas.

From the doorway the view of the main temple is blocked by gold-plated metal Nandi (Bull) Entering the compound one could find a large space and a huge Pasupathinath temple. This is a marvelous structure, square with a double tiered wooden roof surmounted by gold-plated spires. The upper roof is about half the size of the lower, and the corners of both curves upward. The structure is in the Japanese style.

The whole out sides of the temple is beautifully carved with wooden figures colourfully repainted at the time of King Mahendra's coronation in 19th centuary. There is a symbol of Lord Panchmukhi (five-faced) lingam of Pashupatinath.

The lingam is made of black stone, about 130 cms high, with a face carved on each of its sides. This is to make the people know that the Almighty god is 'vedha-swaroopa' (incarnation of the four vedas). On top of the lingam is a 'Shree Chakara', representing the fifth face. Below each face is a pair of hands raised in benediction.

This temple is in golden color.The devotees themselves do 'abishegam' to the Lingam with the water from the River Bhagmathi. There is an idol of 'Nandi' Lord shiva's mount. This has been fully covered with gold-plate

Pasupathinath temple is one of the most famous shrines in the world located as it is in the Himalayas - in proximity to Kailash. In worshipping the God and the Goddess here the devotees attain 'moksha' in the here-after'.

Location

The Pasupathynath temple is 3 kilo-meters

from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal

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Jyodhi Lingam Kedharanath

Gangadharam Umanadham Pani kundala Manditham | Kalakalam Kethareesam Jyothir-Swaroopam Namamyaham || Brahma (The creater) had a grand son called Priyaviradhan who had seven sons.One day Priyavirdhan whished to give the equal shares of his kingdom to his seven sons. According to his wish he took his chariot and went round the mountain Maha Meru. Then Priyavirdhan seprated the mountain into seven islands and gave one each to his sons. He gave ' Jampootvibam ' to his first son who ruled for a long time . Then his son Nabi became the king of the Jampootvibam and Nabi had nine children. Rishaban one of Nabi's sons wanted to share the Jampootvibam with his other brothers. Hence he seperated Jampootvibam into nine continents and gave one to each of them. Rishaban gave one of the continents to Bharadhan that was called Bharadha Kandam. The Bharada Kandam is the best among all others.To protect the universe Sri Vishnu incarnated as Nara Narayana at Badrika-ashramam in Bharatha Kandam.(Both of them incarnated as Krishna and Arjuna in Tredha yuga.) Nara Narayana brothers made a siva lingam and did pooja for many years. Lord siva happily accepted their pooja and appeared in luminous Jyothi-Swaroopa and asked them what was the reason for their pooja to him. Nara Narayana brothers told the lord " Lord give us energy to protect the world and kindly you should incarnate in this lingam to which we did pooja as "Jyothir Lingam". Lord Siva did according to their wishes.The lingam here is called Kedhareswarar. If one does pooja to Kedhareswarar he will wipe off his sins and get peace of mind. Furthar if one goes to Badrika-ashramam atleast once in his life time to do dharshan of the Lord he will attain moksham (Liberation achieved through god realization) This is true.                                                       Om Hreen Namasivaya                                                                                                                    Home

Jyodhir Lingam Vaidya Nadham

Trithalam trigunagaram trinetrancha triyayudham |
Trijanma-papasamharam Yega-Bilvam Sivarpanam ||

Vaidhynatham temple in the Bihar State is one of the 12 sacred Jyothir lingam Kshetrams. There are many other Vaidyanadhar temples in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjap and West Bengal. But Siva Puranam says this place is special because it is a Jyothir linga sthalam. Once Ravana did deep penance rigorously to Lord Siva for many years. Lord Siva appeared before him. Ravana was very happy and went round the Lord and did pranams many times. Siva asked Ravana about his wishes. Ravana asked Siva humbly for a Jyothirlingam from Kailash to take to Lanka. Lord Siva granted the boon as Ravana wanted but with one condition.The condition was that he could obtain a 'Jythirlingam' from Kailash but he should not put the lingam down on the ground in between till he reached Lanka. Ravana accepted the contition and he went to Kailash obtained a Jyothir lingam. All the devas were unhappy to know this event. The Devas did not wish demon Ravana to have a Jyothirlingam from Kailash. Hence they made a trick. They requested ' Varuna Bhagavan' to go into Ravana's stomach. Varuna did accordingly and Ravana could not bear the urgency. He was looking around for some one to hold the lingam. He could see no one. Hence unavoidably he put down the lingam on the ground. Once he put lingam on the ground all his urgency vanished and he felt light. Ravana tried his best to take off the lingam from the ground but he could not even move it and all his efforts were in vain. This incident happened in Vaidhyanatham. All devas prayed to Lord Siva that he should incarnate in Jyothi-swaroopam in that place in the Linga brought by Ravana from kailash and give his blessings to his devotees and the universe. The Lord does so particularly all ailments get cured by the grace of the Lord here. Om Hreem NamaSivaya Location:   Vaidhyanatham temple is in the eastern  part of Gaya in Bihar State

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Jyodhit Lingam Kusmeswarer

Daritriya dukka-haranam Ravichandra-lekshnam |
Mrtyunjayam Loka-natham Jyothir-Swaroopam Chinthayamyaham ||

                  

 Siva-puranam says this place is the house of the famous temple of Lord Siva known as Kusmeswar which is one of the twelve Jyothirlinga kshetrams.

The legend is : There was a Brahmin couple living at the foot of the mountain Devagiri. They were saivates and ardent devotees of Lord Siva.The husband's name was Sudhaman and the wife's name was Sudegai. They were a sad couple because they had no children. Years passed. The wife told her husband that he should marry another girl from a good family to have a progeny. Sudhaman refused. But Sudegai insisted on him. Atlast reluctantly he agreed to marry a second time.

Sudegai was very happy and she arranged her brother's daughter called Kusumai as the bride. Sudhaman married Kusumai and taught her Siva Pooja. Kusumai followed her husband's advice. She brought a pot of mud and made one hundred and eight lingams and did pooja to the lingams. She would keep them in a certain position in a pond after her pooja was finished. This was one of her every day routine. In due course the number of lingams she made and did puja to reached one lac.

Later she conceived and gave birth to a male child named Supriyan. Sudaman was delighted.

The boy grew up and married a girl chosen by his parents. All were very happy in that house except Sudegai, the first wife of Sudaman who felt she might be ignored by her husband. Kusumai came to know of her husband's first wife's worries and consoled her. She asked her to be cheerful. But Sudegai became very jealous of her husband's second wife. She killed the son Supriyan, cut him into pieces and threw them into the pond in which Kusumai usually put the lingams after her pooja.
The next day Kusumai's daughter-in law was alarmed that her husband was not to be found but there was blood and flesh all over her bedroom. .She was very upset. Kusumai and Sudaman were doing siva pooja at that time. When they came to know about this and they told their daughter-in-law "Dear don't be sad. Lord Shiva gave us the child and he will never let us down. Come and join with us to do prayer to the lord. He will give his blessings to you. " All Prayed to Maheswara.
By the grace of the lord Supapriyan came alive and called his mother and said "Amma because of your pooja and the grace of lord I am alive." Hearing this Kusumai was very happy and she went and hugged him.

At that moment there was a loud noise and they all turned in the direction of the sound. They saw Lord Siva in "jyothi-swaroopam" with the brilliance of a million suns.
The lord said "my devotee kusumai your husband's first wife cut your son into pieces and threw them into this pond but I saved him. I never let down my devotees. I am going to punish her because she did harm to you." But Kusumai requested "Lord do not punish her. She is my aunt apart from being my husband's first wife. kindly pardon her. My humble request is you should be here for ever to give your blessings to all yourdevotees."
Accordingly the Lord made the pond itself into a temple and incarnated there as "Kusmeswara" in Jyothir Lingam radiating his grace.

Om Hreem NamaSivaya                  Home

Jyodihr Lingam Somanatham

Somanadham Someswaram Samastha Gunaparagam |

Gora-Padhaka thavagnim Jyothir-Swaroopam Namamyagam ||

 

'Mahadeva Somanatham' became one of the Jyothir linga sthalam. The legend is King Dakhsa married his 27 daughters (other than Devi Dhakshayini ) to Soman (the Moon) who started with equal love to all his 27 wives. But later he became very fond of only two of his wives called Aswini and Rohini. He spent all his time only with the two of them.

Rest of the wives were upset about their husband's partiality and complained to their father Dhaksha about his behaviour. Dhakshan called his son-in-law adviced him to be impartial towards all his wives. Soman just pretented to hear but never followed his father in law's advice. Dhakshan got very angry and cursed him to sufer severe ill-health and loose his charm.

Soman became very sad and went to all devas for help. But no one could save him from the curse. At last he went to Brahma and told him his sad story. But Brahma said he could do nothing and suggested that shiva could help with his problems. He also said that Soman should do penance to Shiva at the place where the river Saraswathi joins the sea chanting the 'mrithynjeya manthra'

Accordingly he went to the earth and found the place where the river Saraswathi mingled with the sea and did penence for many many years standing on one leg There was a Siva lingam from Pathala-loga called Hadakeswarar. Finaly shiva appeared before him in ' Jyothir-Swaroopa' from Hadakeswara lingam and told him " Chandra I am aware of your curse; but no one can reverse the curse of a brahmin in this universe. But I can give you a boon that you will be on My lock waxing and waning. One fortnight you would grow becoming round and bright on the fifteenth day. From next day the waning would start becoming very dark end of that fortnight. This way you would live for ever and keep your charm for 1day in a month ".

The waning phase is called 'Krishna-Paksham' and the growing phase is called Sukla-Paksham. Siva further enjoined on Soman not be partial to anybody but to treat all his wives with equal love. Soman agreed gladly. From that time onwards we have the two phases of the Moon.

As Hadakeswara Lingam became a Jyothir Lingam because of Soman's penance it is also known as "Someswara lingam ". The place where siva gave the boon to Soman came to be called Somanadha-stalam. This is also one of 51 Devi peetams. The sakthi here is Chandrabagha Devi

The temple has three parts - the entrance 'mantap', the sabha 'mantap' and then the Sanctum. The somanatha Lingam also called the north face or the 'kalaa-agni' is on a huge base. Behind this is the shrine for the consort Devi.

                                     Om Hreem Namasivaya

Location There are many routes to Prabasa Pattinam also called Somanatha Sthalam. To reach this Holy place take a train from bombay to Ahmedabad and then to veravel station. It is 5 km from veravel to Somanatha-stalam by bus.                                                                          Home

Jyodhir Lingam Omkareswarer

" Omkara Mantra Nilayam Mandhara Kusumapriyam |
Prutharaga priyadharam Jyothir mayam sivam Namami ||

Omkareswarar temple is in the vindya mountains on an island in the middle of river Narmadha at its confluence with river Cauvery . This is one of the 12 'Jyothir linga Kshetrams '. This temple was built by Gupta kings in the 4th centuary. Normally the temple tower would be right over the sanctum. But here the sanctum is located on the northern side of the tower. Constantly water keeps flowing around the Lingam and this is said to be the water from the river narmada though the sanctum is on a level higher than the river. On the southern side Devi Parvathi's sanctum is located. The epic Siva-puran says that once Narada visited Vindya mountain in the form of king Vindya. Narada was given a warm welcome. Vindya told Narada with great pride that it had everything and was very happy. Naradha wanted to destroy Vindya's pride. So Naradha told Vindya that all the gods lived only in Meru Mountain because it was the tallest mountain in this world. Vindya was very sad on hearing this. So he started on a penance to Lord Siva. Vindya drew an "Omkara pranavam" on the floor. He made a mud lingam and placed it on the line of the drawing and did pooja to Lord Siva for 6 months without moving from the place. Siva saw his steady and rigorous pooja and appeared as Jyothi in front of Vindya and asked " what is your wish and why this rigorous pooja to me?" Vindya said " Lord I wish to grow taller than all other mountains. kindly give me the energy to realise my wish" Lord Siva thought it was not good to grant this wish to Vindhya. However he could not deny granting the boon. So he told "Vindya it shall be as you like but with one condition ; that if you be proud about your power you will be brought down in size by one of my devotees." Vindya agreed and was very happy. Vindya and all the devas requested Lord Siva to kindly descend on the Lingam on the "Omkara yantra" drawn by Vindya as Swayambu (self incarnation) to which Vindya did Pooja." Easwara incarnated in Jyothi-swaroopa accordingly as Omkareswarar.                                                Om Hreem Namasivaya! Location   This temple is in vindya mountains at the confluence of river Narmada and Cauvery in Madhya pradesh

Somanadham
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Jyodhir Lingam Nakeswarer

Nageswaram Naganatham Nagabrana booshidham |
Nataka-pradham Navarasa Pradham Jyodhir-Swaroopam Vandhe Namami ||

Once in Tharuga vanam all the sages thought that yaga could fullfill all their desires and it was not necessary to worship god. The wives of the sages also followed their husbands. So they all neglected to worship god .When Lord Shiva came to know about this he wanted to teach a lesson to them. Shiva ordered Vishnu to change himself as a beautiful girl, go near the sages and play veena. Lord Siva went to the sages' houses as a saint and asked for some food. In the mean time Vishnu went as a beautiful girl to the place where the sages were performing yaga and played veena. All the sages stoped chanting mantras and came out to see the girl who was playing the veena. They fell in love with her. The sages forgot the mantras, yagas and every thing else and were following the charming girl. In the meantime the sages wives were not leaving the handsome saint who had come to beg and asked him to sing a song. The sages followed the charming girl and their wives too followed the handsome saint and they all met in one point. The sages asked the saint why he had come to Tharugavanam. The saint told them that his visit was to do Yaga with his wife- the lady whom all the sages were following. Hearing this all the sages were very angry and said "Your wife is not a good girl; you can not perform Yaga here with her." The saint was upset about the sages' comment about his wife and said " How about all your wives ? From the begining I am noticing that they have no mind to leave me alone". All the sages cursed the saint but the curse did not came true. Vishnu and Siva ( the Lady and the saint ) disappeared. From that time Tharugavanam became dry with no water. All the sages and their wives fell sick. The sages went to Brahma-logam and prayed to Brahma. Brahma reminded the sages about the incident about the lady and the saint that happend in Tharugavanam. However for salvation Brahma gave a Lingam to them and told them that they shoud pray to Lord Siva with "Panchakshari Maha-mantram". Accordingly all the sages did pooja to the Lingam chanting Panchakshari for years. Siva appeard before them in Jyothiswaroopa and blessed them. He merged with the Lingam that Brahma gave to the sages and the lingam came to be called Nageswara Lingam.  OM Hreem Nama Sivaya Location It is thirty nine Kilo  meters form Parbhani                                                   Home

Jyothi Lingam Malligarjunar

Mahonnadham Mahakasam Mahodharam Mahabujam
Mahavaktram Mallika arjunam Jyothi-swaroopam Namosthude

Sri Parvadha Mountain (Srisailam) houses the famous temple of Lord Siva known as Mallikarjuna which is one of the twelve Juothirlinga kshetrams. The Sakthi here is known as Brammarambal. This is also a great Sakthi peetam.

The creater Brahma also has a place with other icons in this temple.There is a lake called Pathala-Ganga. If one takes a dip in this lake, it is said he certainly will have perfect control over his mind and purity of thoughts. All the benefits can be attaind even with only a 'manaseega darshan' ( darshan in one's mind ) of the Lord.

The popular legend is that princess Chandravathi was the daughter of king Chandra-gupta who ruled from the Chandragupta-Pattinam (Country) on the northern banks of the Krishna river. The king was a valiant warrior who used to be absent from his court quite often due to various duties of a king.
The princess grew to be a lovely maiden with an affable and pious nature. One day the princess went to the Srisailam forest on the southern side of the river for prayer and penance. When she went to the forest she took some faithful herdsmen and some cattle with her. The princess lived mainly on the milk from the cows.

One day she observed that one of her cows was not giving milk when milked. Hence she ordered one of her herdsmen to watch over the cow. Accordingly he followed the cow observing its movements. He came back and reported to the princess that the cow was yielding milk over a Manikam stone (Ruby) image of a siva-lingam. The princess went over and saw this for herself. She was pondering over this miracle. The night Lord Shiva appeared in "Jyothiswaroopa" in her dream and asked her to build a temple around the Jyothir Linga. The Princess built a temple according to Lord's instructions and the Luminous Lord was named Sri Mallikarjuna.
This is an ancient and an important holy temple in Andra-Pradesh. Its sanctity dates back from the days of Mahabharatha.

                              Om Hreem Nama Sivaya

Location

There are good travel facilities to the temple.
From Kurnool,Guntur, and other places direct buses
to Srisailam are available.              Home

Jyodir Lingam Maha Kalaeswarer

"Mahakalam Lavanyam Madhura Karunarasa varithim |
Mahalingam Mangalaroopam Jyothir swaroopam sirasa namami"||

All the ancient holy books say that many years ago there was a war between the devas (gods) and the daityas (demons) and the gods lost this war. They prayed to Vishnu to rescue them from the oppression of the demons. Vishnu told Brahma and the other gods that they should have a temporary truce with the demons. The two sides should get together to churn the ocean. Vishnu would ensure that the devas benefited more from this churning of the ocean than the daityas did. The truce was agreed upon and the two sides got ready to churn the ocean. The mountain Mandara was used as a churning rod and great snake Vasuki as the rope for churning. The devas grasped Vasuki’s tail and the daityas grasped Vasuki’s head. But as the churning began, the mountain Mandara which had no base, started to get immersed in the ocean. What was to be done? Lord Vishnu came to the rescue. He took the form of a turtle and the peak was balanced on the turtle’s back. As the churning continued, 'Halakala' poison spewed out from the depths of the ocean killing every thing all round. To save the devas Shiva swallowed the poison. To prevent the poison going into Shiva's body Parvathy devi held his neck tight.The poison got stuck in Shiva’s throat and the throat became blue. He is therefore known as Neelakantam (blue of throat). Shiva himself became reddish like a fire in "Jyothi swaroopam". But the legend speaks about how Mahakalar became luminous -Jyothir swaroopam. There was a brahmin called Vedhapriya living in Avanthi (current name is Ujjain). This place was located on the banks of the sacred river Shipra.He was a vedic scholar and he had four sons.They all were saivates - Lord siva's followers. Close to Avanthi there was a mountain kingdom called Ratnamala ruled by a cruel demon called Dooshanan. He did penance for many years to Brahma and gained strength and power. He was very proud and ill treated all the people of the country . He was giving more trouble to the devotees of Gods. One day according to his minister's advice Dooshanan occupied Avanthi. All the pandits were very sad. Hence all went to pandit Vedhapriya's house.There Vedhapriya and his sons were doing Siva pooja. The pandits explained to Vedapriya and his sons about Dooshanas cruelty. Vedhapriya's first son Devapriya consoled them and told them "O vedha pandits we are all normal human beings. We are not strong enough to destroy the demon king. Do not worry, almighty Lord won't let us down.We will do our duty and for the rest God will look after." Dooshan came to know all about this through his spies and went with his men to kill Vedapriya and his sons and destroy all siva lingas. Nearby the place where the people of that place had been taking mud to make siva lingas for years and years became a shallow area like a pond. Suddenly there was an explosion and from the middle of this pond emerged a Shiva linga luminous like a million suns and the heat of the light burnt King Dooshana and his army of men. The Pandits worshipped the Lingam and called it Maha Kallar Jyothir lingam Lord shiva in the Linga granted all the wishes of the devotees and to this day remains a protector of the universe. Om Hreen NamaSivaya Location Ujjain is 180 km from Bhopal Madyapradesh.Train and Bus fecilities are available.                Home

Jyodhir lingam Beema Shankaram

Kshetragyam Kshetrapalancha Parartyaika prayojanam
vyomakesam Jyothir-swaroopam Beemasankaram Namamyaham ||

Beema sankara Kshetram is located in Bovagiri mountains in a thick forest 3000 ft above sea level. The popular Chandrabaga river flows via Pandaripuram and this river's origin is the river Beema. It is called "Moksha-kundam" (liberation achieved through God-realization) The legend says that one day demon Beema went to his mother and asked who was his father ? His mother told him that she married a demon called Viradhan but Rama killed him. Then she was with her parents. But one day her parents wanted to eat a Maha-Rishi. When thay went near him they were burnt by 'yoga-agni' and both died . When she was all alone Ravana's brother Kumbakarna married her and they were living in this mountain. But later he left her and went somewhere and never returned. Then she heard that he also was killed by Rama. Demon Beema was very angry and he whished to kill Rama.But he needed the strength to kill Rama. So he went to a deep forest and did penance to Lord Brahma. Brahma appeared before him and asked for his wishes. He asked the Lord that he whished to be the strongest demon in this world. Brahma granted the boon and disappeared. Beema ran to his mother and told her very happily about the boon granted to him by Brahma and his strength. After he became strong he promised his mother that he would kill all the gods as well as the strong human beings.(Rama had taken avathar as a human being ). As he promised to his mother he conquered all the countries and the ruling kings were in jail. He drove away all the devas. All the poojas, homas, yagas, yagnas and ritualisms were stopped in his regime. All the gods driven away by Beema met on the banks of the river Mahakosa and they decided that all should go on a deep penance to Lord Maheswara. In the mean time the former king and the queen of that place made a mud Siva-Lingam and were worshipping it in the jail. Beema came to know about this and went to the jail to kill them and raised his sword. Instantly a serpent came out from the lingam and it destroyed the sword and also a voice said " Beema, if you trouble my devotees you will die. So run away". But the demon did not listen and a fight started. All the universe began to totter and stars started to drop down. Naradha went to the Lord and requested him to destroy the demon as entire universe was tottering. According to Naradha's request a luminous light with the brilliance of a million suns came out from the Siva lingam and Beema and his entire army of warriers were burnt and died. All the gods and Rishis went to Siva and said Jaya Vijayee bava Jaya Sankara Parvathy Pathe "You have killed demon Beema in" Jyothi swaroopam" and protected all the universe. Hence from this moment you should be called "Beema Sankaram". Thus the Lord revealed himself as a "jyothir Lingam" in Beema Sankara Kshetram".  Om Hreem Nama Sivaya Location: Beema Sankara kshetram is about 95 km from Poona.                              Buses are availlable Home

jyodhir Lingam Triyambakeswarar

Triyambagagam Kundendhu Sanga-thavalam baganetra pithuj-walam"
Kalagni Rudram Jyothir-swaroopam Namami Sivam Pranat-miyam||

Once Sage Gowdhama and his wife Agalya were living in Brahma-giri (Brahma-hill). The sage was doing penance and his wife was helping him in his activities.Un-expectedly that place suffered a severe draught. People were struggling without water. All the animals in the cow-shed died Plants and trees in the groves withered. Sage Gowdhama did penance to Varuna Bagavan ( God of rain ).Varuna appeared before the sage and ordered him to dig a pond. So the Sage dug a pond according to Varuna's instruction. Varuna filled the pond with water and it never became dry. All the environment became green.The other sages too settled there from various other places.

Sage Gowdhama became very popular. Years passed. Other sages wives became jealous of Agalya. They told lot of untruth about her to their husbands. In the beginning they did not trust their wives. But by and by they beleived them and started a penance to Lord Ganapathy.After for some time Lord Ganapathy appeared before them and asked them the reason for their penance to him. All the sages requested Ganapathy to send Gowdhama out of that area. Reluctantly Lord Ganapathy agreed. He transformed one of his 'ganas' into a cow and sent it to sage Gowthama's house. That cow went to Gowthama's house and began to destroy every thing. Gowdhma could not tolerate this and angrily he plucked some grass and threw it on the cow. Sadly the cow died. Because of this incident Sage Gowdhama had committed "Gohathy" ( killng of a cow which is a sin). So citing this as reason all the sages sent him out of that area.

Gowdhama was very unhappy and went out. But after for some time Sage Gowdhama met the sages and asked them for their opinion on how to counter the sin of 'Gohathy'. Wantonly all the sages told him very difficult things to do. They said the Sage Gowdhama should do 'parikrama' of the Brahma-giri 11 times. They also said that Gowthama should bring Ganga river to that place and take a dip in it and do koti (crore) linga archanai.

Sage Gowdhama agreed went and did parikrama and all the poojas.Lord Siva was very pleased and appeared before the sage with Devi Parvathi on the 'Rishaba-vahanam' ( on his mount which is a bull). Sage Gowdhama was very happy and told the Lord about his problems and asked that river Ganges should be made to flow there and to give him salvation from 'Gohathi dhosham'. Accordingly Lord Siva diverted river Ganges as Godavari and made the Sage and his wife have a dip in the river. By this act the sage and his wife countered the sin they had committed.

Further the Almighty Shiva ordered Ganga to be in Brahma-giri. Ganga Matha told siva "I will accept your order but you should be here to protect the devotees like the sage and Agalya. you should be here in 'Jyothir swaroopam' then I will be here like in Kasi." Bagavan Sankara agreed and with Brahma and Vishnu be transformed himself into a Jyothir Lingam which is called Triyamba-keswara. He fulfills all his devotees' desires.

As river Ganga was brought there at Gowthama's request the river is called Gowdhami here. River Ganga here is springing from a tree-root which is suposed to be the moola-stanam (the origin ) That place is named the Ganga-Dwaram. In the holy place of Triyambagam the trinity of gods is there as Jhothir-Lingam and the holy river Ganges as Godavari .

Om Hreem Namasivaya.

Location
About 29 km from Nasik in Maharastra

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