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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