Badarinath – A Holy Place

BADARINATH – A HOLY PLACEtc "BADARINATH – A HOLY PLACE"

This is the place where the lord Srimannarayana proclaimed to the universe the essence of all Vedas and epics by way of powerful and sacred Mantra in eight letters which is easy to utter “Om Namo Narayanaaya” . He sat on the Himalayas and preached this mantra so that more people will know about it. Even today nara and narayana are in the shape of hills doing penance. Narayana hill is short as if he were sitting and preaching which is on the western side of the river Alakananda. Nara hill is tall as if he were standing and hearing which is on the eastern side of the river. South of Nara hill “Kubera” (International banker) hill is situated where his treasure is kept. The place near by where Saraswathi river mingles with Alakananda is called “Kesava Prayaga”. Veda Vyasa sat on this river bank and wrote all epics and divided the Vedas. There is a cave on the hill where Vyasa is in sitting posture. Vinayaka is the stenographer of Vyasa. He used to take dictation as and when called by Veda Vyasa. This area has been ruled by Kubera called Alakapuri and hence the name of the river is Alakananda.

In order to disturb the peace of Nara Narayana, Indra sent bewitching damsels by name Rambha, Menaka and Tilothama. In order to teach a lesson to Indra, Narayana removed a piece from his thigh, made it a damsel by putting life to it. The damsels were ashamed on seeing this bewitching beauty and returned. Then Indra prostrated before Narayana and begged his pardon for his foolish act. He cautioned him not to do such things in future by presenting the newly created damsel by name “URVASI”, a paragon of beauty. Behind this Urvasi mountain there is Neelakanta (Blue neck) peak at a height of 23000 feet. One has to see the beauty of this peak where sun and moon rays are reflected on this mountain. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. East of this Neelakanta peak Badari Narayana is found in Yoga posture doing penance. He is worshipped during the period from May to November. The rest of six months the temple is closed and he is worshipped by Narada and other Gods. The flowers are as they are and oil lamp will continue to burn.

There is Brahma Kapalam (Head of Brahma) at a distance of two furlongs from this temple. A person whose parents have passed away will get salvation if he performs ceremony here at least once in his life time. But before doing this he has to do it at Gaya. Hot water will be flowing like a fountain from the feet of Vishnu and this water joins a pond. One shall be getting rid of his diseases by taking a dip in this pond. This water smells like sulphur. There are many places for salvation in and around Badarinath. Here Lord Narayana propagates his “ASTTAKHARI”(8 letters) mantra to the universe and because of this Himalayas have become famous. All the great people of this country have done penance here. So every Indian should visit this place to get salvation at least in the last leg of his life’s journey. This Kshetra has become famous from times immemorial as “Badari Ka Asramam”. Presently Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Jear Swamy is taking much pains to revive its past glory.