Mahashivratri Yatra- 20th Feb, 2012.

YATRA-MAHASHIVRATRI  :-

There are innumerable sacred places of Shiva in the Himalaya where devotees go for various kinds of sadhanas. Out of them PANCH-KEDAR is very famous. Generally people know of one Kedarnath but there are four others by the name of Rudranath, Tungnath, Madmaheshwar and Kalpeshwar. Story of Kalpeshwar Mahadev,known as fifth kedar is described in Kedar Khand of Skand Puran and it goes as follows:

Kalpeshwar Temple and Waterfall.

Path coming up from Devgram and leading to Kalpeshwar Mahadev temple

Once Indra, king of gods was going to mount Kailash on his elephant Erawat. He was accompanied by Munis who were performing his stutis, Apsaras Menaka, Urvashi, Rambha ,who were singing for him, Haha and Huhu named gandharvas, dev nayikas who were surrounding him and praising him. Thus Indra was traveling in all his splendour to meet Mahadev at Kailash. At that time sage Durvasa reached Kailash meditating on Lord Shiva. On his way he met Menaka who was standing there waiting to give a garland of celestial flowers to Indra. But on seeing Durvasa and realizing his nature she gave that garland to sage Durvasa. Durvasa happily took that fragrant garland from her and went to the place where Indra was coming on his Erawat. On meeting him, Durvasa said, “O Indra, I am giving you this best garland to you. Please accept this garland which is being given to you with love.” Taking that garland from sage Durvasa and not realizing the purpose because of his excessive aishwarya Indra mockingly put that mala on the head of his elephant instead. On seeing this Durvasa became extremely angry and took up water in his hand to give Indra a curse. He said , “O king of Devas, due to your pride you have mocked at my gift of this beautiful garland and thus Luxmi, devi of wealth, will disappear from all the three worlds.” On hearing this from the mouth of great sage Durvasa, Indra, king of all devtas shuddered and became still like a mountain. He immediately fell on the ground like a log with folded hands and asked for forgiveness. Durvasa replied that his curse will not go in vain but by praying to lord Shiva he can re-attain his place of Indra i.e king of Devtas. This area was the tapas sthali of sage Durvasa. In todays modern time his ashram is considered to be located near Ranta village and is known by the name of Durgadhar( as per the the book Kalpkshetra ki Sanskriti and Sahsik Yatra by Laxman Singh Negi).

As a result of the above curse Indra immediately lost his kingdom and Luxmi also left all the three lokas. Due to this whole creation was disturbed. All the things which were being done naturally like swadhyaya and havan disappeared and there was dearth of Havya and Kavya. Nobody cared for the king or father. All around was misery. People started living in jungles. All the people who use to serve started doing whatever came to their own mind and never listened to their owners. All the ladies got out of control. People started marrying in to different varnas and devtas also started falling from heavens as they also left their natural karmas. People were snared by kaam and attachement. Even dwij started doing wrong karmas, kings started to relinquish their duties towards their praja, dwij stopped offering ahutis in to the havan fire. All around it became like Kaliyug, as rain gods started raining at wrong times, very few flowers started blooming on the trees etc., comets started falling, waters in oceans started rising and earth quakes made the mountains tremble. Thus seeing the whole world being demolished all the devtas ran to Brahma. With folded hands they praised the lord and requested for his intervention. Just meditating for a few moments, Brahma saw what has happened and along with devtas went to the eastern bank of the Kshirsagar and praised the Lord Narayan. He praised the lord in innumerable ways and at last he appeared in four armed form along with Luxmi and asked him to seek a boon. Then he explained to him that He already knows his requirement. As Brahma himself is powerful to create, He himself is empowered to sustain the cosmos and Rudra destroys anything, advised all of them to accost Rudra with Him. Then He ordered all the devtas to look for Indra as due to his wrong karma all this has befallen but they could not find him. Then Vayu devta was requested to trace out Indra as, air lived everywhere. He found Indra in the form of a Mashak, in the north of mount Kailash and on the northern bank of Alaknanda in Shree Kashetra. The mountain on which Indra was thus keelit was named Indrakeel mountain. All the devtas said, “ O slayer of Vratasur and Balaasur, whole creation is loosing everything because he has left it, and also Brahmins, who are every one’s devtas should not looked upon ever. Hence to get rid of this curse lets go to lord Shiva in Kailash and pray to him there.”  Indra immediately left that form and along with all the devtas went to the abode of Shiva. He entered in to tapasya for ten thousand years. All the devtas also did tapasya. Along with Brahma, Vishnu, Marudgans they sang praises of lord Shiva. He became happy and appeared in front of them in this area of Kedar and asked them to perform sagar manthan from where Luxmi will reappear and re-establish in the world. Thus all the devtas became happy and performed the act and Indra was able to regain his Luxmi and splendor by the blessings of Shiva.  One planned to spend the Mahashivratri night at the feet of Kalpeshwar Mahadev. The route to this Kedar is as below:

Hardwar-25km-Rishikesh-70km-Devprayag-35km-Srinagar-34km-Rudraprayag-32km-Karnprayag-20km-Nandprayag-11km-Chamoli-37km-Helang-12km-Devgram-3km-Kalpeshwar Mahadev with 76 met water falls.- 2km north west is Sunderban and 3 km south west is Aurav muni ashram.

Boarding a night bus from Chandigarh around 9.30 pm one reached Hardwar early morning. From there, taking another bus one reached Devprayag. Taking a bath in the sangam of Alaknanda-Bhagirathi and performing poojan one collected water from there to be offered to the Kalpeshwar Mahadev. Again boarding a taxi one reached Rudraprayag and then onward to Helang which is on the main road to Joshimath. From here one had to detour towards Devgram which is around 12 kms from here. One had to wait for a local taxi to traverse this track to reach Devgram village. From there carrying ones luggage one had to walk a distance of 3 kms to Kalpeshwar. Though one can also get ponies here who can take ones luggage and deliver it to the temple or wheresoever one wants it to be delivered. Sun was setting and as one by chance looked back towards the direction from where one has come one saw a magnificent scene of Celestial Tripund on the forehead of snow capped mountain top. One felt as if it was Shiva himself giving darshan to the travelers.

Celestial Tripund

On the way one had darshan of Dhyan Badri with a tall Kalpvriksh. While going up one met a known local guide who took one to his house and treated to a cup of tea. It was getting dark and cold. Taking out a torch one slowly ascended the path up to the temple. Below the Kalpeshwar temple flows the Hiranymati Devi in the form of a river while a little down along the river one could hear the crashing waters of a 76 meter falls near the Bhairon temple. People some time burn dead bodies there and also offer bali to the Kaalbhairav there. On reaching the temple one Dhuni of the baba came in to view. Two more mahatamas were sitting around there and a round of chilam was going on. One got introduced to the main baba Suresh Giri who has been there for last 20 years. One was welcomed and a room was given. Leaving behind the luggage in the baba’s kutiya one first went for darshan of the Kalpeshwar Mahadev. It is around 5-6 feet in total height out of which only 1.5 feet is seen. This is the only shiv ling out of panch kedar which gives darshan at the face level while all others are on ground level. Mahadev is present here in the form of Jata. This lingam is located at a height of 6500 ft. Its doors are never closed though all other lingam doors close during winters. One did Mahadev’s poojan and abhshek. One also had darshan of a small pool of water which is said to be coming from Satopanth. On return one found two more people sitting with baba as they also had come from Joshimath to have darshan of Mahadev on Shivratri.

Kalpeshwar Mahadev

Food was prepared on the dhooni itself and then one made roti’s for all, dough for which was kneaded by baba Badri Giri. All enjoyed the delicious food there sitting around the dhooni fire. Around 9.15 pm baba told all to retire to their rooms for the night. 

There were around three rooms on the floor which one occupied and there were around 5 beds in the room with mattresses over them. Quilts were provided and one thanked Mahadev for the comfort in the cold of this mountain region. Four yatris slept in the same room for the night. Mountain tops all around were covered with snow.

Next day after sun rise one went down along the Hiranyamati river and visited the Kaal Bhairav temple on its banks. One took bath in the ice cold waters of Hiranyamati and then sat for nitya poojan as well as poojan of Bhairav. One khadag was lying there which must be used

Kaalbhairav temple near Hiranyamati at the feet of Kalpeshwar Mahadev

for offering of bali to the devta. The temple is under open sky and in the jungle, where some time dead bodies are also burnt nearby. During crop season wild beers come down to enjoy their feed of Ram-dana(chalai) in the fields. It is said to be a jagrit place for Bhairav sadhana.

Kutiya at Sunderban

After taking lunch at the mandir, again around twelve ‘o’ clock one went for darshan of a kutiya in the sunderban forest, which was tapasthali of a great saint. Walking three kilometers in the north-west direction reached the location crossing the Hiranyamati river on the way, over wooden logs which served for a bridge.

A great saint used to live in this place and spent many years in sadhana. During Kumbh melas he used to go down to Hardwar,Varanasi etc and was a great attraction for people there. In the above video one can see a havan kund where he performed three havans. It is said that he tried to offer himself in the havan fire but Agni dev did not accept him. Then he left that place and went towards Satopanth area and spent many years in a cave there. In the same cave he left his body and advised his disciples to bury him there only. Today, he is lying in all serenity in that particular cave.

After visiting this area one went to see another ashram located nearby at a distance of about 3 kms in south western direction. It is called Urva Muni ashram. One reached there after going up and down through the mountain track innumerable times. Whenever somebody met on the way and enquired about how much further, the invariable reply was ‘ a little more’. That little seemed to extend to kilometers, which forced one to think whether people are talking in civilian kilometers or nautical miles. Anyway at last one reached the ashram where snow was still seen all around. But the name written there was Aurveshwar Mahadev. Though people called it Urva rishi asharam. While going through purana one comes across name of Urva rishi who was associated with king Bahuk clan. It is not sure but one felt that quite possible that with time Aurav must have changed to Urva. Here one would like to share the story of Aurav rishi whether it is same as Urva or not.

There was a king by the name of Bahuk. He was very powerful and performed seven aswa medh yajnas in different continents. Nobody challenged him and he was a chakrvarti king. With time all the power affected him and he considered himself invincible and ill treated people or his subjects. Some clans went against him and in the ensuing battle they defeated the king and he was forced to leave his kingdom. He went in to jungles along with his two queens. They stayed by a big pond which had fresh and sweet water. The moment he came there all the animals and birds sensed that a very cruel person has come in to their abode. So fearing his presence, they all left that place to live somewhere else. The king was in great mental anguish due to loosing his kingdom and thus he fell ill and later died near that pond. His younger queen was much devoted to him and she though that she would also burn herself along with him. So she prepared a pyre and placed the body of king Bahuk on it.  

Nearby was ashram of Urva rishi who could see everything in the three divisions of time. He saw her in his Samadhi and her intentions. Immediately appearing there he stopped her from doing it as four kinds of women can not immolate themselves with their husbands. They are, one who has not yet seen menstrual cycles, one who is experiencing them, one whose children are very small and one who is pregnant. The young queen was pregnant. So he stopped her from entering the pyre. He instructed her to perform the last rites of the king properly. After that, both the ladies followed Aurav muni to his ashram and started living there. The younger one was very devoted to Aurav muni and looked after his every need. She would clean the floor, smear it with cow dung and do all the chores. Aurav muni was very happy with her and always blessed her. The elder queen felt jealous and one day gave poison to her. The young one kept on serving the rishi without any knowledge of the poison given to her. The poison did not effect her. After three months she gave birth to a son. When Aurav muni saw the child immediately he recognized that poison had gone in to the new born. GAR is know as poison and hence the boy was named Sagar. When he grew up, he came to know of the whole story of his father and taking permission from his mother and Aurav muni went to take his kingdom back. On way he met his kulguru Vashishth who helped him propitiate devtas to get various astras for fighting his enemies. Ultimately, he succeeded in it and won his fathers kingdom back. He had two wifes. At the time of his enthroning, Aurav muni reached there and gave two boons for his wives. In one one boon, he gave one son who will carry on the lineage of the king while in the second boon he said 60,000 sons will be born but will not result in any lineage further. He asked the two wives of the king Sagar to choose between the two boons. Thus one wife took the boon of one son while the other took the boon of 60,000 sons. With time both were blessed with the sons. The queen to whom one son was born was named Asmanjas. He was anti religion. He stopped every one from doing havan and entering in to other religious practices. Following his example, his 60,000 cousin brothers also followed suit. Thus they stopped all kings of religious practices in their kingdom. King Sagar did not like it at all as he was a just king. They released a horse for ashwamedh yajna and armed soldiers followed it.

When all the religious practices were stopped by Asmanjas and his cousins, all the offering to various devtas also stopped. Seeing this, they approached their king Indra. Indra stole the horse of ashwamedh yajna at night and tied it near Kapil muni who was in Samadhi in pataal. When all the guards woke up they were shocked to find the horse missing. So all the 60,000 sons of Sagar searched every nook and corner of the earth but could not find the horse. They then ploughed the earth and went in to pataal looking for it. There they saw Kapil muni in Samadhi and horse tied near him. Thinking that he has stolen the horse they attacked the muni. His Samadhi was broken and when he opened his eyes, great fire came out of it and all the 60,000 sons were burnt in it. This news reached the king and he felt very bad. Asmanjas gave birth to a son who was named Anshumaan who unlike his own father looked after his grand father with full devotion. King Sagar then gave the kingship to Anshumaan instead of Asmanjas and asked him to go and appease Kapil muni. Anshumaan went and made Kapil muni happy who blessed  him and gave him the horse back. When he requested him for udhaar of his 60000 ancestors, muni told him to appease Ganga and bring it down to earth and when she would touch the remains of his uncles only then they would be relieved. So he spent all his life in tapasya which later on was carried by his son Dilip. Later Dilip’s son Bhagirath also did the same thing and was able to bring Ganga down on earth and thus relieve the sons of Sagar from the curse of the muni Kapil. Thus goes the interesting story of advent of Ganga with respect to Aurav muni.

At night a group of Bhutia ladies came singing in local language the praises of Shiva and stayed in the temple. The sang together till late night and in the morning after having darshan of Mahadev left with promise to come again next time. All of them were dressed in their traditional costumes and looked great.

On the day of Shivratri fast was observed during the day. It started raining but still people came from far and near to prostrate to the lord. All came with offerings for the lord which were given to the baba living in the temple. They brought potatoes, wheat flour and oil. Baba received their offering and collected it in separately. Thus by the end of the celebrations around two cans of oil and four sacks of potatoes and flour were collected. This would be used by the babas living and coming their. It will sustain them for some months in that harsh place. Whole day one sat by the dhooni, preparing tea for all the bhaktas. People felt happy to get steaming cups of tea in such a cold weather. Prasad was also distributed to all. Around 3-4000 people must have visited the place during day. At night about 50-60 stayed back including us. Some babas came from Rishikesh. A circle was made around the dhooni and chilam was being passed along time and again. Whosever liked could have it in the name of the lord Shiva. It seemed many young local lads liked it though one did not take any.

Whole around 9.30pm one also offered ahutis to various devtas. Four prahar pooja was performed with continuous kirtan but each time havan could not be done as shakalya was not available for it. So one had to satisfy by just one havan with whatever material one could manage. Whole night it was raining around the temple and snowing on the mountain tops. Last poojan was done at 4 am and with that one retired to one’s room for an hour rest and warming up of the cold feet. In the morning getting ready, taking blessings from the Baba Suresh Giri one walked down towards the Devgram village again wishing to come back some day for serious sadhana. Then one took a taxi to Rudraprayag from where a bus was boarded and one reached Hardwar around 8pm. Catching a 9.15 bus from Hardwar one reached Chandigarh around 2.30 am in the early morning. Thus remembering the Mahadev darshan one went in to bed.In the morning many friends came and were inspired by the yatra and enjoyed the prasadam of the Mahadev…………………Jai Kalpeshwar Mahadev………………Om!

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