BADRINATH DHAM-1:

It is said that once in the ancient times, there was a demon who had one thousand arms. Being very powerful he created lot of trouble in the creation. He harassed the devtas all the time, who could not find any way to get rid of him. When they could not stand it anymore, they accosted lord Vishnu and requested Him to intervene. Lord meditated and saw that this demon is very powerful and to cut even one arm of his needs 10,000 years of tapasya. So lord Vishnu scanned the whole cosmic creation to find a suitable place. Lord saw the area of Badrivishal. At that time it was under lord Shiva. So lord Vishnu requested lord Shiva to give it to him, to which lord Shiva agreed. Hence the whole divine play of creating a temple for him was started. It is said doing penance for one day at Badrivishal gives one a fruit of penance of ten thousand days. It is further written in Puranas that just by darshan of Badrivishal one is set free. 

It is said that our sins roar only till we have not drank the charanodak (nectar of lord’s feet) of the lord. One who desires Moksha should eat lord’s prasadam. Whosoever offers food to mendicants here, he/she will become dear to lord. There are innumerable special places in and around Badrinath, a few of them are being described below as explained in the puranas. Though in the present times many of them which are mentioned in the scriptures are not known to us, the worldly. But I think there is no harm in remembering them to increase ones faith, though to sidhas all those places are known. 

Kapaal Teerth: 

By doing tarpan with black sesame seeds, all the ancestors get elevated to heavens. 

Brahmkund: 

Here all the four Vedas are present in the form of water. The fruit of bath, daan, tapasya remain till the time of final annihilation. Staying here for three days w/o food helps give one power to explain all the four Vedas. 

Saraswati: 

If one does jap of a mantra standing in the water of river Saraswati here, that mantra will never break away from the sadhak. 

Indrapad Teerth: 

In south of Saraswati is a place another famous Dravdhara place called Indra Tirth. Indra, the kind of divines did tapasya here to please the lord. On panchdashi, 15th of every Shukla paksh if one bathes here and does fasting for two days, Indra gets pleased with him. After that if one does poojan of lord Vishnu here, he gets absolved of all the sins and in the end goes to the realm of Indra. 

Mansodbhed Teerth: 

The rishis of this place pierce the heart lotus. Remove all doubts. Remove karm bondage. Drinking even one drop of its water,one is granted final emancipation or mukti. 

Vasudhara: 

In the west of above teerth is Vasidhara. This is the tapsya sthali of eight Vasu’s, namely Dhar1, Dhruv2, Som3, Ashug4, Anil5, Anal6, Pratyoosh7, Prabhas8. Vasus did very hard tapasya here by eating tree leaves and drinking water only. By taking bath in its waters and drinking it if one does poojan of lord Vishnu here one gets all the comforts and pleasures of this world and in the end achieves parampad. Great souls can have darshan of a jyoti or light in the falls here. If one sees that one does not get inside mothers womb again. If one stays for three days here observing fast, one can get darshan of Sidhas. Here there are cities of eight Vasus. It is protected by Gandharwas who are known by the name of Parvat and are adept in skills of fighting. Their kings name is Pingal. It has an area of around 84 kosa. 

Panchdhara: 

In the south-west of Vasodhara is Panchdhara. Bathing here gives one fruit of bathing in Pushkar1, Gaya2, Naimisharanya3, Prabhaskshetra4, and Kurukshetra5. One goes to realm of Vishnu after leaving the body. 

Ratnadhara: 

Near Vasodhara is Ratnadhara which is the dwelling place of saptrishis, namely Mareech1, Atri2, Angiras3, Pulastya4, Pulah5, Kratu6 and Vasishtha7. 

Somkunda: 

Just by its mere sight one is absolved of all the sins. By bathing in it and offering tarpan to pitras, one gets to the realm of lord Vishnu. If one observes fast for three days here and does jap of ones mantra then one gets sidhi. 

Dwadashaditya teerth: 

There are twelve forms of Sun, namely Jayaditya1, Dropadaditya2, Sambaditya3, Mayukhaditya4, Khakholkaditya5, Arunaditya6, Vridhaditya7, Keshwaditya8, Vimladitya9, Gangaditya10, Yamaditya11, Bhattaditya12. By meditating here son of rishi Kashyap achieved the title of Sun. If one bathes here on a Sunday, which is also 7th day of the moon and sankranti one gets free of the sins of ones seven lives. 

Chatuhsrotra: 

Eastern srota represents Dharma, western srota represents Kaam, southern srota represents Arth and northern srota represents Moksha.By having bath here one gets happiness. 

Satyapad Tirth: 

It is located at a distance of about 29 kms from Badrinath and has been explained in detail in previous article on Satopanth Yatra. On Ekadashi lord Vishnu visits here. After that Rishis and tapsvis take bath in it. Great patakas are removed just by having a bath here. Discriminative people go to Satyalok and from there achieve moksha. If one observes fast for even one day and does poojan of lord Vishnu here, one achieves the state of jeevanmukta. 

Narnarayan ashram: 

Here two different kinds of waters meet. One who drinks both of them, his love for both Nar and Narayan, increases. By bathing here and performing poojan of lord Vishnu here one gets mukti. It is said during Satyug-both of them were seen by all here; during Treta-both were seen only by yogis, munis and divine beings only, during Dwapar-they can be seen only by Gyan yog. Eating of prasadam of Badrinath gives moksha. 

Urvashi Kund: 

Up in the mountains towards the base of Neelkanth is the Urvashi mandir and kund. The kund is said to be not seen by ordinary people. It is said Urvashi was produced from the right lion of lord Vishnu here. Lord meditates here continuously for the fulfilling the needs of all divines. One who stays for one night on this kund and bathes in it, gets absolved of all the sins. Then he proceeds to the realm of Urvashi and stays with her for a long time. A bhakta who leaves his body here, goes into the lord. 

Agni Teerth: 

Here all patakas are washed away. Whatever fruit one gets by observing thousands of Chandrayan vrats and millions of Krichvrat, that much fruit is received just by bathing in it. 

Nardi Shila: 

Narda did intense penance here. Just by darshan of this rock one gets mukti. Lord Vishnu is ever present here. 

Narad Kunda: 

Any one who gets purified by bathing in it gets what ever he desires, bhog, moksha, bhakti. All baths, daan, poojan, hom, jap or pious deeds performed in the proximity of this shila are eternal. 

Vainteya or Garud Shila: 

Garud did penance for 30,000 years here to have darshan of lord Vishnu. Lord became pleased with him and accepted him to be His vahan. He gave him a boon that this rock will be known by his name in future. It will be powerful enough to provide punya to all who just even have its darshan. 

Varahi Shila: 

After killing Hiranyaksh, lord appeared here in the form of big rock and sat on him. One who after visiting Badrinath, bathes in the water of Ganges/Alaknanda and does poojan of Varahi shilka never gets into bad movement (durgati) and achieves the realm of Vaishnavas. 

Markandya Shila: 

Markandya ji did great penance and pleased the lord and asked for a boon that the water coming from the bodies of all the bhaktas should fall on him. Lord accepted his wish and asked him to sit under the tapt kund. Thus Markandya converted into a big rock and supported the tapt kund from below. All the water after bathing falls on him before entering Alaknanda below. 

There are many more noted from the shastras which might be shared at some later date. Till then……..Jai Badrivishaal…………….Om!