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 There is famous Rigvedic Verse
that says "Ekam Sat " that is "There is one Being ,the sages
call Him by many names." The God (Parmeshwar) has three deities
who carry on the world .This is Known as Holy Trinity. Brahma- the creator,
Vishnu - the perpetuator of life and Shiva (Mahesh ) -the purifier and perpetuator
of good and destroyer of evil. Rig Veda refer Shiva as Rudra as in its
following verse . "We Worship Tryambaka (Rudra) , Who spread
Fragrance and Increases Nourishment , May He release me ,like the cucumber
from its stem , From Mortal Life , But not From Immorality . "(Rig Veda
Mandal VII Sukta 59 and Mantra 12)
The Yajurveda describes Shiva as ascetic warrior Whose robe is of Deer
Skin and He carries Trishul . According
to the verse Satyam, Shivam ,Sundaram ,the life is described as having three
facets Truth (Satyam), Good (Shivam) and the Beautiful (Sundaram).
Shiva is a living God. The most Sacred and ancient books of
India,
the Rig Veda narrates His presence in the hymns. Vedic myths, rituals and
even astronomy testifies to His existence from the dawn of time .The
Mohindaro and Harapa findings confirm Shiva worship in the ancient India.
According to the older scriptures, He has three places of His
residence. One is Kailash Parvat another is Lohit Giri under
which Brahamputra flows and third is Muzwan Parvat .
The Amarnath Cave
has special significance .
The Legend about the importance of Amarnath Cave
is as follows :-
This is The Cave which was chosen by Bhole Shankar for narrating the
secrets of immortality and creation of Universe to Maa Parvati ji
. The story goes like this . Centuries ago Maa
Parvati asked Shiv ji to let her know why and when He
started wearing the beads of heads ( Mund Mala) . Bhole
Shankar replied when ever you are born I add one more head in my beads
. Maa Parvati said ," My Lord, my body is destroyed every
time and I die again and again, but you are Immortal. Please let me
know the secret of this ." Bhole Shankar replied that it is due to Amar
Katha ."
Maa Parvati insisted that she may be told that secret. For long Shiva
ji continued postponing . Finally on consistent demand from Maa
Parvati He made up his mind to tell the immortal secret . He started
for lonely place where no living
being could listen it . He choose
Amarnath Cave
. In preparation to that He left His Nandi ( The Bull which He used to
ride ) at Pahalgam (Bail gaon) . At Chandanwari He released Moon
from his hairs (Jataon). At the banks of Lake Sheshnag He released the snakes
. He decided to leave his Son Ganesha at Mahagunas Parvat (Mahaganesh
Hill ) . At Panjtarni, Shivji left the Five Elements behind (Earth ,
Water, Air , Fire and Sky) which make living being . He is the Lord of
these elements. It is believed that as a symbol of sacrificing the
earthly world , Shivaji and Maa Parvati had Tandav Dance . After
leaving behind all these, Bhole Shankar enters the Holy Amarnath
Cave along with Parvati
Maa . Lord Shiva takes his Samadhi on the Deer Skin and concentrate . To
ensure that no living being is able to hear the Immortal Tale , He created
Rudra named Kalagni and ordered him to spread fire to eliminate every
living thing in and around the Holy Cave
. After this He started narrating the secret of immortality to Maa
Parvati . But as a matter of chance one egg which was lying beneath the
Deer skin remained protected . It is believed to be non living and more over
it was protected by Shiva -Parvati Asan (Bed) . The pair of pigeons
which were born out of this egg became immortal having listened
the secret of immortality (Amar Katha).
Many
pilgrims report seeing the pair of pigeons when they trek the arduous
route to pay their obeisance before the Ice-Lingam (the phallic symbol of
Shiva).
Discovery of
Holy
Cave
The
story narrated by people about the discovery of this Holy Cave
is of a Gujjar ( shepherd) Buta Malik . He is given the credit of
discovering this Holy
Cave . Story goes
like this , that a saint gave Buta Malik a bag full of Coal. On reaching his
home when he opened the bag , to his utter surprise the bag was full of
gold coins . This made him overwelmed with joy. He ran to thank the
Saint . But, what he found was that the Saint had
disappeared . Instead , he found The Holy Cave and Shiv Lingam there in
. He announced the discovery of this to the Villagers. Then onwards
this has become the sacred place of Pilgrimage .
The ancient epics narrate an other story which goes like this.
The valley of Kashmir was under water .It was a big
lake. Kashyap Rishi drained the water through number of rivers and rivulets .
In those days Bhrigu Rishi came that way on a visit to The Himalyas. He was
the first to have Darshans of this Holy
Cave . When people
heard of the Lingam, Amarnath for them became Shiva’s abode and a
Centre of pilgrimage . Since then Lacs of devotees perform the pilgrimage
through tough terrain and avail eternal happiness.
The
trek to Amarnath, in the month of sharavan ( July–August) has the devout
flock to this incredible shrine, where the image of Shiva, in the form of a
Lingam, is formed naturally of an Ice Stalagmite, which waxes and wanes with
the Moon's cycle . By its side are fascinating, two more Ice Lingams, that
of Maa Parvati and of their son, Ganesha .
Click here to open a printable document of it
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