Our Lineal God Lord Shree Eklingji

Transcription

1 Our Lineal God Lord Shree Eklingji It is a matter of great pride and good fortune of the Bhatt-Mewada caste, that it has the same lineal deity--lord Eklingji-- as it is for the great valiant and brave Maha-Ranas of Mewad. He is the lineal deity not only of Bhatt-Mewada caste, but also of the entire race of Mewad be it a Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, or Shudra. The temple of Lord Eklingji is located about 22 Km from Udaipur, in a small village called Kailaspuri, in the State of Rajasthan. The natural beauty of this spot is very charming and enchanting throughout all seasons, especially during monsoon, when the loveliness around Kailaspuri appears to be reaching its zenith. The Maharanas of Mewad never called themselves the Kings of Mewad because the kingdom of Mewad is believed to be that of Lord Eklingji alone. They have designated themselves Maharana (i.e. secretary) of Lord Eklingji who is the real king. The supremacy and grandeur of Lord Eklingji is age-old. As per mythological allusion, Indra, the king of Gods was suffering from fever, as a result of committing a sin of killing a Brahmin Vrutrasur. None of the remedies he tried improved his condition. So Indra approached his preceptor Bruhaspati, and asked him the way to be free from this disease. Acharya Bruhaspati advised him to propitiate and worship Lord Eklingji. As per the order of the preceptor, Indra constructed a hermitage at Kailaspuri and started penance. He propitiated Lord Eklingji and relieved himself from the fever. In Treta Age, Kamdhenu Nandini, being frightened of Vishvamitra, ran away and sought the shelter of Lord Eklingji. Here, she performed penance and propitiated Lord Ashutosh. By his favour she could win over the army of Vishvamitra and could appease sage Vasishtha. During Dwapar Age, i.e. by the end of Mahabharat age, in order to take revenge of the death of King Parikshit, his son Janmejay started performing Naga sacrifice. Cobra Takshaka, frightened by

2 sacrifice, came to the shelter of Lord Eklingji. Here Takshaka built a Kunda which is known as Takshaka Kunda even today. In the Kali Age, about 1400 years ago, Yogiraj Harit installed and propitiated Lord Eklingji. So, by the grace of his lineal deity, he could establish the great State of Mewad. The original founder of the State Of Mewad, Bapa Raval, was born at Nagada in the house of royal priest family of Raval. He was brought up by the aboriginals living in the mountain region of Aravalli Hills. Being brought up in the house of royal Brahmin priest, his attire was Brahmin-like. But on account of his glowing personality and Kshatra tej, he looked like a Kshatriya prince. In his childhood, Bapa Raval used to take cows in the forest for grazing. Out of all the cows, one cow was such that it did not provide milk at all after returning home. The owner of the cow scolded Bapa s mother for this and falsely accused that Bapa Raval or someone else was milking away the cow in the forest. Hearing this, Bapa Raval and his mother felt very much perturbed. Next day, when Bapa took the cows for grazing, he gave the cows water to drink. While sitting under tree shade he continuously kept eyes over the cow that was not providing milk. All of a sudden, he observed that while other cows were grazing on the river bank, this particular cow was going away in other direction. Seeing this, Bapa decided to follow the cow slowly. He noticed a big river bank. There, the cow waited for a moment, looked around, and went in the bamboo forest and stood at a particular spot. Bapa Raval, following the cow, entered the bamboo forest and stood at a little distance. Here he got wonderstruck as he saw an astonishing scene. He saw that the cow was standing steady at a particular spot and milk was automatically coming out of her udder. The spot where the milk was being poured, there was a Shiva Linga. At this spot, Lord Shiva had come out in the form of a Linga. On account of the curse of the sages, Lord Shiva had to assume form in the world of mortals. This particular cow was Nandini. She was desirous of releasing her mother Kamdhenu, from fetters by appeasing Lord Shiva through her devotion. Bapa Raval was astonished and delighted to see the extreme devotion of a cow which has no speech. Looking at such an ardent devotion of a cow, he bowed down more than once. There was one more person, other than Bapa, present in the bamboo forest to observe this scene. He was the sage Harit, a

3 great yogi. He was a great devotee of Eklingji. The sage Harit, on seeing Bapa Raval, was greatly attracted toward him. Seeing this child, he realized that this is a child from some royal family. Bapa Raval briefly introduced himself. While grazing cows, Bapa could see this God-like sage. Considering himself very lucky, he prostrated himself at the feet of great sage Harit. Bapa Raval, then, followed sage Harit to his hermitage where the sage finished his worship ceremony. Bapa received Guruprasad directly from the hands of the sage. In the Guruprasad, was a victorious sword. Now onwards, Eklingji is your God for worship. Saying so, he enlightened him about the best way in which Lord Eklingji could be worshipped and narrated the history of Lord Eklingji. My child, one day, Gandharva Pushpadanta asked Lord Shiva the history of how and who had established Lord Eklingji. At that time, Lord Shiva himself had narrated the history like this. Please listen this attentively. Once upon a time, Ravana, the king of Lanka, went to Brahmaloka and asked Brahmaji: Please give me Shiva s such an arrow, by worshiping which, one could attain the fruit of worshiping the twelve Jyotirlingas. Brahma was pleased by the worship of Ravana and he gave him Shiva s arrow and blessed him by saying you take this arrow of Shiva. But mind well, not to put it down, except at the place where you actually want to install. If you put it elsewhere, it will be installed at that very place. Picking that arrow from Brahma, king Ravana proceeded in the direction of Lanka. On the way, coming near the spot Trikuta, in the land of Mewad, he acutely desired to go for passing urine and was unable to proceed further. He forgot the blessing of Brahma. So he placed the arrow on the Trikuta Mountain and sat at a distance to make water. As per the blessing of Brahma, the arrow of Shiva got installed on the Trikuta Mountain. After passing urine, Ravana came back to pick up the arrow but, he could not succeed. As he tried more and more, the arrow became heavier. Ravana, as a result, started thinking about the reason for this. He thought with cool mind and was reminded of blessing of Brahma. Consequently, he installed that arrow at that very site with due ceremony and performing the necessary rites. He said:

4 The desire with which, I was wishing to carry and install you in my town; may the similar desire of the king and subjects living in this place, be fulfilled. And thereafter, naming the arrow of Shiva as Eklingji Mahadev, he went back to Lanka. O Lord Shiva, please enlighten me why was Ravana carrying away this arrow of Eklingji and what were his desires for that? asked Pushpadant to Lord Shankara. By always worshipping and propitiating Eklingji, one can achieve the fruit of worshipping the twelve Jyotirlingas and Panchdevas-- was the desire of Ravana. By that fruit the king and the subjects can become followers of Shiva, who are brave, mighty, proud of one s own faith, pious, and religious minded. This fruit will definitely be available to the kings and the subjects living in Mewad Shivji made clear the question asked by Pushpadant. The Sage narrated further: My child, I narrated to you the tale of the origin of Eklingji Mahadev. I will tell you now why the arrow of Shree Eklingji has five points. The arrow of Eklingji Mahadev is having the form of Pranav i.e. Omkara. As Pranav has four great statements of the Vedas and Panchdev, equally so the arrow of Eklingji is five-pointed and having the form of Omkara. To recite Pranav and worship it by forming its statue, is equivalent of reciting the name of Eklingji and worshipping the five-pointed arrow. That is the reason why Ravana demanded the arrow of Shankara from Brahma: Akaro Vasudevah Syat, Ukarastu Maheshwarah; Makarah Surya ityuktah, Shaktirnadatmika Mata. Bindurupo Ganeshah Syat, Omkaram Panchdevata. A stands forvasudev (i.e. Lord Krishna or Vishnu), U stands for Lord Shiva, M stands for Lord Surya, the utterance stands for Goddess Shakti, and the Dot stands for Lord Ganesh thus the word Omkara has combination of five deities in it.

5 My child, in water, on the earth, everywhere, God is there. Where and in which thing we think of God, there and in that thing the God is present. So he listens to our prayer. There too, Lord Eklingji is present in the form of Pranav, i.e. Omkara itself; a man can attain salvation by concentrating on it. He becomes free from three types of sin, and gets credit in all types of work. You and your generation will be victorious and successful everywhere. O child, do not be bigot (disbeliever) by attaining wealth. Because bigotry (disbelief) leads to fall. You will lose honour from public and lose the kingdom. Until you worship Lord Eklingji with full faith, you will prosper day by day. You will be a sovereign monarch. My child, I wish you happiness all around. With these words, the sage laid his hand over the head of Bapa who was standing politely with his head down, meditating over God Shankar. After blessing the sage disappeared. With the blessing from the sage Harit, Bapa Raval could achieve the throne of Mewad and he became the founder of the state of Mewad. This temple was originally built in 735 A.D. by Bapa Raval who was the founder of Mewad dynasty. It was renovated during A.D. by Maharana Raymal and other monarchs. The temple of Lord Eklingji is constructed over an area of 2500 Sq.Ft. of land. Its height is 65 feet. In the construction of the temple, white marble is utilized. There is a strong wall around the temple, and over and above the main temple, there are other 108 temples. The main temple is made up of two storied door--mandap, central area, minutely decorated multi--pillared meeting hall and pyramid--shaped ceiling. In the central area is the black marble statue of Lord Eklingji. Outside the temple is the statue of holy Nandi made up from silver. In addition, there are two other Nandis--one is made from black stone and the other one is made from brass. Near the statues of Nandi, is the statue of Bapa Raval in the standing position with hands folded. There is one more temple in the temple complex known as Nathon ka Mandir but no pooja or ritual ceremony is performed here. In this temple, there is an inscription written in 971 A.D., which is dedicated to Lakulesh form of Lord Shiva, wherein mention is made of Bapa Raval.

6 In this township, there are many other temples. The important ones to mention are that of Katyayani Devi temple and one that of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law temple constructed in 15 th century A.D. In this temple, along with the details of statue-art, there is an excellent piece of mythological art. Other temples such as black marbled Jaina temple of Adbhutji, Pataleshvar Mahadev, Arbuda Mata, Vindhyavasini Devi were also constructed during the same period. The Statue of Lord Eklingji originally had a shape of Linga only. After having dropped that statue of Bana-Ling into Indrasagar, the state of Dundarpur installed the five faced statue. It is said that the present temple was renovated by the emperor Kumbhrana of Chitod in 15 th century A.D. The five-faced statue of Lord Eklingji, made from black marble, is very beautiful. Its west-faced mouth is that of Brahma, north-faced is that of Vishnu, east-faced is that of Sun and south-faced is that of Rudra. With this type of understanding, every face is worshipped. In the center of the four faces is the Shivalinga, which is considered to be the fifth face. There is a golden Chhatra over Lord Eklingji. There are four doors in front of four faces. By the side of eastern door, there is a statue of Parvatiji. Adjacent to it is that of Ganpatiji. Just opposite to it on the southern door is that of Gangaji, and adjoining it is that of Kartikeya. Really speaking, the whole family of Shiva is installed in the temple. There is a golden Kalasha on the top of the temple, and there is a Yantra. God Shiva is worshipped here as a supreme power and ultimate truth as well as omnipotent and omnipresent Lord, i.e. Parabrahma. Many festivals are arranged here throughout the year. On the day of Mahashivaratri, there is a great community fair here. Normally in a Shiva temple there are no different Darshans or Artis such as Shringar, Rajbhog, and Shayan etc. But in the Eklingji temple, just as in nearby located Shreenathji temple, there are Mangala, Shringar, Rajbhog, Shayan etc. All these Darshans and Artis are performed at proper time and regularly with full decorum. Lord Shiva is decorated everyday with different gems. On Monday with diamonds, on Tuesday with rubies, on Wednesday with mani, on Thursday with neelam, on Friday with moti, On Saturday with Shani- Nang and on Sunday with Pokhraj. Thus, everyday, different decorations are made. In the Bhandar of Eklingji, there are

7 decorations worth millions of Rupees. The right to perform ceremonies of Mahadeva rests with the priest and the Maharana of Udaipur only. Nobody else is permitted to enter the central area of the temple. The pilgrims can enter the temple and bow down to the God from the outer fencing. At the time of Rajbhog of Shreenathji, Lord Eklingji is invited first to take the lunch, and thereafter, the dinner is served. There is no objection to take the Prasad here. We all must bow down to our lineal deity. It is said that by the Darshan only of Lord Eklingji, one achieves that fruit that is not available even by penance, donation, pilgrimage or performance of great sacrifices. From amongst the places of pilgrimage in Rajasthan, the Eklingji temple is included in the most important places of pilgrimage. The hours of Darshan of Eklingji are: 4:30 AM to 7:30 AM 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM 5:15 PM to 7:45 PM For going to Kailaspuri (Eklingji), from Udaipur, the bus service is available at an interval of every 30 minutes. At Eklingji, there is a caravanserai of Trivedi Mewada Brahmins. To board here it is essential to inform the caravanserai in advance. Telephone No of Temple: Telephone No of Trivedi Mewada caravanserai: Translated by: Bharatkumar D.Bhatt.