BADARINATH – A HOLY PLACE
N. S. Raju
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.