By Premanjana Das (Pranjal Joshi)
Since my childhood, I was told the glories of Nasik and Triyamakeshwar(one of the 12 jyotirlingas) by my mother several times. I had a desire to visit Nasik because of this. Nasik is a very old city and finds its mention in the Ramayana, it is located in Maharashtra that is a province/state in India. Nasik is at about 180 Kms from Mumbai and Pune. I started from Mumbai by a bus straight away from my office and reached Nasik by 2:30 AM, I took a lodge for Rs. 600 per day, taking rest I headed for Triyambakeshwar the next day.
Jyotirlingas- As per Shiva Mahapuran, once Brahma (the Demi-god of creation) and Vishnu (the maintainer) had an argument in terms of supremacy of creation. To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either directions. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity. The jyotirlinga is the supreme partless reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The jyotirlinga shrines thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. Originally there were believed to be 64 jyotirlingas while 12 of them are considered to be very auspicious and holy. Each of the twelve jyotirlinga sites take the name of the presiding deity - each considered different manifestation of Shiva. At all these sites, the primary image is lingam representing the beginning less and endless Stambha pillar, symbolising the infinite nature of Shiva )
Triyambakeshwar is one of the 12 jyotirlingas and is at a distance of just 28 kms from Nasik, on my way to this place I had darshan on ‘Anjeneri mountain’ which is the appearance place of Lord Hanuman, on the top of the hill there is one temple of Anjani mata and at the bottom is the temple of Lord Hanuman. I reached Triyambakeshwar and had one kg of grapes; this city of Nasik is very famous for its grapes, black currant and wine made from grapes, grapes products are even exported from Nasik.
Triyambakeshwar is a very old temple, there is ample of space in temple premises for devotees but there were very few people in the temple when I was there; so I had nice and wonderful darshan of this ‘linga’ of Lord Shiva . The security guards of temple were just pushing people off, so that everybody gets a chance to have darshan of the Lord but I stood there for 10 minutes or may be even more as I gave Rs. 10 to 2 security guards who were standing there. Then I moved to Kushavarta Tirtha which was hardly 800 meters from this temple, there is one holy kunda (small pond) here with small temples all around; this is the place where the Kumbha mela for Shaivites is held once in every 12 years. Once there was a fight between Vaishnavas and Shaivites in the Kumbha mela; so Vaishnavas or worshipers of Lord Ramchandra take their dip in the Kumbha mela at the Godavari sangam in Nasik and the Shaivites have their ‘holy dip’ at Kusha Varta Tirtha. I sprinkled ‘holy water’ three times on my head and took a bus back to Nasik. It’s hard to find anything without ‘onion and garlic’ anywhere in India, even at holy places but I could manage to get a Gujrati thali, fruits, milk products etc. where ever I go. I did the ‘Facebook trick’ in the afternoon, I have about 4000 friends in my list on Facebook so I just explored to see who among them were from Nasik and found 5 of them were from Nasik; I contacted Eknath Prabhu as He gave his number on Facebook, though He was unknown to me, yes, He arranged for my stay and prasadam for three days and I got address of ISKCON temple at Nasik from my friend who had just been to Nasik with a ‘devotee group’. I am giving it here for devotees who would visit Nasik:
ISKCON Nasik
Shri Shri Radha Madan Gopal Mandir
Vrindavan Colony, Gen. Vaidya Nagar,
Behind Poornima Bus stop, Nasik- 422011
Maharashtra
Phone: 0253- 6450005
Email: iskcon.nasik@gmail.com
About Triyambakeshwar- Trimbakeshwar is a religious centre having one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. The extraordinary feature of the Jyotirlinga located here is its three faces embodying Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Rudra. Due to excessive use of water, the linga has started to erode. It is said that this erosion symbolizes the eroding nature of human society. The Lingas are covered by a jeweled crown which is placed over the Golden Mask of Trideva (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha). The crown is said to be from the age of Pandavs and is bedecked with diamonds, emeralds, and many precious other stones. The crown is displayed every Monday from 4-5 pm (Shiva).
All other Jyotirlingas have Shiva as the main deity. The entire black stone temple is known for its appealing architecture and sculpture and is at the foothills of a mountain called Brahmagiri. Three sources of the Godavari originate from the Brahmagiri mountain.
I attended evening ‘Gaura aarti’, honoured prasadam and went on to get my luggage back from ‘the lodge’. I also bought Gopika soap from the temple, this is a ‘Panch Gavya’ ayurvedic soap made from Panchgavya ghrith of Gir indigenous cow.. This soap is made, promoted and advertised single-handedly by my friend Ghanshyam Das Prabhu from Jasdan, Gujarat who runs a Goshala there. Ghanshyam Prabhu named this soap after his daughter ‘Gopika’. Also, my ‘kanthi mala’ broke in Mumbai, and I thought I would get a new one at Nasik and I got one almost resembling the one which broke at the same gift shop.
I stayed near ISKCON at apartments with two ‘brahmacharis’.
March 23, 2012 was the day of the first appearance day of the deities Shri Radha Madan Gopal at ISKCON Nasik. I was wondering how fortunate I was and how merciful Krishna is that though I came to Nasik just for a ’holy trip’ but I also got great association and could attend such a wonderful program.
On Friday morning a wonderful lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam- Canto 2, Chapter 1, Text 5 was given by His Holiness Chandramauli Swami Maharaj in ISKCON Nasik temple hall.
He narrated the story of Gokarna who became a ghost and was suffering a lot but got liberation just as He heard Srimad Bhagavatam very eagerly for 7 days. Sripada Vrindavana Das Thakur describes in Chaitanya Bhagavatam how Mahaprabhu used to relish the pastimes of Prahlad Maharaj and Dhruv Maharaj ( they were 5 years old devotees) even more than 100 times when they were told by Gadadhar Pandit.
Maharaj told in the lecture that a devotee is always fearless, mentioning a pastime from sixth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam . He said that even Lord Indra has the fear of loosing his position and even killed his own guru Vishvarupa, when He feared that his guru sided with the demi-gods. Maharaj put stress on ‘hearing’ the glories of Krishna and His devotees more and more.
Maharaj told in his lecture that Americans are very fond of surveys. According to one survey, we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 50% of what we hear and see together, 70% of what we do and 90% of what we teach; so we should tell people more and more about the pastimes of Krishna.
After the class there was a question and answer session with Maharaj:
I asked him 2 questions-
1) How did Gokarna hear Srimad Bhagavatam even in a ghost body?
Answer- Gokarna had subtle body and subtle senses. His desire to hear was so strong that He could overcome all His limitations, ghosts also run away by kirtan, so this shows that kirtan has impact on the ghosts also.
2) How to glorify Nasik ?
Answer- Nasik is already glorified. When we glorify Lord Ramchandra and tell people about pastimes of Lord then a holy place is glorified, we should tell people who come to holy places to realize God, that is possible only by hearing glories of the Lord..
Question by other devotees:
What is the ’secret of renunciation’?
Success of renunciation is that everything in this material world leads to suffering. Pleasure in the material world is just like ‘chutney’, it is sweet but it is hot. “Do not try to enjoy; try to serve and with that service you will enjoy”. Krishna will give you what you need to live nicely, do not worry. People desire a beautiful wife but then everyone looks at that beautiful wife and tries to enjoy with her then how can the husband be happy. Also, people want money, rich people have many friends but they are friends of money.
Maharaj recalls that how at New Vrindavan devotees were completely isolated from material world and media. One brahmachari states that He saw only four women in many years- Gomata, Tulasi Devi, Shrimati Radharani and Subhadra Devi. They had no idea if the material world existed or not.’ Western confusion’ is corrupting the minds of ‘young India’, this is the greatest attack on India since India ever existed. They will have to work very hard to get things like i-pad, i-phone, gadgets, cars etc. and they will have no time for Krishna after hard work. India is on a very dangerous path now as they are meant for making ’spiritual progress’.
As Srimad Bhagvavatam class was going on in morning; brahmacharis were making wicks and matajis were busy making garlands.
Right in front of temple hall; there is a big wooden altar, with the deities of Shri Radha Madan Gopal- black colour Krishna with beautiful Srimati Radharani, hall was filled with devotees and Hindi translation of lectures was very beautiful. Srila Prabhupada murti is right in front of the wooden altar. There is a good kitchen on one side of temple altar, there is plenty of place to keep slippers just when one enters the temple, and a brahmachari ashram is inside. There is a small garden right in front of the temple hall and a veranda on the other side. That day was the appearance day of deities here, altar was decorated with flowers and balloons, temple hall was covered with pictures of Krishna, there were ‘big elephant faces’ on walls of temple giving it a ‘grand look’; temple halls were full of air as doors are wide open on all sides, there are many fans and ‘fancy lights’ on the top of the temple hall. The devotees within the temple hall were hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and serving Bhagavat i.e. Srila Prabhupada.
About ISKCON Nasik Temple– It is situated on a municipal land; garden flooring was done in last three years by the efforts of His Grace Shishtashtak Prabhu who is also the temple president here, His Grace Prana Gaurav Prabhu also made a useful contribution. Sistastakam Prabhu remarks that Nasik was visited by Srila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Ramchandra, Sia Devi, Laxman and Hanuman and also by many great sadhus and devotees, so it is just by their mercy that this temple has come up so nicely in Nasik. One more remarkable thing about this temple is that all the service in the temple is done by devotees in the way directed by Srila Prabhupada, unlike the other ISKCON temples where employees do many things. The dress for deities on the first appearance day were to be brought from Vrindavan Dham but they reached late, they reached Pune in the morning and at 3:30 PM at Nasik, just before the program started, Krishna made it very exciting for his devotees and created a climax like situation.
Glories of Nasik-
Triyambakeshwar- 28 Kms from Nasik. Jyotirlinga, Narayana-Nagbali puja is done here; it is a ‘vidhi’.
Brahmagiri Parbat- These hills are origin source of Mother Godavari.
Kushavarta Tirtha- Kund here, Kumbha mela is held for ‘Naga sadhus’ here.
Panchvati- River Godavari flows through Nashik and its Northern part is called as Panchavati. It is said that Lord Shri Rama and Sita along with Laxman stayed at Panchavati for some time. Thus Panchavati has gained holy importance. There are five Banyan (Vad) trees and hence the area is called Panchavati. Nearby is Sita Gumpha (cave) where Sita is said to have stayed for some time.
Tapovan- Tapovan literally means precincts reserved for meditation and penance. There is such a precinct for penance ahead of Panchavati and hence the name-Tapovan. The sages used to meditate in close proximity with the lush green nature. Laxmana – the brother of Rama - used to stay here and had cut the nose of Shurpanakha – the sister of Ravana. This place has temples dedicated to Sri Laxmana and Hanuman. Even today, this locale captivates mind because of Godavari’s silently gurgling stream, long stretch of green woods and closeness to jungle’s flora and fauna.
A cavernous fissure on boulders along the riverbed is called Brahma Yoni. Very close by, is the Kapil Tirth. On the right bank of Godavari, there are eleven rocky cavernous spaces where rishi-munis must have been retreating for sacraments. There are temples of Gopal-Krishna and Lakshmi-Narayan and the famous Goshala (cow-shed) was built here in 1904. In ancient time, this land was made sacred by the touch of Lord Rama’s feet.
Sita Gumpha : The Gumpha (i.e. Cave) is near the five Banyan trees in Panchavati.
One can enter the cave with the help of a very narrow staircase. The cave has the deities of Shree Ram, Laxman and Sita. To the left, one can enter into the cave and have the darshan of a Shiva Linga. Devotees believe that Ravan kidnapped Sita from the same place.
Ramkund/Gandhi Memorial:
The most important place in Panchavati is Ramkund. It is so called because Lord Rama is believed to have taken bath there. Mortal remains (Asthi) immersed in this kunda, are immediately absorbed in the water. A dip in this sacred kunda is considered very pious.
Kalaram mandir
Another important temple is that of Kala Ram. This temple was built by Peshwas. There are great processions and utsavas on Ramnavami, Dasara and Chaitra Padwa (Hindu new year day). The specialty of the temple is that it was built with black stones. The stones were brought from Ramshej 200 years ago. It took 23 lakhs of rupees and 2000 workers to build the temple in 12 years. The apex of the temple is made up of 32 tons of gold.
Naroshankar Temple:
Situated in Panchavati area, on the bank of river Godavari - fondly called as anga by Nasikites – is Naroshankar Temple of Rameshwar built by Naroshankar Rajebahaddur in 1747. The architectural style of the temple is called “Maya” style. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of temple architecture of the 18th century. The main temple is on a platform. Rather than inside of the temple, sculpture on the outer part is stunning. It has rows of striking designs. One layer is of decorative lacework. The next one is that of peacocks holding bead garlands. Some of the statues are deformed - their hands are broken. There is also an assembly of animals - tigers, monkeys, elephants etc. This depicts that Hindu culture is not limited only to human beings but also has relation with birds, animals, trees, and nature in general.
The temple is surrounded by 11 feet fortification. In its four corners are umbrellas - called “Meghadambari” or “Barasati”. One of them was washed away by Godavari floods and only three exist presently. The fortification also centres a “Bell house” in the front part. The famous bell , called “Naroshankar Bell” is fixed there. The bell is a victory memorial over Portuguese. The Maratha Ruler Bajirao Peshwa’s younger brother Chimaji Appa won the fort of Vasai against Portuguese. The famous knight of Peshwas - Mr Naroshankar Rajebahaddur played a critical role in this war. After winning the fort, Vasai Portuguese Church bell was removed, marched on elephant till Nashik with great celebration and offered to Naroshankar as a medal - an award for his bravery. It is made up of bronze, with six feet diameter. The year engraved on it is 1921. This bell and its ringing is so famous that a phrase is coined after it in Marathi- if a woman is talking in a very high pitch, she is called “Naroshankarachi ghanta”.
Sundarnarayan Temple :
Sundarnarayan temple is situated at the corner of Ahillyabai Holkar Bridge. The story goes like this: Vrinda Devi was a very pious and faithful wife of Jalandar - a wicked demon. Jalandar, a mighty crook, was the devotee of Lord Shiva. Pleased with his prayers and impressed by Jalandar’s wife’s chastity, Lord Shiva gave him a boon . With this boon, Jalandar became vicious and started creating havoc on earth. He not only troubled human beings, but also disturbed the demigods. He even ventured to pick up a quarrel with Lord Shiva himself. It became necessary to eliminate him which was contrary to the boon given by Lord Shiva. The only way out was to suspect Vrinda Devi’s chastity. For this task Lord Vishnu duplicated himself to look like Jalandar and lived with Vrinda Devi. Thus her chastity was suspected and the boon given to Jalandar was withdrawn and he was destroyed. When Vrinda Devi came to know of the trick played by Lord Vishnu, she got furious and cursed Lord Vishnu. His attractive body turned black due to the curse. Lord Vishnu took a holy bath in the river Godavari and regained his complexion. Since He became beautiful again, - the Lord is named as Sundar-Narayana. Sundar in Marathi means beautiful.
The Sundar-Narayan temple was built by Gangadhar Yashwant Chandrachud in 1756. The entrance of the temple is to the East. The two Mandaps may be small but their architecture is attractive and the round dome is made by little ornamental cordons. The arched recesses are impressions by Mughal style because during the Mughal Regime many temples were demolished by Muslims and graveyards were built in their place. The main deity is of Lord Vishnu - alias Narayana . To his left and right are Laxmi and Saraswati respectively. Fine design is carved on the stones of the temple. On the road leading towards Godavari River there is a pond named Badarika Sangam Pond. It is said that the king of Devgiri bathed and performed rites in this pond. This pond is also mentioned in the holy book Dnyaneshwari. One remarkable thing about this temple is that it is built at such an angle that on 21st March, rays of the rising Sun first fall exactly upon the deities.
Ganga Godavari Temple:
The Godavari Temple was built by the elder Madhavrao Peshwa’s mother, Gopikabai in 1760. This temple is open for devotees only during the period of Kumbhamela (once in 12 years) for 13 months. It is also called Ganga Temple. Arti- woshipful prayers are held here everyday at 7 PM. The three sacred rivers Aruna, Varuna and Godavari meet here at Triveni sangam.
Holy places at River Godavari:
The places where a holy dip can be taken in the river Godavari are: Govardhan Tirtha, Pitru Tirtha, Golan Tirtha, Brahma Tirtha, Runamochan Tirtha, Krishna Tirtha, Papnashan Tirtha, Koti Tirtha, Agni Tirtha, Shukla Tirtha, Aruna Tirtha, Surya Tirtha, Chakra Tirtha, and Ashwini Tirtha.
Gondeshwar Temple:
The Gondeshwar temple is a very beautiful temple built in the Hemadpanthi style of architecture. During the Adilshahi rule in Maharastra, Ahmednagar was their capital. One of the pradhans (minister) of Ahmednagar was Hemadpanth who popularised a typical style of construction using locally available black stone and lime. This style became very popular and came to be known as the Hemadpanthi style. The Gondeshwar temple is one of the few structures of this style still in good shape.
Muktidham :
Muktidham temple is situated in Nashik Road. Built by Late Shri Jayram Bhai , is a magnificent piece of architucture, made with marble form Makrana in Rajasthan, and by Rajastani scluptors. Unique to this temple are eighteen chapters of Geeta written on the walls. You can also see the replicas of all the twelve Jyotirlingas over here and also icons of all major Hindu Gods and Godesses. After visiting this temple every Hindu feels that he has visited all the four Dhams in India. Main deities are of Sita-Rama-Laxman and Hanuman.
Kapaleshwar Shiv Mandir- Kapal means head. Lord Brahma had five heads, four of them used to glorify Lord Shiva and with one He used to criticise Lord Shiva, so Lord Shiv cut one head of Lord Brahma that used to criticise Him so Shiv got the sin of Brahma hatya (sin of killing a brahmin). Nandi told Him that if Shiv takes dip in sangam of Godavari (three rivers viz. Godavari, Aruna and Varuna meet here) he will be freed of the sin. Lord Shiva took a dip here and got free of his sins since then this temple came to be known as Kapaleshwar mandir as Kapal means head. Also, there is no Nandi here in this temple as Lord Shiva taken Nandi as His guru here.
11.5 feet deity of Sri Hanuman-ji- 500 year old Hanuman murti found by Pandavas in thorns; also known as ‘kanton waale Hanuman-ji’
Kapila Muni did tapasya here to bring Kapila River to Nasik.He was also the guru of Lord Ramchandra.
Also there is Sita Haran where Sita was kidnapped by Ravan who came disguised a s a sanyasi and also Laxman Rekha , line drawn by Laxman to protect Sita Devi , this was a line of fire but it became line of water when she crossed the line.
I was taken to all these holy places by an auto rickshaw driver who also acted as a guide.Thereafter, he took me to his house, in his small house there was a temple of Durga Devi( he forced me to take lunch at his place, I just had puranpoli which is a Marathi sweet dish); his wife told me that she did not put any onion- garlic in any vegetables, both of them touched my feet and said that a sadhu has come to their house since I was wearing dhoti-kurta and tilak, this was the first ’sadhu experience’ I ever had in my life. I did kirtan at his house for 30 minutes (I was remembering what I heard in Bhagavatam class, maharaj said that demi-god worshippers are pious and they believe in worshipping higher beings but they are not transcendental, so just tell them about Krishna; Krishna gave me a perfect situation where I told one entire family of demi-god worshipper about Krishna)
I came to ISKCON temple at 5 PM, there was an evening program by the ‘Enchanters’ a kirtan group who came from Mumbai to Nasik just to perform on this eve of ‘appearance of deities here at Nasik or deity installation anniversary’. The main singer was Mahabhagavat Das who is my friend too, his parents HG Ajamalila Prabhu and Mother Her Grace Radhika Devi Dasi are disciples of Srila Prabhupada.They sung very sweet and melodious ‘vaishnav bhajans’ for about 4 hours. That day was also ‘Gudi Padwa’ (Marathi New year). Again. there was a lecture by Maharaj in evening on the topic of ‘deity installation’ , He told about getting the mercy of the Lord when He appears in His deity form and importance of deity worship. After the program there was a ‘great grand feast’, there were 10 dishes along with many other cuisines.
I got up today, went to the temple honoured Krishna prasadam, , completed my 16 rounds and now I am sitting down to share this ’small and memorable Nasik trip’ with all of you before leaving for ‘dirty-dusty and busy’ Mumbai tomorrow. Nasik is a place to relax, hear the glories of the Lord, one can feel spiritual vibrations here even after lakhs of years have passed since Lord Ramchandra lived here with His associates and also many great devotees who came here to serve the Lord.
On Sunday morning I was pacing towards the ‘bus stop’ to get back to Mumbai but was dragged back towards the temple to hear ‘Rama Katha’ from Srimad Bhagavatam for more than an hour at a place where He once lived, His Grace Nrsingha Kripa Prabhu said in his lecture that first ‘Brahmotsava’ was inspiring and sweet and people who were there were most fortunate. Also, when we hear ‘Rama Katha’ from a bonafide source at a holy place like Nasik the benefit is manifolds.
Written By—
Premanjana Das (Pranjal Joshi)
Please send your comments/feedback to the writer at pranjal280@gmail.com
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