yatra narayano devo
naras ca bhagavan rsih
mrdu tivram tapo dirgham
tepate loka-bhavanau
yatra -- where; narayanah -- the Personality of Godhead; devah -- by incarnation; narah -- human being; ca -- also; bhagavan -- the Lord; rsih -- great sage; mrdu -- amiable to everyone; tivram -- severe; tapah -- penance; dirgham -- very long; tepate -- performing; loka-bhavanau -- welfare of all living entities.
Badarikasrama in the Himalayas, the abode of the Nara-Narayana sages, is a great place of pilgrimage for the Hindus. Even up to the present, hundreds and thousands of pious Hindus go to pay respects to the incarnation of Godhead Nara-Narayana. It appears that even five thousand years ago this holy place was being visited by such a holy being as Uddhava, and even at that time the place was known to be very, very old. This particular pilgrimage site is very difficult to visit for ordinary men because of its difficult situation in the Himalayas in a place which is covered by ice almost all year. A few months during the summer season people can visit this place at great personal inconvenience. There are four dhamas, or kingdoms of God, which represent the planets of the spiritual sky, which consists of the brahmajyoti and the Vaikunthas. These are Badarikasrama, Ramesvara, Jagannatha Puri and Dvaraka. Faithful Hindus still visit all these holy places for perfection of spiritual realization, following in the footsteps of devotees like Uddhava.
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