Charana Paduka and Yogadhyana Badri
http://tirtha-yatra.blogspot.com/2013/04/journey-to-badrinath-temple-swayam.html
http://tirtha-yatra.blogspot.com/2013/04/journey-to-badrinath-temple-swayam.html
Charana Paduka:
A 3 km trek away in a beautiful
meadow carpeted with wild flowers is a boulder bearing lotus footprints of Lord
MahaVishnu. Path to this place begins with left turn near temple. It took close
to one hour to trek to this place. The path is steep climb to trek and in case of
age factor, one can hire piththus close to the temple to get to this place.
Beautiful views of Badrinath city can be obtained as we hike up. One finds waters from Kurma dhara as soon as we turn left to start on the path.
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| Waters from Kurma dhara |
Mid way through is the Hanuman gufa. There is also a separate sannidhi for Gantakarnan at entrance of this gufa.
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| Hanuman Gufa |
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| Charana Paduka |
On clear day, one can get spectacular views of Neelkant peak. The path to Urvashi falls begins from here. Neelkanth peak is popularly known as Garhwal Queen. The peak is in the form of a pyramid, which changes its color and hue with sunlight. Reflecting the first glow of dawn into the valley and glittering, Neelkanth embodies all the divinity of this divine land. The panch dharas which are famous in Badripuri are Prahlad, Kurma, Bhrigu, Urvasi and Indra dhara.
Garga
Samhita says: "A person who sees the handprint or footprint of Sri Krishna,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead and bows down to offer respects to them,
will certainly attain Lord Krishna's transcendental abode."
There is
a special story associated to this place. There was a demon named Dambhodbhav (Sahasrakavacha) who did penance to Lord Sun
for many years. Pleased with his penance Sun appeared before him and asked him
to partake a boon. Dambhodbhav asked for immortality. Sun said no one could
become immortal as all those who have taken birth should die, this the law of
the nature set by Lord Narayana, and thus he can ask for something else.
Dambhodbhav asked Lord Sun to give him 1000 kavachas that should
not break for atleast 1000 years and that one who breaks the thousandth should
die immediately. Sahasrakavacha with pride created havoc in the world and none
could kill Sahasrakavacha and none dared to fight, as that would mean definite
death. So when the world was besieged with the cruelty of Sahasrakavacha, sages
and devatas went to Lord Narayana asked for the relief.
Lord
Narayana and Nara lived at Badrikashram performing severe austerities and meditation
for the welfare of the world. These two inseparable sages took avatars on earth
for the welfare of mankind and to punish the wicked ones. The sages defeated Sahasrakavacha
("one with a thousand armours"). The footprint was left here when
defeating this demon. To defeat Sahasrakavacha, while Nara was doing penance,
Lord Narayana would fight with him and then the other way around. Even a day’s
penance at this place was equivalent to penance for a thousand years reducing
time needed to kill the demon. This continued till the demon lost 999 armors. After losing all but one armor,
the demon feared his end and prayed to the Sun God for his safety. Sun God took pity on him and promised to
help him, and transported him into the womb of Kunti to be born as Karna.
Nara and Narayana were surprised at the sudden disappearance of
the Rakshasa. Narayana through this yogic power could figure out all that had
happened and decided that they, Narayana and Nara would also take birth as
Krishna and Arjuna and vanquish Karna. Lord Indra disguised as Brahmana took
Karna’s kavacha kundala in daanam after he finished performing Surya pooja. At
last, in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna killed Karna. Thus Narayana and
Nara put an end to the demon, Sahasrakavacha.
After visiting Charan Paduka, we went to Yogadhyan Badri.
After visiting Charan Paduka, we went to Yogadhyan Badri.
Yogadhyan Badri
Yoghdhyana Badri is located at Pandukeshwar at an elevation of 1,829 meters (6,001 ft) is one of the Pancha Badri's. It is
an ancient temple. Pandukeshwar is located on route from
Govind Ghat to Hanuman Chatti, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) away from Hanuman Chatti.
Legend has it that King Pandu,
father of the pancha Pandavas, meditated here to Lord MahaVishnu to cleanse himself of the sin of killing of two mating deer, who were ascetics in their previous
lives. The Pandavas were also born here and Pandu died and attained salvation
here. Pandu is believed to have installed the bronze image of Vishnu in the
Yogadhyan Badri shrine. Idol of Lakshmi Narayan can be seen killing Shankhasura, and hence, the conch is not blown in the whole Badrikashram region. The main idol (life sized) is Saligrama shila in a meditative posture and hence this place has attained the name Yogadhyan Badri.
Yogdhyan
Badri is also considered the winter abode for the Utsava-murti (festival-image)
of Badrinath, when the temple of Badrinath is closed. Hence, it is religiously
ordained that a pilgrimage will not be complete without offering prayers at
this place.
After visiting Yoghdhyana Badri, we returned back to Badrinath. We visited temple again for Karpoor Aarti, Swarna Aarti and Shayana Aarti.
नारायणः प्रभुर्विष्णुः शाश्वतः पुरुषोत्तमः ।
तस्यातियशसः पुण्यां विशालाम् बदरीमनु ॥
आश्रमः ख्यायते पुण्यस्त्रिषु लोकेषु विश्रुतः ।
अन्यत्र मरणान्मुक्तिः स्वधर्मविधिपूर्वकात् ।
बदरीदर्शनादेव मुक्तिः पुंसां करे स्थिता ॥
(महाभारत )
Those who leave this world in other sacred places (while performing their duties as ordained by their Dharma) attain liberation: however, at Badarikshetra, mukti is attained by mere darshana. Tarakabrahma liberates those who leave this world at Kashi. In Kedar, worship of the Shivalinga it itself sufficient to grant mukti. Those who get darshana of the Agniteertha near the divine feet of Lord Narayana (as well as those who get the darshana of the mahalingam at Kedar) are free of rebirth. Where Sriman Narayana is Himself present, all sacred places (in fact, the whole universe) is present. Badari is that sacred place where the Supreme Being Himself resides-
यत्र नारायणो देवः परमात्मा सनातनः ।
तत्र कृत्स्नं जगत् सर्वं तीर्थान्यायतनानि च ॥
तत् पुण्यं परमं ब्रह्म तत् तीर्थम् तत् तपोवनम् ।
तत् परं परमं देवं भूतानां परमेश्वरम् ॥
शाश्वतं परमं चैव धातारं परमं पदम् ।
यं विदित्वा न शोचन्ति विद्वांसः शाश्त्रदृष्टयः ॥
(महा ० वन ० तीर्थ ० ९० । २८-३० )
Moreover, those who even remember Badarikashram and meditate on it attain that abode of Lord Vishnu from where there is no return to this world--
श्रीबदर्याश्रमम् पुण्यं यत्र यत्र स्थितः स्मरेत् ।
स याति वैष्णवं स्थानं पुनरावृत्तिवर्जितः ॥
(वराह ० पुराण ० १४१।६७ )
Like the Vedas, this place is Anaadi (without origin). Besides the Nara-Narayana ashramam, one finds Naradashila, Markandeya Shila, Garuda Shila, Vaaraahi Shila, Naarasimhi Shila, Kapala Teertha, and other sacred spots here. This is explained in detail in the Devibhagawata, the Badari-Mahatmya of the Vaishnava Khanda of the Skandapurana and the Badari-Mahatmya of the Varaha Purana in our previous post.
[Source: http://indiatravel17.wordpress.com]
After visiting Yoghdhyana Badri, we returned back to Badrinath. We visited temple again for Karpoor Aarti, Swarna Aarti and Shayana Aarti.
The mahima of Badarikashrama:
नारायणः प्रभुर्विष्णुः शाश्वतः पुरुषोत्तमः ।
तस्यातियशसः पुण्यां विशालाम् बदरीमनु ॥
आश्रमः ख्यायते पुण्यस्त्रिषु लोकेषु विश्रुतः ।
अन्यत्र मरणान्मुक्तिः स्वधर्मविधिपूर्वकात् ।
बदरीदर्शनादेव मुक्तिः पुंसां करे स्थिता ॥
(महाभारत )
Those who leave this world in other sacred places (while performing their duties as ordained by their Dharma) attain liberation: however, at Badarikshetra, mukti is attained by mere darshana. Tarakabrahma liberates those who leave this world at Kashi. In Kedar, worship of the Shivalinga it itself sufficient to grant mukti. Those who get darshana of the Agniteertha near the divine feet of Lord Narayana (as well as those who get the darshana of the mahalingam at Kedar) are free of rebirth. Where Sriman Narayana is Himself present, all sacred places (in fact, the whole universe) is present. Badari is that sacred place where the Supreme Being Himself resides-
यत्र नारायणो देवः परमात्मा सनातनः ।
तत्र कृत्स्नं जगत् सर्वं तीर्थान्यायतनानि च ॥
तत् पुण्यं परमं ब्रह्म तत् तीर्थम् तत् तपोवनम् ।
तत् परं परमं देवं भूतानां परमेश्वरम् ॥
शाश्वतं परमं चैव धातारं परमं पदम् ।
यं विदित्वा न शोचन्ति विद्वांसः शाश्त्रदृष्टयः ॥
(महा ० वन ० तीर्थ ० ९० । २८-३० )
Moreover, those who even remember Badarikashram and meditate on it attain that abode of Lord Vishnu from where there is no return to this world--
श्रीबदर्याश्रमम् पुण्यं यत्र यत्र स्थितः स्मरेत् ।
स याति वैष्णवं स्थानं पुनरावृत्तिवर्जितः ॥
(वराह ० पुराण ० १४१।६७ )
Like the Vedas, this place is Anaadi (without origin). Besides the Nara-Narayana ashramam, one finds Naradashila, Markandeya Shila, Garuda Shila, Vaaraahi Shila, Naarasimhi Shila, Kapala Teertha, and other sacred spots here. This is explained in detail in the Devibhagawata, the Badari-Mahatmya of the Vaishnava Khanda of the Skandapurana and the Badari-Mahatmya of the Varaha Purana in our previous post.
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