| Char Dham Yatra – Kedar Darshan, Day 37 |


Kedarnath Temple

This temple is built on a raised, 6 feet high square platform. Inside the temple is a perambulation pathway on all four sides of the main temple pavilion and Sanctum Sanctorum. Nandi – the bull, sits in the courtyard outside, in the form of the Divine carrier or vehicle. Kind Nandi looks so beautiful and regal, sitting in that courtyard looking to His Master, Mahadev all the time, eternally immersed in devotion and service to Him.

In the mornings, the Shiv Ling is bathed in it’s innate natural state and then smeared with Ghee (clarified butter). Thereafter, the sacred lamp along with fragrant incense is offered and waved before the Shiv Ling, in the form of the sacred Aarti. Pilgrims can enter the temple to offer prayers and have Darshan at this time but, the Lord is adorned only in the evening time. The Lord is bedecked and adorned in varied, appealing ways, using a range of sacred elements and offerings. Devotees can have Darshan of the Lord from a distance.

The history of this Jyotirling in a nutshell is that the great sage & ascetic, Mahatapasvi Nar Narayan Rishi, the avatar of Lord Vishnu Himself, performed penance at the Horn of Kedar. Pleased by his worship and penance, Lord Shankar manifested there and in answer to the sage’s prayers, as a boon, He established Himself there as the Jyotirling. This place lies on a point called the Horn of Kedar, located on the King of Mountains – Kedarnath, in the Himalayas.

I have described the history of Panch Kedar (5 kedars) earlier too, in my narration of the story of Madhyamaheshwar. It was in Kedarnath that the Pandavas were redeemed of all their sins by Lord Mahadev.

(To be continued …)