gallery

View this post on Instagram

#Gokarna has become known for it's beaches in more recent years but is actually considered one of the holiest towns in #India. The main #temple here is said to house the #atmalinga, the #soul of Lord #Shiva. As legend has it the demon king #Ravana had obtained the #shivalinga from Shiva at #MountKailash by doing great penance to please him (he even cut off his own head and made a harp of his own skin and intestines to prove his devotion!). So Shiva gave him the linga but made the condition that he must not place it in the ground on his journey home or it would become forever fixed in that place. Lord #Vishnu upon hearing of Ravanas possession of the linga became troubled as worshiping the linga would make him all powerful, so he conspired with #Ganesha to trick Ravana. When Ravana reached Gokarna he was met by Ganesha who appeared as a young boy. Knowing that Ravana would want to do his rituals at that time of day he offered to hold the linga for him and then once he was in possession placed it on the ground and disappeared. So the Atmalinga is now forever fixed there at #Mahabaleshwar temple. So that's my very abridged version but as you can imagine this place is of great importance to Hindus especially during #MahaShivarathri. Over these few days thousands of people descend on this small town, which isn't much more than a village, to take the blessings of the linga. This morning people are queuing for a few hundred metres in order to enter the temple. Om Namah Shivaya! Happy #mahashivarathri2019 !

A post shared by Kailash Equanimous (@kailash.eq) on Mar 3, 2019 at 10:27pm PST