GANDAKYAS CAIVA DESE CA SALAGRAMA STHALAM MAHAT
PASANA TAD BHAVAM YAT TAT SALAGRAMAM ITI SMRTAM
(HARI BHAKTI VILASA 5/296 From GAUTAMIYA TANTRA )
As per Gautamiya Tantra, near the kali - Gandaki river, there is a big place called Shalagram.The stones which appear in that place are called shalagram shila. According to the Hindu tradition this stone is the shelter for a small insect known as "Vajra-Keeta" that has a diamond tooth which cuts through the Shaligram stone and stays inside it. The Saligram stones are hundreds of million years old when the Himalaya was an ocean floor. The marks on the Shaligram gives it a special significance, with the pattern often representing that of Sudarshan Chakra, the Discus of Lord Vishnu. The Shaligrams come in different colours, such as red, blue, yellow, black, greeen. All the varities are considered very sacred. The yellow and golden colour Shaligrams are considered most auspicious and bestow immense wealth and prosperity to the devotee. The Shaligrams of different shapes are often associated with different incarnations of Lord Vishnu such as Narasimha Avatar, Kurma Avatar and so on. According to the Vaishnavas the Shaligram is the "dwelling place of Lord Vishnu" and any one who keeps it, must worship it daily. He must also adhere to the strict rules such as not touching the Shaligram without bathing, never placing the Shaligram on the ground, avoiding non-vaishnavaite (or non-satvic) food and not indulging in the bad practices. The Lord Krishna himself mentions the qualities of Shaligram to 'Yudhishtra' in the Mahabharta. Most of the Shaligrams are considered auspicious, some are very sacred, while others are considered to bring good luck, money, peace, sons and so on. The temples can use any kind of Shaligrams in their rituals. The place where the Shaligram stone is found is itself known by that name and is one of the 108 sacred pilgrimage places for the " Vaishnavas" outside India. In fact such is the auspiciousness of this place that the Puranas mention that any stone from this land is equally sacred to Shaligram.
According to the religious text of Devi Bhagwate (and other scriptures) to kill demonJalandhar Lord Vishnu have to destroy Sati Brindha's sati dharma. When he did that Sati Brindha gave four seeming desecrations to Lord Vishnu to become stone, grass, tree, plant. To wash away this reaction Lord Vishnu took four avatars (incarnations). He became stone (Sri Saligram) grass (Kush) tree (Pipal) and plant (Tulsi). from this time onwardse the Saligrams are considered to be most auspicious to behold and to worship.
There is a place where we find much bigger shaligram. This shaligram is the largest in the entire universe.
It is not near Kali Gandaki River but the river is in the shaligram.
This Shaligram is the manifestation of Vishnu.
This shaligram is Arunachala.
The source of all.
Arunachala Jagannath Darshan.
This is a very beautiful darshan. Here the Hill Arunachala comes to us in the form of Jagannath...the deity of Puri.
Also for close observers of spiritual literature and belief it would be clear that Arunachala Hill is Lord Jagannath Himself.
There is a common point of intersection.
Lord Jagannath stands by Himself bereft of the company of Radha who is absolutely essential for a Krishna idol. Instead He is seen in Puri with His sister Subhadra and brother Balaram.
WHERE IS RADHA?
The answer lies in the caption describing Puri:
It is a vipralamba kshetra...or literally the place of Seperation.
Here Lord Jagannath is in external seperation from Radha. He is crying with wide eyes because of seperation from Radha. Radha is not with Him...She must be somewhere else.
But if it is so...where is Radha.
The answer lies in the fact that though seperated externally Radha is forever united internally with Krishna.
Puri Jagannath thus symbolises Union in seperation.
The smile of Jagannath symbolizes the happiness of Jagannath from internal union with Radha.
The Female Power is in Eternal Union with the Male Principle.
Arunachala too is of the same nature as with Bhagwan's assertion. Once while explaining the greatness of Arunachala Bhagwan explains to a devotee that in Arunachala, Shakthi lies in eternal Union with Arunachala and hence the Hill lies as if unmoved.
From the above words of Bhagwan we can easily see that Arunachala is Puri Jagannath and Puri Jagannath is Arunachala.
Also like Arunachala's Ardha Nareeshwara, Jagnnath is worshipped as Ardha Lakshmi Narayana.
This is the darshan of Arunachala as Puri Jagannath.
Whosoever sees Arunachala...sees Jagannath...whosoever sees Jagannath sees Arunachala.
BOTH ARE THE SAME.
This darshan is also same as Ram Bhakth Hanuman darshan where Hanuman too looses the Conciousness of His Self while thinking of Rama.
An extremely POWERFUL darshan of Arunachala which when meditated upon unites the soul with the Supersoul through the path of Ecstatic Devotion.
Goddess Sahasrakshi (lit., "she who has a thousand [infinite] eyes")
Durga Shailputri (Daughter of Mountain)
Brahmacharini
Chandraghanta
Skanda Mata
Katyayani
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Siddhidatri
Maha Gauri
Maha Lakshmi
Goddess Parvathi
Vanavasini ( Goddess in the forest)
Goddess Simhavahini
MAHA DURGA
O Glorious Mother with Flowing locks and bright eyes, with the sun and the moon as ear rings and the Earth as a Nose ring, with a smile that thrills the billions of universes, O Goddess Arunachala to you I bow and to you is my love.
P.S. Images have been sourced from the World Wide Web
More Goddess Darshans to follwo...culminating in the Mother of all Darshans of Arunachala.
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