Amarnath Temple

The three main deities, Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh, i.e., Lord Shankar, have been called Triidev or Trinity in the Hindu religion. This Trinity controls the entire creation. Additionally, it is claimed in the scriptures that Brahma created the universe, while Lord Vishnu maintains it, and Lord Shankar is known as the destroyer of the universe. In other words, he is the destructive God; Shiva is also called Mahakaal and known by many other names. According to Shiva Purana, Lord Shankar is not only the destroyer, but he is also the creator of the universe. In this article, we will talk about one of the most popular and most religious sites for the Hindus, where lord shiva is worshiped (The Amarnath temple).

About

Amarnath Cave is a holy shrine of Hinduism. According to the followers of the Hindu religion, the Amarnath temple is one of the most sacred shrines in India dedicated to Lord Shiva. Here lingam, of snow is formed naturally every year. It is believed that Lord Shiva narrated the story of immortality to Goddess Parvati here. This cave is 135 kilometers away from the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar. Forest Block, Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir 192230, Baltal Amarnath Trek is the address of Shri Amarnath Cave Temple. Although this cave is covered with snow the whole year, in summer, the snow around the cave melts, and only during the summer months, from July to August, this shrine is open for devotees. If anyone wants to visit the Amarnath temple, he can only visit Amarnath temple in these months.

Amarnath Cave Mythology

One of the most religious places of Lord Shiva is the Amarnath cave which is in Jammu and Kashmir. Every year lakhs of devotees come here to see the lingam, made of ice inside a cave. It is said that the size of the lingam in the Amarnath cave increases or decreases according to the different phases of the moon. Along with lingam, here are two more ice creations which are believed to be Goddess Parvati and Ganesha. Amarnath is a combination of two words, Amar (immortal) means who never dies, and Nath means God. This cave got this name because it is the place where Shiva had told or narrated the secret of immortality to his wife, Goddess Parvati.

According to Puranas, this story started when goddess Parvati asked Shiva, "Why do you wear a garland of Mund (head)?" then Shiva said that he adds one head to the garland whenever Parvati is born. Then Goddess Parvati asked Lord Shiva why she has to take birth and come in a new form every time and why she has to do penance every time after birth. Goddess Parvati also asked Lord Shiva the reason for his immortality. Then Shiva told Goddess Parvati that he is immortal because of the immortal story and whoever comes to know about that story will also attain immortality. Shiva said this story is a mystery, and only Trinity knows it. Then Goddess Parvati insisted to Shiva that she wants to listen to that story.

Then on the insistence of Parvati, Lord Shiva chose a place to narrate the story where no one lived, and that place was the Amarnath cave. Then Lord Shiva started narrating the immortal story to Parvati, but Goddess Parvati fell asleep in the middle of the story because that story was too long, but Shiva did not know that Parvati had fallen asleep, and he kept telling the story. But during this time, two white pigeons were in the cave listening to the story. Still, Lord Shiva was not aware that the pigeons were listening to the immortal story, and those two pigeons heard the whole story.

When Shiva narrated the whole immortal story, he opened his eyes and came to know that Parvati had fallen asleep, and two pigeons heard the whole story. Seeing this Lord Shiva became very angry, and then Lord Shiva proceeded to kill both the pigeon. Then one of the pigeons said that if you kill us, then this story will be false because we have heard the whole immortal story. Then Lord Shiva blessed those two pigeons to always stay in this cave and it is believed that these two pigeons are still visible to the devotees in this cave. In this way, this cave was named Amarnath Cave.

The Controversy associated with Amarnath

Pilgrimage to Amarnath is considered a very difficult and dangerous journey because this cave is situated at a very high altitude. The journey of Amarnath is dangerous not just because this cave is at a very high altitude, the main reason is the frequent terrorist attacks that take place here. To get here, you have to go through many difficulties. In the last few years, there have been many terrorist attacks here. According to a report, during the Pilgrimage to Amarnath, there have been more than 36 terrorist attacks, in which more than 50 people have lost their lives. It is believed that this place is attacked by various terrorist organizations every year. Therefore, whenever the travelers leave for the Amarnath cave, the Indian Army also accompanies them, so that the pilgrim does not face any problem.

How to Reach

The journey to Amarnath cave is not easy. Amarnath cave is at a very high altitude, due to which people have to face a lot of difficulties. It also takes a lot of time to reach Amarnath cave, and you also have to do a lot of physical activity. So that is why Amarnath Shrine Board has made some rules that you must follow to go to Amarnath cave. For the Amarnath journey, firstly you have to get a journey Permit issued by Amarnath Shrine Board. You need two documents for the Amarnath journey Permit. The first is an application for registration, and the second is the Compulsory Health Certificate (CHC). Applicants applying should not be less than 13 years and should not be more than 75 years, and pregnancy should not be more than six weeks. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to travel to Amarnath Cave.

You can do early registration at the time of March and April. For this, you have to go to the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Board website, and you can download the registration form from there. In the form, you have to fill in the date (from what date you have to go) and route (Which route you want to follow because there are two routes to reach Amarnath cave), and you will also have to attach the health certificate. All the necessary information is given on the website of the Amaranth Shrine Board, and you have to submit these documents by going to any bank that collects these documents. To know which bank collects these documents you can refer to the official website of the Amarnath Shrine Board. Then further processing is done by the authorized bank where you deposit your documents.

In Amaranth Yatra, you have to travel about 40 kilometers on foot. This is not easy for everyone, so you should take care of some things. You should do a daily morning walk before one month of travel. Daily walking will prevent you from feeling breathless while walking. You will need a lot of warm clothes because it is at a very high altitude and is covered with snow and it will help a lot if you have a good raincoat to keep you from getting wet. The travelers who come here do not face any problem in staying as all the basic accommodation facilities are available here.

Conclusion

Amarnath Yatra is one of the most difficult and dangerous journeys. The journey to reach Amarnath cave is heart-wrenching because it is not an easy task to reach the Amarnath Cave after traveling such a long distance and overcoming many difficulties. Every traveler or pilgrim who sees lingam inside the cave or worships Lord Shiva here finds himself blessed and considers himself very lucky.