Aug 23, 2002, 12.11am IST
Pranav Khullar.
Traditionally, going on a tirtha or pilgrimage is believed to present an ideal occasion for soul-searching. The more arduous the journey, the greater the opportunity to reflect.
A yatra is a good time — when the temporal and the timeless meet — to try and expand our understanding of our own selves and the Absolute. This is the spirit of the annual pilgrimage to the hallowed cave-shrine of Amarnath.
The Amarnath yatra’s high point is the full moon day of Sravana in August. Detailed in the 12th cent- ury text of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, and later vividly described in Abul Fazl’s Ain-i-Akbari, the Amarnath yatra has attracted sages and pilgrims since ages. This year, more than one lakh pilgrims made the trip to Amarnath to pay their respects to the lingam that is made entirely of ice, deep inside Kashmir, in the Himalayas.
This is the spot where Shiva whispered the secret of the creation and dissolution of the universe to a half-asleep Parvati, and which secret was unwittingly heard by a pair of pigeons who were still in the embryonic stage. Being in the know made the pigeons immortal after birth, and sighting them at Amarnath is believed to be auspicious.
Situated at a rarified height of 13,000 feet, the cave-shrine of Shiva houses an ice-lingam that forms naturally of stalagmite, waxing and waning with the lunar cycle, and which is said to reach its ‘perfect’ state on the full moon day of Sravana. On this very spot Shiva is believed to have granted the boon of immortality to the gods, to be amar; hence the name ‘Amarnath’.
Swami Vivekananda fell into a deep trance at Amarnath on the Sravana Purnima day in 1898. Sister Nivedita, who was a witness to this incident, has given a touching account of this sensitive experience which has only added to the mystique of the yatra. Vivekananda is said to have asked Shiva for a unique boon, of Iccha Mrityu Vara or ‘death as desired’. According to some accounts, the cave-shrine was re-discovered some centuries ago by a Muslim Gujjar shepherd, Buta Malik, of Balkote/Batkut village, whose family is entitled to and receives one-third of the shrine offerings to this day.
The mystical-philosophical significance of the pilgrimage is also brought out in an ancient Sanskrit text, the Bringesh Samhita, in which the sage, Bringesh, is blessed by Shiva with a holy sceptre for protection. This is now being replicated with the Chhari Mubarak, the holy trident, which is taken out on a procession from the Dashnami Akhara in Srinagar, marking the beginning of the Amarnath yatra.
The cave-shrine at Amarnath is not strictly considered as being a part of the pantheon of the twelve Shiva Jyotirlingas in India. Yet, Amarnath embodies and captures the esse-nce of the Kashmir Saivite tradition — also known as the Trika tradition — corresponding to the three states of Shiva, Shakti and Jiva, in which Shiva is worshipped as the immanent and transcendental One.
The Amarnath shrine occupies a central position, forming the hub of Kashmir’s Saivite cosmology. This aspect has been expounded succinctly by Abhinavgupta in the Bodhapanchadasika or Fifteen Verses of Wisdom, which places Shiva at the very core of pratibimbavada monism, as opposed to Sankara’s Advaitic monism which denies a personal God.
When Mark Twain remarked that although there are 365 days in a year, India has 366 festivals, he unwittingly put his finger on the pulse of Indian tradition. For instance, Sravana Purnima is also a time when Raksha Bandhan is celebrated, reminding us to bond together, to use the opportunity to reflect and respond, to understand and relish not only the present but also our rich heritage.
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