Rameshwaram is one of the holiest of the four divine sites which are situated in the four corners of India. Badri Nath lies in the northern part of India, Puri in situated in the eastern part, Dwarika is located in the western part and Rameshwaram lies in the southern most part of India. It is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dhams.
There is a traditional belief that the Chota Char Dham yatra in the Himalayas (Badri Nath, Kedar Nath, Gangotri and Yamunotri) remains incomplete without the pilgrimage to Rameshwaram with the offering of holy Ganges water brought from holy Ganga on the holy Jyotir Lingam. The Ramanatha temple occupies a major area of Rameshwaram. As the whole island is considered holy, people generally walk bare footed to keep the sanctity of the site. One can imagine the belief of the people that even ploughing is considered a great sin here.
The Ramanatha temple of Rameshwaram occupies a prime position in the list of most splendid monuments of India. The temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples where God is worshiped in the form of a Jyotirlingam meaning ‘Pillar of light’. The Jyotirlinga is the supreme partless reality, out of which SHIVA partly appears. The Jyotirlinga shrines are places where Shiva appeared as a column of light.
Though Lord Shiva is worshipped in several forms, the authentic form of worship is the Lingam or Shiv Lingam. Shivlingam consists of Naadam of perpendicular stone and Bridham round shaped stone. It represents the aspect of Omkar. In this way it consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Ruda or Shiva. The bottom portion is Lord Brahma, the circular portion is Lord Vishnu, and the perpendicular portion is the symbol of Rudra and the top most portion is Shiva. This combination together represents, AUM. Shiva has various forms, and He can be seen in Arupam (formless). In one of the forms, Lord Shiva is worshiped as Shivlingam.
The presiding deity of this holy site is Ramanatha Swamy (or Lord of Ram i.e. Lord Shiva) in the form of a Lingam. There are two lingams in the temple one made by Sita from the beach sand residing as the main deity in the Sanctum Sanctorum known as Ramalingam and the other brought by Lord Hunuman from Kailash and is called as Vishwalingam. Hanuman brought two Lingas in his two hands. The other one stands installed near the main gate. After killing Ravana, Ram wanted to get absolved of the sin of Brahmahatya incurred by killing Ravana, who was a Brahmin.
On the advice of sage Agasteya he wished to pray and worship Lord Shiva on this holy island after returning from Lanka with Sita, after winning the war. To worship God Shiva, Ram wished for a huge Shiv Lingam. He directed Hanuman to bring the lingam from the Himalayas. Hanuman left for the Himalayas but did not return within the auspicious time. Due to this reason so Mother Sita made a Shiv Lingam of the beach sand which was worshiped by Ram, Sita, Lakshman and others in the presence of Devas, Sages and Rishis. Lord Shiva was pleased by this holy activity and appeared as a Jyoti (column of light) in the holy worshiped Shiv lingam. He asked for a boon to Lord Ram to which Lord Ram requested to Lord Shiva to always stay in this place. Lord Shiva gave this boon to Lord Ram and said that this Shiva Linga installed by Lord Ram would become a Jyotirlingam and will bless the worshipers. He also absolved Ram of the great sin at the same time. The same Jyotirlingam stands installed in the sanctum Santorum of the temple nowadays and is worshiped by millions of devotees every year.
Then Hanuman came with two Lingams in his two hands. He got disappointed to see that all the over. Ram in order to console him, asked him to uproot the Lingam just worshiped and place the Lingam brought by Him. Hanuman with all his might could not do it as the Lingam had acquired divinity by the grace of Lord Shiva.
In order to pacify Hanuman, Lord Ram got the Lingam brought by Hanuman installed nearby what is now known as Vishwalingam and instructed that this Lingam should be worshiped first and them the Ram Lingam installed and worshiped by Him. The tradition continues even today.
Rameshwaram Jyotirlinga is the southernmost of the 12 Jyotirlingams of India and has been a time honored pilgrimage center, held on par with Banaras. Rameshwaram Temple Jyotirlinga is associated closely with the Ramayana and Rama′s victorious return from Sri Lanka.
According to a another popular legend, there is an another story behind the installation of the Shiva Linga at Rameshwaram. It was definitely Lord Rama who installed this Linga here. Story goes that when Lord Ram was on his way to attack Ravana, he reached this place where he made a linga of sand and worshiped it. It is said that when Lord Rama was drinking water on the seashore there was a celestial proclamation – “You are drinking water without worshiping me”. Listening to this Lord Rama made a linga of sand and worshiped it and asked to be blessed so that he could vanquish Ravana. Lord Shiva blessed him accordingly. He also requested Lord Shiva to reside eternally here so that entire mankind should benefit from it. Shiva then manifested himself as the Linga and got installed there for eternity.
There is yet another Shivalingam here – Viswanathar said to have been brought by Hanuman from Banares. This Shivalingam is referred to as Kashilingam and Hanumanlingam. Prayers are offered to Viswanathara Lingam before they are offered to Ramanathaswamy Lingam.
Significance of Rameshwaram Temple Jyotirlinga has been described through a hymn in Manas:
i.e. Those who go to Rameshwar and seeks my blessings, they meet me after leaving their body and shall always reside in holy Shivloka.
Thus one can easily conclude why this land holds such a great status in the Hindu religion. This is not only a place for penance, for sanctification but it is also a place where a Guru broke a disciples pride. After the Ram-Ravana battle, Lord Hanuman started to consider himself as the greatest disciple of Lord Ram. He was so much overtaken by his powers that he couldn’t withstand how can a Lingam be placed which was not brought by him. So Lord Ram in order to break his pride, asked him to replace the sand made Lingam with the Lingam brought by him.
However even after his best efforts, he couldn’t do it. This action of his to prove himself better than everyone else and wishing to replace the existing Shiva Lingam became futile. Finally, he understood that the Guru has done his part of job and fell in the holy feet of Lord Ram. Lord Ram knew that His disciple has corrected himself and thus as a token of appreciation offered him the boon that worship of Rameshwaram Lingam will only be fruitful after worshiping Viswanathara Lingam.
The new year is approaching and so would be new opportunities and new challenges in life. A Guru can accept anything but not a disheartened and defeated disciple. It is a truth that a disciple is a part of Guru’s soul and till the time a disciple is not living a happy life, a Guru too can’t live even a second of his life in peace.
Thus Gurudev is organizing this shivir at the very end of this year on 26th and 27th December in Rameshwaram so that what all misdeeds we have done, what all impurities we are carrying, what all failures we have faced during this year, what all diseases we are suffering through, all that can be removed from our life and thus we can live a successful and happy life in the coming year.
All the holy texts have mentioned that the aim of this life is to attain eternal bliss, however they have also mentioned that it can only be achieved by living this life to the fullest. Due to this reason only, almost all of the ancient texts have mentioned the necessity of Goddess Lakshmi and have created thousands of sadhanas to appease the Mother Goddess. We relate Lakshmi with just wealth whereas Lakshmi means wealth, good health, prosperity, fame, eternal bliss and all that what makes a man perfect.
Lord Vishnu is the husband of Goddess Lakshmi and due to this reason He is considered as a perfect God. It’s the desire of Gurudev to make us equivalent to Lord Vishnu and for that we need to assimilate Goddess Lakshmi in ourselves and this is what Gurudev plans to offer to His disciples this year
It is mandatory to obtain Guru Diksha from Revered Gurudev before performing any Sadhana or taking any other Diksha. Please contact Kailash Siddhashram, Jodhpur through Email , Whatsapp, Phone or Submit Request to obtain consecrated-energized and mantra-sanctified Sadhana material and further guidance,