Vaishno Devi Shrine- The Divine Place

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Manisha Mahar
May 23, 2019   •  38 views

Vaishno Devi Shrine is the largest pilgrimage site of India located on Trikoot Parvat in Katra, Jammu & Kashmir. Vaishno Devi Shrine is placed at a height of 5200 feet above the sea level. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Vaishno Devi who is regarded as the incarnation of Durga. Every year more than one crore pilgrims visit here. It is believed that whoever visits the shrine, Mata Vaishno Devi fulfills his/her wishes. It is also believed that Mata herself sends a call (bulawa) to her devotees to visit the shrine. The shrine is said to be the most sacred and divine place all over the world.

Popular legend of Mata Vaishno Devi

About 700 years ago, Sridhar and his wife was true devotee of Mother Goddess. Once, Sridhar saw a dream of Goddess saying for organize a divine public feast in her honor. Sridhar was from a modest background. He barely arranged the feast, invited all the villagers including Guru Gorakhnath and his follower Bhairav Nath. Goddess Vaishnavi herself came there in the form of a little girl and start serving meal to the villagers. When she was serving meal to Bhairav Nath, he demanded meat and vine. Vaishno mata refused to oblige Bhairon. Bhairon tried to capture the divine girl but she escape from there. He started chasing the girl. The goddess ran to save herself,when she felt thirsty, she shot an arrow in the ground and the water fell out. The gush is flowing ceaselessly and is known as Ban Ganga. After this incident, the goddess went into a cave at Ardhkuari for meditation.

Bhairon Nath took around nine months to find this cave. He disturbed the goddess from meditation and tried to capture the girl. But she escaped from the other opening of the cave. The cave came to be known as ‘Garbh Joon’. The goddess escaped from there and went towards the hills. Bhairon Nath came there and tried to kill Vaishno Devi, she emerged in the form of Maha Kali. She cut off his head which flung up towards the mountain where Bhairon Mandir is established now. He requested the goddess to forgive him. The goddess liberated Bhairon from the cycle of life and death. And acclaimed that whoever, come to her cave also has to visit Bhairon Temple in order to complete their pilgrimage. Later she herself turned into three rock form known as ‘Pindis’ and absorbed herself into meditation forever.

There is various transportation to reach the shrine – ropeway, ponies, and helicopter. Most of the visitors prefer trekking to the slope. There are dharmashalas,pooja shops near the bhawan. The three ‘Pindis’ inside the Bhawan are regarded as Maha Laxmi, Maha Saraswati and Maha Kali. Bhairav Ghati is located 2.5 km away from bhawan. Ardhkuari islocated a halfway to Vaishno Devi shrine. There is a high rush in the shrine during Navratre. The pilgrims walk the whole day chanting ‘jai mata di’. It’s the blessing of goddess that even the old and weak people can complete the yatra.According to the pilgrims, all the worries get over at the single glimpse of Maa Vaishno.

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