VDOO Travelogue

Temples in Srilanka!! In this series, I would be covering the most astonishing travel to Hindu temples in Srilanka! Being a spiritual seeker,  my primary goal was to visit all the temples of Shiva in Srilanka.Normally tour to srilanka doesn't include  most of these remote places and  Hindu temples, so it was bit difficult to sketch out the plan but finallly through intense research we made it possible. To start with, we need to understand the demographics of Srilanka first, it's divided into provinces like northern, eastern, western southern provinces. The northern province of Srilanka is mainly dominated by Tamils while as we move towards south we have Srilankan locals ( Sinhalese).                                          (Courtesy: Lonely Planet) When you think of Srilanka as a destination, we think about beaches,jungles, elephants, tea, coffee, spices and much more. "Temples in Srilanka" was the goal for the entire tour and what I discover

"PASHUPATINATH"  means Lord of Pashu, Shiva himself ( animals, including humans), we are the deadliest!! It was this moment which I waited for many years to visit Pashupatinath, finally things got unfolded mysteriously and I landed in Nepal last year 2019. The only objective to plan for Nepal was to visit Pashupatinath and Muktinath.. It was early morning flight from Delhi and I happened to land in Kathmandu,Nepal around 10 am morning. Fantastic climate, lovely food and lovable people, all was there..but I was in search of something else.. In the afternoon I happen to visit Shaktipeeth Guhesywari Temple and post that started climbing a hill , reached to the top of Gorakshnath temple and finally reached to a place from where we can see Lord Pashupatinath temple on the banks of river Bagmati. Gorakshnath was one  of the powerful nath from navnath ( Nine saints) and disciple of Machhindranath ( he was more of shiva himself). Navnath's belong to shaiva se

Muktinath!! Om namo bhagvate vasudevaya! ( Salutations to Lord Vishnu) Swami Vivekananda has once said "I worship all the gods and respect all the religions; I love all the humans who worship god in different forms".. wise men have always put forward this thought in front of the world. Supreme consciousness has nothing to do with religions, sects and rituals. Muktinath is one of those places where Hindus and Tibetian/Himalayan Buddhists have always came together to celebrate the divinity.  The monks and the priests both worship at this place in accordance to their rituals and faiths.   The main shrine at Muktinath is a small, three-tiered, pagoda-style temple containing  a life-size statue of  Vishnu, venerated by Hindus as  Shri Muktinarayana  and by Buddhists as Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The main idol  is flanked by bronze statues of the Hindu goddesses Lakshmi (wealth) and Saraswati (knowledge).  There are also three smaller metal statues o

Suchindram!! Namaskar!! I would like to introduce one more gem for spiritual seekers, Thanumalayan Temple, Its a huge temple located in a  town called " Suchindram' in Kanyakumari district. Before visiting this temple, I was not much aware of its existence , I think its because of my good deeds in past life, I was given this surprise by divine. We were driving pass kanyakumari towards trivandrum, where the chauffeur surprisingly connected us and told that we are going towards Suchindram temple. I was not much aware of where we all are heading too, I thought it might be one of those rural temples in smaller villages. But, once I entered in the vicinity of Suchindram, I got to know that something bigger is going to happen. Temple is around 17 kms from kanyakumari and 8 kms from Nagercoil city. The first thing I noticed was the two big chariots in wooden carvings at the entrance of the temple, huge, fantastic art work and big wheels. Gradually, moving tow

Bhagavathy Amman!! "Amman" means divine mother which is the source of energy for all of us. She is within all of us, her forms might be different, from Kali to Durga to Mahalaxmi to Linga bhairavi but she is everywhere, from small villages to large cities, from different regions to different communities. Remember, all are manifestation of single source, of that boundless energy which gives us our existence. Every goddess in our country is worshipped in different ways and in different forms. Kali Pooja has its particular rituals while Laxmi /Durga pooja are worshipped in other ways. If Shiv is the soul , then parvati is the energy, if vishnu is the protector then laxmi is the giver, if mahakal is the lord of kal ( time), mahakali is the bond destroyer!! Shiv Shakti/Vishnu laxmi are the union which makes us thrive through this universe. For any one of us, you can feel the difference in energies in different temples. If you visit any Devi temple, the vibrancy a

Rameswaram!! The word  "Rameswaram"  itself is a combination of  two tatavas Ram with Eshwar! Eshwar means shiv, your utlimate consciousness. According to scriptures, with the advise of sages, seventh avatar of Lord vishnu  King Rama along with Lakshmana and his wife sita formed a Linga at the seashore for praying to the lord shiva asking him to forgive for his act of killing Brahmin king ( Brahmanhatya). King Ravana was not only a Brahmin as per his origin, he was true scholar,learnt and super devotee of Lord Shiva. Acts performed for righteous thing are never wrong, but then too praying to divine for forgiveness is the most superior virtue of any human, thats why king Rama is called " Purshottam" ( superior man) If you see, most of us feels that Ramayana is a mythology, but if you see the evidences across India and Srilanka no one can deny the facts and existence of entire Ramayana. Every incidence in Ramayan ends up teaching you the way of life. Ra