AMARNATH- THE LORD ALWAYS EXISTS!
What is it , that you know always, that all the yogis always want to know?The Devi once asked her beloved Nath, Shiva.
Shiva smiled,laughed, and then spoke exaltedly like a poet,'this earth upon which we sit, the hills,these trees, the springs,this soft wind,even the moon! the sky! those distant stars that bejewel the night as offerings to you,truly, dearest," He exclaimed, arising,"The entire universe is a projection from the pristine essence within me; this human bodied yogi you love-your husband, Shankar! I am always the knower of the highest transcendence, I am always the knower of what is always.The Devi was impressed,but, "where do i fit in?" she asked teasingly"You, Parvati," He urged emphatically, "are the embodiment of Shakti, my inseparable power of dynamics, you cause the projection.without you,there would be no manifest world,and i would remain ever, in my transcendence , by myself."Seeing that his young wife was pleased , Shiva continued,"and so this beautiful miracle, that tonight we sit two beings in love, chatting, admiring each other and our surroundings,such a beautiful creation ,of which we are now a part,and yet i tell you, the secret is that we are the perennial source of all that is..."Even as Shiva was expounding the most secret Agama of Srishti rahasya to the Devi, a trickle of water on a portion of their cave wall began solidifying, in the form of a magnificent LINGA,which is, of course, the symbol of all creation.It was as though to demonstrate the manifestation ofa subtle state into a grosser one,as if to freeze the magical words for posterity. As though to make explicit , the truth that water and ice are one,and yet each contains the other."Witness, my dearest", said Shiva "this linga as a symbol of our love; a reminder of our eternal togethernessa vision of the eternal principle of shiva shakti ,therefore a vision of foreverness in its simplest form.And when shall my children get this vision? demanded the mother , latent ,in the bride.In due course of time,many kathas later O devi vouched Shiva any being that attains to this station to which you are primal witness, shall be granted the Amrita.
This was the divine prelude to AMARNATH. Shiva had asserted that the whole world is his playground, every place is pervaded by his divine essence,and yet ,there are places where this divinity is more clearly perceived,places where the individual's consciousness is uplifted spontaneously into universal being.places,where yogis and bhaktas have meditated and done tapas , in order to get closer to the pristine truth.And these are stations which do give the feel of the truth.And Amarnath where the whole truth had been expoundedby the NATH himself.is an extremely powerful station,still vibrating with the divine essence of existence ,still echoing shiva's words and parvati's love ....still remaining the fountainhead of all life.
And so, the rishis went for darsana,the siddhas went,the sadhs went, the naths went, the kulas went the sants went, and went so many other blessed ones,so many went like a backward flow of waters, back to the origin, and felt for themselves the presence of the perennial source,so many sang prayers ,gave offerings , meditated and then came back home to tell the others stories of AMAR NATH, the master storyteller.
Till today Amarnath stands as a colossal sanctorum.
