Gokarna and Pachakshetras

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

Recently I had been on a small pilgrimage tour to Karnakata. Visited few holy places there like Kukke Subrahmanyam, Dharmasthala, Kolluru Mookaambika, Sringeri, Dhaareshwar, Murudeshwar, Gokarna, Sajjeshwar, Guneshwar, Udipi.

Amongst these, Gokarna, Sajjeshwar, Guneshwar (Gunwante), Murudeshwar, Dhareshwar are called Panchakshetras.

Once upon a time, mother of Raavana (ya the asura from Raamaayanam) asked him to get her Lord Shiva’s aatma lingam. There is also another version, where it is said that Raavana wanted to become extremely powerful and hence wanted to get Aatma lingam for himself.

So he did great penace and pleased Shiva. Shiva gave Raavana aatma lingam. But warned him that he should not place it on the ground till he reaches his home. Devathas, as ever, wanted to ensure that Raavana doesn’t become so powerful. Took the help of Lord Vishnu and Lord Vishnu covered the Sun with his Sudarshana Chakram. Thinking that its evening, Raavana wanted to perform his Sandhya Vandanam. This place is the current Gokarna. Since he could place the lingam on the ground, he started looking around and found a Brahmin boy. This was Lord Ganesha.

Raavana asked him to take care of the lingam and not to place on the ground at any cost. The boy agreed but mentioned that he would call Raavana thrice and in case he doesn’t turn up, he would place the lingam on the ground. It’s a no brainer that Ganesha called Raavana thrice and Raavana could not come back and the aatma lingam was placed on the ground.

Raavana came back hurriedly after finishing his Sandhya vandanam and was upset with the boys act. He hit him hard on his head. The next moment Lord Vishnu removed the Sudarshana Chakram and the sun started shining bright. Raavana realized that he was tricked and tried to move the Aatma lingam and he could not move it. He used all his might but could not move it a milli meter. That lingam had Kavacham (Covering), Lid (on top), Cloth (around it) and a Thread. He became so angry that he started throwing those things out. There are temples in all these 4 places as well.

The Kavacham fell in a place called Sajjeshwar, which is about 35-40 kms from Gokarna. This is in the direction of Goa from Gokarna.

The Lid fell in a place called Guneshwar (also known as Gunavante), which is about 40-45 kms from Gokarna. This is near a place Edugunji (not sure of the spelling) and there is a very popular Vinayaka temple there.

The cloth fell in a place called Murudeshwar, which is about 50-55 kms before Gokarna. This is a very nice place right on the shore of the sea.

The thread fell in a place called Dhareshwara, which is about 20 odd kms before Murudeshwar on the way to Gokarna.

One speciality of this Gokarna Kshetram is that God faces West. Generally in all temples, God faces east and in our homes God faces west. 

Ya, this post has been like a tourist guide to Gokarna J

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.