Maanasa-yaatraa to the 12 Jyotirlinga's - Somanath

[Anand Hudli]

  The sacred month of ShraavaNa is upon us. This month is held to be sacred
  for the worship of Shiva, especially on Mondays. The bilva-ashhTottara
  (attributed to Shankaraachaarya) has it that worship of Shiva during the
  evening twilight hours on Mondays during the month of ShraavaNa is more
  important than even the worship on the Shivaraatri.

  The birthday of Krishna also falls in this month, on the eight day of the
  dark fortnight. Goddess Mahalakshmi is also worshipped on Fridays of this
  month, especially in Southern India.

  I thought it would be wonderful to embark on a mental pilgrimage to the
  12 jyotirlinga's of Shiva, the most sacred of His emblems. These 12
  linga's are as follows: 1) Somanaatha in Saurashtra, 2) Mallikaarjuna at
  Srisaila, 3) Mahaakaala at Ujjain, 4) Omkaareshvara and amaleshvara, 5)
  Vaidyanaatha at Paralii, 6) Bhiimashankara at Daakinii, 7) Raamesha at
  Setubandha, 8) naagesha at daarukaavana, 9) Vishvesha (Vishvanaatha) at
  VaaraaNasii, 10) tryambaka on the banks of the river Godavari ,
  11) Kedaara on the Himalayas, and 12) Ghushmesha at Shivaalaya. The mere
  utterance of these 12 names of the jyotirlinga's is believed to destroy
  great sins and confer merit.

  There is hymn called the dvaadasha-jyotirlinga-stotra that describes
  these 12 linga's. This hymn is attributed by some to Shankaraachaarya.

  Let us then begin the mental pilgrimage (maanasa yaatraa) with
  Somanaatha. The verse describing Somanaatha is this:

  sauraashhTradeshe vishade .atiramye
   jyotirmayaM chandrakalaavatamsaM  |
  bhaktipradaanaaya kR^ipaavatiirNaM
   taM somanaathaM sharaNaM prapadye || 1 ||


  sauraashhTradeshe - in the Saurashtra  state
  vishade - pure
  atiramye -  extremely beautiful
  jyotirmayaM - full of brilliance
   chandrakalaavatamsaM - (who has) the moon as an ornament on His head
  bhaktipradaanaaya -  for bestowing Bhakti
   kR^ipaavatiirNaM - (who has) descended out of His compassion
  taM - that
  somanaathaM - Lord Somanaatha
   sharaNaM prapadye - I seek refuge in

   I seek refuge in Lord Somanaatha who wears the moon as an ornament on
   His head, who is the full of brilliance (in the form of the jyotirlinga),
   and who for bestowing bhakti (devotion) has descended, out of His
   compassion, in the pure and extremely beautiful Sauraashtra country.

   About Somnath: The famous temple of Somnath is located on the coast
   of Gujarat, west of Diu. There are many legends associated with the
   temple and the surrounding area, including the one which says that
   Krishna, while resting, was mistaken for a deer by a hunter.
   Bus service is available from Junagadh and Veraval. There is a guest
   house near the temple.

   Anand