Maanasa-yaatraa to the 12 Jyotirlinga's - Vaidyanath

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

>   About Vaidyanath: The details I could find out are very sketchy.
>   According to one verse which says "paralyaaM vaidyanaathaM", the Jyotirlinga
>   called Vaidyanaatha is in Paralii, near Parbhani in Maharashtra. But as per
>   the Shiva PuraaNa statement, "vaidyanaathaM chitaabhuumau", the Jyotirlinga
>   is at chitaabhuumi in the northeast. I have been unable to find any more
>   details about this place which could be in northeastern India or in
>   Bangladesh. Is Chittagong the same as Chitaabhuumi?  Vaidyanath is a common
>   name among Aiyar families. Could someone please comment?
>
>   Anand
>

According to the Kotirudra Samhita of the Shiva Mahapurana, Vaidynath
Mahadeva is located in the tirth called Gokarna.[1]

Ravana was a great Shivabhakta.  He did tapa in the Himalayas but was
unsuccessful.  Finally out of frustration he began cutting off his
heads[2] and sacrificed them in the yagna.  After he had cut off 9 Shiva
Bhagawan was pleased and granted him his wish.  Ravana asked for Lanka to
become invulnerable to attack.  Bhagawan gave him a Shivalinga which would
achieve this effect with the stipulation that it would only work in the
place where the linga was first put down.  Then he restored his cut off
heads.[3] As he made his way back to Lanka, Ganesh Bhagawan caused him to
catch a cold.  Onwards he travelled but eventually the cold got so bad
Ravana had to blow his nose.  So he gave the linga  to a Brahman boy who
was passing by with strict instructions not to put it down.  The boy who
was none other than Ganesh Bhagawan promptly did put it down and vanished.
The linga took root and although Ravana struggled mightily to move it even
distorting it into the shape of a cows ear (go karna) he wasn't able to.
Finally he realized it was all due to the maya of Shiva Bhagawan and began
worshipping him there.

[1] Which I believe is in Maharashtra or Karnataka.
[2] He has 10.
[3] Is this why the linga is called Vaidyanath?  I challenge any modern
brain surgeon to do better! :-)

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
I got engaged! See the pictures ==> http://www.braincells.com/jaldhar/sagpan