Temple Location :
This Badrinath temple is Located in Central Himalayas in Garhwal district of Uttar Pradesh.
It is found right back of Holy River Alaknanda. This Badrinath Divyadesam located is almost 10300 feet above sea level is a great Pilgrimage center in India.
Specials:
1. This temple is opened only six months in a year, from mid of May to the third week of November.
But, it depends only upon the temple authorities. The temple is closed for next six months due
to heavy snow-fall in winter.
2. The Perumal is transformed from this temple to Joshimutt temple for that six months when the
Badrinath temple is closed. And after 6 months, he is taken back to Badrinath temple itself.
Sthalapuranam
The Perumal serves as a "Teacher" (Guru) for himself and thereby explaining the Gnana to the world in
5 different ways.
- The characters of Aathma.
- Character of Paramathma
- What the Aathma has to attain.
- The ways, to attain it and
- The obstacles that are found for the Aathma while its attaining it.
The Perumal, Badrin Narayanan explains all these 5 different things known as "Artha Panjaga
Gnanam". For a human, 5 relations are the most prominent one. They are Mother, Gather, Guru,
God and the pre generation peoples. In this, Guru is so important and it is non - equivalent
to anything. Without a proper guru, one cannot attain anything. So, the perumal here serves
as the guru and explain the Gnana to the world.
As the same way, the perumal is born as both Naran and Narayanan and he gives the seva to
both Naran and Narayanan and he gives the seva to Naran thereby explaining the Gnanam towards
him.
While going towards Badrinath, one can visit enjoy and get the seva of Perumals in Haridwar,
Vishnupaadham, Thiriveni Sangamam, Rishikesh, Deva Prayag, Kandam (Kadinagar), Rudra Prayag,
Karna Prayag, Nandha Prayag, Joshi mutt, Hanuman Chatti, Bramagha dam, Taptha Kundam and
Simha Dwaram.
Badrinath is 10,380 feet above from the sea level. Bhaktas who travel Badrinath, first
should visit Haridwar, where Brahma Kundam (theertham) is found where bhaktas have a spiritual
bath in that theertham before going to Badrinath. This place is also called as "Vishnu Paadham"
From here, we can see the Ganga river originating. It is said that river Ganga originates from
the thiruvadi (feet) of Sri Vishnu. The Dwaram (the small entrance (or) hole) from where
the Ganga river originates is said to be Haridwar. People get this Ganga water closed in a
small vessel and take to their houses and keep them as sacred. Haridwar is called as
"Kapilasthan", because Kapila Munivar did the tapas here and worshipped Goddess Maya and
because of this, the place is also called as "Mayapuri". There are temples for Goddess
Manasa Devi, Chandi Devi, Maya Devi, Anjani Devi, Neeleshwarar, Dattatreyar, Navagrahas,
Mahadeva and Mrithyunjaya Mahadevar.
Lots of Ashrams are found. Some of them are Kailasha Ashram dedicated to Aadhi Sankarar,
Sri Vananda Ashram started by Swami Sivanandar, Gita Ashram, Swarga Ashram, Paramathma
Niketan.
Badrinath is said to one among the great Dhamas (holy Shrines). Other great Dhamas are
Rameswaram, Dwaraka and Jaganath. There are 5 Badris namely Vishal Badri, Dhayana Badri, Yoga
Badri, Vridha Badri and Bhavishya Badri and five prayags are Devaprayag, Rudra prayag,
Karnaprayag, Nandaprayag and Vishnu prayag.
Devaprayag:
This is the place where the Alaknanda and Bagirthi rivers mingle to one another and the
river falls down as "Aadhi Ganga", In Devaprayag, Brahma devar, King Dasarathan and Sri
Ramar are believed to have done tapas. And an Mutt is installed by Aadhi Sankarar here.
Rudraprayag:
Rudraprayag is the place where river Mandakini joins the Alankananda river. Here a temple
for Rudran is found Mandakini river rises from Kedarnath and it joins Ganga and then towards
Madhya Maheshwar near Gupta Kasi. In Gupta Kasi a famous temple for Ardha Nareeshwarar is
found (Artha Nareeshwarar is one of seva given by Lord Shivan where he is found as one
part of his body and another side for Uma devi).
Karnaprayag:
Karnaprayag is the place where Karnan did strong tapas to get all sorts of mantra arrows.
Nandaprayag:
Nandaprayag is the place where the Nandakini river arises and joins Alaknanda. It is said
that king Nanda did a severe tapas here in this place.
Vishnuprayag:
It is believed that this is the place where Pandu King did strong tapas towards the
Emperumaan Sri Vishnu and it is said that the Pandja Pandavas born here.
Next to Vishnu Prayag is a place called Hanuman Ghat where Lord Hanuman and Bheeman met
each other. Once, Bheeman thought he was the strong person in the world and was travelling
along this side. At that time, Hanuman laid there as a old monkey. Bheema say an old
monkey lying before him in the path and shouted at the monkey to give way for him. But, the
old monkey (Hanuman) told that since he is so weak, he could not able to move and told that
if Bheema could mvoe the tail, he can move it and go along with his way. Bheeman thought he
can move the tail with his one hand, but he could not do that. Using his full strength, he
tried, but he could not even move the tail for an inch. Finally, he thought, the old monkey
might be some Arakkan (or) Magic man. But finally, Anjaneyar showed his original Roopam and
explains him that there are brothers (since both are Vaayu Puthras). Bheema fell to the
feet of Sri Anjaneyar and asked that he should be along with them during the war against
the Gauravars (Duriyodhanan and his troop). Sri Anjaneyar told that he will be along with
them in the flag which is found on top of the Chariot of Arjuna.
Since, Naran and Narayanan came to this sthalam, two mountains on the names of them are found.
The Nara Parvatham (mountain) is found on the Eastern bank of Alknanda river and Narayana
parvatham on the west bank of Alknanda river. These two mountains are almost covered by
snow, in all times.
Nara Parvatham is also called as Kubera Bhandar since lots of precious gems and diamonds
are found onits glaciers. Once, there lived an arakkan (demon) by name "Sahasrakavacha",
who gave lots of trouble for the Rishis and yogis. All of them prayed towards the perumal
to help them out from the Arakkan. At that time, both Naran and Narayanan did tapas towards
the perumal. On hearing that these two persons were doing severe tapas towards the Emperumaan,
Sahasrakavachan rushed towards them to kill them. Both, Naran and Narayanan fought strongly
with the demon and finally killed him. Thus, they permenantly stayed in Badrinath to help
all the Rishis and Yogis from lots of Arakkans.
About 5 miles away from Badrinath, is a place found which is called as "Dharma Shila". It is
believed tht only in this place, Dharma Rajan and his wife kala did tapas towards the
perumal. As the Varam from the perumal, Dharma Raja and his wife asked that the perumal
should also be found along with them and thats the reason why Dharma shila is found
near Badrinath.
Tapta Kund:
This tapta Kund is found in between the temple (Badrinarayanan) and Alaknanda river. Inspite
of being so cold and lots of snow fallings, this tapta kund excreats hot water (springs) which
is said to be a special one. It is said that the Ganga river after coming from the thiruvdi
of Sriman Narayanan is beared by the Lord Shivaperuman's head and since it comes out form the
hot and from Kabhala of Shiva, it is said the water of Tapta kund is hotter.
After taking bath in tapta kund, bhaktas have to climb some steps up where Garudalwar is
found. After worshipping him, we can reach the pragaram. The place where Garudalwar is
found is called "Simha Dwaram".
Infront of Badrinath temple, the Nara and Narayanan mountain are found. Inside the temple,
Badrinarayanar is found in sitting position which is termed as "Padmasana"
pose. On his left is Naran and Narayanar and found, to his right, Kuberan with a big silver
face is found. Narada Maharishi is also found along with them. A Sudharsana chakkaram
to spiritualise the sthalam is also found. The Utsavar is Uddhava is found and infront of
him, a small Garudalwar is found.
It is said that a big date (Elandhai) tree is covering the Badrinarayanar temple and it will
not be found to any person in Kali yigham. The tree is said to be the hamsam of Sri
Mahalakshmi and she is protecting Badrinarayanan from cold by covering him.
Moolavar and his Sannadhi:
The Moolavar Badrinarayanar is said to be made of Salagramam. He is found along with
Aravindhavalli thaayar, Garudan, Kuberan, Naradhar, Utthavar, Devarishi and Narayanar. He is
found in sitting pose and has 4 hands. His left hand holds the Sangu and his right hand hold
the chakkaram and is lifeted upwards and remaining two hands are joined together and found
as Yoga muthirai and Abhaya Varadhan.
Bhaktas can get the seva of this perumal how much times they want and all the thirumanjanam,
Naivedhyam etc are done infront of the bhaktas.
Thaayar and her Sannadhi:
On the south pragharam of the temple is the sannadhi for Aravindhavalli thaayar is found
and she is called as "Mahalakshmi". On the west side, Aadhi sankarar sannadhi and behind
the temple, Lakshmi Narasimhar mandir and Sannadhis for Sri Swami Desikan, Udayavr Ramanujar
are found.
On the north side of the temple big rock by name "Brahma Gobalam" is found in the bank of
Ganga river. It is believed that if we dedicated Pindam (a ball made of rice) here for
our forefathers, the next 14 generations people are said to go to heaven and Moksha. And
thereafter, if one perform this, there is no need to do the Shrardham from then.
Moolavar:
The Moolavar of Badrinath Kshetram is Badri Narayanan. He is found in Irundha (sitting)
thirukkolam facing his thirumugham towards east direction. Prathyaksham for Naran.
Thaayar:
The Thaayar found in this Kshetram is Aravindhavalli.
Mangalasasanam:
- Periyalwar - 1 Paasuram.
- Thirumangai Alwar - 21 Paasurams.
Pushkarani:
Tapta Kundam.
Sthala Viruksham (Tree):
Badri Viruksham (Date tree).
Vimaanam:
Tapta Kanjana Vimaanam.
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