Durga Temple In Almora - A Miracle

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THIS IS A FOWARDED MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER

 

 

 

" Uttishthata Jagrata " <uttishthata

Date:

Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:14

am Subject:

Durga Temple In Almora - A Miracle

: Uttishthata

Uttishthata/message/814

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uttishthata/message/814

 

Dear friends,

 

One of our Uttishthata members was on pilgrimage

of Uttarakhand recently. During his visit to Almora he came across a

Durga Temple not much decorated or famous but certainly has a Divine

touch. He shares his experience with us - Miracle in Almora. Please

read and share this mail with your friends.

 

A PDF file has been uploaded to the "Files" section of our Uttishthata Group' web page.

 

Description : Durga Temple In Almora - A Miracle You can access the file at the URL:

UttishthataDurga%20Temple%20in%20Almora.pdf

 

Jai Swamiji, Jai Hind.

 

Rajan

 

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MIRACLE IN ALMORA

 

 

 

 

 

T

here is in Almora, at about 20 minutes

walking from the Ramakrishna Kuthir ashrama, a beautiful little Durga

temple on the top of a small hill, amidst tall pine trees and grassy

slopes. This temple is called Sri Durga Siddha Pith, or

so it is painted on the front wall of the temple. The temple is not

very old. It may have been constructed sixty or seventy years ago. A

great saint, unknown to the world, one day appeared and sat on a big

boulder on top of the hill. He used to come every now and then from

Kailash, which was his home since many years.

The local hill people started coming to the

saint with their problems, and he was very kind and compassionate to

them. Extremely austere by nature, he kept a strict routine of sadhana,

three times a day for lengthy hours. The army used the hill for its

practices and had erected a small house-like structure for use of the

Officer in charge. The saint may have used that little hut during the

night.

The saint was actually a worshipper of

Shiva, but he one day said to the villagers that the Divine Mother had

appeared before him. She had told him that for many years She had been

kept in a neglected shrine at the foot of the hill in a dirty graveyard

and she desired to be installed on the hill. The hill was very suitable

for Her worship.

The delighted villagers with the assistance

of the army made a charming little Durga temple. Behind and connected

to the temple they build a nice kuthir for the saint's use, where he

installed a homa kunda and kept his massive Shiva linga.

During the absence of the saint, when he

would be moving in the higher Himalayan regions, the village folks kept

the place in good order and protected it waiting for his return. It

became soon obvious to everybody they need not have worried, as the

Mother herself would look after Her place. One day the army came again

for its practices and the officer in charge, an Englishman, installed

himself in his army hut on the hill. Mother was obviously not happy

with his state of mind, because the bewildered officer, on waking up

the next morning, found himself and his bed yards away somewhere down

the hill. He never came back.

Another day a wandering sadhu, on seeing the

beautiful temple and nice kuthir of the sage, decided to make it his

own and forcefully took control of the keys with the intention to stay.

That same night the entire forest around the hill caught fire and the

sadhu took to his heals in terror.

That Mother's power was highly manifesting

in Her little shrine was demonstrated again when a Naga Sadhu appeared

and requested to stay for some time in the sage's kuthir practicing a

certain kind of intense sadhana. Permission granted, he plunged himself

in his practices and emerged some time later in an ecstatic mood,

telling to the villagers he had graciously received the siddhi he had

been struggling to attain.

Perhaps Mother's greatest miracle is the

story of an old lady who has been attending on the Mother in Her shrine

for the last fifty years. She was a newly wed young girl when her young

husband told her to go and serve the sage and Mother in the temple. She

was at first very shy and nervous and would stealthily do little

things, carefully avoiding the sage. This was going on for some time

when one day her firstborn young child got terribly sick and the

physicians failed to cure him. She decided to go and visit the saint

accompanied by some other ladies, imploring his grace.

The sage however was never fond of having

young ladies near him and when they approached the hill he shouted

loudly: 'Hare Hare bom bom.' It is said the entire hill shook under his

terrible power and all the other ladies ran away in a state of shock.

Only she stayed. Having thus passed the sage's admission test, she

carefully approached him with the child. After having received the

sage's blessing the child quickly recovered and the young lady, now

emboldened, became a regular attendant of the sage. Approaching him for

initiation he instructed her to first go to Badrinath to purify

herself. On her return she received his blessings, a mantra and further

instructions on a regular bases. He told her that all she had to do was

look after the temple, the courtyard and room and that through this

service she would attain everything.

Though the villagers would every now and

then come to the hill, the shrine was nevertheless neglected to the

great distress of the saint, who was most of the time absorbed in his

own Shiva sadhana. One day he became so upset with the Deity that in

great emotion he took his big Shiva linga and tuned it up side down,

shouting that if He wanted to look after the shrine in a decent fashion

he'd better send somebody to help.

The next day lots of people came with gifts offering assistance in maintaining the temple.

During this time the Mother again appeared

to the sage and told him that as She is always attended by female

deities she here too wished to be served by a lady only. In the absence

of the young lady the sage told the villagers that Mother had selected

her to do Her service.

This now old lady is still there today,

coming every morning and only leaving at night. She cleans the entire

temple, maintains the sage's room as if he is still alive (he gave up

his body about 50 years ago), sweeps and mops the courtyard, and

applies purifying mud to the floor of her own room where she cooks the

daily offerings to Mother.

She has many wonderful anecdotes to tell and

is delighted when devotees come to see Mother. She regards it her duty

to serve them and especially when sadhus come she is pleased. She

offers a glass of water, makes thee and distributes the prasad offered

to Mother.

She recounts many spiritual experiences she

has had while serving Mother. One day the entire temple disappeared and

only Mother was seated there in a big lotus surrounded by her female

divine attendants. Everything around her was consciousness alone. She

has seen all the Gods and Goddesses and received many instructions from

Mother. When one day she was deeply distressed and complained to Mother

that she has never seen Her face after all of these years of dedicated

service, Mother appeared in a dream and told her that whenever a group

of women comes she should carefully see if there is anybody wearing a

white sari with a red border, that it is nobody but She in that form.

Another day the lady became extremely upset

with a sadhak who had made the temple his temporary residence. He was

not willing to do anything while she was doing all the work, even the

daily puja. She implored him again and again to do at least the puja,

but he refused. She became so annoyed with Mother she decided to leave

the hill once and for all and that in her old age she could not be

expected to do all work alone. That night Mother appeared to her in a

dream and scolded her telling: 'What, you stop doing my service? Shame

on you! Go back tomorrow and continue your work. Why do you bother

whether others help or not. Do it for me alone.' So she went back. The

sadhak left soon after and met with a deadly accident.

Once a Brahmacharini made the hill her home

and was engaged in deep sadhana. As the lady who attended on Mother

never stayed at night she would hand over the keys to whoever was

staying there while she returned to her house to come early next

morning. It so happened one day she could not return due to heavy rain

and shared that night the room with the Brahmacharini. Suddenly at

night she heard a big procession approaching the hill and could

distinctively hear the ringing of bangles of a queen like person

followed by Her many attendants. While she was wondering how a marriage

procession could possibly come to the hill at the dead of night and

wanted to open the door to have a look, the Brahmacharini rushed to the

door forbidding her to do so. When the astonished lady asked why she

should not go out and have a look, the Brahmacharini told her that it

is Mother Herself who comes every night and that She disappears when

you look directly at Her. When the amazed lady nevertheless forced the

door open to have a look the sound immediately disappeared and there

was no trace of any party.

Many have seen a huge tiger approaching

the hill and prostrating itself before the Mother. It never bothers

anybody and moves on after its devotions are done. It appears that this

tiger, Mother's vahana or vehicle, is a protecting deity of the hill as

well. One day when the lady attendant of Mother had been sloppily doing

Mother's seva and was returning home at night, this tiger suddenly

appeared as out of nowhere and jumped at her. Though the tiger did not

harm her she intuitively understood that Mother was not happy with her

halfhearted service and that from now onwards she should concentrate on

doing the work with increased dedication and concentration. From that

day onwards she was extra careful in doing Mother's work.

The old lady has an unending stock of

stories and while talking to her one can not help recalling Anasuja and

her unflinching faith for her Guru, and the years she anxiously waited

for Rama's coming. These things are not only stuff of legend. They are

happening even today. Infinite are Mother's ways and beautiful Her

incomprehensible lilas.

Medhananda

Monk of Ramakrishna order

-- devishakti_india( divyabhakti )( http://spiritualhinduism.blogspot.com

)