शेगांव- श्री गजानन महाराज दर्शन भाग - 2 (श्री महाराज परिचय एवं मंदिर दर्शन)

इस श्रंखला के पहले भाग में मैंने आपको परिचित कराया था महान संत श्री गजानन महाराज के पवित्र स्थान महाराष्ट्र के विदर्भ क्षेत्र में स्थित शेगांव सेA आइये अब मैं आपको श्री गजानन महाराज से परिचय करवाता हूँA

श्री गजानन महाराज परिचय: 

शेगांव के संत श्री गजानन महाराज को भगवान् दत्तात्रेय के तीन अवतारों में से एक माना 

जाता है, अन्य दो अवतार हैं शिर्डी के साईं बाबा तथा अक्कलकोट के श्री स्वामी समर्थA महाराज को सर्वप्रथम शेगांव में सन 1878 में देखा गया था और तब ही से उनके असीम ज्ञान, सादगी तथा अद्वितीय अध्यात्मिक शक्ति से समस्त जनमानस तथा उनके भक्त लाभान्वित होते आये हैंA

श्री गजानन महाराज के जन्म स्थान तथा जन्म दिनांक के बारे में इतिहास में कोई साक्ष्य उपलब्ध नहीं हैA उन्हें 23 फरवरी 1878 को शेगांव के एक जमींदार बंकटलाल अग्रवाल ने बरगद के पेड़ के निचे भरी दोपहर की चिलचिलाती धुप में झूठी पत्तलों से चावल के दाने उठाकर खाते हुए देखा था, उस समय महाराज ने न्यूनतम कपडे पहने हुए थे तथा उनके हाव भाव विक्षिप्त के सामान दिखाई दे रहे थे लेकिन ये बंकटलाल की महानता थी की उसने उन्हें विक्षिप्त नहीं समझा अपितु उनसे तर्कपूर्ण प्रश्न किया की वे झूठी पत्तलों से भोजन उठा के क्यों खा रहे हैं जबकि पास के ही एक परिवार में प्रचुर मात्रा में भोजन उपलब्ध है जहाँ बच्चे के जन्म की ख़ुशी में पुरे गाँव को भोजन कराया जा रहा हैA बंकटलाल के इस प्रश्न पर महाराज ने उत्तर दिया ''अन्नं ब्रम्हेति'' यानि अन्न ब्रम्ह स्वरुप है और उसे व्यर्थ नष्ट नहीं करना चाहिए उसका सदुपयोग करना चाहिए,

यही गजानन महाराज का प्रथम दर्शन था शेगांव मेंA  

  श्री गजानन महाराज

A Trip to Omkareshwar Jyotirling Day – 1

Me and my wife alongwith our two kids are the keen divotees of lord Shiva or in other words we have immense faith in Bhole Baba. We frequently visit to the Jyotirlings and other Shivalayas as a part of our family holidays. We reside in the Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh which is around 35 KM from Indore the commercial capital of MP. Two out of twelve Jyotirlingams are situated in MP and fortunately both of them are within 100 KM from our residence, they are Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Mamleshwar (Omkareshwar) and we frequently visit these places. We have decided to visit one jyotirling each year and so far we have completed Seven out of 12 jyotirlingas.
After our eight days pilgrimage to Shrisailam Jyotirling (Andhra Pradesh) in October 2010(I will include this trip in my next post ), it was a stretch of Three months that we could not visited lord.
It was a fine morning of Saturday and I was in office, I received a call from my wife and she asked me to go to Omkareshwar as it was my weekly off next day, I happily agreed and we decided to leave for Omkareshwar by our car (Chevrolet Spark) immediately after my returning from office at 3:00 PM (I took short leave from my office). I told her to get prepared with children and pack the necessary stuff.

About Omkareshwar:
Omkareshwar is fourth out of 12 Jyotirlings of lord Shiva according to ancient Hindu epics. It is situated in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh state. It is on an island called Mandhata in the Narmada river. It is about 80 Kms from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. The shape of the island is said to be like the Hindu Om symbol. There are two temples here, one is Omkareshwar (whose name means “Lord of Omkaara or the Lord of the Om Sound”) and another one is Mamleshwar or Amareshwar (whose name means “Immortal lord” or “lord of the Immortals or Devas”).
Omkareshwar is formed by the sacred river Narmada. This is one of the most sacred of rivers in India and is now home to one of the world’s biggest dam projects (Sardar Sarovar Project).
So, We started from our home at 03:00 PM. After approx. 50 km we took Indore – Burhanpur MP SH 27. The highway is in very good condition so we could drive freely and we were enjoying the beauty of nature enroute, there is a Ghat section on the way to Omkareshwar. Both of the sides of the road are full with natural beauty.

On the road (SH 27 Indore Burhanpur Road)

A Trip to Omkareshwar Jyotirling Day – 2

Next Day (06.02.2011) we woke up in the morning at 07:00 AM and after getting fresh, having bath we started for Mamleshwar temple which was at a walking distance from our guest house. This is an ancient temple, there are 7-8 other temples in the Mamleshwar Temple campus (Please note that Omkareshwar temple and Mamleshwar temple are different and both are considered as jyotirlingas, but even between these two Omkareshwar temple is given more importance, they are located on opposite banks of holy river Narmada, steam boats are used to go on either side also two bridges are there to cross the river). There are monkeys in plenty here and be cautious, they may atch the bags from your hands.

Mamleshwar Temple