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)




On the road (SH 27 Indore Burhanpur Road)
On the way to Omkareshwar, after around 30 kms from indore there is a temple of lord Shani dev (Navagrih Mandir) which is claimed as one of the india’s biggest Shani Navagrih temple and worlds biggest temple based on Vastushastra. The entire temple is made by black marble the village where it is situated is called Baigram. The principal deity in this temple is Lord Shani Dev. The statue of Shani dev is placed in the centre and aroud it there are the statues of other navagriha’s. The temple is worth seeing. We were very fortunate to visit this temple on Saturday.

Shani Navagrih Temple Bai Gram (Indore Omkareshwar Highway)

Shani Navagrih Temple Bai Gram (Indore Omkareshwar Highway)

Worlds Biggest temple based on Vastushastra (Indore Omkareshwar Highway)

Indias Biggest Shani Navagrih Temple

Shani Navagrih Temple

Statue of Shani dev in sanctum santctorum

Statues of other Grihas within temple

In front of Shani Navagrih Temple
So after visiting this great temple and after a pause of around half an hour, we again boarded our car and started our journey towards Omkareshwar. There are so many hotels and dhabas enroute. We reached Omkareshwar at around 7:00 PM. Now our first priority was to look for a good place to stay. There are so many Dharmashalas and lodges in this temple town including the MP Tourism Resort. Here I would like to mention that we had visited Omkareshwar many a times before but it was our first chance to stay there, since it is very near to our home so we always managed to come back same day after darshan, but this time we decided to stay and see omkareshwar and around in leisure. Finally we decided to hire a room with three bed in Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan Guest House.

Shri Gajanan Maharaj Seva Sansthan Guest House.

Our room in Shri Gajanan Maharaj Seva Sansthan Guest House.
The best place to stay in Omkareshwar is Shri Gajanan Maharaj Seva Sansthan Guest House, in all means it is suitable like charges for 24 hrs. stay for 3 bed is Rs. 225 only with all facilities e.g. Hot water, attached lat bath etc. The good food is also available here at a chearge Rs. 20 per thali. Cleanliness is the special cherecteristic here, and the overall atmosphere here is very spiritual, at checking out you’ll get the packed prasad, vibhuti and a photograph of Shri Gajanan Maharaj. In the campus there is a beautiful temple of Shri Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon(Maharashtra).

Temple of Shri Gajanan Maharaj

In the campus of Shri Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan Guest House
After having Dinner at 8:00 PM , we decided to visit main Jyotirling temple where in night at around 09:00 PM there happens Shayan Aarti which has spiritual importance and it is said that every pilgrim visiting Omkareshwar must attend this Shayan Aarti. The sanctum Sanctorum of Omkareshwar Jyotirling Temple is decorated with a beautiful bed and a palna on which it is believed that lord Shiva sleeps at night.
A chousar / Chopad (An ancient game played in india like chess ) is placed and it is believed that in the morning the settings of the game is found changed as lord Shiva plays Chosar in the night.

Rare photo of Omkareshwar Jyotirling garbhgriha Shayan aarti (Just near Jyotirling)

Rare photo of Omkareshwar Jyotirling garbhgriha Shayan aarti

Jyotirling during shayan aarti in night 09:30 PM
The aarti is carried out with only instruments (Not vocal) and the prominent instrument played during aarti is Damru. After attending the miraculus shayan aarti we returned to our guest house and slept at around 11:00 PM. For next days details please see my next post.