About the Temple & Location :
This Badrinath temple is Located in Central Himalayas in Garhwal district of Uttar Pradesh.
It is right back of Holy River Alaknanda. This Badrinath Divyadesam located almost 10300 feet above sea level is a great Pilgrimage center in India.
Specials:
1. This temple is open 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 the next six months due to heavy snow-fall in winter.
2. The Lord God known in Tamil as Perumal is transformed from this temple to Joshimath temple for those 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 explains the Gnana to the world in 5 different ways.
The characters of (Soul) Aathma.
Character of (Supreme Soul) Paramathma
What the Aathma has to attain.
The ways, to attain it and
The obstacles that are found for the Aathma while attaining it.
The Perumal, Badrin Narayana explains all these 5 different things known as “Artha Panjaga Gnanam”. For a human, 5 relations are the most prominent ones. They are Mother, Father, Guru, God and the pre generation persons known as Pithru. In this, Guru is so important and it is non – equivalent to anything. Without proper guidance from a Guru, one cannot attain anything. So, the Perumal here serves as the guru and explains the Wisdom – Gnana to the world.
In 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 enjoy the visit and get the seva of Perumals in Haridwar, Vishnu pAdam, Thriveni Sangamam, Rishikesh, Devprayag, Kandam (Kadinagar), RudraPrayag, KarnaPrayag, Nandha Prayag, Joshi mutt, Hanuman Chatti, Bramagha dam, Taptha Kundam and Simha Dwaram.
Badrinath is 10,380 feet above sea level. Bhaktas who travel Badrinath, first should visit Brahma Kundam (theertham) in Haridwar, where bhaktas take a spiritual bath in that theertham before going to Badrinath. This place is also called as “Vishnu PAdham” (Foot prints of Sri Maha Vishnu).
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 in a closed container and take it to their homes and keep it 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, Neeleshwar, Dattatreya, Navagrahas, Mahadeva and Mrithyunjaya Mahadeva.
Lots of Ashrams are found. Some of them are Kailash Ashram dedicated to Aadhi Sankarar, Sri Vananda Ashram started by Swami Sivanandar, Gita Ashram, Swarga Ashram, Paramathma Niketan.
Badrinath is said to be one among the great Dhamas (holy Shrines). Other great Dhamas are Rameswaram, Dwaraka and Jagannath. There are 5 Badris namely Vishal Badri, Dhayana Badri, Yoga Badri, Vridha Badri and Bhavishya Badri and five prayags are Devaprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag, Nandaprayag and Vishnu prayag.
Devaprayag:
This is the place where the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers mingle to one another and the river falls down as “Aadhi Ganga'', In Devaprayag, Brahma deva, King Dasaratha and Sri Rama are believed to have done tapas. And a Mutt is installed by Aadhi Sankara here.
Rudraprayag:
Rudraprayag is the place where river Mandakini joins the Alaknanda river. Here a temple for Rudra is situated. 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 Nareeswara (half of the body portion representing the Power known as Shakti – Uma and other half as Shiva).
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 rises 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 believed to be the birthplace of Pancha Pandavas.
Next to Vishnu Prayag is a place called Hanuman Ghat where Lord Hanuman and Bheema met each other. Once, Bheema thought he was the strongest person in the world and was traveling along this side. At that time, Hanuman laid there as an old monkey. Bheema saw an old monkey lying before him in the path and shouted at the monkey to give way for him. But, the old monkey (Hanuman) said that since he is so weak, he was unable to move and requested that if Bheema could move the tail, he could move it and go along with his way. Bheema, not knowing that the Monkey is none other than the so powerful Hanuman, thought he could move the tail with his one hand, but he could not do so. 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 Demon known as Arakkan (or) Magician. But finally, Anjaneya revealed his original posture (Roopam) and explained to him that they are brothers (since both of them are sons of Lord Air known as Vaayu). Bheema fell to the feet of Sri Anjaneya and asked that he should be along with them during the war against the Kauravas (Duriyodhanan and his troop). Sri Anjaneya said that he will be along with them in the flag which is 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 on the Eastern bank of Alaknanda river and Narayana parvatham on the west bank of Alaknanda river. These two mountains are almost covered by snow, at all times.
Nara Parvatham is also called as Kubera Bhandar since lots of precious gems and diamonds are found on its 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 save them from the Demon. 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 permanently stayed in Badrinath to save all the Rishis and Yogis from all the demons.
About 5 miles away from Badrinath, is a place known as “Dharma Shila”. It is believed that in this place, Dharma Rajan and his wife Kala did tapas towards the Lord Sri MahaVishnu. As a boon from the Lord, Dharma Raja and his wife asked that the Lord should also be along with them and that’s the reason why Dharma shila is found near Badrinath.
Tapta Kund:
This tapta Kund is situated in between the temple (Badrinarayanan) and Alaknanda river. Despite being so cold and lots of snow falls, this tapta kund excretes hot water (springs) which is said to be a special one. It is said that the Ganga river after coming from the Divine Feet of Sriman Narayana is beared by the Lord Shivaperuman’s head and since it comes out from the hot and from Kabbalah of Shiva, it is said the water of Tapta kund is hotter.
After taking bath in tapta kund, devotees climb some steps upwards to worship Garudalwar. After worshipping him, we can reach the pragaram. The place is known as ‘Simh Dwaram’ where the Garudalwar statue is situated..
In front of Badrinath temple, the Nara and Narayanan mountains are located. Inside the temple, Lord Sri Badrinarayana is in sitting position which is termed as “Padmasana” pose. On his left is Naran and Narayana and to his right, Kubera with his face adorned in silver. Narada Maharshi is also there along with them. A Sudharsana Chakkaram (A power of Wheel in Lord’s right hand) to spiritualise the kshetram. The Utsavar is Uddhava and in front of him is a small Garudalwar statue.
It is said that a big date tree (Elandhai) is covering the Badrinarayana temple and it will not be visible to any person in Kali yuga. The tree is said to symbolize Sri Mahalakshmi and she is protecting Badrinarayana from cold by covering him.
Moolavar and his Sannadhi:
The Moolavar Badrinarayana is said to be made of Salagramam. He is along with Aravindh Valli thaayar, Garuda, Kubera, Naradha, Utthavar, Devarishi and Narayana. He is in a sitting pose and has 4 hands. His left hand holds the Sangu the Conch and in his right hand holds the Wheel the chakkaram and lifts upwards and remaining two hands are joined together and found as Yoga mudra and Abhaya Varadhan.
Devotees can get the darshan of this Lord, without any time restriction they can spend here and Holy bath to Lord known as Thirumanjanam, offering of eatables etc are done in the presence of the devotees.
Thaayar and her Sannadhi:
On the south pragharam of the temple the sannadhi for Aravindh Valli thaayar is situated and She is called as “Mahalakshmi”. On the west side, Aadhi sankara sannadhi and behind the temple, Lakshmi Narasimha Mandir and Sannadhis for Sri Swami Desikar, Udayavar Ramanujar are located.
On the north side of the temple on the bank of River Ganges, a big rock named “Brahma Gobalam”; it is believed that if we dedicate Pindam (a ball made of rice) here for the departed souls known as Pithrus, for the next 14 generations people are said to go to heaven and Moksha. And if done once, thereafter, if one perform this once, there is no need to do the annual ritual for the departed souls that is known as Shrardham.
Moolavar:
The Moolavar of Badrinath Kshetram is Badri Narayanan. He is in a sitting posture (Irundha thirukkolam) facing east Prathyaksham for Naran.
Thaayar:
The Thaayar in this Kshetram is Aravindh Valli.
Mangalasasanam:
Periyalwar – 1 Paasuram.
Thirumangai Alwar – 21 Paasurams.
Pushkarani:
Tapta Kundam.
Sthala Vruksham (Tree):
Badri Viruksham (Date tree).
