Gokarna kshethra

Gokarna kshethra

I

        Recently we had an opportunity to visit South Karnataka. We started from Gokarna. Gokarna is a village situated on the sea shore. It is well known as a pilgrimage centre as well as a tourist spot. The temple is dedicated to lord Mahabaleshwara a form of lord Shiva. According to legends in this place, Lord Shiva emerged out of the ear of Mother earth who took the form of a cow.
       It is also said that Lord Parasurama who came from the north reclaimed from the sea the land starting from Gokarna upto Kerala. It is also said that Ravana got the Atma linga from Lord Shiva. The devas who feared Ravana sent Lord Ganesa in the form of a boy to Ravana. Ravana who wanted to do his evening oblations handed over the linga to the boy and instructed him not to keep the linga down. The boy in turn warned Ravana that if the weight of the linga became unbearable for him he would call out to him 3 times for Ravana and if he didnt turn up by then he would keep it down. When Ravana was away Lord Ganesha promptly called out to Ravana 3 times and kept the linga down. The linga immediately rooted there itself. Ravana disappointed went away.
      We can reach Gokarna by bus, train and cabs from Mangalore easily. We took a cab from Manipal and started for Gokarna at 6-30 am. The road is not good at all. We reached Gokarna by 11am. We went inside took tickets for abhisheka and did abhisheka for the lingam with milk and water. The lingam cannot be seen outside. It keeps hidden inside a small hole in the middle of a big square Saligrama peetam. The peetam they say keeps the rock in the shape of a cow's ear. The hole in the cow's ear which is covered with a small linga is supposed to be the one through which Lord Shiva emerged outside. We can put our hands inside the hole in the peeta and feel the linga.
       After receiving prasada we came out and learnt that lunch is being served inside the temple for the devotees. So stood in the que and had our prasada lunch. We visited the beach and then proceeded towards Murudeshwara.