A trip to Shravanbelgola !!

I always wanted to visit Shravanbelgola since i arrived here in Hyderabad in 2004 but somehow i always fell short of time or may be courage. But at the time of placements i had decided that as soon as i get placed i will be heading towards the sacred place. Well not just after the placements but about a month later i mustered up the courage and headed towards Shravanbelgola with almost zero planning 🙂

First destination was Bangalore, i took the Bus from Koti Bus Station at around 8 in the night. I was supposed to reach Bangalore by 8 am next day but could reach there only by 12:30 or so, courtesy the Bus that broke down just after 2 hours of travel and could start only after 2 hours of hard work.
    Till then i had just heard about Bangalore traffic but i could feel the agony of the locales when the bus took about 2 hours to reach Bangalore bus stand from the time we entered the city. Anyways after having some food there i took the bus from Bangalore to channarayapatna that took about 80 Rs and 2 hours to reach the destination. And from there i took a bus to Shravanbelgola that took about half an hour and 7 Rs 🙂

There were some amazing locations in between like this:

On reaching the bus stand itself i got the first view of this exhilarating place:

After taking some pics of the place and the Bus stop i moved to Dharmshala

Bus Stand Shravanbelgola

Dharmshala, where i stayed.

After keeping the luggage in Dharmshala i headed towards the hill for Darshan and the first view at the height was really scary as i had to complete the Trip in half an hour (as the Temple get closed by 6 PM)

Got to know that this Hill is called Vindhyagiri and just opposite is another hill called Chandragiri and in between them is city and yeah a beautiful pond as well…

And finally i reached the destination..and in front of me was the Worlds largest monolithic statue of Lord Bahubali..Wow !! how could they make it !! Fantastic..

Well after doing the Darshan i came down the hill and headed towards the MaTha for food..After having food i visited the temples in the city..

And found one of the mot b’ful Chandra Prabhu Idol…

Surprisingly i found an internet cafe over there so I utilized the services offered 😀 and then headed to Dharmshala for rest. There i met one Mr Hansmukh Jain from Banglore (Originally from Rajasthan) and had a nice chat with him. He is a medical student.
The night at Dharmshala was terrible as the mosquitoes just didn’t spare us. They didnt leave even my eyes from biting ! and the result was the swollen eyes next day 😦
Well somehow the night got over and after getting ready in morning we decided to move to theYaatra of Chandragiri first and then Vindhyagiri…So we reached Chandragiri gate..

Reached the top and did Darshan…

After doing Darshan we decided not to stop and reach the peak of the hill..

and finally reahced there 🙂

Took some pics of Chandragiri from there…

Vindhyagiri as seen from Chandragiri Top..

Then we came down moved towards the Vindhyagiri Parvat..
Did Abhishek and Darshan…

and some Tapasya as well 😛

After spending some time at the top we came down to have some food..

And then we left for Bangalore via Channarayapatna… At Bangalore Bus Stand “Majestic” i met with one of my best friend Antriksh who is working there with THBS. It was really wonderful meeting him after a long gap. We went to a Jain temple in Bangalore which was pretty close to bus stand..

And then i took a bus to Hyderabad from Bangalore at around 8:30 which eventually started at 11:00 PM !!
and reached Hyderabad next day around 12:30 PM..

And the happy journey was over 😀

Uttam Tap, Uttam Tyaag, Uttam Aakinchanya, Uttam Brahmacharya !!

3rd part of the Dashlakshan Dharm Post:
You can read first two parts here and here

Day 7: Uttam Tap
This day celebrates Uttam Tap meaning Supreme Austerity.

Shloka:
तप चाहें सुरराय, करम-शिखर को वज्र है ।
द्वादशविधि सुखदाय, क्यों न करै निज सकति सम ॥
उत्तम तप सबमाहिं बखाना, करम शैल को वज्र-समाना ।
बस्यो अनादि-निगोद मन्झारा, भू-विकलत्रय-पशु-तन धारा ।
धारा मनुज तन महादुर्लभ, सुकुल आयु निरोगता ।
श्रीजैनवानी तत्वग्यानी, भई विषय-पयोगता ।।
अति महादुर्लभ त्याग विषय, कषाय जो तप आदरैं ।
नर-भव अनूपम कनक घर पर मणिमयी कलसा धरैं ॥

Meaning:

Even the king of Devtaas wish to achieve supreme austerity as it is like a Vajraa (a weapon) to break the mountain of the Karma. This supreme Austerity has twelve types. And since this Austerity brings uncomparable happiness to life then why shouldn’t we all practise and achieve this supreme austerity.
In all the works Tap(Austerity) has been called the best as it acts like a weapon which could demolish even the mountain of Karma.
In the beginning we were in the Nigoda and faced lot of pains, somehow we got through it and took birth in 2,3,4 sensed body and also among 5 sensed animals. After going thorugh all the pains and suffering in all these bodies by great luck we have got birth in the human body which is extremely rare. We have also got good society and long life as well as good health. Apart from all these we have found the extremely important thing in form of Jinvaani (Holy books) and also the capability to understand them. We also by fortune have the interest to understand the reality.
If we could leave all the raag, vishay and kashaay and achieve the supreme austerity, it would be like putting a crown of diamond over the golden house !!

Day 8: Uttam Tyaag

This day celebrates Uttam Tyaag meaning Supreme Renunciation

Shloka:

दान चार परकार, चार सन्घ को दीजिए ।
धन बिजुली उनहार, नर-भव लाहो लीजिए ॥
उत्तम त्याग कह्यो जग सारा, औषध शास्त्र अभय आहारा ।
निहचै राग-द्वेष निरवारै, ग्याता दोनों दान संभारै ॥
दोनों सम्भारै कूप-जलसम, दरब घर में परिनया ।
निज हाथ दीजे साथ लीजे, खाय खोया बह गया ॥
धनि साधु शास्त्र अभय-दिवैया, त्याग राग विरोध को ।
बिन दान श्रावक साधु दोनों, लहैं नाहीं बोध को ॥

Meaning:
Renunciation which is of four kinds should be given to the four Sanghs as this wealth is as temporary as lightening and we must utilize our human birth . Renunciation is accepted as supreme by the whole world. Donation is of four kind Medicine, Knowledge, Life and Food. In reality the actual daan(donation) is giving up ones raag and dwesh (affection and hatred), a wise person performs both kind of daan. Just the way the water in the well keeps on getting refilled on being emptied, similarly the more daan you do the more wealth comes as result of your good deed. Whatever daan you do is the actual wealth that goes with you after your life, the remaining that you spent on your luxuries goes waste.

Those sages are great who do the knowledge and life renunciation and with they also leave their Raag and dwesh. Without the renunciation neither the Shraavak nor the Sage achieve the supreme knowledge.

Day 9: Uttam Aakinchanya

This day celebrates Uttam Tyaag meaning Supreme Non Attachment

Shloka:

परिग्रह चौबिस भेद, त्याग करैं मुनिराज जी ।
तिसना भाव उछेद, घटती जान घटाइए ॥
उत्तम आकिंचन गुण जानो, परिग्रह चिंता दुख ही मानो ।
फ़ांस तनक-सी तन में सालै, चाह लंगोटी की दुख भालै ॥
भालै न समता सुख कभी नर, बिना मुनि-मुद्रा धरैं ।
धनि नगन पर तन नगन ठाडे, सुर-असुर पायनि परैं ॥
घरमाहिं तिसना जो घटावै, रुचि नहीं संसार सौं ।
बहु धन बुरा हू भला कहिये, लीन पर-उपगार सौं ॥

Meaning:

Parigraha (Belongings/ attachments) are of 24 types. Jain Sage leaves all those Parigraha. We all should try to minimize our belonging and attachments as much as possible. Aakinchaya(Non attachment) is supreme and the worry of our belongings and attachment is a big pain. Just a like a small thorn can be so painful on getting pierced similarly even the worry of small undergarment is very painful. The essence of the comparison is that even a little bit of attachment/belonging is painful.

A human being never attains satisfaction until he becomes a sage and gets rid of all the attachments. Such sage is truly great who doesnt have even an iota of wealth but still even the Devtaas lie in their feet. That is because of their internal qualities and strength. A lot of accumulation of wealth is bad and the excess wealth must be utilized for the welfare of the needy.

Day 10: Uttam Brahmacharya

This day celebrates Uttam Tyaag meaning Supreme Chastity

Shloka:

शील-बाढ नौ राख, ब्रह्म-भाव अन्तर लखो ।
करि दोनों अभिलाख, करहु सफ़ल नरभव सदा ॥
उत्तम ब्रह्मचर्य मन आनौ, माता-बहिन-सुता पहिचानौ ।
सहैं वान-वरषा बहु सूरे, टिकैं न नैन-वान लखि कूरे ॥
कूरे तिया के अशुचि तन में, काम-रोगी रति करैं ।
बहु म्रुतक सडहिं मसान माहीं, काग ज्यों चोंचैं भरैं ॥
संसार में विषबेलनारी, तजि गये जोगीश्वरा ।
’द्यानत’ धरम दशपैंडि चढि कैं, शिवमहल में पग धरा ॥

Meaning:

Brahmcharya is achieved externally by the fence of Sheel which is of nine type and internally by meditating (By achieving Samyaktva). We must hope to accomplish complete Brahmacharya and make our human life successful. We all should attain brahmacharya and look at other women as Mother, Sister and daughter (as per their age).

Even the greatest of warriors who can face the arrows of iron in the war bravely becomes helpless in front of the arrows of the eyes of a woman. A person who doesn’t have control on his feelings and full of lust, enjoys in the body of women as the crow enjoys the dead body in the cemetery. What the poet want to convey is that lust toward the body of other sex is very bad and we must get rid of it.

This lust is like a poisonous plant that keeps on growning and covering us in its grip. All the gods got rid of it to attain the salvation. Kavivar Dyanat Raaya ji says we all must climb the ten step ladder of the dashlakshan dharm and step into the Moksha(Salvation)

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I wish all of you a very happy Paryushan Parva and hope that may we all achieve complete happiness.

Piyush Jain