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    Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Pashupatinath


    Shivaratri is one the most auspicious festival for Hindus. The festival is celebrated with lot of zeal and enthusiasm throughout the world. In Nepal, Pashupatinath is the center of worship. Thousands of pilgrims as well as local devotees throng in the premises of Pashupatinath obstructing the traffic of whole Kathmandu. Pashupatinath is considered as one of the holiest shrine for Hindus. The shrine is located on the western bank of holy Bagmati River. There are over a dozen of shrines dedicated to different aspect of Shiva or his divine consort in the periphery. Among them, Bishworupa temple, Guheshwori (saktipith), Kiranteshower mahadev temple, Goraknath temple are notice-worthy.
    Historically, the temple has been mentioned in the prehistoric scriptures and chronologies. There are hundred of legends related with Pashupatinath from the time of the origin of Kathmandu valley. However the oldest inscription found in the premises dates back to 3rd century.



    Shivaratri is one of the major festivals in Nepal. Yogis from all over southeast Asia come to Kathmandu weeks ahead of the festival. On this holy day people fast through out the day. One can see several groups of women and devotees chanting and dancing whole day. At dawn, worshipers take a holy bath or dip in the river and go to the temple to worship. On that particular day it is allowed to smoke hashish or Marijuana, which is considered as one of the prized possession of Lord Shiva.
    Last edited by Himalaya; 21 February 2012 at 06:44 AM.

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste
    Quote Originally Posted by Himalaya View Post
    Shivaratri is one the most suspicious.....
    Thank you for the descriptive post and the pictures. Brings back lot of memories of my visit to your beautiful and ancient city.
    suspicious = auspicious
    Quote Originally Posted by Himalaya View Post
    Yogis from all over southeast Asia come to Kathmandu.............On that particular day it is allowed to smoke hashish or Marijuana, which is considered as one of the prized possession of Lord Shiva.
    Do some of them come here just to take part in this smokathon and get stoned?

    Pranam.
    Last edited by Believer; 19 February 2012 at 02:48 PM.

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste Believer !

    Thanks for showing the type mistake so gently. I have edited it.

    Regarding marijuana, it is quite difficult to find out real Bhaktas from addicts. So many of them of course take a change, even dealing with drugs freely.

    These issues are so sensitive as it is related with practice for many. Many won't bother to understand the real explanation and reasons as you know Hinduism is so complicated.
    But we hope for better all the time.

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste Himalaya,

    Thanks for the pictures and information.

    Har Har Mahadev
    Sanatana Dharma ki Jai!
    Jai Hanuman

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Quote Originally Posted by Himalaya View Post
    On that particular day it is allowed to smoke hashish or Marijuana, which is considered as one of the prized possession of Lord Shiva.
    This is absolutely rubbish that Shiva smoked durgs,marijuana,bhang etc.It is all made up by the drug addicts just as an excuse & wrong interpretation of sanskrit texts.
    One name or quality of Shiva is "bhuvan bhang".Actually he is addicted to “Bhuvan Bhang” i.e destroying the world. Hemp addicted people took only the word “Bhang” from “Bhuvan Bhang” and interpreted it as hemp and took this as excuse to consume hemp.
    तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया ।
    उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्वदर्शिनः ॥

    उस ज्ञान को तू तत्वदर्शी ज्ञानियों के पास जाकर समझ, उनको भलीभाँति दण्डवत्* प्रणाम करने से, उनकी सेवा करने से और कपट छोड़कर सरलतापूर्वक प्रश्न करने से वे परमात्म तत्व को भलीभाँति जानने वाले ज्ञानी महात्मा तुझे उस तत्वज्ञान का उपदेश करेंगे. श्रीमद्*भगवद्*गीता-4.34

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Quote Originally Posted by dhyandev View Post
    This is absolutely rubbish that Shiva smoked durgs,marijuana,bhang etc.It is all made up by the drug addicts just as an excuse & wrong interpretation of sanskrit texts.
    One name or quality of Shiva is "bhuvan bhang".Actually he is addicted to “Bhuvan Bhang” i.e destroying the world. Hemp addicted people took only the word “Bhang” from “Bhuvan Bhang” and interpreted it as hemp and took this as excuse to consume hemp.
    Namaste

    I'm sorry, but this is just flat-out incorrect. Your notion of "drug addicts" is purely a modern one imposed by the Western worldview of the past 80 years.

    You will find ganja mentioned explicitly, favorably as far back as the Atharveda, and possibly as far back as the Rg Veda. Mention of it runs all through the puranas and the agamas.

    Cannabis is not physically addictive any more than potatoes are - this is a scientific fact.

    If you took the time to do proper research, you might discover that ganja is one of the most useful plants available to humanity. The human body is pervaded with many different types of receptors; one of the most prominently represented are cannabinoid receptors, and our bodies produce, continuously and naturally, endo-cannabinoids. Inner-cannabinoids, analogous to the phytocannabinoids provided by the plant.

    These are important in regulating every aspect of the body, especially the nervous system and brain.

    Though sadly upwards of 95% of sadhus are fakes, merely coasting through life and feeding their faces, I am not sure the real ones, who are as divine beings, should be cavalierly described as "drug addicts."

    If anything, they're addicted to the tobacco they admix with the ganja.

    Om bum bholenath!

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste,
    Though sadly upwards of 95% of sadhus are fakes, merely coasting through life and feeding their faces, I am not sure the real ones, who are as divine beings, should be cavalierly described as "drug addicts."
    Terming the drug- addicted "babas" as "the real ones" and "divine beings" is a mockery of the word 'divine'.

    You will find ganja mentioned explicitly, favorably as far back as the Atharveda, and possibly as far back as the Rg Veda. Mention of it runs all through the puranas and the agamas.
    Sure every Hindu scripture deals with every triviality like how to bathe an elephant too. What a hog wash!
    Cannabis is not physically addictive any more than potatoes are - this is a scientific fact.
    Scientific fact per the HDF resident science guru?

    If you took the time to do proper research, you might discover that ganja is one of the most useful plants available to humanity. The human body is pervaded with many different types of receptors; one of the most prominently represented are cannabinoid receptors, and our bodies produce, continuously and naturally, endo-cannabinoids. Inner-cannabinoids, analogous to the phytocannabinoids provided by the plant.
    When you want to confound people, throw in some mumbo-jumbo jargon to paralyze their thinking, like bone-marrow-iods, Honeysuckel-iods, bumbleebee-iods and aspirin-iods. The purpose is to win the debate, not to progress on the spiritual path. If the body produces these vital "-iods" for most people, why do the "babas" need to get stoned to produce these "-iods" for normal human existence? What kind of snake oil is being sold to members of this forum?

    Pranam.
    PS - My day off from my personal vow.

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste

    I have been to Nepal three times, it holds a special place in my heart. I have been to many of the temples, some of which do not allow non-Hindus and thinking me such they didn't want to let me in, nor did I even bother to try.

    As far as the fakirs and phoney hashish smokers, it didn't matter what holy day or celebration it was, or if it was just another day as any, I would see them, warned about them, they would be engaged in their pickpocketing and other crimes as usual, and attempting to defraud stupid Westerners as their profession. Many of these criminals would claim to be affiliated with this or that religious cause or Brahmins and yogis.

    For some reason, I never met one actual yogi who would sit around every day smoking ganja, but maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough.

    Om Namah Sivaya ... but I do have a nice story for later.

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    Re: Shivaratri at Pashupatinath

    Namaste,

    I mentioned that I wanted to share a little story (above), and I will try to keep it short and sweet (maybe).

    This little remembrance goes back to the 1980’s on one of my trips to Nepal, this was with a friend of mine at the time Jeff. Nepal was a fantastic place to visit back then, and of course I would like to return today but sadly there is so much trouble in Nepal with the attacks on the Hindu Monarchy by communist Maoists (yes, Maoists in Nepal, Nepalese who are actually useful idiots of the Chinese Government which has its eyes on Nepal and will do to Nepal what it did to Tibet which is take over and subjugate if possible and then start replacing the local population with ethnic Chinese … How can someone who is not from China want to introduce or reintroduce a foreign hegemony and admire a complete misogynist and mass-murderer such a that fat pig Mao I have no idea) …

    Anyway, sorry for the side bar on the theme of the story, and I promise to keep it brief.

    So as is typical with previous trips to Nepal, we stayed at the Crystal Hotel in the central area of Kathmandu. Actually, out of curiosity I searched on the internet for photos of this hotel to see if things have changed, but I couldn’t find any other than some pictures of “The New Crystal Hotel” in Kathmandu which I didn’t recognize from the photo… hmmm…) … Great memories, though I recall the restroom was pretty bad. And I recall in the evenings after a long day of excursions and adventures, turning on my little shortwave radio (I have stories about that too, regarding the checkpoint at the small airport just outside Varanasi but I would be going on too much and turn this little story time into, well … who knows where it would go … should I talk about the burning barrels rolled into the country road? Or save that one, too … ) …

    Sorry ….

    So I would turn on my little short wave radio which also had a recorder built into it. The voice of some government of Nepal lady giving the news – interspaced with dead air before and after – some of it I recorded to tape and are classics … But the voice of that lady, that alone was an adventure, and there were broadcasts in English even!

    So we would plan our next adventure or holy pilgrimage (of course we also had plenty of agendas ready to go, with maps and everything) … and one day off we go by taxi to this place, then on a bus, up high, high, high, high in the mountains (sort of scary actually, being in that bus) – and then we are walking on a “hiking” trail. So my friend is an idiot, and he gets way ahead of me, and actually there was some local guide escorting who was hired.

    And I start to fall behind, further, and further …

    And then I start feeling real, real – REAL sick. Like, I am going to fall down sick. And I couldn’t breath very well, and everything was spinning. So I see this small temple, I was sure that is what it was, and I was correct. It was ahead and to my right off a bit, and I think, let me just go there and rest, the others will return and come looking for me, obviously even at a distance they must be able to see me, and know I am heading “over there”.

    So I get “over there”, and it was a Kali Temple. Small. I have no idea what the name of the temple was. A family man with a child is leaving just as I enter the small “patio” area of the temple. I am now completely out of breath and need to sit down, which I am thinking might not be a good idea, obviously I am a foreigner, will probably be seen as a non-Hindu and another stupid Westerner and such.

    Next thing I know I have to literally lay on my back and close my eyes, that is how sick and how fast I was sick like you have a real bad flu, but it wasn’t that, whatever it was, I knew this was a real bad idea considering it is on temple grounds and such, but actually now I was even scared and thinking “am I going to have a heart attack?” …

    So I am there on my back with eyes closed, and besides the man and child who had just left the place felt very empty.

    Probably it was only a couple of minutes later, but I open my eyes.
    And looking straight down at me is a boy, Nepali boy.

    He is giving me a look, “I am nice” look, and right away my eyes catch his crutch. He is lame in one leg.

    Well, this boy then says some things, I say some lines back in Hindi but the attempts at communications are pretty much failing, but he goes and I don’t know how, he comes back with a plastic bottle of water.

    So like a stupid Westerner, I am thinking, “do I really trust this water?” … but

    I drink it, and I was better like real fast. In fact, a lot better. The boy hangs out with me, and eventually my friend and the escort return all smiles and I have to listen to it. The escort wants to chase the boy away, no, no, no I say.

    It was probably the typical, Westerner thing – an never do I want to seem to demine or do something that could be misunderstood … but I just had to.

    I pull out 50 rupees of Nepali currency and give it to the boy.
    He was happy? Off he goes …

    I never saw that boy again. But it still lingers in my mind. It will not leave my mind.

    He is in my mind to my last day. I don’t know why.

    I love Nepal. Jai Devi!

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