03/24/98 - 1710

Pilgrimage To Ahobelum

USA (VNN) - Gauridasa Pandita Dasa

I have been to India seven times for a total of three and a half years. During this time I was fortunate enough to travel to some of the Holy places, which seem to be unlimited. My favorite places are Vrindavan, Hrishikesh and Ahobelum. Ahobelum is the place where Lord Nasringadeva appeared. I went there with an entourage of about 16 devotees headed by Achutyananda Swami and Yasodanandan Swami. We traveled all around India putting on public pandal programs.

Ahobelum is not reachable by public transportation as it is way out in the om zone. We traveled in a nice Mercedes bus and thus were able to go places off the beaten path. We arrived in the Holy place in the prime of summer. At first the hotel keeper said we could not stay, but was persuaded by Achutyananda Swami who had a letter from the Governor of Madras giving us permission. Once situated we were treated like royalty by the head pujari and his good family. They served us excellent prasadam on silver plates and even fanned us against our protests while we honored Lord Nasringadeva's prasadam.

There are eight temples in a circle situated north, south, east, west and the directions in between. There is also a main temple in the middle. It was over 100 degrees when we started up a mountain trail to reach one of the temples that Lord Chaitanya Himself is said to have visited. On the way we could see the cliff where Sri Prahlada was thrown off and caught by Krishna. I was weak from the heat etc. and was even thinking of staying back this day. I'm now glad I went! When we arrived at the temple Achutyananda said to wash up in the creek that flowed by the temple before taking darshan of the self-manifested Deity of Lord Sri Nasringadeva. I looked at the water and it was reddish so I didn't want to wash up there thinking that someone must of sacrificed an animal up stream or something. Achutyananda told us that it was red because that's where Nasringadeva washed his nails after killing Hiranyakasipu. It's called Rakta kunda and the water has remained reddish. After putting some of the water on my head I felt like a newborn baby as all of my fatigue disappeared.

We entered the temple which is situated in a cave. The pujari opened gate after gate to let us in to the end of the cave where Lord Nasringadeva is situated. A couple of ghee lamps light the cave and it appeared that waves of spiritual energy were coming from the Deity. Lord Chaitanya is said to have passed out in ecstasy there. Just being there was so ecstatic, it was awesome. I didn't want to leave.

Another one of the temples is situated in a desert area. The temple is one of the only self-manifested temples I've heard of. It's a big round blackish rock that is hollow with a hat like top. Lord Nasringadeva is also self-manifested. He is called Yogananda Nasringa because he is teaching Prahlada some yoga asanas. He is blackish and about seven feet high, seated! You can go in the temple and circumambulate the awesome Deity of Sri Nasringadeva and Prahlada Maharaja.

I highly recommend to any devotee that can to go to Ahobelum and experience the awesome atmosphere and kind Vaisnava hospitality that we experienced there. These are the treasures of the Earth; the Holy places of pilgrimage. Sri Nasringa Jai Nasringa Jai Jai Nasringa!!!