Amarnath’s holy journey has started this year. First batch of Amarnath Yatra reaches Kashmir on Thursday 03 July amid tight security, with more than 4800 devotees. This holy Amarnath trip will last 57 days and end on Aug. 28. This journey passes through very difficult paths, but still a special kind of enthusiasm is seen among the devotees of Mahadev for this journey.
Devotees complete the journey by chanting Lord Shiva’s name and have darshan of Baba Barfani. Amarnath’s cave is situated at an altitude of about 3978 meters, but it is not just a pilgrimage site, but it is considered to be the most talked about mythological place associated with the mystery of faith, penance, renunciation and immortality of Lord Shiva. It is believed that it was here that Lord Shiva narrated the story of immortality to Mother Parvati.
According to legend…
According to legend, one day Mother Parvati asked a question to Lord Shiva. Mother God said that you are immortal, but why do I have to do rigorous penance to get you in every birth? Mother asked Mahadev, what is the secret of your immortality? At first God did not wish to tell the secret of immortality to Mother, but then on Mother’s request he agreed.
Mahadev told Mother Parvati that I will tell you this story of immortality at a place where no third living being is present except me and you. Then after much searching Mahadev found a deserted cave in the Himalayas. This place later became known as Amarnath’s cave. Shiva supposedly left every living being, every symbol along the way before telling the story to the mother.
Mother Parvati fell asleep
Mahadev did this so that no other living being except Mother Parvati could hear that story of immortality. Lord Shiva left all the symbols related to Panchatattvas and went to Amarnath cave with Mother Parvati. Inside the cave Lord Shiva started telling the story of immortality to Mother Parvati, but the story was so long that Mother fell asleep. Meanwhile, two pigeons in the cave listened attentively to the story.
Mahadev thought Mother Parvati was listening to the story, but at the conclusion of the story Lord Shiva saw that Mother Parvati was sleeping. Then this question came in his mind that who was listening to the story? They looked around and saw two pigeons. Then God got angry that someone else heard his secret story. Then scared two pigeons immediately prayed to Lord Shiva. Then God’s wrath subsided.
Two pigeons became immortal
After this Shiva told both the pigeons that they had become immortal. God told both the pigeons that from today both of them will always reside in this cave as symbols of Shiva and Parvati. This place got the name Amarnath because of the immortal story narrated by Lord Shiva. Amarnath means immortal means beyond death and Nath means Lord Shiva.
