Gopi Talab (Gopi Pond) - Dwarka

 It is 21 km from Dwarka and 5 km from Nageshwar Jyotirlinga temple. 

Story is related with Arjuna. After the battle at Kurukshetra, Arjuna thought himself to be the best warrior of the world. To show him his place, Lord Krishna asked him to escort his queens to Bet Dwarka. On the way, just near this pond, Arjuna was attacked by people of Kaba community, and Arjuna was defeated. The queens were shocked at this and died in this pond. So it is called Gopi Talav. The famous phrase ‘Kabe Arjun luntiyo,vohi dhanush vohi ban’ reflects this incident.

Gopi Talab is a small pond and the sandal like yellow sand is known as Gopi Chandan. The devotees take Gopi Chandan, believing it to be very good for skin diseases. 

According to Vaishnava tradition, gopi-chandana, or the sacred soil from Dwaraka or Vrnadavan, is applied on the body in twelve places while reciting mantras to Lord Vishnu. This process purifies one's body, designating it as a temple of the Lord. Besides purification, the tilak also offers the wearer protection from ghosts, evil influences, bad dreams, accidents and many other things. It keeps one's mind calm and allows one to constantly remember Lord Krishna. The sacred dust of vrndavan is said to have touched the lotus feet of Sri Krishna's exclusive devotees and is worship able even by Sri Krishna himself. 

The following story from the Garga Samhita describes the wonderful glories of the sacred mud known as gopi-chandana.

(From Garga Samhita, Canto Six, Chapter Fifteen ) 

Simply by hearing about Gopi-bhumi, which is so named because the gopis resided there, one become free from the bondage of karma.In Gopi-bhumi gopi-chandana was manifested from the gopis' cosmetics. A person who marks his limbs with gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of bathing in the Ganga. 

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the pious result of daily bathing in all sacred rivers.A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of performing a thousand asvamedha-yajnas and a hundred rajasuya-yajnas. He attains the reusult of giving charity and following vows at all holy places. He attains the goal of life. Of this there is no doubt. 

Twice as sacred as the mud of the Ganga is the dust of Chitrakuta. Ten times more sacred than that is the dust of Panchavati-tirtha.A hundred times more sacred is the dust of gopi-chandana. Please know that gopi-chandana is equal to the dust of Vrindavana. 

Even if in the past he has committed hundreds of sins, if a person wears gopi-chandana tilaka, then Yamaraja cannot take him away. How, then, can Yamaraja's messengers touch him?

A sinner who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka goes to Lord Krishna supreme abode, Goloka, which is beyond the world of matter.

In Sindhu-desa there was a king named Dirghabahu. He was cruel and sinful and he was addicted to visiting prostitutes.While he was on the earth this cruel sinner murdered a hundred brahmanas and ten pregnant women.One day he mounted a sindhu horse and went hunting. With a flood of arrows he accidentally killed with a brown cow in that hunt.One day, greedy to get his kingdom, with a sharp sword his angry minister killed him in the forest.

Seeing him fallen to the ground and dead, the Yamadutas came, bound him, and, joking as they went, took him to the city of Yamaraja.Seeing this sinner brought before him, powerful Yamaraja said to his scribe Chitragupta, "What is the proper punishment for him?"

Sri Chitragupta said: O great king, he should be thrown into eight million four hundred thousand hells for as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky.On the earth he did not perform a single pious deed. He killed ten pregnant women. He killed a brown cow.

He killed thousands of deer in the forest. He offended the demigods and the brahmanas. He is a great sinner.Sri Narada said: Then, by Yamaraja's order, the Yamadutas took that sinner and threw him into a terrible, eight-thousand mile wide cauldron of bubbling boiling oil in the hell of Kumbhipaka. The moment that sinner came to it, the boiling oil, which was as hot as the great fires at the time of cosmic devastation, suddenly became cool.

O king of Videha, as Prahlada was unhurt in the same situation, that sinner was not hurt by the boiling oil. Then the Yamadutas described that great wonder to noble-hearted Yamaraja.

Yamaraja and Chitragupta carefully reviewed the sinner's case and concluded that while he was on the earth the sinner had not for a moment performed even a single pious deed.Then Vyasadeva arrived in that assembly. Bowing down before Him, and carefully worshiping Him, saintly and noble-hearted Yamaraja asked Vyasadeva the following question.

Sri Yamaraja said: When a certain sinner, who had never performed even a single pious deed, was thrown into the terrible boiling oil of Kumbhipaka, the oil suddenly became cool. Because of this my mind is now tortured with doubts.

Sri Vyasadeva said: O great king, the intelligent sages, who have studied all the scriptures, know that the ways of piety, sin, and spiritual progress are very subtle and difficult to understand.Somehow or other, by destiny, this sinner did perform a pious deed, and by that deed he became purified. O noble-hearted one, please hear the story of this.That sinner died in a place where from someone's hand some gopi-chandana from Dvaraka had accidentally fallen. Dying in gopi-chandana, that sinner became purified.

A person who wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains a spiritual form like that of Lord Narayana. Simply by seeing him one becomes free of the sin of killing a brahmana.Sri Narada said: Hearing this, Yamaraja, who understands the glories of gopi-chandana, took the sinner, placed him a an airplane that goes anywhere one wishes, and sent him to Vaikuntha, which is above the worlds of matter. O king, thus I have described to you the glories of gopi-chandana.

One who hears this account of gopi-chandana's glories becomes exalted. He goes to the supreme abode of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
 

Shri Veneshwar Mahadev: Mahashivratri Special!

Shri Veneshwar Mahadev : On our visit to Shri Dwarkadheesh and Shri Somnath ji , by god grace we got the opportunity to visit Shri Veneshwar Mahadev.

It has a very amazing story which goes like :

Shri Veneshwar Mahadev Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is located just opposite the Somnath Trust Dharamshala Gate. As the legend goes, when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Somnath in 1025 AD, the local king of Somnath gave a tough fight against his army. As the king was not surrendering, Mahmud of Ghazni had to hatch a new plan. He found out that the king had a daughter named Veni who used to pay a visit to a certain Shiva Temple stationed outside the fort wall of Prabhaspatan everyday. Mahmud of Ghazni decided that he would kidnap Veni and then force the king to yield. 

 
As per the plan when Veni was offering homage at the feet of Lord Shiva, the soldiers of Mahmud of Ghazni attacked the temple. Veni immediately submitted herself to Lord Shiva and appealed the God to save her from the calamity. At that moment a miracle occurred and the Shiva Lingam was opened into two from the middle. The princess Veni was accumulated inside and the Lingam was closed. At that time a ‘Veni’ i.e. a strand of her hair was left out. Veni acquired the eternal salvation and Mahmud of Ghazni failed in his scheme. 

The prints of the Veni as well as the marks of the Shiva Lingam being split open can still be seen on the Lingam of Shri Veneshwar Mahadev. The Lord Shiva of this temple receives its appellation Veneshwar after the name of Princess Veni. 




Happy Mahashivratri !