(5) Lord Siva's Temples

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, morning, part 5
Translated from Bengali

There is also a temple of Lingaraj Sivji Maharaj near Bhuvaneswar. Many of you must have heard about it or have been to it.

As you know, Lord Siva stays in Kashi (at the Kashi Visvanath temple). One time, Lord Siva told Anantadev Vasudev (Lord Krishna, or Vishnu, Narayan), 'Prabhu, I do not want to stay in Kashi anymore. Many rich people come here to wash away their sins. Only people who are averse to You come here. They never even think about God. I want to leave.' Then, Lord Siva left Kashi and came to stay in a forest near Lord Jagannath. There is also some background story behind it.

One time, a king from Kashi started fighting against Lord Krishna. Lord Siva supported the king and gave him a weapon called Pasupat. (If you go to Nepal, you will see Pasupatinath there. When I went there last time, I took His darshan, too. Why is Lord Siva called Pasupatinath? Because he has five mouths and also because Lord Krishna gave him the Pasupat weapon.) So, when the local king started that battle against Krishna, Krishna used His Sudarsan chakra: He burnt the whole of Kashi and cut the head of the king with the help of Sudarsan. Seeing this, Lord Siva became scared, so he came to Lord Krishna and clasped His feet, 'O Lord, please forgive me! I have done wrong!' Lord Krishna forgave him and asked him, 'Where do you want to stay now?' This is when Lord Siva said that he wanted to stay in a forest in Bhuvaneswar. He lived in that forest for fifteen years.

Near Lingaraj Siva's temple, there is also a pond called Bindu Sarovar. Drops (bindu) of water from all holy places were collected and placed here. This is how this pond appeared. All holy places are present within in it.

Lord Siva also said, 'I want to stay next to Lord Ananta Vasudev, and I want to take the remnants of His prasad every day.' Lord Krishna agreed, and this is how both temples are run to this day: every day bhoga is first offered to Lord Ananta Vasudev and then that prasad is offered to Lord Siva at his temple nearby. When we go to the temple of Ananta Vasudev together with the devotees during the Ratha-yatra pilgrimage, we always take prasad at His temple. We also place some water from Bindu Sarovar on our heads and speak about Lord Lingaraj there.

There so many pastimes of Lord Siva. There is also Sivji Maharaj's temple in Tarakeswar, we made a temple there. Siva's followers go there only to take drugs, to eat whatever they want, but we opened there a big temple with many rooms for the devotees. We have come from there today. As there was no Gaudiya Math there and no good devotees, we opened there a temple for preaching. In Nabadwip also, there is Buroraj Siva. In Mayapur, there is Ksetrapal Siva. In Vrindavan, there is Gopeswar Mahadev. In Mathura, there is Bhuteswar. In Govardhan, there is Chakleswar Mahadev. Lord Siva has all these different names. When we made a temple in Ganga Sagar, we also made a temple of Lord Siva there – the temple of Lord Sagareswar Mahadev. There is no such big temple of Lord Siva anywhere else on the whole of the island.

Now here also, by the mercy of the Lord and by the wish of you all, there is a new temple of Lord Siva. You have been telling me for a long time that many people in this area have Mahaprabhu or Gopal in their temples, and that if we could make a temple of Lord Siva, it would be good. By the will of the Lord, your desire has been fulfilled – Lord Siva has come here. But now it is your responsibility to take care of this temple. Come every day, make garlands, wash the temple, wash the stairs. This is what service is. Wherever Lord Siva stays, he stays with his bull Nandi Maharaj. He likes his bull very much, so take care of Nandi, clean it, keep it nicely, clean Lord Siva's temple – this is how you can get Lord Siva's mercy.

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