Of Heaven and Temple

India is a land of diverse cultures. For centuries it has been a home to followers of most of the major religions in the world. I am not a religious person but I have come to understand a little bit about religion. One common theme in most religions is the concept of God - of course. More importantly every religion seems to have a concept of heaven and hell. Heaven has always been hyped and marketed as a pricey and desirable place. Why pricey ? cause you got to do a whole bunch of good deeds and thus earn a lot of brownie points with God to get there. That of course is perhaps a difficult ask of anybody in today's corrupt world. Of course a way earn some "good" human brownie points is through regular worship. Thus was born the place of worship - generally referred in the rest of the blog as Temple (i will include churches, pagodas, mosques and any other places of worship in this generalization). Coming back to India, we are an ancient culture and very religious too (didn't I mention we have followers of most of the major religions living here). We seem to have been so, for centuries. In today's densely populated India, you will always find that there is a temple at every nook and corner. The deity or type of temple (hindu, muslim, sikh, christian) is dependent on the local popular choice. There is a wide variety of deities but you can rest assured that there is a temple everywhere. After-all Hindus alone have 33 million names for God (debatable claim - but you get the drift). Now as a kid growing up in India the whole description above is nothing surprising at all. I mean in an urban jungle, you can throw a stone in a random direction and there is a good chance that it might just land on a temple. Perhaps I am exaggerating, but I guess God is omnipresent to the extent that we seem have a whole bunch of temples in any urban area. We seem to take the temples for granted. It was only when I had to drive a friend few miles to find the nearest place of worship in an unknown foreign land (Dallas, US), did I really understand the significance of this simple fact. On a side note - don't worry Uncle Sam - lots of temples are being built there too ... Lots of Indians are making it to USA, so not long before we will have established the omnipresence of god in a tangible manner. Even though we have a lot temples, I guess it is a given that with so many religious people, they also want the convenience of worship. Thus I do understand the omnipresence aspect in inhabited areas. However as a trekker I have learned something else about the omnipresence aspect. Wherever you go in India, you might not find edible food or water, but you can rest assured that you are not far from a Temple. My trips often take me to places where mobile phones don't work, there is no sign of civilization and often the only potable water is the one from natural springs / streams (and I am not referring to bottled mineral water). Yet almost always there is a temple to greet me. Following are a few pictures of some of the more interesting Temples (can even be just an idol carved on a rock) I have come across over the years.
Hanuman shows the way to Tikona Fort. This temple is somewhere midway to the top of the Tikona fort with the nearest inhabited village about couple of hours of walk from this point. Why does this photo make the cut ? We were pretty tired by the time we made it here in the middle of monsoon. We were also assuming that we were lost - until Hanumanji came to the rescue.	Forget the Holy Cow and Cobra, Even Panthers are worshipped This temple is at the Tolarkhind en-route to Harischandragad Fort. Immediately after this temple the route enters a dense forest famous for presence of Panthers. I am not sure what the Deity is called, but I guess the person who created this carving was praying the "Panther" god for a safe passage. Suffice to say, I did offer my own share of prayers on my second trip to this place when the distant purring of the large cat threw a shiver down the the whole group.
Purana Mandir This temple atop the Vasota Fort reminded me of some of the Hindi "horror" flicks. Why ? This temple is atop a mountain range surrounded by a dense forest which is a protected Leopard Sanctuary. To enter the sanctuary you need special permission from the local Forest Authority which also checks your baggage for presence of firearms. You are not allowed to stay overnight at this temple and the nearest inhabited place is about 4 hours walk (on either side of the mountain range). Of course there is no motor-able road anywhere near. So to visit this temple is a long and laborious journey and it is supposedly easy to get lost in the jungle (take knowledgeable guide if you plan on visiting). To top the fear factor, en route to this temple, I'd already heard a few eerie noises and had encountered a number of blood thirsty leeches. All in broad day light.	Hindu - Muslim Bhai Bhai This Mosque atop Lohagad Fort stands right beside a Hindu Temple. These two places of worship must be at least a few centuries old and have stood the test of time. Several battles have been fought over control of this fort and there seems to be no other civilian structure (obviously destroyed by wars) on this fort. Yet this mosque bears testimony to the fact that the two religions have always lived together for centuries. That  despite what the local rulers wanted to thrust upon their subjects as the religion of choice. I have hardly seen such a scene in the modern secular (?) and urban India. To me this mosque and the temple beside it suggest that Religion is but just a means to an end (God / Heaven) and not the end in itself. So stop the petty squabbles over which religion is superior and get on with life.
Where there is a will, there is a Temple. This particular Shivalinga (called Kedareshwar) atop Harishchandragad is at least a 1000 years old. It is carved out a single rock inside a cave. The cave itself, I believe may be a natural ground water reservoir. Even if the nearby streams are dry there is always water in this cave. There is one thing certain about this cave - No matter what time of the year you decide to visit this place, you can't touch the shivlinga without getting wet. Guess they were digging for water and eventually got tired to the point of thinking - if I find water on this freaking mountain - I'll dedicate it to Lord Shiva.	Motel - Temples. Long before the modern Motel business became popular, there were Buddhist Monasteries. Apparently ancient Buddhist monks lived in Monasteries built on Mountains. I am told that apart from serving as a home to monks, these monasteries also served as a resting point for tired travelers. This particular cave complex - called Pala Caves in Raigad, Maharashtra is a site of historic importance. Apart from the Buddhist Stupa photographed here, this site contains multiple floors of rooms with resting places. All of it carved directly into the mountain rock. There is no sign of bricks or any masonry work. This is not the only site with such caves and carvings. There a whole bunch of sites (e.g. Karla, Baje, even Kanheri in Mumbai) throughout Maharashtra.
	Where Heaven Meets Earth This site is really the site that inspired the title. It is the Parshurama temple located atop the Salher Fort on Maharasthra - Gujrat border. Salher Fort also happens to be the highest Fort within Maharashtra and the second highest peak in the state. At 5141 feet and after a good 3-4 hours of climb when you eventually reach the top this scene greets you. It is difficult to describe this scene and it is almost as if it is a scene straight from a Painter's canvas. Only (if you so believe) the Painter is divine. As you look around from the temple you realize that you are standing above the surrounding ranges and the clouds below. It is indeed as if the Heaven is meeting the earth and you are standing at the confluence of the two. Suffice to say I am happy someone deemed this place fit for a Temple.