Out of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva, if any Jyotirlinga is most famous among the devotees, then it is Kedarnath Jyotirlinga. This is the same Jyotirlinga where there was a huge loss of life and property due to heavy floods in the Alaknanda river in the year 2013. Recently, the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Damodar Das Modi also unveiled the statue of Adi Guru Shankaracharya on this Jyotirlinga. Let us know the story (Kedarnath Jyotirlinga Katha) related to this Jyotirlinga.
Table of Contents
What is Jyotirlinga?
The word ‘Jyotirlinga’ is made up of two parts – Jyoti i.e. light and Linga i.e. the symbolic form of Lord Shiva. This is such a Shivling in which Shiva himself is revered in the form of fire or light. According to the Puranas, when there was a dispute between Brahma and Vishnu about superiority, then Lord Shiva appeared in the form of a huge pillar of fire and made them realize his infinity. Jyotirlingas were established at 12 places as a symbol of that divine pillar. Let us now know the story of Kedaarnath Jyotirlinga.
There are two stories related to this Jyotirlinga.
The first one is mentioned at the end of Mahabharata.
The story of Pandavas and Kedarnath (Kedarnath Jyotirlinga Story 1)
After the Mahabharata war ended, the Pandavas handed over the responsibility of their kingdom to their successors and they themselves headed towards the Himalayas to attain salvation. They wanted to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva for atonement of their sins and spiritual purification.
When the Pandavas reached Kedarkhand in the middle of the Himalayas, they prayed to Lord Shiva to grant them darshan but Lord Shiva did not grant them darshan. The Pandavas felt that Bholanath was angry with them because they were participants in the massive massacre that took place in the Mahabharata war. Lord Shiva also sneaked into the mountainous region of Kedaarnath to test the devotion of the Pandavas and assumed the form of a bull (Nandi).
The Pandavas continued to search for Shiva and eventually Bhima assumed a huge form and started patrolling in all four directions. At one place, he saw a strange bull, which was different from the other bulls. Bhima got suspicious and tried to catch the bull, but the bull went underground with force.
Bhim caught the upper part of the bull’s back, and then Lord Shiva appeared at the same place and gave darshan to the Pandavas.
Lord Shiva freed them from their sins and said that he would reside at the same place forever in the form of Jyotirlinga. This place later became famous as Kedaarnath Jyotirlinga. And this is the reason why you do not see a Shivlinga in Kedaarnath Jyotirlinga but the back part of a Nandi is visible.
Earlier we have told the story of four more Jyotirlingas, if you want to know how they originated, then go to our website by clicking on this link and read it.
Story of Shivpuran (Kedarnath Temple Story 2)
The second story is mentioned in Koti Rudra Samhita of Shivpuran. According to this story, two children Nara and Narayana were born from the womb of Lord Brahma’s son Dharma and Dharma’s wife Murti. Nara and Narayana were the two incarnations of Vishnu in the form of Lord Krishna and Arjuna. Lord Krishna himself has mentioned this in the 5th verse of the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
Nara and Narayana performed rigorous penance in front of the Shivlinga in Badrikashraya. When both of them had spent a long time doing penance, then pleased with their devotion, Lord Shiva appeared before them and asked them to ask for a boon.
Nara and Narayana requested Shiva to reside permanently in the form of Jyotirlinga, so that all the people who worship Shiva can be free from their sorrows. After this, Lord Shiva settled in Kedaarnath Jyotirlinga in the Himalayas.
Nara and Narayana pleased Lord Shiva with their penance in Badrinath. Today we can also see the Badrinath temple in Badrinath and two mountains named Nara and Narayana are also located here.
Because Lord Shiva resided in Kedar Tirtha, it is also known as Kedareshwar and Kedarnath.
It is said that those who visit Kedarnath and somehow die in the process also attain salvation.
Kedarnath Dham Yatra
The journey to Kedarnath Dham (Kedarnath Jyotirlinga Yatra) is one of the important four temples of the holy Char Dham Yatra of Uttarakhand. Choti Char Dham Yatra is organized every year. Apart from Kedarnath Yatra, other temples are Badrinath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. To participate in Kedarnath Yatra, the date of opening of the temple is fixed every year. The date of opening of the temple is decided by the priests of Omkareshwar temple located in Ukhimath after calculating the Hindu calendar.
The opening date of Kedarnath temple is announced every year on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya and Maha Shivratri. And the closing date of Kedarnath temple is on the day of Bhai Dooj after Diwali festival every year around November. After this the doors of the temple are closed for the winter season.
Kedarnath Jyotirlinga Darshan Timings
- The Kedarnath temple opens for visitors at 6:00 am.
- Special prayers are held from 3 to 5 in the afternoon and after that the temple is closed for rest.
- The temple is again opened for public darshan at 5 in the evening.
- The five-faced idol of Lord Shiva is duly decorated and regular aarti is performed from 7:30 to 8:30.
- The temple of Kedareshwar Jyotirlinga is closed at 8:30 in the night.
- The Kedarghati is covered with snow during winters. Although the auspicious time for opening and closing of the Kedarnath temple is determined, it generally closes before the 15th of November (two days before Scorpio Sankranti) and the doors open after six months i.e. after Vaishakhi (13-14 April). In such a situation, the Panchmukhi idol of Kedarnath is brought to ‘Ukhimath’. Rawal ji worships this idol here as well.
We sell Havan Cups at our product website. We use organic and fragrant material to produce these Cups so that they make your temple or divine space full of fragrance and your prayers more powerful. Thousands of people have tried our genuine products. If you also want to buy our puja products, do visit our website by clicking the this link.