Karnataka Yatra - Day 2

Waking up around 6 am and completing our morning ablutions, we proceeded to the Udupi temple complex area as we wanted to get one more darshan of Bhagawan Krishna.

The beauty of Udupi Krishna is such that one wishes to constantly see Him. Unlike other important temples of Krishna, here it is very easy to get a darshan. No big queues, no crowding, no pushing & jostling. One can have a leisurely darshan of a beautiful deity who is not more than 2 feet in height and can be seen at approx. 8-10 feet. He is decked up in bright clothes and shining jewelry as He is ‘alankara priya’ and His sight is mesmerizing and captivating. His eyes look straight at His devotees and is most attractive.

Udupi Krishna Temple

We first went and had darshan at Ananteshwar temple and then proceeded to Chandramouleeshwar temple where we witnessed the abhishekam of Shiva and chanted the Sri Rudram. After this, we went to Udupi Krishna temple which was closed for the morning abhishekam ritual from 7 am till about 8 am. We arrived about a minute late and hence missed the early morning darshan.

So, we decided to spend the next hour visiting couple of Mutts in the surrounding area. There are eight main Mutts here. There is also a large complex called Geeta Mandir which we didn’t visit due to paucity of time. We visited the serene Raghavendra Mutt which is very close to the Krishna temple and witnessed the Aarati. There were 3 cows tied up inside the temple which we could touch and get blessed.

After this, we went to the Mitra Samaj restaurant, and I had hot mini idlis dipped in sambhar with coffee. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. By around 7.45, we came back to Krishna temple entrance and stood in the small queue. At around 8 am, we were let inside for yet another comfortable and blissful darshan. Post this, we visited other shrines within the temple including the Brindavan of various saints who are interred here and the Goshala where many cows are taken care of.

We then returned to our hotel where I finished my midday prayers and then we had breakfast. The breakfast service was not great here. We then checked out and proceeded to Murudeshwar. The distance of ~ 100 kms was covered in about 2 hours. The roads throughout our trip were smooth and well maintained and traffic was thin. We reached and checked in at a hotel called RNS Residency. This is the best hotel in Murudeshwar with an excellent location overlooking the Sea as well as the temple. Tourists mainly come to Murudeshwar for the temple visit as well as enjoying water sports here. Our room, on the 6^th floor, was superb with a 180 degree view of the ocean. From our room, we could see the different water sports being indulged by visitors.

As we had a heavy breakfast, we skipped lunch and took some rest. At around 3.45 pm. We left for Gokarna which was 78 kms away. The road was virtually parallel to the coast which gave us a very good view of the sea for most of the journey. On the way, we stopped at a restaurant called ‘Rameshwaram’ at a place called Honnavar for some light snacks and tea. This is not connected to the famous restaurant with the same name at Bengaluru. This was the only decent place on the route, and we found the food quality was good.

Om Beach - Gokarna

We reached our destination by 6 pm. Gokarna, a coastal town in Karnataka, is famous as a unique blend of a major Hindu pilgrimage site and a serene beach destination, often called the 'Varanasi of the South'. Key attractions include the 4th-century Mahabaleshwar Temple (housing the Atmalinga), the naturally Om-shaped Om Beach, and scenic, laid-back spots like Kudle Beach and Paradise Beach. The town is small & congested but very attractive with nice shops and crowded streets. There were many foreigners in this place who have probably come to enjoy the beach resort. The atmosphere reminded me of Goa.

Our main objective for the visit was to visit the Mahabaleshwar temple which was one place I had been wanting to visit for a very long time. Gokarna is believed to be one of the 7 muktikshetras of Karnataka and even a glimpse of the deity bestows immense blessings on the devotees.

The Lingam here, called the Atmalinga & is believed to be Shiva’s soul, was given to Ravana by Shiva Himself pleased as He was with His devotee. Ravana was instructed by Shiva not to place the Lingam on the ground till he reached Lanka. However, during the journey when dusk approached, Ravana stopped for doing his evening prayers. He saw Ganesh ji appearing as a young brahmin boy with some cows and requested Him to hold the Lingam till he returned. Ganesh ji told him that he will call out thrice and if Ravana failed to return, He would place the Lingam on the ground. After some time, Ganesh ji called out thrice in quick succession and when Ravana didn’t respond, He placed the Lingam on the ground. After that, Ganesh ji disappeared into the ground along with His cows. Ravana tried to catch the last cow and pulled at its ears. The cow too disappeared leaving behind its ears which gave the name of GoKarna (Cows Ears) to this place. Ravana used all his strength to move the Linga but couldn’t do it and it was he who named it as Mahabaleshwar.

Mahabaleshwar Temple

The temple, a 4^th century construction, is not very large and, fortunately for us, was not much crowded at this time. We entered after removing shirt / banian and within 10 minutes we could enter the sanctum. While there, we saw a few devotees skip the queue and were carrying some articles for abhishekam. Upon enquiring I was told that they are doing a special seva the tickets for which could be purchased from the office. So, after our darshan, I also went and purchased NavaDhanya (nine ingredients) Abhishek Seva. It costed Rs. 1000.

A local priest (who was a Maharashtrian settled in Gokarna) helped us perform the puja in the parikrama area of the temple. We first did sankalpam, then invoke Shiva into a small cup filled with rice. Then, we chanted some parts of Sri Rudram and made the offerings of the different articles like milk, curds, honey etc. into the cup. After the completion of this pooja, we were allowed to enter the sanctum once again and pour the offerings into Atmalinga. We were also allowed to touch the Atmalinga which is not visible from outside as it is inside a cavity covered in silver. We could only feel it with our fingers. The cavity kept getting filled up with offerings from various devotees, and the priest sitting there would keep emptying it.

I then did my evening prayers in the temple itself. We also visited the Thamira Gowri shrine which is located adjoining the main temple. This is the shrine of Parvati Devi who undertook severe penances to attain Shiva., We also visited the Maha Ganapathy temple located just outside the main temple. After this, it was pretty dark and we retuned to Murudeshwar. When we reached back, it was nearly half past nine. We stopped at a restaurant called Indraprastha very near our hotel and had some light snacks and buttermilk.

We then returned to our room for the night.