Kathmandu
Jal Narayan temple
The beautiful view of Budh Neelkant
View of Jal Narayan at dawn
Full view of Anantha Sayee
The Lord is in his yoga Nidra (yogic sleep) on His thousand hooded snake bed holding His divine weapons Conch, discus and mace in His four arms and is floating in water (milk) ocean. he is decorated with lot of Salagramam. We were blessed with the Nirmalya darshan of the Lord ( ie without any alangaram) as it was early morning.
Tribhuvan International Airport Kathmandu
We landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport of Kathmandu and completed the immigration formalities and enjoyed the murals drawn in the airport. most of them depicted the history of Buddha. The Garuda statue ( Mount of Lord Vishnu) installed in the premises was beautiful, we found the Garuda panel in all the temples and also in many houses. The eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism are also found almost in all the houses. Now Nepal has become a secular state, but earlier it was a Hindu Nation and it's flag has Sun and Moon. We travelled to Park Village Hotel & Resort which is situated on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Like any Indian city Kathmandu is also crowded and traffic is chaotic and slow moving. When we neared the hotel Sundar remembered that Jal Narayan temple is situated nearby. So we decided that we will first visit Jal Narayan first in the morning though we have not planned for the same.
The beautiful gate of Airport
Some members of our group at Airport
(In the background you can see the beautiful Garuda)
(In the background you can see the beautiful Garuda)
Next day ( 30-05-12 Wednesday) early morning we walked to Jal Narayan temple. In this temple we have the darshan of Lord Vishnu sleeping pose in the thousand hooded snake Adi Sesha in a lake in the open only there is a cloth canopy over Him. Like any other temple the welcome panel is Garuda panel and doors are adorned with eight auspicious articles. On the way to temple there are small niches with several images of Gods. We enjoyed the beautiful dawn at the temple. The lord is in yoga nitra and is holding His divine weapons Conch, Discus, Mace and Lotus flower in his four arms. The legend of the temple is that a farmer while tilling his land one day found this statue the statue disappeared immediately. Later the statue appeared again, this time the statue was installed at the present location.
Park Village hotel & Resort
The hotel & Jal Narayan temple are located beautifully
at the foot of the shivpuri ranges on the outskirts of Kathmandu
Nice Buddha statue at the hotel
The devotees worship the Lord from His feet and circumambulate the lake in which the Lord is sleeping. There are small shrines for Lord Ganesh and also a open shrine for Lord Pasupathinath. We saw a Rudraksh tree in the temple. There are many shops shelling out pooja items you can shop for Rudraksh, Saligramam and other items here but be careful. We spent around one hour at the temple. At first the crown was covered with a saffron cloth, later a tiny priest removed the cloth and placed a dhara vessel ( vessel from which water drips drop by drop) above the figure of Buddha carved in the crown. Because of this Buddha in the crown the Lord is called Buddha Nilakanta, some say the lord’s neck is blue like Lord Shiva so He is called so. We were told that only lucky few get to see the Buddha. Thanking the Lord we returned to the hotel .
Ganesh shrine
Garuda panel of Jal Narayan temple
at the foot of the shivpuri ranges on the outskirts of Kathmandu
Nice Buddha statue at the hotel
The devotees worship the Lord from His feet and circumambulate the lake in which the Lord is sleeping. There are small shrines for Lord Ganesh and also a open shrine for Lord Pasupathinath. We saw a Rudraksh tree in the temple. There are many shops shelling out pooja items you can shop for Rudraksh, Saligramam and other items here but be careful. We spent around one hour at the temple. At first the crown was covered with a saffron cloth, later a tiny priest removed the cloth and placed a dhara vessel ( vessel from which water drips drop by drop) above the figure of Buddha carved in the crown. Because of this Buddha in the crown the Lord is called Buddha Nilakanta, some say the lord’s neck is blue like Lord Shiva so He is called so. We were told that only lucky few get to see the Buddha. Thanking the Lord we returned to the hotel .
Ganesh shrine
Garuda panel of Jal Narayan temple
Open Pasupathinath shrine
Vishnu on His mount Garuda
(stone carving)
Stone statue of Vishnu with four faces
like Pasupathinath
like Pasupathinath
The devotees worship the Lord from His holy feet
Buddha carved on the crown of the Lord
Holy feet of the Lord
Rudraksh tree.
Our group at Jal Narayan, the giant bell as a background
This day was a day of acclimatization for high altitude travel. We used this day to visit the important shrines in Kathmandu. See some photos of the Jal Narayan temple in this post.
The Holy yatra continues.....
