A Temple Of Shiva Protected By White Monkeys
A beautiful temple of Shiva on the mountain, surrounded by white monkeys is something that never gets old to me.
Recently me and brother went to this Shiva temple, which we have been going to even before my birth when my mother went there, and my grandparents, and their parents.
That Shiva(Mahadev) Temple is named as Kambeshwar Temple. Every Shiva temple has its unique name and each has a history and meaning.
Kambeshwar means a Lord of Love, as Shiva’s life has gone through everything humans ever feel and beyond.
I live in a state called Rajasthan, it’s famous for forts and deserts, but what I love the most, is that it’s the largest state in India yet one of the lowest populated. Phew, it’s good to live where you see fewer people around.
That temple is around 18 Kilometers away from where I live, so it’s not so far and I feel blessed how close it is for me to be with nature, far from smoke and dust, which won’t let us see the clear sky and mountains like this.
After the rain, the green emitted in the jungle always feels magical and it’s a real beauty without manmade. We humans can never create with our Artificial engineering.
If you are curious about what’s exactly in the Shiva temple, it’s not the murti(statue) of Shiva. In Shiva temple, there is Linga or Shivalinga.
I heard many with wrong interpretations of Shivalinga as it’s the shape of a Penis. It clearly shows the dirt of human minds as we can’t think above our waistline to use the brain.
My grandma tells me the real meaning but Sadhguru has beautifully explained to the world what is Linga.
The word linga means “the form.” We are calling it “the form” because when the un-manifest began to manifest itself, or in other words when creation began to happen, the first form that it took was that of an ellipsoid and A perfect ellipsoid is what we call as a linga. And we know from our experience that if you go into deep states of meditativeness, before a point of absolute dissolution comes, once again the energy takes the form of an ellipsoid or a linga. So, the first form is linga and the final form is linga — Sadhguru
I wish I could show you the photo of Shivalinga but in most temples, photos are prohibited.
From these photos they don’t seem like a protector, most of them sleep, take care of each other, play, and eat.
Me and my brother are used to it, but still, sometimes they show their teeth with angry faces and we run.
But there is a tradition that people who come to this temple follow. Feeding the monkeys. My grandparents once every week, on Sunday, make food(Chapattis) and they go to the temple on Monday. They’ve been doing it for the past 40 years, and now my parents do that and sometimes I go there alone, feed them, take blessings, enjoy nature, and come back home.
Well, as an introvert never thought I could share any photos publically, my face can clearly say I was forced to click that picture.
But here I am typing and still thinking should I share them or not. But like, now I don’t care. After that photo, we actually ran, some white protectors were behind us, chasing. I have the food and they can’t wait to munch it.
As I was feeding them, one angry protector came across my face and jumped on me, and I ducked, with those quick reflexes felt like a Spiderman not gonna lie. I don’t know if he was angry or excited. But I am a normal skinny dude, not going to fight with these warriors. Let them protect the temple, I protect myself.
But this temple is one of my sweet memories of childhood that I remember. Even with the hard time I had, I still feel blessed because I am alive to see what beauty actually looks like.
Often when I pray I don’t ask for anything, I just say to give happiness to people with good hearts, as you all deserve it!
