Pashupatinath Temple, Nepal.

Pashupatinath temple is the most famous hindu temple of Nepal and regraded as one of the most sacred lord shiva temple worldwide.  Every year  elderly pilgrims come here to be cremated on the banks of the river and travel their last journey with the waters of the sacred river Bagmati, which later meets the holy river Ganga. They believe if they die here in this temple, they would reborn as a human, regardless of any misconduct that could worsen their karma. The exact day of their death is predicted by astrologers of the temple. It is really unique that the temple is dedicated to  the spirit of death.

 

Lord shiva is  the destroyer, the most powerful god of the Hindu pantheon and also the  most worshipped god in Hinduism. He is regarded as formless, limitless, transcendent and unchanging absolute Brahman, and the primal Atman(soul, self) of the universe. At the same time, he is the symbol of masculinity. He is a yogi, at the same time he is the part of most sacred couple along with his wife & the most powerful Goddess Parvati. Together, Shiva and  Parvati symbolise the eternal tune of life, the conjugation of man and woman.

  

It is said that the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu took shelter in a cave on the Chandravan mountain. Everyday Kamadhenu went down to the place the lingam was sunken into the soil and poured her milk on top of the soil. After a few thousand years some people saw Kamadhenu pouring milk on that same spot everyday, and started to wonder what that would be. So they removed the soil and found the beautiful shining lingam and started worshiping it.

 If you are visiting Kathmandu, Pashupatinath temple is a must visit. Not only for the unique architecture of richly-ornamented pagoda houses, the existence  of the temple dates back to 400 B.C with rich history. The main temple complex of Pashupatinath and the sanctum sanctorum was left untouched by the 2015 earthquake. It is an experience outside our routine lives, the majority of religious rituals are culturally unusual and unique for Westerners.

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