Last Updated on January 10, 2025 by Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Travelogue: Kala Bhairava and Worshiping with Swamiji
After visiting the Vishalakshi temple, Swamiji took the group to the Kala Bhairava Temple (also spelled Kalbhairava Temple).
Swamiji explained that wherever there is a Shakti Peetha for the Goddess, there is also temple for Lord Shiva, who protects that center of energy.
Kala Bhairava is Lord Shiva in the fierce form of Bhairava, who takes away all darkness, or the Supreme to which all dissolves at the end of time.
We entered the temple and passed by the stalls of many priests who were giving blessings to the devotees with a peacock feather brush. Then, the priests tied a black string around the devotee’s wrist, which is Lord Shiva’s prasad.
After we took darshan and offered a short worship in the inner sanctum, we found a nice location to the side of the temple and began reciting the Shiva Sahasranam.
We chanted the mantras with such a joy. We, ourselves, were gaining the inspiration by doing the sadhana, and when we saw the inspiration of the visitors to the temple, our inspiration grew all the more.
Many of the temple priests and devotees were watching us chant and seemed surprised to see us chanting and doing Sadhana with such devotion. One passerby remarked that he felt ashamed that many devotees of Indian origin do not worship with the intensity of devotion that we had demonstrated.
We chanted with such bhavana that our chanting echoed through the temple and other devotees actually joined our recitation.
When the Shiva Sahasranam was finished the energy was so intense that we were inspired to chant a few stotrams. Swamiji continued to lead us in more chants to Lord Shiva, until we had exhausted most of the Shiva Stotrams in Swamiji’s Advanced Shiva Puja Book. We sat quietly for a few moments as we felt the harmony of our own vibrations with that of the temple around us.
When we stopped meditating, Swamiji began reciting the mantras for offering dakshina. Surprisingly, Swamiji offered dakshina first to those who were chanting with us. One of those was a priest from another temple. Then, he also offerd dakshina to the temple itself, as well as the priests.
It is beautiful to see Shree Maa and Swamiji travel to these popular places of pilgrimage and revive the spirit of worship in everyone. For many Hindus, the temples have become a place to get darshan, pray, make offerings, and take prasad. But Swamiji and Shree Maa are always showing everyone the joy and the benefit of actually sitting down in the temples and spending time with God by doing sadhana.
Jai Maa! Jai Swamiji!