Muktinath tourism

This is one of the most well known shrines of god Vishnu. The shrine is assocated with the shaligram. This is the sacred stone which was used by many Hindus and is found at the bed of the kali Gandaki River. This area is also called mukti shetra. Shetra is a place where one can attain salvation. Because the journey through here is the holiest places and the most remote places of the entire pilgrimage as well.  Even though Muktinath is a very close by if you are traveling in a helicopter although the people who come here prefer and chose to make the pilgrimage by foot. The journey is apparently of great spiritual significance.

Muktinath is one of the one hundred and eight desam, or songs of the saints. The shaligram is a fossil which is derived from an insect of the prehistoric tehtys sea. This place later became the Himalayas.

According to Hindu mythology, Vishnu wanted to defeat the great demon jhalandar. Although jhalandar could not be defeated because there was a boon that until his wife vrinda is chaste, he could not be defeated. Hence Vishnu takes the shape of jhalandar and makes love to vrinda, as soon as this happens he goes back and fights jhalandar and defeats him. After vrinda heard this she cursed Vishnu that he would always be represented by an insect.

Today Muktinath is a collection of yagna that consists of brama, shiva, Vishnu , fire and water.  Right next to this is the jwaladevi which is also found linked to this place. This area is very famous amongst the sages who come here to meditate. A lot of Buddhist monks come here also to preach Buddhism and give direction to its followers.

The temple was built in the early eighteenth century. The temple has a minaret that shows that shi ramanujacharya was here. Twelve songs of saints has also been sung here by the alwars. The damodar kund or the forbidden lake is the actual source of the kali Ganadaki River and it is a ten day trek which you can only take when it is during the late summers.

Earlier Nepal was closely associated only with Katmandu, however according to legends, there is a strong belief that Shankar lives the some of the most auspicious places in the Himalayas in the form of pashupatinath.  The places in Nepal including its valleys, and mountains and other similar territories have been a strong part of this mythology since thousands of year’s ago.

In fact even today many sites here in Nepal, which are the durbar squares, bhaktapur and patan are all present major heritage sites.

There are many grassland regions as here called terai which has actually landmarks from the stories of the famous Ramayana and Mahabharata. This even includes the birthplace of the goddess sita.  Also the gautam Buddha was born here.  Also during the reign of emperor ashoka.

This very place was a key trading place from Tibet to India and other places; also there were many religious teachers   who traveled from here quite regularly.  The nicest place you can visit here is the kali gandaki valley which lies after josom there are steep rocks that slide down both sides of the rivers. These seem to carry the mythology of the puranas. As one leaves the Muktinath River to go to the puranas there are many caves that were earlier inhabited by the prehistoric man.  And through the years many sages and holy men have taken refuge here from enemies, harsh weather and people who were trying to get them killed. Guiseppe tucci is an Italian explorer who explores Tibet. He visited Muktinath and described the feeling that he got from there. He apparently felt that there is no other place that can make you feel holier than being here in this place,  he also mentioned an invisible breathing presence of the holy energy that lasts even though the years. He said that this breathing feeling is quite prevalent in Muktinath.

People are usually quite amazed with the spiritual presence that they experience here.