Everyone knows the Mahakaleshwar temple located in Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh state. This temple is likely one of the Twelve Jyotirlingas of India. Jyotirlinga means the place the place Lord Shiva established himself.
There's a beautiful description of this temple within the writings of the Mahakavis like Puranas, Mahabharata and Kalidas. Shiva's name in the Puranas comes within the form of 'Rudra'. Rudra is the god of destruction and welfare.
Like Vishnu, many incarnations of Shiva are also talked about in the Puranas. The significance of Shiva is the highest of all the other deities in the Puranas. Jatajutdhari resides on the ashes of the body, snakes around the neck, garlands of Rudraksha, moon in jatas, stream of Ganges, trident in hand and tigambara in Kati and Shiva Kailas living barefoot reside in Dham. Parvati is his spouse or power. He's the father of Ganesh and Karthikeya.
Jyotirlinga was revealed with 12 jewels
It's said that when the universe was created, the first 12 suns fell on the earth. They were made of 12 Jyotirlinga. Ujjain Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga was also created from the first 12 suns of the Solar. Since then Baba Mahakaleshwar is worshiped in Ujjain.The entire land of Ujjain is called Usar Bhoomi. That's, the land of the crematorium. Lord Mahakal's face is towards south, so also Ujjain Mahakal temple has very particular importance from the point of view of Tantra actions. Harsiddhi, Kalabhairava, Vikrantabhairava and so on. God is seated in the city of Mahakal.
The Mahakaleshwar temple complex in Ujjain has several temples of various deities. Devotees arrive in queues from the main gate to the garbhagriha to see Mahakal Baba.
There is also an ancient pool in the temple, where bathing is said to be sacred and to destroy sins and distress. Mahakaleshwar Temple is in three sections. In the lower part is Mahakaleshwar himself. In the middle part is Omkareshwar. In the upper part there's Lord Nagachandreshwar.
Idols of Goddess Parvati, Lord Ganesha and Karthikeya can be seen in the garbhagriha of Lord Mahakaleshwar. For info, let us let you know that Lord Krishna also acquired his schooling from Ujjain itself. Ujjain's reputation has been seen as a religious city since ancient times. It was ruled by King Maharaja Vikramaditya for a very long time.
Ujjain was not allowed to stay by the king
Let me tell you that Baba Mahakal himself appeared with the creation of the universe. Even today the king of Ujjain is Mahakal. There's a legend about Baba Mahakal, which is true even today. Earlier, no king was allowed to stay in Ujjain, the city of Maharaja Mahakal.This was because it's said that centuries ago, if a king spent one night here, he had to lose his sultanate. For this reason, the Scindia royal home built the palace to remain in the shelter of Mahakal. At that time, Scindia Rajghane built Kalideh Palace in Ujjain for his stay.
It's mentioned that Scindia Maharaj used to stay in this palace when he came to Ujjain. Even today the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister don't stop at Ujjain during the night.
On the same time, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia also does not stay at night time in these cities. This story is still as true as it was today. Even today King Baba of Ujjain is Mahakal.
Why is Bhasma Aarti?
According to Shiv Puran, Bhasma is the essence of the universe. One day the whole creation is to be remodeled into this ash. Lord Shiva is at all times wearing the essence of the universe.This means that one day this entire creation will merge into Shiva. To prepare the bhasma, kande, shami, peepal, palash, bad, amaltas and plum tree sticks made of Kapila cow dung are lit together. Throughout this time proper chants are also done.
The ash consumed on burning these things is filtered with a cloth. Thus, the ashes prepared are offered to Lord Shiva.
Freedom from sins
There are beliefs that Tilak should be utilized to the ash offered to Shiva. Just as many types of things are cleansed and cleaned with Bhasma, similarly by applying tilak of Bhasma provided to Lord Shiva, you'll get renewable virtue.Additionally, one will get freedom from sins of many births. Bhasma has special significance within the worship of Mahakal and this is his primary prasad. There's a belief that by taking the offerings of Bhasma ascended on Shiva, one gets rid of the illness.
