Greatness of Kasi

Kailash in the north, Rameswaram in the south, Puri Jagannath in the east and Dwarka in the west forms this punya bhumi of Bharat, which has Kasi, the land of the sacred river Ganga, at its centre.

“Normally the ‘Sthal Puran’ of any ‘Kshetra’ is compared with Kasi and this fact indicates that Kasi is the King of Kshetras. Similarly, the fact that all the sacred rivers of our nation are compared with Ganga proves that Ganga is the most sacred of them all”

– Kanchi Paramacharya’s ‘Voice of God’ – Volume 7

It has been a religious tradition since olden days in Bharat, for the people from the north to go to the south on pilgrimage, and vice versa. This unique culture forms the basis of national integration of people speaking different languages and following different customs. For example, taking the sacred sands from the ‘Agni Tirtha’ of Rameswaram and dissolving it in the ‘Triveni Sangam’ of Prayag, and taking the sacred waters of Ganga from Prayag and performing Abhishekam for Sri Ramanatha Swami in Rameswaram, and performing ‘Shradda’ and ‘Tarpana’ for our ancestors in Kasi and Rameswaram completes one full cycle of pilgrimage. This concept of religious tradition and cultural heritage which integrates the people of Bharat is an integral part of our Sanatana Dharma.

Kasi’s connection to Sankara and Adi Sankara

As the river Varuna from the north and river Asi from the south join the Ganga in Kasi, the place attains the name ‘Varanasi’. It is believed that Mahadeva created Kasi standing on his Trishul and hence, any soul which leaves its body here and departs, attains Moksha immediately. So Kasi is also called ‘Moksha Puri’.

Also, Adi Sankara is said to have embarked on his mission of establishing ‘Advaita’ from here only.

“Kasi is not only the Maha Kshetra, but also the Rajathani for Pandits right from olden days. Pandits belonging to all religions and Sampradayas live here and that was why Adi Sankara’s Guru directed him to start his mission from here, so that he could tell everybody and if needed debate with them to establish the supremacy of Vedic religion and its supreme concept of Advaita. As per the orders of his Guru, Adi Sankara reaches Kasi and starts his mission from a place called ‘Manikarnika Ghat’ on the banks of Ganga. Kasi is one of the seven ‘Mukti Kshetras’

– Kanchi Paramacharya’s ‘Voice of God’ – Volume 5

Kasi-Kanchi and Ganga-Cauvery

The Kasi-Kanchi connection and the Ganga-Cauvery connection serve as a great evidence for our national integration through religious and cultural tradition.

“Thousands of miles separate Kasi from Kanchi. Kasi is famous for Devi Annapurni and Kamakshi Devi of Kanchi too has performed ‘Annadana’, which forms part of her 32 different Dharmas. A separate Sannidi is there for Devi Annapurni just opposite to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Kamakshi Devi in Kanchi Temple. The Vimana of this temple has six peaks, which could not be found anywhere in the south. The answer for this could be found in Annapurni Temple of Kasi, which also has a Vimana with six peaks! Though both the temples are thousands of miles apart from each other, the similarity between them in such small matters vouch for the fact that the Sthal Puranas of our Kshetras cannot be brushed aside”

– Kanchi Paramacharya’s ‘Voice of God’ – Volume 2

“As Krishna Paramatma gets affected by ‘Virhathi Dosha’ after killing Mahavir Narakasura, Bhagwan Shiva advises him to get himself rid of the dosha by taking bath in Cauvery river, as the Cauvery is supposed to contain all the sacred waters during the month of Thula. As per his advise, Krishna comes down to Mayavaram (Tamil Nadu) and takes bath in the ‘Thula Ghat’ on the banks of Cauvery on the auspicious day of Deepavali and clears his dosha”

– Kanchi Paramacharya’s ‘Voice of God’ – Volume 7

Though Krishna sanctions the request of Narakasura’s mother Booma Devi that people should take bath in the Ganga on the day of Diwali in remembrance of her son’s death at the hands of Krishna, he takes bath in Cauvery to get himself rid of the dosha. So, Cauvery bath gets more sanctity than Ganga bath in the month of Thula.

Places of importance in Kasi

Apart from the above said Vedic and Puranic significance, Kasi is a historically significant place with great landmarks in and around it. The Kasi Viswanath Temple, Kaal Bhairava Temple, Annapurneswari Temple, Visalakshi Temple, Durga Temple, Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, Tulsi Manas Mandir, Bharat Mata Temple, Giri Swami Basakaranand Samathi are some of the very important temples. Also the sacred Ganga and the Harichandra Ghat, Chinta Ghat, Dasaswamedha Ghat, Manikarnika Ghat and the Panchaganga Ghat on the banks of the Ganga, used by Hindu pilgrims for performing ceremonies, are important places. The evening ‘arati’ performed on the banks of the Ganga is a treat for the eyes.

We also have historically important places like Kasi Raja’s Palace, Sanskrit University, Benaras Hindu University, the Temple inside the BHU, Sarnath Town, Sarnath Buddha Temple, Thamek Stupi, Museum, Mulkanj Gudi Vihar constructed by Sri Lankan Governor in Japanese architectural style, the Bodhi Tree near the Vihar sent by Emperor Asoka from Gaya, Jain Temple at the birthplace of the 23rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha, Chinese Temple and Sarnath Mahadev Temple.  

Ignorance of Tamil Hindus

Tamil Hindus may have heard of ‘Kasi Yatra,’ but not many know about the Mahatmiyam of Kasi. For the last fifty years, or even before independence, the atheistic Dravidian Movement has been consistently brainwashing the people with fake Aryan Invasion theories and venomous campaigns against Hindu culture and tradition. This has resulted in loss of respect for Tamils outside their state. It is a fact that a Tamilian is respected outside the state only when he identifies himself as a ‘Hindu’!

The Aryan invasion theory, alienating Tamils from the Hindu fold, anti-Sanskrit and anti-Hindi agitations, and quarrelling with neighbouring states, have all led to Tamils becoming frogs in the well. More than fifty years of anti-Hindu environment has resulted in Tamil Hindus forgetting the basics of their tradition, culture, customs and rituals. Though there seems to be a considerable increase in the temple-visiting culture in the state, the people are largely ignorant of the customs and traditions integrate them with people of other states.

In such an environment, all organizations have a moral responsibility to create awareness among Tamils about the cultural oneness of the people and guide them to mingle with the rest of the country. The media must also share this responsibility. But the mainstream media in India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular is under the clutches of atheists, leftists and pseudo-secularists and act against Hindu interests. The most glaring example for this is the SUN TV group run by Maran Brothers (Kalanidhi Maran & Dayanidhi Maran), the Chief Minister’s grand nephews.     

Kasi – As projected by SUN TV

Sun TV’s ‘SUN News’ channel has been running a program, “Nijam” (Truth), through which it denigrates religious tradition and cultural aspects of Hindus. It distorts and projects the Hindu customs and rituals in a very bad light with an aim of creating confusion in the minds of the gullible masses, particularly youngsters, projecting them as blind beliefs without any meaning behind them. The faith of village communities and vanavasis are regularly ridiculed as against science and reason.

In continuation of this malicious agenda, the channel telecast a four-part program titled ‘True face of Kasi’ in November; the same is being re-telecast in the main channel. A team went all the way from Chennai to Kasi, completed its shoot, and presented Kasi as follows:

-          Elderly people from all over the country come to Kasi anticipating their death and the town has a lot of Mutts exclusively for them

-          The banks of Ganga are flooded with cremation grounds and corpses are being burnt 24 hours. Dead bodies are left in the river waters just like that. Whichever direction we look, we can see dead bodies burning in and around the town

-          Lots of corpse-eating ‘Aghori Sanyasis’ live on the banks of the Ganga, smoking Ganja and Abin 24 hours and taking human flesh from funeral pyres to eat in the middle of the night

-          Local youth and youngsters from outside places get addicted to all sorts of drugs which are freely available in Kasi

-          The sacred Ganga, which is supposed to remove all our sins, is dirty and polluted. Lakhs of pilgrims come here to perform ceremonies like Shradda and Tarpan for their ancestors assuming that they would be blessed by them and that their ancestors would attain Moksha

-          Kasi is a place of death and sorrow. It is flooded with corpse-eating Aghoris and drug-addicted youths

The presenter presented the program with a tone of sarcasm and ridicule.

(To be continued…)       

The author is a freelancer