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Serene beach at Kunkeshwar Temple |
With my hands folded I went down on my knees and looked at the deity. The sound of bells and the figures of devotees circling the deity was fading. A strange feeling ran over my body. I prayed without words. pleaded for the strength. Was it a fear? Of not being able to control things within me and around? The eyelids were becoming heavier closing my eyes. A nothingness engulfed me. It was just
HIM , the deity.
I always felt the same. May it be a temple or in a church or in the front of a mosque. Looking at
HIM for a help and He would be there, whispering in my ear,
"get up and get going". Then I would know
'to make an effort' was the only controllable factor with me! And I would continue.
I got up and came out. Outside near the
Mandep (gate), an old woman and a man sat giving blessing to those who passed from that
Mandep. To my utter shock I found the woman was blind and the other with one foot only. I didn't know why but I immediately retraced my steps back into the temple and sat again in front of the deity of Lord Shiva.
A sudden surge of emotions overwhelmed me! Feeling miserable I realized that I was trapped in a vicious cycle of concentrating more on what I couldn't have and thus felt depressed and more I felt depressed more I concentrated on what I couldn't have! But seeing those two of my fellow beings with what they didn't possess, the truth dawned upon me. It struck me like a lightening!
I surrendered to
HIM and sought serenity instead of financial security. I saw that I had enough to be grateful. Quickly I made an inventory of my life's possessions. A loving wife, children well settled, reasonable health with being able to dance with my grandchildren, trek, climb and write with my hands my stories, a house, normal meals , entertainment, able to see a beautiful dawn with flying birds, enjoyed the smell of the earth on the arrival of first rains, good friends and many other small possessions... the list was long.
It was an awakening! It didn't matter how awareness arrived. What mattered that it had come. My heart was filled with gratitude. With the tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, I started thanking for everything I had. And I continued thanking
HIM, don't know for how long. I felt peace, a tranquility.
Never before I had seen such a magnificent temple in such a gorgeous setting of a heavenly beach! It was an amazing structure facing east and the pristine beach of
Kunkeshwar on the west. I had come from
Devgad which was though very near if you walk, by road it was about 20 km. The temple was built many century back by a Muslim Arab trader who had lost his way in the sea on a stormy night. He prayed for his life and after sometime, saw a dim light of then a tiny temple at a distance. As if his prayer was answered, he reached the shore of
Kunkeshwar and had built the present temple. An amazing story!
The vast expense of the white sand looked brighter, the emerald waters of Arabian sea bluer and green hills in the east looked greener! I had new eyes! Walking on the silent beach I wondered. How was it possible? The serenity and a silence of the beach in a land of more than a billion mortals! I fell in love with
Kunkeshwar. Only me, the divine power and
HIS creation-nature. I sat under a palm tree and looked at a distant horizon. The boats of anglers- making an 'effort' to make life worthwhile and rest leaving to
HIM!
Route: Kunkeshwar is very close and south to Devgad beach (see map). 510 km from Mumbai by road.
phone-Mumbai: 91-22-22908368
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