🕉️ Brahma , Buddha & Adi Shankaracharya : A visit to NallaSopara ❣️🚩💐🙏

Brahma , Buddha & Adi Shankaracharya : A visit to NallaSopara

Mahadev Shiva Lingam is very big in Chakreshwar temple , Sopara Village , Nallasopara ( W ) , Dist Palghar , Maharashtra , Bharat (Hindustan / India)

Very very ancient this Shiva lingam before Ramayan Yuga ❤️🕉️🚩🙏

🕉️❣️ Bhagwan Parashurama made Chakreshwar Temple & Mahadev Shiva Lingam 🕉️❤️🚩🙏

Very ancient Holy place for Hindus. The history of Nallasopara ( Vasai Virar Mahanagarpalika) dates back to Treta Yuga. Bassein (or Vasai or Oppire or Orparak or Shorparag or Shurparaka as it was called from time to time) was established by Bhagawan Parashuram. Bhagvan Parshuram established Vimaleshwar Mandir and Vimala Sarovara. He established the 64 yoginis in and around Shurparaka, since the yoginis were considered to be the devotees of His mother Goddess Renuka. He also established 108 Teertha Kundas or Pushkarinis in Palghar district. This is quoted in the Holy Edict Skanda Purana and Padma Purana (Lotus Purana).

" Ancient 6 Feet Sculpture of Bhagwan Brahma carved out of Single Rock" Ramayan & Mahabharat Yuga 💟💞🕉️🚩🙏

The temple was attacked by Islamic Mughal & Portuguese invaders and many of the idols were thrown into the nearby Chakreshwar Lake. Many such old and rare idols were recovered later and put up in the current temple structure.

Exact Location : " Chakreshwar Mahadev Mandir - Nalasopara West (2.5 kms from station), District : Palghar , Nr Mumbai , Maharashtra , Bharat ( India ).

" The most impressive is this idol of Brahma with four faces that represent the four Vedas (Ṛig, Sāma, Yajur and Atharva). The two faces on either side are hidden by the garland and the fourth one is behind and not shown. The beard and crown of Brahma are clearly visible and crafted in an exquisite style. Compare this with the Trimurti at Elephanta to see the difference in the sculpture styles. Prof. Kurush Dalal adds: “This is a very famous icon of Brahma from Chakreshwar tirtha … The four bearded heads and the ayudhas of Brahma are a dead give away. Ayuddhas … Sruk or Pali the ladle used for pouring ghee on the sacrificial fires, the palm leaf manuscripts of the four Vedas, the rosary of beads and the kamandalu"

The temples of Brahma are rarely erected and there are very few temples of Brahma. The Brahma idol here is a standing sammukha image, wearing a jata-mukuta. Of his three faces which are seen, the middle one only has a beard.The god holds the akshamala and the sruva in the lower and upper right hands, and the kamandalu and the pothi (unbound book) in the lower and upper left hands.He wears a yajnopavita and an udaralandha, besides other ornaments and a long garland reaching below his knees. The tassels of his girdle are shown hanging down in front. On either side of the god appears a female figure carrying a bundle of kusa grass. There is, besides, his vehicle, the swan, on his left, and an attendant on his right. It was by far the most impressive idol I had ever seen.

🕉️💞🚩 Brahma 💞🙏

Har Har Mahadev 💞🚩🕉️🙏

✨ Why do we worship broken Shivling ✨

Shiva is Aadi, Shiva is Anant. Shiva is nirakaar. Shiva Has No Form Yet He Is In All Forms.

In the Rudra-abhishekam, it is said, 'Virupe-bhyo vishva-rupe bhyash-cha vo namo namah'.

Virupe-bhyo means, that one which has no form and, Vishva-rupe-bhyo means, yet it is in all the forms of the universe. Everything, all forms are the manifestation of the formless Shiva. Shiva is the consciousness that present all over; it is an energy field. Shiva is never born and he has no end. He is eternal. He is the fourth state of consciousness, known as the 'Turiya avasta' (the meditative state), that is beyond the waking, sleeping and dreaming state. Shiva is the eternal ocean of infinity from which all existence is manifest and into which all the existence is dissolved . Shiva is limitless, unfathomable, attributeless , unchanging and eternal, how can his symbol if broken be considered inauspicious.

Therefore one can worship the broken Shivling. It’s believed that any other broken, disintegrating, chipped idols or image of any God for that matter need to be immersed in flowing water body. Although God is present everywhere and in every form, still Anything broken is counted as inauspicious. Even Though broken idols are prohibited to worship in Hinduism, if your devotion is true, you can worship the cracked Shivling. All that Mahadev Shiva needs is your sincere devotion and love.! ✨👁🕉🌲🌀📿🙏🏻

There are other temples/shrines adjoining the Chakreshwar temple — a Hanuman shrine and a beautiful wooden temple dedicated to Bhagwan Shri Rama. All these temples/shrines share a common compound.

The temple lies at one corner of the Chakreshwar lake in Nalasopara West. The main temple itself has been reconstructed, but the structure in this picture is the Akkalkot Swami Math with the samadhi of Swami Mayuranand.

The math is constructed of wooden beams and pillars with a tiled roof. The inside of the math was nice and peaceful and quite clean. I could imagine this being a scene of all night bhajan singing with the loud dining of cymbals and pakhawaj.

A small verandah on the outside houses another diety with two stone carved figures on either side. Though situated in the middle of the busy town, this was such a peaceful retreat overlooking the Chakreshwar lake!

This figure is that of Harihara – a combination of Shiva and Vishnu. Exquisitely carved, it has a unique crown that has two skulls, what looks like a serpent coiled, and a single fish at the top. This resembles the description of Mahakala – who wears a crown with skulls.

The main temple is completely rebuilt with modern construction materials in quite bad taste and the old temple structure is completely destroyed. There is a Linga in the main sanctum sanctorium. The Nandi statue outside however seems to be an old sculpture.

History of Nalasopara : Known by different names Sopara, Soparaka,

Shurparaka. It was largest township on India's west coast and one of the chief ports of ancient India to trade with Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, Eastern Africa, Arabia etc. The ancient port was also the capital of Aparanta. Literary, archaeological and epigrahic evidence suggest that it was a flourishing port during Ashokan period (3rd century B.C). Buddhist stupa, relics and inscriptions from 8th and 9th century is also evidence of importance of the place. Sopara or Shurparaka finds mention in the Mahabharata (14000 B.C.) as a very holy place that the Pandavas rested enroute from Gokarn in north Kanara to Prabha or Verval in Kathiawad. It is even suggested that Sopara may be the legendary Ophir mentioned in the Bible. In 1882 Pandit Bhagvanlal undertook excavation of a mound in Sopara and ruins of stupa were found. The mound which is about 65 yards Around the base, rises about 17 feet with steps from the eastern side.From the center of the stupa (inside a brick built chamber) a large stone coffer was excavated which contained eight bronze images of Maitreya Buddha which belong to the 8th-9th century A.D. The coffer contained a relic caskets, numerous gold flowers and fragments of a begging bowl. A silver coin of Gautamiputra Satakarni was also found from the mound. The sculptures lying around the mound and also found in nearby areas also suggest that it could also be of temple intended of Shaiva shrine which was unfinished.

A board indicating the history of stupa lies outside the complex. It says "Sopara was historically called as Shurparaka. About 2500 years ago, a trader named Poorna constructed this Stupa in reverence of Lord Gautam Buddha. The stupa was decorated with carvings made in Sandalwood. This Stupa is identical to the one in Sanchi in Madhyapradesh. The inauguration of this Stupa was done by Bhagwan Gautam Buddha himself. On 1st April 1882, historical investigator Pandit Bhagwandas Indraji started excavations at this site and uncovered a stone treasury containing eight idols of the Buddha, gold ornaments, gold, silver, etc. The great king Ashoka’s kingdom had in all 14 stone tablets in various parts. Of these, the 8th and the 9th tablets were found in Sopara. King Ashoka’s son Prince Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra had travelled from Bodh Gaya to Sri Lanka with branches of the Bodhi Tree and had passed via Sopara on their journey. Later, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had also visited this site several times. Today this Stupa stands as mute evidence of an era gone by. The site is declared as a protected national site by the Government of India."

In middle of the complex lies the famous mound where the excavation was done. The mound is locally known as Burud Rajacha kot or fort of Basket making king.

Nalasopara Buddhist stupa constructed 2,500 years ago by a trader named Poorna, was inaugurated by Gautam Buddha himself.

Nalasopara ancient Buddhist stupa, Sopara town, Palghar, Maharashtra state, India.

The famous Indian archaeologist, Pt. Bhagwanlal Indraji was the first to conduct a major archaeological excavation at Sopara in 1882. Within a few days of his work here, he and his team made some significant discoveries. Apart from the Edict of Ashoka, the archaeologists also found numerous relics and bronzes, which pointed to the fact that the famed Sopara Stupa was originally constructed in the Mauryan period, but enlarged in the period from the 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE. Indraji’s finds included the coins of Satavahana King Shri Yajnashri Satakarni (2nd century CE) in the excavation. That apart, the famous Sopara hoard that the team found included eight bronzes, six were of previous Buddha’s namely, Vipasyi, Shikhi, Vishvabhu, Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni and Kashyapa and one was of Shakyamuni i.e. of Gautama, the Buddha. The last one was of Maitreya, the future Buddha. There bronzes, stylistically, can be dated to the 7th and 8th century CE.

One of the main sources for our understanding of the history of Sopara and the Stupa here comes from grants made by local traders in the early Shilahara period. In 854 CE, for instance, there is a mention of a donor at Kanheri from the Gauda region, modern day West Bengal, whose name was Gomin Avighnakar. He must have stayed at Kanheri for more than 20 years as there are few other inscriptions of the later date where his name appears as a witness to the donation.

Yavana Dhammarakkhita came to Sopara to spread the teachings of the Buddha, after the third Buddhist council at Pataliputra

From this and other evidence, I believe that the clear influence of Mahayana Buddhism must have come from Eastern India as Buddhism was flourishing there under the royal patronage of the local rulers- the Palas in the 9th century CE. In fact this period was the ‘Golden Age’ of Esoteric or tantric Buddhism, that you see in Tibet today. As far as material evidence of this is concerned, there was a wooden image of Tara, stylistically dated to the 10th century CE reported from Kanheri. This image displays the style of the dominant Pala sculptural art of the period. Such pieces of evidence suggest that these monasteries in the western coast had deep contacts with Eastern Indian Monasteries.

This spread of Buddhism from East to West also helps us understand how Sopara was a commercial hub with multiple inland trade routes bringing in merchants and monks. In literature, there are numerous references to it and even the Epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata tell us that Sopara or Shurparaka was one of the significant ports and commercial centres of the time.

There is also an interesting depiction of Sopara in the Ajanta painting of Purnavadana, the story of Purna from Divyavadana in Cave 2 from the 5th century CE .

In many of the inscription, the region of Sopara is frequently referred as Shurparaka Satshashti, which literary means the administrative unit of 66 villages with the headquarter at Sopara. Huen Tsang, the Chinese monk and traveler who visited Sopara in the 7th century CE paints a vivid picture of what he saw at Sopara.

“Of Buddhist monasteries there were about 100 and the brethren, who were adherents of both the vehicles, were more than 5000 in number. Within and outside the capital were five Ashoka topes where the four past Buddha(s) had sat and walked for exercise; and there were innumerable other topes of stone or brick. Not far from the south of the capital was an old monastery in which was a stone image of ‘Kuan-tsu-tsai-puza’ of marvelous efficacy. In the east of this country was a mountain range, ridges one above another in succession, tiers of peaks and sheer summits.”

The influence of eastern schools of Buddhism in Sopara helps us understand how this was a commercial hub connected to the rest of the subcontinent through many inland routes.

Sopara remained an administrative headquarter even in the 9th and 10th century CE. Arab travelers refer to this place as Sobara. In fact given the close trade ties with the Arab world, Sopara or Sobara, as it was called finds frequent mention in the works of travelers like Masudi (10th century CE), Al Birunu (11th century CE.), Al Idrisi (12th century CE). They however don’t mention Sopara as a port but as a market place and administrative headquarters. Interestingly by this time Sopara is mentioned as being a mile and a half away from the sea.

Traders coming to Sopara were coming from different parts of the world and trading in luxury goods such as ivory, shells, silk and even elephants and horses. A Jain text Kuwalayamala gives us an interesting story of a merchant from Taxila, who had brought horses for sale at Sopara. The text also says Sopara had a large population and pearl fisheries.

Sopara was also a centre of industry. It had a large population and pearl fisheries

The numerous sculptural fragments scattered in the region of Sopara, also suggests that the site of Sopara was not just restricted to the present village of Sopara but was a real urban centre comprising numerous smaller localities. Today, this region has moved back in time, to the pre-urbanisation phase more than 2000 years ago. The urban centre is now back to being a cluster of independent villages. The core of the old Shilahara period Sopara around the 8th to 13th century CE was the area encompassing the present day villages of Sopara, Bolinj, Nirmal and Gaas.

🚩🕉️💞🙏

During Buddha Era around 600 BC Samvedis came to Shurparaka as expert singers. As quoted in “ Shree Shivlilamrut” During the Buddhist rule, their following of Vedic Dharma was loosened. At the advent of Adya Shankaracharya in Nirmal around 497 BC, the Buddhist Monks were defeated in the debates and returned to the Vedic Fold. Hinduism in the Samvedis returned and they started strict following of the Vedic Dharma. They regarded Adi Shankara Jagadguru as their cardinal preacher. Further, as stated in Shree Shivlilamrut, Shankaracharya was born in Nirmal.