Explaining the significance of the ‘Garbh Griha’ or the sanctum sanctorum in Hindu temples, people with knowledge of the religion point out that this is the most sacred place in the temple where depiction of minor gods and goddesses is left behind as the worshipper draws close to the holy icon placed at a carefully selected intersection of east and west.At the Kashi Vishwanath temple, past visitors confirmed, the sanctum sanctorum had no unnatural light except the strategically located door that brought the first rays of the Sun to rest on the Lord’s Lingam. There were no windows but just a door through which the priests enter. This has now changed with VVIPs thronging the sanctum sanctorum accompanied by cameras, lights and security.The rituals involved in worshipping Shiva are also austere with cleanliness and humility on top of the charts. No Chhappan Bhog is offered to Shiva as in many Vishnu temples. Clean water, a few wild flowers with intoxicating juices (Dhatura) and Bilva Patra (leaves from trees bearing stone apple or Bel). Even on Shivratri, the holiest day for all Shaivites, the Lord is happy with devotees fasting for a day. This year it fell on Tuesday this week.Gifts of silver and gold were made to the temple at Kashi by Raja Ranjit Singh (1835) of Punjab, Maratha chieftain Raghuji Bhonsle and even the Rana rulers of Nepal. But the gold was used to cover the outside dome (Shikhar Gumbad), not as ornamental covering for the Garbh Griha.Asked why the gold then was not used in the sanctum sanctorum, pundits says that devotees are expected to leave behind Kama (erotic thoughts) and Arth (material and worldly interests) as they enter the sanctum. The true devotee faces the icon and becomes one with the Lord. They then exit without showing their back to Lord and re-enter the material world of Arth and Kama. “To walk into a Shiva temple for Arth and/or Kama is unthinkable,” quipped one.The Shiva temple was in the past an open place. Pilgrims and devotees would trickle in. With the renovation and the gold plating now, it has become a tourist attraction and a temple for VVIP politicians wearing their devotion on their sleeves.
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