Lord Ganesha

Article 5

Chintaman Ganesh Temple

Located at Ujjain, which is one of seven most ancient cities of Bharatvarsha (Saptapuri) , placed in the heart of India (Madhya Pradesh), is the Chintaman Ganesh Temple.
I always believe that the best trips are always the unplanned and spontaneous ones.

One fine day while scrolling through social media, I found out about this temple and expressed to my mom my deepest urge to visit this temple. I got a little sad knowing that Ujjain is far away from the place where I lived. My mom rebuked me and made me realise that although ancient temples or pilgrimages possess a divine deep power, but God resides everywhere and if you cannot connect with that power from within, you will not be able to experience him, whichever sacred place you visit.

Soon, my Lord Ganesha called me to the city of Ujjain on a Wednesday afternoon.
Ganesha! He is one of the most charming deities of Hinduism and my personal bias. Ujjain is the city of the beloved Mahakal, but to me, it was the city where Chintaman Ganesh Temple is located.

What attracted me specifically to this temple was its connection with Ramayana.
Ganpati is worshipped in three forms at Chintaman Ganesh Temple. The Chintaman form- established by Lord Ram, Icchhaman Ganpati - established by Lord Lakshman and the Siddhivinayak form- established by Mother Sita herself.
The name Chintaman itself suggests that the deity frees the devotee of all kinds of 'chintas' (worries/anxiety/stress).

During his vanvas period, one day Lord Ram himself, whose power is unparalleled, got afflicted with stress. He was worried regarding his long journey in the woods and how he had to also take care of his younger brother and wife, who were dearer to him than his life. He also wanted to remove all the obstacles from the vanvas journey and complete his objectives so that dharma can again prevail on the planet. Thus, he meditated on the pious form of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha got pleased by lord Ram and blessed him with all the auspiciousness and removed all his worries.

This is how Lord Ram established an idol which not only removed his personal worries but possessed the power to remove the worries of the entire universe.
Hence the most attractive aspect of this temple is that it possesses the meditative energy of Ram ji, Lakshman ji, Sita ji and of course Ganesh ji- all at one place.

I have held a strong belief that such powerful ancient temples are not just a place where you mark your attendance for a minute or two, slam your temple on the ground and come back. Such places are the best from the point of view of spiritual development; because they already possess the meditative powers of great super souls.
That's why I snatched the divine opportunity of sitting there for a while, chanting the holy mantra "ॐ गं गणपतये नमः". I also recited the Ganpati Atharvasheersha (a beautiful stuti by Atharva Rishi) and all the other stotras of Ganpati I recalled. I also sat down to sing the Ram Raksha Stotra, keeping in mind it's prominent association with the Ramayana period.

Of course there was a great queue to get a minute's glance at the deity. Like Nandi faces every Shiva temple, Mushak Raj, was facing this temple.
This temple also has a 'bawdi', known as the Lakshman bawdi. A katha suggests that on his way back after killing Ravana, lord Ram felt thirsty and asked Laksham ji to get him water. On not finding any water body nearby, Lakshman ji pierced the earth with his arrow from where emerged the sacred river Ganga.

The energy and positivity I took with me as a souvenir while exiting this place tranquilized me. It seemed as if some heavy burden had been uplifted. It was only after this burden had vanished that I realised that there was any in the first place, because now I knew how it felt walking with no load.