The Only Hindu Temple Built By the British

In 1879, when there was British were ruling in India, Lt. Col. Martin of Agar Malva was leading the army in the war against Afghanistan.

Col. Martin used to regularly send messages of his well-being to his wife. The war continued for long & Lady Martin stopped getting messages. She was very upset.
Once riding on her horse, she passed by the temple of Baijnath Mahadev. She was attracted to the sound of Conch & Mantra. She went inside and came to know that the Brahmanas were worshipping Lord Shiva. They saw her sad face and asked her problem. She explained everything to them. They told her that Lord Shiva listens to the prayers of devotees and takes them out of difficult situations in no time. With the advice of the Brahmanas she started the ‘Laghurudri Anushtthan’ of the Mantra: ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ for 11 days. She prayed to Lord Shiva that if her husband reaches home safely, then she would get the temple renovated.

On the last of the ‘Laghurudri’ a messenger came and gave a letter to her. Her husband had written: ‘I was regularly sending messages to you from the battle grounds but suddenly the Pathans surrounded us from all sides. We were entrapped in a situation where there was no scope of escaping death. Suddenly I saw a Yogi of India with long hair, carrying a weapon with three pointers (Trishul). His personality was amazing and he was maneuvering his weapon with a magnificent style. Seeing this great man, the Pathans started running back. With his grace our bad times turned into moments of victory. This was possible only because of that man of India wearing a lion skin & carrying a three-pointer weapon (Trishul). That great Yogi told me that I should not worry and that he had come to rescue me because he was very pleased with my wife’s prayers.’

Tears of joy were falling down the eyes of Lady Martin’s eyes while reading the letter. Her heart was overwhelmed. She fell into the feet of Lord Shiva’s statue and burst in tears.

After a few weeks Col. Martin returned. Lady Martin narrated the whole incident to him. Now both husband & wife became devotees of Lord Shiva. In 1883 they donated Rs. 15,000 for renovating the temple. The information engraved slab for the same is still there in the Baijnath Mahadev Temple of Agar Malva. This is the only Hindu temple built by the British.


Om Namah Shivay .._/\_

Seculars who doubt the story,can have a look at what wiki says about it..!

Shiva, Parvati And The Bull

Once lord shiva and his consort, Parvati, were travelling with their vehicle - the Bull. The Lord had taken the form of an old man, while, Parvatiji remained young and beautiful. On the road all passers-by looked on with amazement at this odd couple of an old man and a young woman.

On the way, Shiva said, ''Parvatiji, my dear, please sit and ride on the bull durig this journey.'' She obeyed and mounted the bull while Shiva walked alongside. The village folk and other strangers bitterly criticised, ''What a selfish woman! She is young and healthy and yet she chooses to comfortably ride while forcing the old man to walk.'' Shiva changed his mind. ''Parvatidevi, the people are mocking you. It is wiser that I sit and you walk.'' So saying, Shiva sat on the bull's back. Further along, other strangers came with sharper comments, ''O look at this mean, bully of a man. He's fat and robust, and evil too. He enjoys the ride while forcing this young and gentle lady to walk on foot.''

Hearing this both of them climbed the bull. At least, this would ward off the criticisms. But they were gravely mistaken and no sooner had they come to the next village, people sneered and jeered. ''Look at this nasty couple. Both of them have mercilessly climbed upon the bull. They'll kill the poor creature!''
Now there was only one option left. They dismounted and allowed the bull to walk freely. They accompanied it on either side. While they walked, they met new people with new bitterness. They laughed at them, shouting ''What foolishness! They have taken a bull as a vehicle and neither of them is using it.'' Straight away Shiva told Parvati, ''Come let us do what we think is right, and live the way we want to. The world will never appreciate or see what we do as correct.''

In this world, even if we perform a good deed not everyone will like it and support it. The problem lies with the nature of our world. If a Sadhu shows miracles people say, ''He's into black magic and possesses evil powers.'' And if a Sadhu avoids miracles, some will mutter complaints, ''O! He shows no miracles. He's ordinary and is of no use.'' This is the line of thinking our world works on. It is crooked from both ends and whatever you do, the world will never see you straight. Therefore, pay no attention to the words of the worldly people and continue to devoutly worship God

 The basic principle of simple living

If one is truly serious about achieving the ultimate goal of human life by perfecting his spiritual inquiry, he must adopt a life style that is conducive to the cultivation of self-realizing knowledge. This life style can be beautifully summarized in the phrase 'simple living and high thinking'. Here simple living is in relation to maintenance of the body, and high thinking is in relation to the aim of one's intellectual pursuits.
In order to exist in this world it is necessary to maintain one's bodily existence, but as will be shown later, maintenance of the body is not progress towards the goal of life. Maintenance just allows one to perform the activity of existing in a particular body, which does not denote any accomplishment of a goal. This maintenance of the body involving mainly our activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending is not in itself any great feat or achievement. Even the animals are engaging in these activities of bodily maintenance. The cows also eat, the birds also mate, the hogs also sleep and the dogs also defend. Simply engaging in these activities of maintenance does not actually make one human. For this reason, one who is interested in achieving the real, permanent goal of life does not focus solely on these activities of bodily maintenance, but he rather focuses primarily on the path of perfection. This is why he adopts the process of simple living.
The basic principle of simple living is accepting whatever is necessary for maintaining the body, so that we can use the energized body for higher philosophical pursuits directed towards our pure self identity. One only accepts that which is necessary for existence and does not take anything that is an unnecessary complication to life. In this way, by the process of living simply, one will be able to, if properly directed, arrive at the point of 'high thinking', the actual human essence.
What exactly is the meaning of 'high thinking'? High thinking entails the comprehension of the self as distinct from the temporary material body. Why should such an understanding be considered high? The first reason is because it is the factual reality of existence. Secondly, one's vision is not focused simply on the low activities of bodily maintenance but on the higher realm of the eternal self. The soul is the actual energy source of the entire body. The soul is constitutionally superior to the dull, unconscious matter. Thus, the understanding of the superior energy, the conscious soul, is higher than the understanding of the inferior energy, the unconscious matter.
This body that we generally identify with is exactly like a vehicle being driven by a conscious driver. A car by itself is nothing but dead matter, but when a driver operates the vehicle, it appears to produce life symptoms (movement, production of by-products, signs of intellectual control, etc.) In the same manner, when the conscious soul makes contact with the material vehicle known as the body, the body appears to be possessing life. Factually, it is the soul within the body that is producing the life-symptoms.

Just as the sun alone illuminates the universe, so does the living entity, one within the body, illuminate the entire body by consciousness.
As the sun is present everywhere in the form of its energy, light, in the same way, the soul is experienced throughout the entire body in the form of its energy, consciousness. Thus consciousness is the symptom of the soul.
This consciousness is the eternal companion of the soul. As one cannot separate heat from fire, one also cannot separate consciousness from the soul. The soul, along with its consciousness, is eternal. They do not cease to exist even after the body has come to an end.

At this point one may wonder,What happens to the soul when the body is finished

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old and useless ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up old and useless ones. Throughout one's life the body is slowly but surely deteriorating, coming closer and closer to its end. When that body is no longer able to accommodate the soul, the nature provides the soul with another suitable body according to his previous actions. As the embodied soul continuously passes in this body from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at the time of death. One who understands this fundamental truth of the self - that the eternal soul is separate and distinct from the temporary material body - becomes a self-realized soul. This stage of self-realization is the culmination of the process of high thinking backed by a dedicated life style of simple living directed towards the aim of life.