What is Rudraksh?
Rudraksh is the divine power blessed with auspicious energies of Lord Shiva. We get the details about Rudraksha in number of “Granthas” and “Shastras” (the holy books of Indian Mythology). There are various stories about the origin of Rudraksha. One can find the greatness and detailed literature about the properties of Rudraksha in ancient Vedic scriptures like, Maha Shiva Purana, AkshaMaalikaoapnashida, Srimad Bhagwata, Mantra Maharnava, Padam Purana and Jabbalaoapanishada etc. Rudraksha is believed to have the direct blessings of Lord Shiva, which contains the properties to remove the affects of sins of the wearer. It is even said that if one wears the Rudraksha (in any form) on his body, even without worshiping or energizing it, does not get near any sinful act or thought.

Rudraksh is procured from the trees called ELAEOCARPUS GRANITRUS (it is the botanical name of the tree). The sacred and holy people of India (“Sadhus”, “Munis” and “Yogies”) are using the Rudraksh from ancient time. They use to wear it on their head, around their arms or neck in the form of rosary or pendant. In the society of religion, Rudraksha is not a new or surprising matter. The Vedic people know and understand the importance of Rudraksha. As per their belief, Rudraksha gets them closer to their God and plays an important role to provide them “MOKSHA”.

The word Rudraksh is formed with the combination of two different Sanskrit words, “Rudra” and “Aksha”. The word “Rudra” stands for Great Lord Shiva and the word “Aksha” stands for the tears of Rudra (Lord Shiva).

One ancient story explains the origin of Rudraksha. Once upon a time, Lord Shiva was very upset and depressed due to the death of “Gauri”, his wife. He started crying and roaming here and there in search of “Gauri”. And while searching too he was crying and his tears were falling on the earth. This is said that his tears were converted in Rudraksha. Rudrakshas are found in round in India, Nepal and Indonesia. Rudraksha is said to contain the secrets of entire evolution of the Cosmos within it.

Most of the Rudrakshas are found in round shape with different number of faces (“mukhi”) on it. But few Rudrakshas are also found with the shape of cashew nuts. Sometime they are found as a pair of two Rudrakshas, naturally joined with each other, known as “Gauri Shankar Rudraksha”. It is believed to have the blessings of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. And sometime, though very rare, a pair of three Rudrakshas is also found, again naturally joined with each other, known as “TRIJUTI Rudraksha”. It is believed to have the blessings of Great Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva all together. Rudrakshas are found with different faces (mukhi), 1 to 21 faced. 2 to 8 faced Rudrakshas are normally found Rudrakshas, 1 faced, 9 to 21 faced Rudrakshas are rare found Rudrakshas. Each Rudraksha has its own benefits and properties. Each Rudraksha is blessed with auspicious energies of Lord Shiva, but still is believed to under the Lordship different Gods and Goddesses, thus having the blessings of those Gods and Goddesses too.

In astrology, Rudraksha is used as remedy of malefic planets. Unlike gems and stones, Rudrakshas are said to be always beneficial for the wearer. As the direct blessings of Lord Shiva is involved, no question of illness or negative results arises.

The Rudraksha is used for their benefic nature. The Rudraksha is very powerful and they help to achieve wonders, of energized (Praanpratishthit) properly and empowered by adopting the right Vedic procedure, It is important to purify the Rudraksha by milk, ghee etc and also to energized it (Praanpratishthit) before wearing it. AstroMuni.Com provides its users with the Rudrakshas energized with proper Vedic procedure.

It is believed that wherever a Rudraksha (of any form, in any shape) is kept and worshiped, that place is free of sins. That place cannot be affected with devil effect (Bhoot-Pret Badha). That place is believed to be protected from theft, robbery and fire. The people living in that place are safe and protected from diseases, untimely accidents and death. They are protected from Super-Natural powers. The residents are blessed with never-ending wealth. The love, faith, brotherhood, affection and sympathy is always there among the relationships. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi takes the permanent residence in that place. Lord Shiva himself along with Goddess Parvati and Lord Ganesha are present there to protect the family.

Who can wear a Rudraksha?

Any human being in the world, related to any religion, society or community could wear Rudraksha. But as some precautions are to be taken while wearing a Rudraksha, it is suggested to wear Rudraksha only by the people over 14 years of age, as children are careless and may cause disrespect to the Rudraksha.

What are the precautions to wear a Rudraksha?

As told earlier, Rudraksha is the direct blessings of Lord Shiva; one should not act (in his belief and knowledge) that gives disrespect to the Rudraksha. One should not wear a Rudraksha while attending a funeral. One should remove Rudraksha before going to sleep (especially in case of new married couples). They can wear it next morning. One should not wear a Rudraksha while eating non-vegetarian food or while having alcoholic products. One should always wear an energized (Praanpratishthit) Rudraksha.

Is Rudraksha useful for Meditation or Chanting Mantras only?

By wearing a Rudraksha one gets the peace of mind, good feelings and activeness. Also his thoughts are centralized to the mission. And in today’s modern and fast moving life, the centralization of the thoughts is necessary. It helps you to overcome the state of depression and tension, which is increasing day by day due to competition. Rudraksha is believed to be self-energized tool to get success in every field of the life.

What are the astrological purposes of Rudraksha?

In a horoscope of a native, there are 9 main planets. Each planet has its own nature and character. There are 12 houses in the horoscope. The snapshot of the situation of these 9 planets in 12 houses (at the time of birth of the native) is called a Horoscope. 12 houses of the horoscope represent different aspects of the life of the native. These houses contain different numbers from 1 to 12. These numbers represents different Signs (e.g. 1 represent Aries, 5 represents Leo and 12 represent Pisces). Each sign has the lordship of particular planet (e.g. Aries, Leo and Pisces are under the Lordship of planet Mars, Sun and Jupiter respectively). Now, in astrology some planets are friends to each other, some planets are enemies to each other and some planets are average to each other. When a planet is situated in the sign of his friend planet, he use to give good results related to that house and if a planet is situated in the sign of his enemy planet, he use to cause tribulations related to that house.

Shri Trimbakeshwar Temple is located at a distance of about 30-km from Nasik in Maharashtra near the mountain named Brahmagiri from which the river Godavari flows. Trimbakeshwar Temple is revered as one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva and as the source of the river Godavari.

The Story

Brahmadev worshipped God Trivikram when he came to Satya Loka (on earth) with the same holy water of the Ganges, to get the river Ganges held up by God Shankar on his head, to flow. River Ganges in the form of a woman was enjoying with Lord Shiva, which was noticed by Lord Shiva's wife Parvati. She planned to drive Ganges away from her husband. Parvati and her son Ganesh came to live in Gautama's Ashram with Parvati's friend Jaya. There was a famine of 24 years and people were affected by the pangs of hunger. However, Varun - the God of Rains, pleased with Sage Gautama arranged rains every day in Gautama's Ashram (dwelling place) which was in Trimbakeshwar. Gautama used to sow rice in the surrounding fields of his Ashram in the morning, reap the crop in the afternoon and with it fed a large group of rishis, who took shelter in his Ashram on account of the famine. The blessings of the group of rishis increased the merit (Punya) of Gautama. Lord Indra's position became shaky because of his increased merit. So Indra ordered clouds to rain all over Trimbakeshwar, so that the famine will be over and Rishis will go back and the increasing merits of Gautama will be weakened. Although the famine was over, Gautama urged the Rishis to stay back and kept on feeding them and gaining merit. Once he saw a cow grazing in the paddy field and he drove her away by throwing Darbha (sharp, pointed grass). The slender cow died by this. It was Jaya - Parvati's friend, who had taken the form of a cow. This news upset the Rishis and they refused to luncheon at his Ashram. Gautama requested Rishis to show a way out of this sin. He was advised to approach Lord Shiva and request him to release Ganges and a bath in the Ganges would set him free of his sins. Gautama then practiced penance by going to the peak of Brahmagiri. Lord Shankara was pleased by his worships and gave him the Ganges.


Kusavarta, a place where river Godavari takes course.
However, Ganges was not prepared to part with Lord Shiva, which irritated him. He made TandavNrutya (dance) on the peak of Brahmagiri and dashed his jata there. Frightened by this action, Ganges appeared on Brahmagiri. Later on Ganges appeared in the Trimbak Tirtha. Gautama praised her but she off and on appeared on the mountain at various places and disappeared in anger. Gautama could not bathe in her waters. Ganges then appeared in Gangadwar, Varaha-tirtha, Rama-Laxman tirtha, Ganga Sagar tirtha. Still Gautama could not bathe in her waters. The Gautama surrounded the river with enchanted grass and put a vow to her. The flow stopped there and the tirtha thus came to be called Kushavarta. It is from this Kushavarta that the river Godavari flows up to the sea. The sin of killing a cow by Gautama was wiped off here.
This place is famous for lots of religious rituals (vidhis). Narayan Nagbali, Kalsarpa Shanti, Tripindi vidhi are done here. Narayan Nagbali puja is performed at Trimbakeshwar only. This puja is performed in three days. This puja is performed on special dates. Some days are not suitable to perform this puja. This puja is performed for many reasons like to cure an illness, going through bad times, killing a Cobra (Nag), childless couples, financial crisis or you want to perform some religious puja to have everything.
Trimbakeshwar town has a large number of Brahmin households and is also a centre for Vedic Gurukuls (kind of boarding school). It also has ashrams and Muths devoted to Ashtanga Yoga, the Hindu art of living.
The existing temple was built out of basalt after it was commissioned by Peshwa Nanasaheb. It so happens that the Peshwa made a bet on whether the stone surrounding the Jyotirlinga, is hollow from the inside or not. The stone was proved to be hollow, and on losing the bet, the Peshwa built a marvelous temple out of it. The Shiva idol of the temple consisted of the world famous Nassak Diamond. It was appropriated by the British in The Third Anglo-Maratha War and lies with one owner or the other ever since. The diamond presently lies with Edward J. Hand, a trucking firm executive from Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
The place is known for its scenic beauty in rainy/monsoon season and is surrounded by lush green hills untouched by pollution. Anjaneri mountain, the birth place of Lord Hanuman, is 7 km from Trimbakeshwar

The temple is quite popular and is busy throughout the year with different events of the God. The annual brahmotsavam is held in the month of March, it includes Yedurkolu, The Celestial Wedding and Divya Vimana Rathotsavam.

This was the entrance from where we go into the cave for having a darshan of the idol.