Vaishno Devi
History of Vaishno Devi
'Vaishnavi' means the one who is related to lord "Vishnu''. Goddess Vaishnavi is the manifestation of the collective spiritual strengths of Mata Maha Kali, Mata Maha Lakshmi and Mata Maha Saraswati. It is
described
in Durga Sapatshati that the goddess was born as a young girl of extraordinary
beauty and strength, out of the collectively pooled 'Tejas' of various 'Devtas'
and three lords Brahma, Vishnu and Shankar.The 'Goddess' having been created by the Devtas and the three lords ordained the human form in the house of one Ratnakar as his daughter whom the family named as Vaishnavi. The girl right from her childhood displayed a hunger for knowledge which was like a vortex and which no amount of teaching and learning could sufficiently satiate. Subsequently, Vaishnavi started looking into her inner self for knowledge and soon learned the art of meditation and realized that meditation and penance only could bring her close to her greater objective. Vaishnavi thus relinquished all household comforts and went deep into the forest for Tapasaya (meditation). Meanwhile, Lord Rama, during his fourteen years of exile happened to visit Vaishnavi who recognized him immediately as no ordinary being but the incarnation of Lord Vishnu and immediately asked him to merge her into himself so that she could become one with the supreme creator. However Lord Rama, knowing that it was not the appropriate time, dissuaded her by saying that he will visit her again after the end of his exile and at that time if she succeeded in recognizing him, he will fulfill her wish. True to his words, Rama visited her again after being victorious in the battle, but this time he did so in the guise of an old man. Unfortunately, Vaishnavi was unable to recognize him this time and was distraught. Upon this, Lord Rama consoled her that the appropriate time for her being one with the creator had not come and he will eventually do so in 'Kaliyug' in his incarnation of 'Kalki'. Rama also directed her to meditate and set up an Ashram at the base of Trikuta hills to elevate her level of spirituality so as to bless the mankind and rid the poor and destitute of their sufferings and only then will 'Vishnu' merge her into himself.
Vaishnavi, after immense hardships reached the foot of the Trikuta Hills and after setting up her ashram there she began to meditate. As predicted by Lord Rama, her glory spread far and wide and people began to flock to her Ashram to seek her blessings. As the time passed, a Tantrik named Gorakh Nath who had a vision of the episode between Lord Rama and Vaishnavi in the retrospective time frame, became curious to find out whether Vaishnavi has been able to attain a high level of spirituality or not. He, therefore, sent his most able disciple 'Bhairon Nath' to find out the truth.
Bhairon
Nath on locating the ashram started observing Vaishnavi secretly and realised
that though a 'Sadhvi' she always carried bow and arrows with her and was always
surrounded by langoors (apes) and a ferocious looking lion. Bhairon Nath was
enamored by Vaishnavi's extraordinary beauty and losing all good sense he began
to pester Vaishnavi to marry him. Meanwhile a staunch devotee of Mata Sridhar
organised a Bhandara (Community meal) in which the whole village and Guru Gorakh
Nath along with all his followers including Bhairon were invited. During the
course of Bhandara Bhairon Nath attempted to grab Vaishnavi but she tried her
best to daunt him. On failing to do so, Vaishnavi decided to flee away into
the mountains to continue her 'Tapasaya' undisturbed.
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