Holy Hill

Name : Holy Hill is other name for The Carmelite Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians

Location : In Hubertus, Wisconsin. It is about a forty-five minute drive NW of Milwaukee.

Description : Situated on 435 acres of rural countryside, it provides the visitor with the opportunity for spiritual enrichment. We often hear visitors remark about the peace, beauty and serenity they find at Holy Hill.

As early as 1903, Holy Hill was declared a Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. In 2006, the Shrine was raised to the status of Minor Basilica. But as far back as the 1700s and perhaps earlier, the Americans Indians came to Holy Hill because they considered it a sacred place.

Many come to Holy Hill as "tourists", only to find that they have been touched by something deeper than natural beauty or curiosity. We know that God is truly present on this Holy Hill, and we invite you to come and share with us this Presence!

Of special interest to the visitor is the Shrine’s right-hand tower, the so-called “Scenic Tower”. After dropping a couple of dollars in the donation box inside the door, tourists begin the nearly three hundred foot climb up the Scenic Tower, taking the ever-narrowing stairs single file. There is a small platform above and it is perhaps ten feet square. Pairs of tall, narrow lancet windows beneath large rose windows, all crisscrossed with iron grillwork and open to the air, affords an unobstructed view of the spectacular countryside at all four points of the compass.

Website : http://www.holyhill.com/

Sri Pada - SriLanka

Name : Sri Pada ( Footprint of God)

Location: Sri Lanka

Importance : Sri Pada is the only mountain in the world sacred to four major religious groups. Oddly enough, it also happens to be nestled in Sri Lanka, a country ravaged by civil war for the past 20-plus years.

Description : Sri Pada is a modest, cone-shaped peak on an island in the Indian Ocean. At the top of the mountain, you’ll find a 1,600-square-foot platform on which there’s a depression the shape of a human foot—a very large foot, about 1 yard wide and nearly 2 yards long. (See how carefully we avoided measuring the foot in “feet?”)

Buddhists believe the footprint to be Buddha’s.

Hindus celebrate it as Footprint of Shiva.

Christians claim St. Thomas left it there before he ascended into heaven.

Muslims believe Adam made it after he descended from heaven (hence the mountain’s nickname, Adam’s Peak).



The Mountain is second highest in SriLanka. Hundreds of thousands of travelers of all religious stripes make the pilgrimage up the mountain each year. The climb up Sri Pada, which can take three to four hours, is marked by crumbling steps (around 5000), hundreds of colorful butterflies, lots of leeches in the surrounding forests, and tea houses for breaks along the way. In some places, there are iron chains to help out climbers who wish to pull themselves up.

It’s said that Alexander the Great left them behind when he visited the site in 324 BCE. There’s no record regarding who Alexander believed created the footprint, but if we had to take a guess, we think he probably told people that it was his own.

On a full moon day (a Buddhist holy day called “poya”) the climb would take us 6 hours with all of crowd people mulling about. It is beautifull to catch the view of Sunrise from the top of this mountain.

Website : http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10620


http://www.toddswanderings.com/2008/06/where-butterflies-go-to-die.html

Gaumukh Temple

Name : Gaumukh Temple.

Location : Mount Abu, Rajasthan

Legend : The Gaumukh Temple was built in its location as a dedication to Saint Vashishth. It is believed that Saint Vashishth performed a yagna there that created the four major Rajput clans. There is also a tank that you should visit- the Agni Kund. The Agni Kund is believed to be the site of a sacrificial fire which Saint Vashishth used to perform the yagni from which the four clans were born.

The temple has got its name from a nearby natural spring that surges through a carved cow's head. The cow is considered a sacred animal by those who make religious pilgrimages to the Gaumukh Temple and nearby the temple you will find a spring that is believed to have emerged from the mouth of a rock that is shaped similar to a cows head. A large marble statue of a cow has been built on the site. The bull is representative of Nandi, who was Shiva’s vehicle. There is a stream of water that flows from the mouth of the marble bull. Nearby you will find statues of Nandi, Saint Vashishth, Lord Ram and Lord Krishna.

Description : The Gaumukh Temple is also popular for religious pilgrimages and meditation. If you wish to experience some of the local religious culture of Mount Abu region, you must visit the Gaumukh Temple. Once only popular for Ancient sages and saints to meditate at, the Gaumukh Temple is now a popular tourist destination.

The Gaumukh Temple is located around 5 kilometers from the Hanuman Temple situated in a wild valley that is reached by climbing down over 700 steps. The area is covered with very think forest cover and visiting the place after dark & rainy season is not recommended without proper information and local guidance, you should plan for a full day trip to Gaumukh if you want to enjoy the beauty and nature of this place.

Website : http://www.mountabu.com/tourist_attractions/gaumukh.html

Swayambhunath Hill Temple

Name : Swayambhunath sometimes called as Swoyambhunath. It is also known as the Monkey Temple

Location : Kathmandu, Nepal

Legend : According to Swayambhu Purana, the entire valley was once filled with an enormous lake, out of which grew a lotus. The valley came to be known as Swayambhu, meaning "Self-Created." The name comes from an eternal self-existent flame (svyaṃbhu) over which a sūpa was later built.

Swayambhunath is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple in the north-west. They are holy because Majusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom and learning was raising the hill which the Swayambhunath Temple stands on. He was supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew. It is said that the head lice had transformed into these monkeys.

The Bodhisatva Manjushri had a vision of the lotus at Swayambhu and traveled there to worship it. Seeing that the valley can be good settlement and to make the site more accessible to human pilgrims, Manjushri cut a gorge at Chovar. The water drained out of the lake, leaving the valley in which Kathmandu now lies. The lotus was transformed into a hill and the flower become the Swayambhunath stupa.

Description : Swayambhunath is one of the most sacred sites of Buddhist pilgrimage in Nepal, but second only to Boudhanath for Tibetan Buddhists.

The Swayambhunath complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, including a Tibetan monastery, a museum and a library. The stupa has Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on. Between them, there is something painted which looks like the nose - but is the Nepali symbol of 'unity', in the main Nepali language dialect. There are also shops, restaurants and hostels.

The site has two access points: a long stairway, claimed to have 365 steps, leading directly to the main platform of the temple, which is from the top of the hill to the east; and a car road around the hill from the south leading to the southwest entrance.

The first sight on reaching the top of the stairway is the biggest Vajra (thunder-bolt scepter) ever seen. Behind this vajra was the vast, round, white dome of the stupa, like a full solid skirt, at the top of which were two giant Buddha eyes wisely looking out over the peaceful valley which was just beginning to come alive.

History : According to the Gopalarajavaṃsavalī Swayambhunath was founded by the great-grandfather of King Manadeva (464-505 CE), King Vrsadeva, about the beginning of the 5th century CE. This seems to be confirmed by a damaged stone inscription found at the site, which indicates that King Manadeva ordered work done in 640 CE.

However, Emperor Ashoka is said to have visited the site in the third century BCE and built a temple on the hill which was later destroyed. Legend has it that the Buddha himself visited Swayambhunath and gave teachings there two hundred years earlier.

Although the site is considered Buddhist, the place is revered by both Buddhists and Hindus. Numerous king Hindu followers are known to have paid their homage to the temple, including Pratap Malla, the powerful king of Kantipur, who is responsible for the construction of the eastern stairway in the 17th century.

Symbolism : The dome at the base represents the entire world. When a person awakes (represented by eyes of wisdom and compassion) from the bonds of the world, the person reaches the state a bit higher. The thirteen pinacles on the top of it symbolises that sensient beings have to go through the thirteen stages of enlightenment to reach Buddhahood.

On each of the four sides of the main stupa there are a pair of big eyes which represent Wisdom and Compassion. Above each pair of eyes is another eye, the third eye. Saying goes that when Buddha preaches, cosmic rays emanate from the third eye which acts as message to heavenly beings, so that those interested can come down to earth to listen to the Buddha. The hellish beings and beings below the human realm cannot come to earth to listen to the Buddha's teaching, however, the cosmic ray relieves their suffering when Buddha preaches.

There are carving of Panch Buddhas (five Buddhas) on each of the four sides of stupa. Apart from this, idols of the Buddhas are at the base of the stupas. Panch Buddhas are Buddha in metaforical sense in Tantrayana. They are Vairochana (occupies the center and is the master of the temple), Akshobhya (faces the east and represents the cosmic element of consciousness), Ratna Sambhava (faces the south and represents the cosmic element of sensation), Amitabha (He represents cosmic element of Sanjna (name) and always faces the West) and Amoghsiddhi (He represents the cosmic element of conformation and faces the north).

Each morning before dawn, hundreds of Buddhist (Vajrayana) and Hindu pilgrims ascend the 365 steps from eastern side that lead up the hill, passing the gilded Vajra (Tibetan: Dorje) and two lions guarding the entrance, and begin a series of clockwise circumambulations of the stupa.

Websites :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swayambhunath 

Pavala Kundru

Name : Pavala Kundru (Coral Rock)

Location : Thiruvannamalai, TamilNadu

Legend : Pavala Kundru has a rich meaning, dating from the Puranas. It is where Parvati did her tapas, her penance, after blindfolding Siva and bringing destruction to the universe. It is also where she and Siva merged into one, becoming half man and half woman, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. The Ardhanariswara form illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti, is inseparable from the male principle of God, Siva.

Description : In recent times Pavala Kundru is associated with Ramana Maharshi’s stay at the Temple. Currently there is a dispute underway regarding construction on the adjacent Coral Hill. But probably the most charming recent assocation of the Temple is its colony of beautiful Langur Monkeys.

History of Pavala Kundru : In 1790 Tippu Sultan captured Tiruvannamalai over-riding the Treaty of Mangalore (1784 A.D.) in which he and the English agreed to mutual restoration of conquests and exchange of prisoners.

Tippu Sultan, it is said, occupied the hillock of Pavalakkunru after destroying the small shrine that was there.Ramana Maharshi said that whatever Temple might have existed on or about Pavalakkunru seemed to have disappeared probably on account of Tippu Sultan’s invasion. The present Temple was probably built only a hundred and fifty years ago.

Website : http://richardarunachala.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/pavala-kundru-tiruvannamalais-coral-rock-temple/


http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2008/12/pavala-kundru-history.html

Harsh Nath Temple

Name : Harsh Nath Temple

Location : located at 11 kms away from Sikar, Rajasthan.

Description : Harsh Nath Temple is the ancient shrine of 10th century located on the high hills of Aravali is famous for the ruins old Shiva Temple. The ruins of the temple are strewn all over the area.

Every year thousand of visitors made their way to Sikar just for gaining the history of structuring the Harsh Nath temple. As the temple locates on the hill it gives pleasure for worldwide adventurous tourists too. Harsh Nath Temple also provides an important evidence in making Sikar an ancient town of Rajasthan.