Muktinath Is The Most Ancient Hindu Temple

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Muktinath is The most ancient Hindu Temple!
Home of Lord Vishnu and Lord Buddha, a place to get mukti or freedom and a holy site enveloped among the most beautifully decorated valleys, that’s the famous Muktinath temple for you!
The pagoda style small shrine is actually one of the oldest Hindu temples but is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists alike. The word Muktinath is a Sanskrit name that is a combination of two words-Mukti meaning freedom or salvation and Nath meaning Lord or God. Thousands of pilgrims take up the famous Muktinath yatra to reach this temple at least once in their life with the motive to attain moksha or liberation. There is a popular belief among the Hindus that the temple must be visited once after the Chardham Yatra or a popular pilgrimage to four different religious sites.
Location of Muktinath Temple
The
Muktinath Temple is situated at an altitude of 3710 meters, at the foot of the famous Thorong la mountain pass that is regarded as a part of the Himalayas. It is in the Mustang District ...
... in Nepal, about 18 kms from Jomsom, towards the North Central part of Nepal.
Significance of Muktinath temple for Hindus
The small old temple is especially significant to Hindus as it is a Vishnu Mandir and has a life size, golden statue of Lord Vishnu (worshipped as Shri Mukti Narayan) in the center with the bronze images of other gods and goddesses such as Bhoodevi, the earth goddess form of Lakshmi; goddess Saraswati, goddess Janaki or Sita; Garuda or the Mount of Vishnu; Lava-Kusa, sons of Ram-Sita and the seven sages or the Sapta Rishis created by Lord Brahma around it. They call the temple Muktichhetra or the place of salvation. Muktinath Temple is also one among the 51 Sakti peetams.
Muktinath Temple is regarded one among 108 Divya Desam or the holy places to worship Lord Vishnu and also one of the Svayam Vyakta Ksetras or the eight sacred place namely Srirangam, Srimushnam, Tirupati, Pushkar, Badrinath, Totadri and Naimisharanya.
Significance of Muktinath temple for Buddhists
Buddhists also take up the famous Muktinath Yatra to visit the Muktinath Temple which they call Chumming Gyatsa. It is a Tibetan word that means ‘Hundred waters’. The Tibetan Buddhists regard the temple as a sacred place for Dakinis goddesses, also known as the sky dancers in the religion. As per the Tibetan Buddhists, the founder of the Tibetan Buddhism, Guru Rimpoche who is also known as Padmasambhava meditated here while he was on his way to Tibet. The temple is also considered one among 24 Tantric places that are celebrated in the religion.
Just outside the main shrine, at the entrance gate of the temple there is a Buddhist monastery called Mebar Lha Gomba. It is visited with equal respect and reverence by both Hindus and Buddhists. It is dedicated to Guru Rimpoche or Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism and has a statue of Chenrezig or Avalokitesvara who is a Buddhist deity. The monastery is also famous for its miraculous fire which is actually a natural gas fire that burns incessantly. The Hindus worship this miraculous fire as Jwala Mai or the goddess of fire.
The legendary muktinath yatra
is considered complete only after the pilgrims visit the Muktinath temple and the Mebar Lha Gomba and take a pious walk under the 108 waterfalls spouting out of the stone faucets behind the main temple.
While Hindus come to the temple for Lord Vishnu and Buddhists consider it the place of Lord Buddha, the temple finds a special place in the heart of all, including the locals in Nepal.

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