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Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth
कैलाश परिक्रमा पथ पर १८०० फीट उपर Dolma La, a pass के विषय में The Throne Of The God Ea Arnorld Heim and August Gansser ने लिखा है- "Now we are on pilgrimage to Dolma - La, a pass over 18,000 feet high, the highest in the circuit of Kailas. A forest of cairns indicates the holiness of the place. Great piles of human hair are encircled by little walls. A rock is covered with teeth that have been extracted- religious sacrifices made by fanatical pilgrims. Huge and savage granite crags border the pass, which is covered with new-fallen snow. My companions kneel at the tomb of a saint. Hard by is a rock showing what are said to be the holy man's footprints." ""Beside Dolma La is an enormous crag surmounted by a flag staff....." ( pg.102).
आगे कैलाश के विषय में उन्होंने लिखा है- "All that is beautiful is sacred" the fundamental idea of Asiatic religions is embodied in one of the most magnificent temples I have ever seen, a sunlight temple of rock and ice. Its remarkable structure, and the peculiar harmony of its shape, justify my speaking of Kailas as the most sacred mountain in the world. Here is a meeting-place of the greatest religions of the East, and the difficult journey round the temple of the gods purifes the soul from earthly sins. The remarkable position of this mountain that towers out of the Transhimalayan plateau already indicates that it must present extremely interesting geological problems for solution. "This mountain is just as sacred to me as it is to you, for I too am a pilgrim, just as those two lamas who passed a moment ago are pilgrims. Like you, like them, I am in search of the beautiful, the sacred in this wonderful mountain. '... "The very stones of this region are sacred, and to collect specimens is sacrilege." (pg.97-98).
"It is believed that one parikrama of the Kailas peak washes off the sin of one life, circuits wash off the sin of one kalpa, and 108 parikramas secure Nirvana in this very life." अर्थात् यह माना जाता है कि कैलाश की एक परिक्रमा एक जीवन के सारे पापों का क्षय कर देती है। १० परिक्रमा एक कल्प के पापों का क्षय कर देती है । और १०८ परिक्रमा करने से इसी जन्म में निर्वाण प्राप्त होता है ।
इस क्षेत्र में हर बारह वर्ष में एक मेला लगता है........ There is a big flag-staff called tarbochhe at Sershung on the western side of Kailas. A big fair is held there on Vaisakha Sukla Chaturdasi and Purnima (full moon day in the month of May), when the old flag-staff is dug out and rehoisted with new flags." "Every horse year, and accordingly every tweleth year, crowds of pilgrims come to Kailas." (Exploration In Tibet)
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चतुर्विध संघ की स्थापना करके ऋषभदेव इस अवसर्पिणी काल के आदि तीर्थंकर बने । समवसरण में उनकी देशना होने के उपरान्त अखण्ड तूष रहित उज्ज्वल शाल से बनाया हुआ चार प्रस्थ जितना बल (अर्थात्बिना टूटे साफ सफेद चावल ) थाली में रख करके समवसरण के पूर्व द्वार से अन्दर लाया गया और प्रभु की प्रदक्षिणा कर उछाल दिया गया। उसके आधे भाग को देवताओं ने ग्रहण कर लिया जो पृथ्वी पर गिरा उसका आधा भरत ने और आधा भाग परिवार जनों ने बांट लिया। उन बलि चावलों का ऐसा प्रभाव माना जाता है कि उसके प्रयोग से पुराने रोग नष्ट हो जाते हैं और छः महीने तक नये रोग नहीं होते। आज भी कैलाश की परिक्रमा करते तीर्थयात्री वहाँ चावल अर्पण करते हैं जिसका उल्लेख 'Throne Of The God' में लेखक ने किया है..... "There are endless chains of red, brown, and yellow mountains, incredibly clear. On the far horizon we discern a new mountain range, pastel blue in the distance, with yellow 205 2 Adinath Rishabhdev and Ashtapad
