When Sriguru was at Ganagapur a Weaver had become a great devotee of Him. He would be so much engrossed in the devotion of Sriguru that after earning the required money for his family’s maintenance, he would spend the balance of the time in the ‘Muth’. He would clean and sweep the entire ‘Muth’ with great devotion and return home only after taking Sriguru’s Darshan.
A number of days passed by this way and the festival of Mahashivaratri[1] approached soon. Majority of the village people started getting ready to go to the ‘Sri Shail Mountain’ to attend the religious fair. Everyone who belonged to the weaver’s community also planned to attend the fair. However, this weaver had taken for granted that Sriguru himself is his Mallikarjun[2] and the ’Muth’ his Sri Shail Mountain. Hence he was not ready to part away from the lotus feet of Sriguru. His relatives and friends firmly persuaded him to accompany them to Sri Shail Mountain, but he did not agree. They all left for the Mountain. When he went to the ‘Muth’ Sriguru asked him “Everybody went to the fair, but why did you not go? ”. He replied “Oh, Lord, for me you are my Mallikarjun!”.
Finally day of Mahashivaratri dawned. Right in the morning after taking care of all the chores in the ‘Muth’, the weaver went to the ‘Sangam’. After bathing at ‘Sangam’ he started taking Sriguru’s ‘Darshan’. Sriguru was highly pleased with the undivided devotion displayed by the weaver. Sriguru spoke to the weaver “Come, today I will arrange for the ‘Darshan’ of Sri Shail Mallikarjuna for you. Sit near me and firmly hold the Padukas76 with closed eyes”. The weaver strictly followed the orders of Sriguru. In the twinkling of an eye, Sriguru along with the weaver reached ‘PatalGanga’ on Sri Shail Mountain!
On Sriguru’s order the weaver opened his eyes. To his great surprise, the weaver saw the majestic Sri Shail Mountain surrounded by natural beauty. The grand temple of Lord Mallikarjun standing on the mountain, the flowing water of PatalGanga River and the great crowd of people assembled there for the fair. Sriguru spoke to him “Go quickly, bathe in the river and then take the ‘Darshan’ of Lord Mallikarjuna and return back”.
When he went to take bath in the river, he met his village neighbours, brother, sister as well as mother and father at the river. They all asked him “you were not going to come here, then how did you reach here? With whom did you come? When did you come? ”. The weaver replied, “I myself do not know. A few moments back I was near the ‘Sangam’ at Ganagapur. Sriguru brought me here”. Nevertheless, people did not believe his words and he also thought it is not necessary to convince them. He finished his bath, took the worship materials and when he entered the temple, he was astounded to see Sriguru himself glaring with splendour in the place of the Jyotirlinga[3]of Lord Mallikarjun.
He returned to Sriguru after completing his worship. He told Sriguru “In the temple, I did not get ‘Darshan’ of Lord Mallikarjun. In place of Lord Mallikarjun I saw you personally glaring with splendour. You are Lord Mallikarjun Himself. In that case, why do people undergo all the trouble to come here from far off places and traverse long distances on pilgrimages? ”. Then Sriguru explained to him about the greatness of the place. Sriguru replied, “From now on consider Kalleshwar[4] of Ganagapur as Lord Mallikarjun and start worshipping”.
Then Sriguru returned to Ganagapur with the weaver. Later, the weaver returned to the ‘Muth’ from the ‘Sangam’ and gave Sriguru’s message to the Brahmins of the ‘Muth’. Observing the shaved head of the weaver the Brahmins asked him about it. The weaver replied, “I had been to Sri Shail fair. There I got my head shaved, took bath and took Darshan of Lord Mallikarjun, paid my obeisance and returned. The Brahmins asked, “Why are you gossiping? ”. Then the weaver told the Brahmins “Sriguru himself took me to Sri Shail fair and brought me back”. The Brahmins of the ‘Muth’ were highly surprised.
After a few days, the people of the village who had gone to Sri Shail fair, returned home. From then, it was confirmed that the weaver was present in the fair. Knowing this reality of the situation all the people of Ganagapur were highly amazed and felt extremely happy to see the unfathomable miraculous play of Sriguru as well as the good fortune of the weaver. Rendering his devotional service to Lord Kalleshwar at Ganagapur the weaver came to be known as an exceptional devotee.
[1] Mahashivratri: Mahashivaratri is a great religious festival dedicated to Lord Shiva, held on the 14th day of the second half of the month of Magh as per Hindu calendar and February month as per English Calendar.
[2] Mallikarjun: Another name of Lord Shiva.
[3] Jyotirlinga: Jyotirlinga is one of twelve famous Lingas of the Hindu God Shiva; Lingam is the emblamatic representation of Lord Shiva. The Lingam (also, Linga; Sanskrit meaning “mark” or “sign”) is used as a symbol for the worship of god Shiva. The use of this symbol as an object of worship is a timeless tradition in India.
Lingam is usually found with Yoni, the pedestal. As such, Lingam represented the male entity of the universe, while Yoni represented the female; it was natural togetherness of the male (Shiva) and female (Shakti) (Lingam and Yoni) as the point of energy, point of creation, and point of enlightenment.
[4] Kalleshwar: Another name of Lord Shiva.